Hi friends!

My company’s taken a huge leap toward opening the first package-free, zero-waste grocery store in the US this week! Our fundraising campaign has begun, and we’re pumped to be kicking things off.

Cat and I are extra excited about this since in.gredients has been a work in progress for over six months. After sifting through handfuls of conceptual ideas, we’ve finally made it to the “going public” stage. A little backstory…as my colleagues (some successful entrepreneurs and good friends) and I continued trying to reduce waste in our homes, we kept running into one problem spot: food packaging. And when we looked into how much food packaging contributes to overall waste streams – and how unnecessary that really is – we (passionately!) brainstormed what we could do to fix things. And in addition to starting a blog, my company decided to go the extra mile (or hundreds of miles…phew) to start a grocery store that did things right.

Here’s the scoop on in.gredients from Addie Broyles, food writer for the Austin American-Statesman‘s Relish Austin blog:

“A group of Austinites is hoping to open a zero-waste grocery store in East Austin this fall that, unlike traditional stores, doesn’t sell food in disposable packaging.

Customers at in.gredients will be asked to bring in their own containers or use the store’s reusable ones to buy items shipped in bulk instead of pre-packaged in boxes, bags or plastic.

In.gredients has started getting the word out about the project through its website, Twitter account and Facebook page.

Marketing director Brian Nunnery says that in order to open store as planned in October, they need to meet several fundraising goals before then. They have started taking contributions through IndieGoGo, but will be hosting other fundraising events later in the year.”

It’s been awesome to see how many folks care about sustainable living and want to jump on board! So if you love the idea, check out in.gredients online – and better yet, donate to our IndieGoGo campaign! We’ve got to complete our final lap (fundraising) in order to start up by year’s end.

Love you all – and here’s to good food!

He was quite confused by PhotoBooth.

Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 07:41

Thursday, 26 May 2011, 07:12

Friday, 3 June 2011, 07:59

We’re fortunate to know all our neighbors. And not just the houses next to us – we know almost everyone on the two streets our lot straddles, and know more folks a few blocks away. We frequently chat with people and wave to folks walking by. Our mailman knows us. We knew we could expect a more “homey” atmosphere moving from an apartment complex to a traditional neighborhood – and maybe we’re just blown away by what’s normal in neighborhoods – but we didn’t expect this type of community so soon. It’s really great.

An urban farm near our house

Also small-town-ish: the landscape. The Eastside is nothing but two-lane streets, small businesses, and micro-farms. There’s not a lot of traffic. Lots of people grow industrial quantities of produce in their yards, raise chickens, and ride their bikes. It’s very different than what we’ve been used to: the crowded Lamars and Guadalupes of the city, with blood-vessel-popping commuters short-cutting down neighborhood streets paralleling Mopac. Plus, everything’s within a mile give or take from our house, and we run into people we know a lot. That’s new for us too…it feels weird being able to see the Frost Bank Tower from our street but live in a hey-Mary’s-chicken-got-out-again and the-postman-is-three-minutes-late world.

So all this to say, maybe we’re just learning what it’s like to be homeowners – but we’ve really fallen in love with the “small-ness” of our immediate community. Living in the big city, that’s a bonus.

Is Austin really a “weird” city fighting a gravitational pull toward normalcy? Is Georgetown really the world’s standard for normal living, threatened by a geographical proximity to a city known for its not-Georgetown-ness? In this essay I present each standpoint in an exposé of how ambiguous each campaign – and our thoughts about weirdness and normalcy – really are.

Let us first discuss the origin of each phrase. “Keep Austin Weird” was allegedly coined by Austin resident Red Wassenich while donating to one of Austin’s public radio stations; Wassenich was praising public radio stations for continuing to play music from up-and-coming independent artists, music rarely found on what most consider mainstream or “top 40″ radio. The phrase was soon adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in the city. Wassenich took ownership of the phrase, launching keepaustinweird.com and creating a keep-your-money-local campaign that spread like wildfire through Austin, mostly due to the campaign’s legendary bumper sticker. Rhetorically, Keep Austin Weird describes local businesses as “weird” because they aren’t what’s considered “normal” in America, where large national chains dominate both the retail market and major urban arterials.

“Keep Georgetown Normal” was a bumper sticker created in 2005 by Duke’s BBQ Smokehouse – ironically, a local Georgetown business. The phrase quickly caught on in Georgetown and nearby Round Rock; T-shirts and caps were soon made by Duke’s and sold at local festivals and shops. The campaign received quite a bit of attention in Austin, and even spawned more a ideologically-agnostic campaign by the city of Pflugerville in 2007, claiming it lay between a “Rock and a Weird Place.” Rhetorically, Keep Georgetown Normal assigned no particular meaning to “normal,” but rather acknowledged that Georgetown was, in fact, different than Austin, and that most Georgetown residents weren’t interested in becoming more like Austin – whatever that meant.

