Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve {full of good Champagne or apple cider}.  Party hard and get ready for the best year ever - xoxo darling, Hayden.

Resolutions in Review

{From Haute Table's Instagram: 1: Wynwood // 2: Colorful Photo Wall // 3: St. Elmo // 4: Lilly + Jack // 5: To The Girl Who Didn't Get In // 6: Paris Travel Guide // 
7: Week Re-Cap // 8: Maroon Athens // 9: Western Wear} 

Every year I make resolutions and it is that time of the year to review how I did on them. I did a 1/2 year update in the summer but now we shall see what the second half of the year brought.

1. Organize - I would say I got a 70% on this goal. I did switch to GMail, and it has been a godsend but I didn't do exactly what I wanted with it. I am currently in the place of deleting tons of emails so I can start the new year with an {almost} empty inbox & trash can. I did use my Lilly planner a lot this fall semester and it will come in handy in the spring. I recently organized my iPhoto, something that hadn't been done since 2014 {!} and I feel so much better about that. My desktop was a disaster in the fall but it has since been cleaned. Also, this semester I will be doing a mass cleaning of my laptop's hard drive because I will no longer need a ton of the files that exist. My apartment is hit or miss but I did do some heavy organizing of part of it so I'm fairly proud.

2. Activity - I think this actually went really well. As I said when I made my resolutions I would only be with my best friend when she went to UT but since she graduated I have become closer with some of my now best friends and I have made new friends in some of my classes. It has been so nice getting to know people who were only acquaintances last year. I also stepped up in the Texas Exes Student Ambassador program and have been able to meet a ton of new people through that {they're all amazing}. I'm looking forward to this goal continuing in 2018 as I am no longer president of Texas Ladybirds so I can focus on some of my, previously, lesser organizations.

3. Effort - Oh this was a definite accomplishment...but also I now have issues with this goal...so there is that. On the first part, studying/spending more time studying I DID! Spring 2017 and Fall 2017 were some of my hardest semesters of college {hi finance, stats, economics} and I buckled down. It felt really rewarding to put in those hours and truly study. But gosh am I glad that's over. A secondary part was to put on an actual outfit every day and I did this in the spring. But then my dad raised a very good point to my attention - when am I ever going to be able to wear leggings and giant t-shirts again to my "job?" And he was so right. So in the fall I sometimes wore a "real" outfit when I felt like it and the others I luxuriated in the fact that I am a college student and I can wear whatever I want to class. The third part was keeping all of my things separate and I definitely did a better job of this than I had in the past but I still let stuff effect me that shouldn't have. I do think I have learned a lot about myself since January 2017 and I am happy with that. In 2018 I look forward to working on this even more.

4. Motto - "If not now, when" is still a very prevalent theme in my life. And I think I went out there and did a lot of the stuff I wanted to accomplish in 2017. I'm really proud of traveling alone, working harder on myself, trying new Austin restaurants and fostering new relationships with people.


2017 was a good year, not the greatest ever, but definitely up there. I am proud of how I did on each of my goals and y'all will have to check back on January 1st to see what my new resolutions will be! To be perfectly honest, I have high expectations of 2018 {graduation, a new job, maybe a new city, and plenty of traveling} so I expect to surpass everything I did in 2017 {in a good way} - xoxo darling, Hayden.

{1: Momofuku Cake // 2: 21st Birthday // 3: UT Ring Week // 4: Sun Harvest // 5: St. Patrick's Day // 6: UT Ring //  7: Texas Monthly Internship // 8: Mother's Day // 9: Sprinkle's in Hyde Park} 

Year in Review // 2017

We celebrated three years of Texas Ladybirds & gave up the presidency.

We finished our junior year of college at UT with a cocktail. 

We launched the Fort Myers, Sanibel, etc. travel guide.

We ate fried Texas sheet cake, and it was amazing.

We ended our 101 in 1001 and started a new one.

We started our first day of senior year of college.

We talked about sorority rush very openly.

We launched Haute Table's Travel Week.

We celebrated five years of Haute Table. 

We had the best friend visit Fort Myers.

We were featured on Target's website.

We created a colorful photo wall. 

We marched for women's rights

We interned at Texas Monthly.

We won an award for a photo.

We baked a Momofuku cake. 

We got our class ring.

We interned at Miles.

We visited Houston.

We turned 21.

It has been such an amazing year in my life - filled with ups and downs. I would like to thank each and every one of you for being there with me on this crazy journey. 2017 was filled with fun things {as seen in highlights above}. I am so proud of how the year went and I am so looking forward to 2018. I hope you continue this life trip with me next year. Haute Table {I hope} will continue to grow with more Week Re-Caps, outfits and travels; now with more vlogs thrown in. I hope your year was even more wonderful - xoxo darling, Hayden. 

