Yippee! I’ve been blogging about Austin’s food scene for a full year now!

Thank you so much for following along!

My first year of food blogging was wayyy more fun that I even anticipated. This was my plan for blogging: start, and have fun. Haha. 🙂 I decided that the ONLY reason to blog would be if it brings me enjoyment. I know a lot of people are starting blogs these days with the hope of going full-time from it, or using it as a side hustle to bring in extra income. But if that was my primary reason and I didn’t enjoy the process, it wouldn’t be worth it. It HAS to be fun!

I’m happy to report that I’ve had INSANE amounts of fun this year, and now I’m excited to begin year 2!

Hands down, the best part about blogging has been trying so many restaurants! I’ve always enjoyed eating out; it’s one of my favorite ways to spend time and money! But this year, I’ve eaten out more than usual with the intention of getting to know Austin’s food scene as best as I can. And it has been So. Much. Fun!

The best surprise about blogging has been making friends. I didn’t expect this! I knew I would meet a few new faces along the way, but I wasn’t anticipating any true friendships to form. But oh my gosh, I’m just so thankful for this! I’ve made friends from blogging that I hang out with on a regular basis, whether we’re doing blog-related things or not.

The most shocking thing about blogging is how easy it is to get my feelings hurt. I haven’t been cyber bullied this year, but I guess I don’t have as thick of skin as I thought I did, and little comments sometimes rub me the wrong way. This is forcing me to get to know myself even better through reading, meditation, journaling, and spending time with my best friends. Since I’m sharing certain parts of my life with such a large audience, I have to know who I am and what I believe, and then I just have to let the other stuff float away.

My favorite new skill I’ve learned from blogging has been photography! I bought this camera in February, and after lots of discussions with friend Kiera and countless YouTube videos, I feel fairly confident about shooting in manual mode.

Ok, ready for the recap of all the places I ate this year? (Ha! Can you tell I have type A personality? I HAD to keep a list of everywhere I ate during my first year…) This list doesn’t include the places I ate while traveling…these are just Austin restaurants.

YEAR 1 OF BLOGGING

Restaurants:

*Salt Traders Coastal Cooking

*Veracruz

Hopdoddy

Old Thousand

Vox Table

*Uchi

Eastside Tavern

*Pinthouse Pizza

*Dai Due

Central Standard

*Poke Poke

*Chi’lantro

Vespaio

*888 Pan Asian

*ABGB

*Emmer and Rye

Aviator Pizza

*Peached Tortilla

General Tso Boy

*Winebelly

New India

Taverna

Fixe

*Easy Tiger

*Thai Fresh

Modern Market

*Polvo’s

*Fresa’s

Banger’s

Kerby Lane

Jacoby’s

*Ramen Tatsu-ya

Irene’s

Marker 10

Mattie’s

*Lenoir

Z’Tejas

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Shack 512

Jack Allen’s

Veggie Heaven

Forthright Cafe

Shake Shack

Blue Dahlia

Toss

Sophia’s

Bufalina

Knotty Deck

*JT Youngblood’s

Italic

*Chicon

Boiler Nine

*Sway

ATX Cocina

Revelry Bar And Kitchen

Russo’s Pizzeria

Pitchfork Pretty

Tiny Boxwoods

Daruma Ramen

Kerbey Lane

Native Hostel

*Phoebe’s Diner

Cafe Josie

2nd Bar And Kitchen

Cisco’s

*Tyson’s Tacos

*Batch

*Elizabeth St Cafe

Contigo

Walton’s Fancy and Staple

The Factory (Cafe with a Soul)

*Chicon

Juniper

Breweries/Bars

South Austin Brewery

Peche

4th Tap

Lazarus

*St. Elmo’s Brewery

*ABGB

Hops & Grain

South Austin Brewery

Back Beat

*Small Victories

*Craft Pride

Port Suvite

Craftsman Bar

*Half Step

Javelina

Zilker Brewing

Seven Grand

Las Perlas

Desert Door Sotol Distiller

*Winebelly

*Infinite Monkey Theorem

Jester King

Food Trucks:

*Soursop

Biscuits and Groovy

Leroy and Lewis

Jacoby’s Just Casual

Burro Cheese Kitchen

Southern Bunny Shaved Ice

*Sno Beach

Mighty Cone

*Tumble 22

*Churro Co.

*Mickelthwait Craft Meats

*Valentina’s

*Patika Food Truck

*Kreyol Korner

Dessert

*Lick Honest Ice Creams

*Sugar Mama’s Bake Shop

Tasty Spoon

*Dolce Neve

The Science Cream

Cold Cookie Company

Spun

Bribery Bakery

*La Patisserie

*Steel City Pops

Quack’s Bakery

Upper Crust

Irene’s Pork and Pie

*Tiny pies

La Mexicana

Prohibition Creamery

Sandy’s Frozen Custard

Breakfast

Wholy Bagels

*Rosen’s Bagels

*Bougie’s Donuts

Gourdough’s

Juice Land

*Soup Peddler

Snooze

Coffee

7th Flag

Spokesman

*Figure 8 Coffee Purveyors

Manana

Patika

Stouthaus

Stonehouse

*Houndstooth

*Fleet Coffee

Brentwood Social House

Sa-Ten

Fleet

*My name is Joe

Phew! That was a lot of food to eat in a year. And believe it or not, my “to-eat” list in Austin just keeps getting longer and longer. If you know Austin, you know that there’s a constant turn over of restaurants. Every year, about 100 new restaurants open…and unfortunately, a lot of them will close, too. So I just keep exploring and eating and sharing my food with you!  (If you’re wondering why I love going to lots of classes at The Barre Code, this is it…)

And to you, friend, I just have to say THANK YOU! Thanks for showing up, day after day, and reading my writing.

I love getting to hang out with you here every day! This blog is about exploring Austin’s food scene, living every day to the fullest, and loving the people you’re with. I’m convinced that every one of you who reads this blog wants the same thing out of every day: to pack it full of SO MUCH LIFE. So thank you, thank you, thank you for being my friend, reading my blog, and allowing me to live a life that makes me giddy with excitement to wake up every morning to start a new day!

Here’s my question for you: what would you like to see more of on the blog? What type of posts are fun for you to read? What’s a total snooze fest? Let me know, because this blog is for YOU! If you want to see more of a certain style of post, I’d love to create it for you!

Love y’all. Thanks for reading!

Kelsey

Psst: my main party is here on my blog, but here are the other places you can find me:

Instagram

Pinterest

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

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