Marketing the terms “weird” and “normal” is obviously lucrative in that people can assign their own meanings to the words. Indeed, folks in Austin can apply blanket stereotypes based on what they believe is “normal” to Georgetown residents; folks in Georgetown can do the same to “weird” Austinites. But while we can acknowledge that this type of stereotyping happens in both cities, we must also acknowledge the fact that Georgetown’s phrase isn’t based on an actual doing-good-for-the-city idea. It’s based on an idea that people in Georgetown think Austin is weird.

In actuality, if we’re going to be literal with the origins of each phrase, Keep Georgetown Normal implies that folks in Georgetown don’t like local businesses, and actively try to keep money flowing only to national chains. But that’s not the case at all. While many people in Georgetown enjoy eating at big-box restaurants like Applebee’s and Chili’s, many also enjoy eating at Monument Cafe and Duke’s BBQ. In Keep Austin Weird terms, Georgetown residents are keeping the city both weird and normal. But Georgetown’s phrase doesn’t share the same meaning.

So what does Keep Georgetown Normal mean, then? It’s not hard to find the answer. Since the phrase is a reaction to Austin’s “weirdness,” and because the weirdness is not defined as “supporting local businesses,” we must instead discuss other differences between the two cities.

First, Austin has more people. Nearly 700,000 more people at least. That alone presents such key differences as more traffic, more crime, and more of everything else. Austin’s also more ethnically diverse than Georgetown, where whites still dominate in every category – and due to its size more culturally diverse, which is common in any large city. Austin is statistically more liberal than Georgetown, primarily due to a large Hispanic and Black population and a larger percentage of residents with college degrees. Austin’s economy is very tech-centric, while Georgetown’s micro-economy is more agricultural in nature.

From this we deduct that the Georgetown phrase deems the following “weird”:

1. That Austin has more people
2. That Austin is more diverse
3. That Austin is more liberal
4. That Austin’s economy isn’t agriculturally-oriented

Now let’s get to the bottom of this. It’s perfectly fine to prefer living in a place with less people (re: “weird” thing No. 1). Living in a smaller town yields less traffic and less crime simply because there are less people. It’s also okay to prefer living in an ag-centric micro-economy, all financial and industry aspects considered (re: “weird” thing No. 4). And since by nature humans prefer being close to people who are similar to them, it is perfectly natural for folks in Georgetown to feel more comfortable around people who share the same ethnicity and political outlook as them (re: “weird” things 2 and 3).

What’s troublesome is how the phrase is presented. When you break down Nos. 2 and 3 a little further, you realize Keep Georgetown Normal is essentially saying that being (a) white and (b) conservative politically is “normal,” and that being Hispanic, Black, etc and Democratic in outlook is “weird.” With this in mind, Keep Georgetown Normal is no longer the cute reactionary phrase that’s funny to see on the back of cars – it becomes a form of ideological and ethnic bigotry.

But let’s turn the tables. Keep Austin Weird – though purposed intentionally to promote local business – gives Austinites the opportunity to assign their own meanings to “weird.” Since many people in the 18-35 age range visit local eateries downtown, Keep Austin Weird can be stretched to mean “Keep Austin Young” or “Keep Austin Hip.” Similarly, Austinites can define “normal” as anything not-weird, or “not like us.” Since generally diverse Austin is overwhelmingly liberal while generally homogenous Georgetown is overwhelmingly conservative, Austinites can easily demonize white conservatives by deeming them “normal,” rallying around a definition of “weird” they’re actually defining as “the same as me.”

This is the essence of both phrases: original purposes aside, each represents a celebratory phrase people can use to feel connected to those like them in their communities. To some stereotypically white, conservative long-time Georgetown residents who eat at Applebee’s and drive a Ford Excursion, “Keep Georgetown Normal” really means “I enjoy living near people I can relate to.” Likewise, stereotypically young, liberal Austinites eating trailer food and commuting by bicycle exclaim “Keep Austin Weird” and really mean “I enjoy living near people I can relate to.”

That being said, which phrase wins? There is apparent prejudice on both sides – an equal offense – but because that prejudice neglects the original purpose of the phrases, we must judge the two based on their intended meanings, not those popularly extrapolated from them. Keep Austin Weird encourages people to spend their money at local businesses instead (or in addition to, at least) of national chains in order to best support the local economy. No legitimate case against this ideology exists since it’s a “good for everyone” cause. Because of the campaign, eating and shopping locally has become extremely popular in Central Austin, so much so that few chain restaurants and stores can be found north of Ben White and south of US 183.

Keep Georgetown Normal has no public purpose, but was rather created as a new revenue source piggy-backing off Keep Austin Weird. In opposition to Keep Austin Weird, Keep Georgetown Normal promotes ditching local businesses for corporate Anytown USA stores – but in reality encourages Georgetown folks to value what distinguishes themselves from Austinites: less diversity and less tolerance. This encourages outsiders to perceive those from Georgetown as bigots – not folks who value the community they have in smaller-than-Austin Georgetown, which we can assume is often the case.

