Category Archives: texas

February 7, 2012 · 1:59 pm

4 letter words that spell TROUBLE

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sassy, cheeky, awesome

4 letter words

meet leah (yes i corrupted her with a boa)

LEAH & LOLA

you know me ole lola*wink wink*

partners in crime – like thelma & louise – we were destined to meet & be friends!

it’s funny how friendship strikes.  sometimes it is truly like a lightening bolt and other times it’s a slow-growing metamorphosis like a caterpillar into butterfly. either way, if it grows into something mutually fulfilling, it is a beautiful thing. i have had the good fortune of a lightening bolt friendship recently! let me break it down…

  • lola & leah start travel blogging roughly at the same time – both become active on twitter. follow us @L_e_a_h & @loladimarco (at least WE think we are clever & funny)
  • lola & leah cross paths and have a common bond besides love of travel. (TEXAS. and then football. & then Texas Tech)
  • lola & leah have a similar silly sense of humor! this makes for fun dialog at any point in time. (thank the good lord for comic relief!)
  • lola & leah instigate a tweet-up & make a plan to meet. both are equally serious & committed. (not at all full of hot air)
  • lola & leah FINALLY meet. after instantaneous hugging, both realize we have enough shimmer, sparkle & sequins in our wardrobes to be spotted from outer space! (note: wear sunglasses when with us)
  • lola & leah realize this brightly colored sparkly wardrobe we each own is ALL from Jcrew. (major addiction)

Austin loves you too, leah…so does lola

  • lola & leah, during our weekend of adventures, find out that we both drive big ass SUV’s (lola = suburban, leah = escalade)

    texas pride mounted on lola’s big ass suburban

  • lola & leah learn we both like big jangly jewels, loads of beauty products, enjoy good food and were both in a sorority. (duh..we ARE both texas girls!)

i love you too, Austin! (check out the big baubley necklace)

  • lola & leah sadly have to part ways but have been in touch daily ever since planning our world domination one small city at a time. (WhaaWhaaWhaaaaa) AND coordinating Jcrew sales (let’s be real)

mulling over our master plans

in all seriousness – i have made a new dear friend for life and i have my adventurous traveling spirit to thank…AND LEAH’S! thank you leah!! look out WORLD…we are plotting & coming after you with a vengeance.  (something akin to laverne & shirley) 🙂

PS: we have so much in common that when you google our real life names you’ll find porn stars share our name.  in my mind, they are fast friends with each other too! (haha)

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February 6, 2012 · 12:10 pm

#TexasTweetUp: getting social & making new friends

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welcome to Texas

a small idea and few people – all whom have common passion in travel – led to a BIG plan to meet up/tweet up in Austin, Texas a few weeks ago.  the result (besides lots of great food, drinks & fun) is friendships that we’ll have for some time to come.

it all started with Twitter and travel chats that led to the VERY social, savvy and social media embracing – Four Seasons Austin – who helped us to organize a happy hour to meet other social media & travel blogger types during our weekend stay.  truly, we cannot thank you enough for supporting this little venture and your parent company, Four Seasons, should be so proud of your keen efforts.

TexasTweetUp posse

here’s a little sampling of the aftermath of our #TexasTweetUp:

@FSAustin I’m missing your rose garden today. You know they are my favorite color…HOT PINK! #Austin #Texas
@LolaDiMarco you know you’re welcome back ANY time 🙂

how lovely, FSAustin! thank you, i’ll be back!

Leah Travels (@L_e_a_h)
#Texas & I will miss @loladimarco. The Lone Star State isn’t nearly as fun w/ her not here. @FSAustin #TexasTweetup@ilivetotravel @kirkcole

i miss Texas and miss my new pal, leah too! xoxo

Raul (@ilivetotravel)
Best experience in Twitter: it led to the #TexasTweetup last wkend in Austin – great to meet folks I’ve chatted w/ in Twitterland #nuts

during a post-#TexasTweetUp travel chat, raul had this to say. i agree, raul. so wonderful to put a real life face to the people i’ve grown to adore on Twitter. can’t wait for our next TweetUp!

anytime I am talking about travel, I get inspired. but yes#TexasTweetUp a few weeks ago #TTOT @ilivetotravel@LolaDiMarco @L_E_A_H

and kirk said the #TexasTweetUp weekend inspired him. me too! i really love getting to know other people & hear about what they are up to and their experiences. makes life so much richer! this is one of the BIG reasons i love to travel.

