This past month has been completely insane. Back in April, Scott and I made the decision to move to my hometown of Austin, Texas. We had a few months to wrap our heads around the idea, but it wasn’t until I sold my car, crammed all of our belongings into a Budget moving truck, hitched Scott’s car to the truck, moved out of our apartments and hit the road that IT GOT REAL. We spent four days on the road and I really enjoyed having that time to laugh, scream and think about how OMG it’s happening. We’re really going for it!
Why are we going for it? I’ve always kind of kept moving back to Austin someday in the back of my brain, though I never thought it’d be this soon! The move was actually Scott’s idea. When he first brought it up, my response was… DUH! He fell in love with Austin on one of our trips and decided it’s the perfect place to start his production company and a new chapter of his life. He’s been in LA for the past ten years and he’s looking forward to getting to know a city that may be a bit more like his Oregon upbringing. (Green, outdoorsy and friendly… but with a lot more queso, breakfast tacos and visits to Jester King Brewery.)
It’s been 20 years since I lived in Austin. I spent my younger days making candles at Eeyore’s Birthday Party, riding on my step dad’s shoulders in the Capitol 10,000, winning 1st place (holler!) in the costume pet parade with my sis and our German Shepherd/wolf named Rasta (dressed in homemade Batman costumes), spinning under the Zilker Park Christmas tree, trekking through the Greenbelt from my backyard to Barton Springs and shopping the sh*t out of Barton Creek Square Mall. I attended almost every school in South Austin. I went to kindergarten on the drag at St. Austin’s, where I was always super jelly of the young punk-bums with bright blue hair. I went to Travis Heights Elementary, before transferring to Zilker Elementary, then to Fulmore Middle School on South Congress, then Barton Hills Elementary. I was a cheerleader at Martin Junior High who knew more about how to do the Tootsee Roll than a Toe-Touch. Then a life curveball moved me to San Antonio just before high school. I experienced quite a culture shock transitioning from going to school on the East side of Austin back in the day to going to high school in a fancy-pants area of San Antonio. It was um… different.
Though I’ve moved all over Texas, lived in New York and of course the lovely Culver City, Austin has always felt right to me. The energy, the people, the food, the music, the sense of community, the food, the food, the food… it’s home to me. I’m incredibly excited to get to know Austin again. It’s a bit emotional for me. It’s fun for me. It’s thrilling for me. It’s just wild. Austin has definitely changed since I was a kid and I can’t wait to explore it all with Scott! And fill y’all in on our shenanigans, duh!
As far as the blog goes, you can definitely expect it to evolve. Since I’m stoked to immerse myself in all things Austin, Austin and the surrounding areas (GUH, so many great places!) will play a big role here at Mustache Melrose. But you’ll also see a gang-load of photos from all of our travels outside of Texas. I still want to show you guys pics from our trips to Hawaii, Disneyland, Santa Barbara and a few fun outings in LA. Once we get settled, I’ll get to work on updating the hell out of y’all. In the meantime, follow along on Instagram and enjoy the pics from our road trip below. Spoiler alert: TEEPEES.
Talk soon!
XO,
Mel
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