Soco a.k.a South Congress

Back in February my boyfriend, the father of my beautiful baby daughter, RC - asked me if I wanted to go out to Texas to visit his mother. He asked me this question around 11am, by mid after noon - we were packing, by 5am the next day we were on the road. That's just the nature of how we do things...spontaneously.

Well, in retrospect - that one spontaneous, "yeah, that sounds like fun"...would turn into a life changing trip and the beginning of a whole new life adventure.

When we got to his mother's ranch, we were greeted with a loving "granny" who was so happy and willing to play babysitter to her newly born baby granddaughter. Considering she was not even 3 months old at the time, it was a welcome opportunity to go on a day date.

RC drove me into Austin...the nearest major city, determined to show me around where he had once lived. We did some sight seeing and then it hit him...he knew just where to take me...a little gem, a budding district called "Soco" or as the locals know it by "South Congress".

Well, it was love at first sight.

Imagine if you can a mixture of Los Feliz and Melrose, all rolled into this mile or so long bustling, yet not crowded, strip. The energy, the vibe - man I could just tell something exciting was happening here. And well, turns out - something is...

South Congress many moons ago was a shady part of town, just south of the State Capitol. I still don't have the entire history, but the basic gist is that a lot of Government officials used to get caught hanging out there...with their pants down....

Then about 10 years ago a revitalization project began and it's a completely different scene. Boutiques, vintage, high-end, new developments, a wealth of amazing little holes in the wall - each with their own personal touch and style, diners, cafes, you name it, they have it...

One of the things that I found charming were the vintage "silver bullet" trailers up and down the street that have been converted into cupcake stands, hot dog stands and good ole' fashion BBQ joints. This being no small business indeed...one of the cupcake trailers has blossomed into a nationwide business and was just featured in Forbes magazine. And I will attest, their red velvet cupcake was off the charts.

But I want to say this, that even amongst all this expansion...every single person I met, every place I went was real, down to earth and still had that "big hearted" Texas feel.

Well, there I was walking down the street and I just felt this sense of peace. The kind you feel when you receive a heartfelt hug or when you've just gone out of your way to do a good deed. And it was at the defining moment that I knew I was happy here, this place had changed me and as it turns out there was no going back.

And so my friends, my South Congress adventures began...

Love, Kristina