SO whats on the horizon for future TweetUps you may be wondering? none other that a #USTweetUpTour! there is talk of #BeerBaconBostonTweetUp in late April and #WindyCityTweetUp in May. stay tuned…we’ll be tweeting about it and would love ANY interested fellow travelers to JOIN US. the more the merrier!

adios for now until the next TweetUp

PS – for a play by play of our weekend adventures visit Leah Travels

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January 30, 2012 · 7:49 am

a Texan cinderella story

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howdy lola-rella

once upon a time there was a lovely lady named lola who was living in Massachusetts but really she was Texan at heart. she was sassy, fun-loving & flirty and loved to travel.

miles away, in Austin, Texas, was a magical destiny waiting for lola. and, NO, it wasn’t a cute cowboy prince charming.

lola's palace - the capitol of TEXAS

little did lola know that her bird friends had transformed an old vintage pair of boots into the perfect thing lola just had to have.

how ever did they do it?

enter lola’s Fairy Gold American Express card to wave its magic wand and turn the pumpkin into an airplane to take her to Austin and find her destiny.

i adore you fairy gold american express! you make ALL my dreams come true

this turned into JetBlue flight #1263!

once there, the Fairy Gold American Express card led lola to a little store on South Congress – Off The Wall. then, the most magical thing happened! that Fairy Gold American Express card turned lola’s old english-style riding boots into the most beautiful pair of pink cowboy boots any girl has ever seen. “oh, how happy I am” lola said to herself.

old boring boots

unfortunately, there was just one “stroke of midnight” catch…Off The Wall only had ONE pair of these boots and they were ONE size too small for lola. could you imagine the disappointment?! would she be able to squeeze her foot into that tiny boot? as one wise boot saleswoman said to lola, “for the right boot, you can make your foot fit“.

couldn't you just die!

guess what? it was true – lola slipped on those tiny boots! she had found her true love!

a blissful union!

and they lived happily ever after!

THE END

*beautiful capitol pic is by mr. kirk coleman

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January 27, 2012 · 9:52 am

Deep in the Heart of Texas – Salt Lick BBQ

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lauren’s spicy sauce, indeed!

located just 25 south of Austin, Texas is a town called Driftwood. i think the only reason people reside there or travel through is to get their hands on the BEST BBQ EVER!!! (and this is reason enough) as i said in my earlier Austin, Texas post – DO NOT CHEAT YOURSELF out of having an amazing culinary experience at SALT LICK BBQ! and that’s not even all they have to offer. here’s what else:

a scenic property

isn’t it lovely?!

meat meat meat

can almost taste the mesquite just looking at this

personalized sauce

just kidding – they ONLY did it for ME (haha)

beer by the bucket

none other than TX shiner beer

wine tasting while you wait

$5 for five samples – pretty tasty deal, no?!

fun & clever t-shirts

can you guess which one i like best?

satisfied customers

everything is BIG & the BBQ is the best in TEXAS

ps-photo credit…salt lick for the property pic, kirk coleman for the bbq & beer pics, leah for the big bus & raul for the rockin pic of me with my spicy sauce – nice shots!!

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January 26, 2012 · 10:22 am

terms of endearment Texas style

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a warm welcome from Austin

you may have heard the phrase “keep Austin weird” and i’m sure there are several reasons for this city tag line. for me, the “weirdest” thing i encountered during my visit to Austin was how incredibly friendly and endearing all the people were to me. literally, within 3 hours of being there i was referred to as “sweetheart, darlin’ & hon”. if you don’t know this about me or couldn’t guess…i REALLY like to be sweet-talked to!

the bartender behind me gave me my first Austin "sweetheart"!

needless to say, i was in heaven in Austin. people were especially smiley and some even went out of their way to compliment me in one way or another. for example, at one of the restaurants where we had dinner, a gaggle of girls that were busy chatting up a storm with each other made a point to let me know how much they liked my outfit. are you kidding me?? women complimenting other women…practically unheard of!! HOW NICE! another example was when a man struck up a conversation with me to say that it takes a lot of confidence to pull off pink boots and i was doing it well. talk about an ego boost!

if you’re ever feeling a bit low and unloved, i recommend you visit Austin, Texas ASAP to get a Texas-sized dose of compliments and terms of endearment.

thanks again Austin!

SWAK – lola

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