Matthew wants you to win!

Matthew McConaughey came over again.

Little amigurumi Matthew McConaughey is back with some interesting news.

He already talked with Austin Eavesdropper about the Top 10 Things to do in Austin. Now he has the scoop on a contest that is running here in Austin for SXSW. It’s pretty serious too, since the grand prize is $5,000 and all you have to do is stroll around downtown scanning QR codes to get the cash!

Citysearch recently appointed me a local Austin scout, which means I’ll be writing reviews and suggestions on my favorite (and not favorite) things here in Austin over on the Citysearch site, starting with SXSW, of course. I’ll be on hand, along with lots of the other Citysearch scouts (a real who’s who of Austin bloggers and who I feel lucky to hang out with!), to help run this pretty sweet scavenger hunt this weekend. Matthew will be with us, just helping out and serenading us with the heavenly intonations of his bongo.

Stores around the downtown Austin area will have cute little signs like this in the window.

When you see little Sid E. Serch, just scan the QR code on the sign and follow the instructions. There will even be instant win prizes when you scan these codes, like $300 on the spot! You don’t have to aimlessly wonder, looking for codes. There will be a list of hints so you can expertly navigate your way around and win that money!

Want some more details? Follow this link for all the details from Citysearch and Sid E. Serch.

Remember! The codes won’t go live until Friday, March 9th at 7:00 pm central. You’ll have until Sunday to find all the codes you can to get the most points.

I’ll leave you all with a candid shot I took while Matthew was practicing his yoga this morning. He’s so uninhibited, isn’t he?

When I wasn’t crocheting…

Something I don’t get much of a chance to talk about: living in this beautiful city! I feel really blessed that my parents decided to move to central Texas before I was born!

Speaking of Austin, and crafts, my husband and I went to the grand opening of a new craft brewery here in South Austin (yes, that’s capitalized because it’s a separate town to us Southies) called South Austin Brewing Company. My husband’s workplace is neighbors with the place and he’d met the guys that run it. We had no idea it was the hot ticket last weekend! We drove up and were astounded at the crowd! Our favorite tex-mex was nearby so we just drove over there and had some drinks. You know, to get ready to drink (ha).

Trudy’s on Little Texas Lane is our favorite place for a Mexican Martini. We got a couple and some Tinga nachos. If we were staying for a full meal, I’m sure one of us would have ordered the Stuffed Avocado (pictured here). After that, my favorite dessert in ALL of Austin. Well, one of my favorites (I’m a dessert girl; aren’t we all?!). The brownie a la mode. It’s got a layer of cream cheese, fudge icing, and is topped with Amy’s Mexican Vanilla ice cream, THE best vanilla ice cream you’ll ever have. Yum. (I promise this is not an ad for Trudy’s!)

We headed back to the brewery and it had slowed down a little. We were able to drive in and park at my husband’s shop and head over. The crowd was still huge.

The inside of the place was really cool. I’d never been inside a brewery, but the first thing I thought of was Breaking Bad. It really looked like Walt and Jesse’s underground meth lab! Just sayin’…

They were sampling two kinds of beer, a Belgian Style Gold Ale, and Saison D’Austin, which were both fantastic! They gave us each three tickets which would have meant three glasses of beer, but that would have put me on the floor. It was pretty strong, but yummy! There was a live band, The Everydudes, and the place was PACKED. It was really interesting to see what a diverse crowd showed up, all in the name of supporting a new local business. Hooray! As soon as the beer gets in the bottle, we will be buying some for sure.

BEER!

So craft beer can count as crafts, right? What other crafts do y’all like? Craft beer? Craftsman tools? Kraft macaroni and cheese? Minecraft?

Oh and speaking of CRAFT, CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel Hobson, of Average Jane Crafter, who was just named Editor in Chief of Craft and who absolutely ROCKS. Her writing, embroidery, eye for awesomeness, wit, all of it combined into one really cool girl put in charge of an already amazing site. Can’t wait to see what she does with it!