That’s why Keep Austin Weird trumps Keep Georgetown Normal. Now take that phrase and make it mean whatever you want.

Brian invited our extended families over for a BBQ right after church, and I was frantically getting the house together. I hear a knock on the door- 10 minutes early- and open it to berate my mother for interrupting my cleaning spree. Then I blanch. In her arms is a little black ball of fluff. Time stood still as my mind frantically tried to explain what my eyes saw. But the only explanation I could come up with was that this pup is… mine!

His name is Salem, and he was abandoned at a shelter in Ft. Worth. A wonderful doggie foster mom rescued him, got him vet care, and nursed him to health. When my mom called and asked if she knew of a dog for Brian and me, she thought Salem would be a perfect fit- and he is.

He’s about 7 months old, a phantom poodle and shih tzu mix, and already house trained (thank goodness). He’s absolutely perfect (don’t all parents say that?), and my mind hasn’t focused on anything else since his arrival into our family.

We’re beyond thrilled to welcome him into our house.

I will admit that, unsurprisingly, I am stressing out about being a good parent. The first few days-months- are so crucial for setting up good behavioral patterns. He has so much to learn– what’s ok to chew; what’s not ok to chew; no jumping on the bed; no peeing on the one-of-a-kind Tibetan tiger rug; bark at scary people but not at friends; expect unconditional love and protection from us. It’s intimidating!

(It’s also an excuse to shop. It took me approximately 20 hours after Salem’s arrival to sign up for the Petsmart rewards card.)

You are all invited to come meet the newest member of The Nunnery. Bring a bone! (Tiny one, for little teeth).

Last night we decided to enjoy our first Eastside date. We set out for Cool Haus, a trailer eatery on East 6th serving Houston-sized ice cream sandwiches (homemade cookie + 1″ of ice cream + another cookie). But our plans were thwarted when we learned via Cat’s iPhone that Cool Haus is only open Thursday and Friday nights. So we parked on East 5th and decided to walk to some other trailers to find something yummy.

We got out of our car and heard music everywhere. People were everywhere – on top of cars, roofs, and some cases other people. Turns out one of our favorite bands, Mumford and Sons, was playing only 100 yards from where we were standing! So we got to listen to our favorite album…LIVE…in our new neighborhood. There’s nothing not to love about the Eastside.

Our new mailbox!

Our front porch chairs (to be sat in this evening when it’s cooler):

Our healthiest rose bush:

Our healthiest lantanas (native plants that can handle deathly climates like ours):

And a quick glance at the Nunnery’s bright daytime colors:

I want to get a nun statue to mount in the front garden…

I would like to speak in this post of how wonderful our new neighborhood is. Before finding this house I didn’t realize Homewood Heights existed – indeed, the small neighborhood (only four streets) is tucked away atop a hill between 12th and Oak Springs, with two entrances and three dead ends. At our previous apartment, it was hard for us to build community with those around us, especially since everyone else had kids. While our new neighborhood is similarly diverse (since we’re a part of gentrification, this will be an interesting sociological experience – much more to say in another post here), we’ve been happy to meet at least 8 different neighbors so far – and look forward to a wine-and-weeding party at the neighborhood Community Garden this week.

Those we’ve met have had nothing but good things to say about Homewood Heights, commonly including (1) it’s a small neighborhood where everyone knows each other; (2) it’s full of friendly folks; (3) everyone walks “the loop” at night, which on Google Maps is Sol Wilson/Oakgrove/Crest/Ridgeway streets; (4) everyone rides their bike to run errands; (5) everyone has mailboxes on their house or on the street (our new mailbox is the old-style curb-side mailbox with the little red flag on the side!).

So we’re really happy we’ve been blessed with a nice neighborhood in the location we wanted, and thankful we know people around us. We hope we can stay here for a long time. The market tells us to do that anyway…

We’re closing on a house tomorrow (!!!). We can hardly believe it. We conceived the idea to buy a house last fall, going as far as hiring a realtor before we thought “is this really feasible right now?” Turns out, it is. And after two foiled (and stressful) attempts to buy two other not-so-good properties, we’re thankful for a gem of a first home.

Our new house sits atop a beautiful East Austin hill, roughly 1.8 miles from the State Capitol:

The house (after tomorrow’s closing titled “The Nunnery,” and for now referred to as “our ridiculously adorable house”) is a remodeled 1947 bungalow (before/after pictures here) – very typical on the Eastside, where older homes are getting makeovers left and right. The builder of the home has told us the tiny little neighborhood (Homewood Heights) is full of young married couples and families who have lived there for a long time. We’re looking forward to meeting lots of neighbors and being in fellowship with the community (please pray for this), which has, I must say here, a community garden!

We’re very excited – mainly about having a dishwasher, a washer/dryer, and non-window-unit AC – and want all of you to visit us! And we have something new and exciting to blog about now, so you’ll probably see a lot more updates in the coming weeks (empty promise for now).