Fun things to do in Austin

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We are featuring multiple live stages with:
Live Acts (50+) artists include Spoonfed Tribe, Cas Haley and Woodbelly along with many, many others, Dee jays (60+), Live PA's, Performers, Interactive ARTS, Fire Performances, Games, Guest
Speakers, Workshops, Multi-Media Visual ARTs, Intelligent Lighting, Large Sound, Vendors,
Food & Bar, Dance Performances, Drum Circles, Poi Workshops, Yoga, Hoopers, Massage
Therapists, Healers, Eco Friendly Workshops, Mud Pit, Piercers, Tattoo Artists, and more...
There is a family camping area with entertainment in the KIDZ Village.

I have an obsession with having my nails done. I even paint my nails at work. My former colleagues know this too well and are use to it. I've been to many nail salons while living in Kuala Lumpur and there's only one place I trust to do a good job.
I've been to 2 places while in the US. One was in Plano and the most recent in Austin - Anna Nails, owned by a Vietnamese, just like most nail places in the US (I'm not being stereotypical). Having strong and hard nails, I never thought of doing anything else than the usual manicure and pedicure. This lady at Anna recommended I tried solar acrylic. I didn't know what that was and asked her. She spoke little English and showed another customer's nails to me. Said it lasts longer than the usual mani. Just what I needed I thought. I was gonna be back in Malaysia for 3 weeks. So, she cut my nails real short, got the plasticy nails, and stuck them onto my nail beds.
I just went on with the whole thing. She was very quick. While she was going about with working on my nails, I looked around the shop and saw multiple signs to remind the customers to tip. I had my nails done in under 2 hours plus drying. I think I'll do without the acrylic nails next time. I dunno why she asked me to do that in the first place seeing my nails were long and healthy. I may try the usual mani & pedi next time round.
I will always be finicky when it comes to nail services.

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I was looking up for reviews and pictures for the past event but found very little information online. The admission fee was $15 for an adult. I thought it was a bit much and this made want to find out more about the festival. Why so much? Is the festival really that great and special? I took a shot and went anyway. This year, it was held on April 5, 2008 on a sunny Saturday.
I parked at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum which was right across the street from the festival. Parking was $8 per entry. I didn't feel like walking too far and thought parking there was the way to go. Plus it's indoor.
Getting the tickets at the entrance was fairly easy. Bag check as you go in, and there... you're in the parking lot where the festival was. I expected the festival to be bigger and more elaborate. There were vendors all around and a few of them serving the same items. Crawfish was of course the highlight, with $7 a pound. I tried deep fried alligator meat. Weird for me, but hey... i just had to try that swamp thing. The cool thing about the festival was, there were bands performing. Lineup for that day on the website provided. Many brought their lawn chairs and hung out, listening to the music. The older folks loved it. I loved watching them dance to the music.
There were a few other stalls selling craft, jewelry, batiks, knick knacks. Sweepstakes... here and there, a petting zoo especially for the little ones too.
I'm personally not hot about the festival but I had a certain expectations.
The size of the festival was relatively small. I thought $5 for admission was good enough especially for the scale of the event.

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When: Every 1st Sunday in March
Where: Zilker Park
Time: 10am-5pm
Admission fee: Nah-uh, FREE.
What else is FREE: Music, parking and free shuttle rides that runs from 10am-5pm.

Traffic leading in to the location was slightly at a stand still. But the traffic controllers did an amazing job at easing it out. Ample parking space available and may require a little bit of walk to the park. Was a really windy day. Which is also why the kite fest is held this time of the year annually. For the ladies, you might wanna bring a hair band, rubber band and attire wise, be prepared for the merciless gushing wind. Every now and then you will get sand in your face when the wind blows. It's a really good time to have a picnic, be out with your family and friends, fly a kite, bring your pet dogs along (many people brought theirs). I didn't fly a kite. I was there to check it out and take some photos.
There weren't many big kites. Just a few, probably no more than 5.
But the scale of people flying their kites at the open park was quite a sight.
Vendors: Typical event sort. Lemonade, ice tea, hot dogs, corn dogs, etc. Not a wide spread of choices but I thought it was sufficient for the event.
I will be back. With or without a kite.

Dating from the 1890s, Hyde Park is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Austin. You can pick up a free self-guided tour brochure at the Austin visitor center. Hyde Park's great houses represent a variety of architectural styles, and residents are used to having people stand in front of their home to take pictures.

SXSW (South By South West)

Just like ACL has GREAT music. I again volunteered as a cashier for this one and well...got paid $100 a night, so it was even better! You get free food before they send you out to a club (since there's like 50 clubs hosting various bands throughout 4 nights) and being the cashier you're basically in charge of who gets in. So on a few occasions, things got kind of out of control when the show becomes a sell-out and the line starts to back up down the street. But it was still fun, I got the oppurtunity to meet Laura Flynn Boyle and hang out with Everclears lead singer Art Alexis. I know I don't give much info about SXSW, but just check out there website.

I've opted to go to New Orleans in March this year instead of volunteering, but it still should be a great year.

TONS of people here. You and 70,000 (!) other people can enjoy over 100 bands throughout three days. This picture is just 1/3 of all the bikes that I saw - I have never, ever, seen so many bikes at once. This year was the third year for the festival, and the most crowded. There were even people here from Canada. It's being compared to Woodstock even, by some. Yes, there were people doing drugs but it's totally acceptable as a family place during the day. They even have a little section just for kids with music, face painting, a big 'sandbox,' etc.

While in Austin, renting canoes or Kayaks on Barton Creek is worth a couple hours of your time. Being on the river is a different change of scenery from the hike & bike trail. Make sure to keep a watch for the two black swans who have recently made Barton Creek their home. Bring a hat, sunscreen and water if you go in the summer months. When you are done boating, head over to the Barton Springs for a swim or catch the little train ride that goes through Zilker Park.