A Weekend of Vegan-Eating and Shopping in the ATX!

Girls' Weekend in Austin, TX was a frickin' BLAST (not that there was ever any doubt that it wouldn't be)! And surprise, suprise... I ate vegan - even during 2:30am snackin'!!! (Hungry Hubby might have been a little skeptical about my willpower in that state, booya, I SHOWED YOU!)

Let's hit the food first. The lovely Lauren had pointed me in the direction of tons of Vegan joints in Austin (thanks girl!) but since I was with a bunch of non-Vegan girls, I decided to "go with the flow" and find Vegan options wherever we went.

We arrived at my girls' apartment around 7:30pm on Friday, had a few glasses of wine while applying za makeup (hey, I said I ATE Vegan, I didn't say I drank that way... ;), and then headed straight to TRUDY'S. YUMMMMMM! This was one of my favorite places to stop on my way downtown when I was an Austinite, so I was thrilled to be back. It was my first time at Trudy's in over 2 years. Here's how my dinner started:

A famously amazing Mexican Martini with some chips and salsa. (By the way, thank goodness tortilla chips are gluten-free! Can I get an amen!?!?)

Dinner was a side salad with cukes, mushrooms, and sprouts. It was DELISH, but I forgot to take a pictoral. I was having too much fun gabbing with my girls!!!

Brunch the next morning was Panera (we wanted something easy to grab and take back home to eat while we watched Sex and the City 2). Sidenote: SATC 2 was so utterly disappointing. It was sofreakingCHEEZY. The corny jokes were outta control.... who approved that script!??! Holla at me if you agree!

I had vegetable soup and a classic salad with basalmic + an apple I never ate.

Early dinner was at Kona Grill in the Domain on the patio, the weather was so gorgeous!

Some edamame followed by a vegetarian roll and some more vino.

Here were some of the late-night snacks I devoured nibbled on both nights:

Lightly-salted organic popcorn and hummus+carrots!

While I'm bummed I missed out on vegan soft-serve and other incredible Austin-only vegan eats, I'm proud of myself for navigating more mainstream menus.

Onto another highlight from the trip, hitting up the Domain! The Domain is an outdoor shopping mecca in North Austin. It has large department stores, lots of smaller stores, plus restaurants, ice cream, etc. It's such a nice area, and it has grown leaps and bounds since I lived in Austin. Now they have a Zara, and more importantly, a Forever 21. I am a loyal F21 shopper, but it is hit-and-miss. I can walk in there sometimes and come out empty-handed. Well Saturday in Austin, F21 was def a hit!! I scored lots of goodies:

Lots of great tunics and tops for work plus the little black corset dress I wore out on Saturday night. I have also been wanting a pair of nude heels forever, and while these aren't the best quality, I love the look and they were a steal at 17 bucks!

Here is a pic of the 4 of us on the town:

And here's a pic to show you what we're really like. ;))) And no, we really have no idea where we got those hats. I do remember swiping those glasses from a dude who thought they looked good on him... he was sadly mistaken.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends! Check back tomorrow for my vegan grocery haul and a recipe for spicy vegetable and bean soup with an easy adaptation for the hungry hubby in your life! ;)

What good vegan foods did you eat this weekend? Any good shopping finds?