Emily Mae Whitaker photography: February 2014

Keep Austin weird. It's actually the best motto a city could have. It truly helps people like me and Julee fit in...as well as people like Vince Hanneman a.k.a. The Junk King. He has this amazing talent for turning discarded junk into an interactive sculpture. After all, one mans trash is another mans treasure. Walking through the space he created was like taking a trip down memory lane. What a trip it was. So many of the pieces were toys, souvenirs, appliances and objects from days past. As if gifts I had previously received, cook wear my grandmother used in her kitchen, CDs I hadn't listened to in ages, fads, and mass produced collectibles had risen from the dead and piled themselves into one soaring mountain. I swear even the fragrance of my playroom and childhood home were somehow incorporated into this shrine of my past. As I explored the nooks and crannies I started belting the Little Mermaids song "A Part of Your World"

Look at this stuff
Isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
The girl who has ev'rything?
Look at this trove
Treasures untold
How many wonders can one cavern hold?
Lookin' around here you'd think
(Sure) she's got everything

I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty
I've got whozits and whatzits galore
(You want thingamabobs?
I got twenty)
But who cares?
No big deal

I want more......

I could have hung around this chaotic collection for hours, but we had other weird Austlandian attractions to cross off our list and some quality time to spend with Gully. Most of our trip was comprised of eating, shopping, yoga, music, sneaking into hotel pools, eating, shopping, dancing in the streets, eating, yoga, eating, making friends, eating, driving like assholes blasting hardcore, eating, riding eliptigos, eating, skull massages, eating wearing animal masks, eating, pedicab rides, and more eating. I am pretty sure we had a milkshake with every meal, as well as ended each meal with an additional dessert. My pants didn't fit by the time I left. Every bite of those 3 chocolate bourbon pies, brownie sundae's, bacon milkshake, pounds of brisket, sausages, tex-mex, lavender mocha lattes.....damn I ate a lot.... were all so worth it.

So the REAL reason we were in Austin, aside to be reunited with my best friend and cause hell with her, was so she could run the Austin half marathon. She shaved 32 minutes off her PR. She is fucking amazing, I am so proud of her. Juleeeeee you are the best fucking friend in the whole fucking world and I fucking love you.