Week Re-Cap

It has been such a wonderful week with my family. We celebrated Christmas in the normal chill way that we do and currently I am in Houston for the Texas Bowl {HOOK 'EM}. I hope to have a vlog up soon of the 24 hours I am in H-Town (a kind of day in my life style vlog). In other news, we visited the Florida Southern College campus to see Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and decorated some gingerbread cookies. Get ready for my year in review post tomorrow - xoxo darling, Hayden.

Florida Southern College's campus.

A peppermint cone from Sun Harvest Citrus. 

The Luminaries in my neighborhood on Christmas Eve. 

Gingerbread cookies...creatively decorated. 

How I'm Getting Ready for 2018

2018 is going to be a year of changes for me. I will finish up my last semester of college and graduate, I will {fingers crossed} get an amazing job, move to a new city and start a new chapter of my life. While all of this is cliche, it is true and so I am trying to get ready for the onslaught that will be 2018. Below are a few things I'm trying to get done by 11:59 on Dec. 31st; we'll see if I get them accomplished. Let me know what you're doing to get your mind/body/whatever ready for the exciting 2018 year - xoxo darling, Hayden.
#1: Go through all old photos & delete - I am a photo hoarder. Like it is a problem. And my computer has been telling me that my disk is full so in an effort to fix the problem I am currently going through iPhoto and doing mass deletes. There have been thousands of photos/videos to go through and I'm still not done. But they needed to go, half were screen shots, others were video clips I no longer need & then there are just a ton of duplicates. 
#2: Deleting E-Mail - This was one of my resolutions {check back soon for that update} and I wasn't too good at it. But now that we are here I plan to go through my Gmail and mass delete so that I can start 2018 off on the right foot...before it gets out of hand again when I get back to Austin. 
#3: Deleting old files - Now that we are coming to a close of college I finally feel ready to part with some of my old Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs. I have had the same Macbook since freshman year of college and so many unnecessary documents are on the drive. It's time to say Adios to that biology project I did freshman year, don't you think?
#4: New Backgrounds - Typically around this time of year I change my phone lock screen, phone background and laptop background screens to new themes. It seems like the easiest, best way to have a fresh start. I'll be looking at Evelyn Henson, Lilly, Packed Party and a few others to see what I want to have for the start of 2018. 
#5: Resolutions - I am still working on exactly what I want my resolutions to be. I usually keep them fairly open ended so that I can do a lot of different things with them. But we shall see, right now they are basically to live every moment to its fullest because everything is going to change so soon. But those will post on the first of January-ish so check back soon! 

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from my family to yours. I hope you enjoy this time with your family and our holiday card this year...I thought I was real funny - xoxo darling, Hayden.

Articles I'm Reading

1. I loved all of their ratings of fast food this year and this is a great list of things not to try // We ate at dozens of fast-food chains in 2017 — here are the 9 absolute worst things we tried // Business Insider
2. How cute are these? I want them for my next party // Simple Jumbo DIY Confetti Poppers // Sugar & Cloth
3. Interesting... // Vending Machines in the U.S. Once Dispensed More Than Chips and Cookies // Atlas Obscura
4. Such a cute skirt // Plaid Party Skirt // Design Darling
5. This was fascinating. Fashion is always copied but this really is calling people out // Diet Prada: The Instagram Account That's Calling Out Fashion Copy Cats // Man Repeller
6. LOL // 18 of the Most WTF Food Moments of 2017 // BuzzFeed

My Favorites - Elle of Miss Blonde Ambition

A while back I started something called "My Favorites" based on a questionnaire filled out by one of my favorite writers. I then introduced the best friend via that. Now I have decided to open up that questionnaire to other bloggers. Our first guest is Elle of Miss Blonde Ambition. She is a wellness blogger living in Boston who shares her personal stories involving chronic illness. I hope you enjoy and look forward to more bloggers - xoxo darling, Hayden. 

My Favorites

I Don't Care What They Say: 

• I Love the Smell of Books 
• I think that Animals are Better than People, more Specifically Dogs 
• Waffles Should be a Main Food Group 
• I Secretly Wish I could Trade Places with Hilary Duff and Sarah Jessica Parker for a Day {or a Month} 
• I Truly Believe I was Marie Antoinette in my Past Life 
• I Always Stand up for What I believe in or What I am Most Passionate About

My Drinks:

• Dare I say...water 
• Homemade Southern Sweet Tea {I'm a Southern Girl} 
• Horchata

My Shoes:

• A Really Good Pair of Red Heels Should be a Staple in Every Woman's Closet 
• My Steve Madden Booties 
• The Manolo Blahnik Shoes Carrie Wore to her Wedding

My Foods:

• Homemade Veggie Pizza with butternut Squash instead of Red Sauce 
• Pasta, Anything with Pasta 
• Gluten-Free Fried Seafood Platter at Legal Seafood 
• Not Your Average Joe's GF Rolls 
• My Dad's Chicken Noodle Soup 
• My Grandfather's Italian Meatballs 
• Dino Nuggets and Curly Fries 
• Chocolate

My Remedies:

• Watching the Little Mermaid 
• Emergen-C 
• Soft Blankets, Fluffy Pupplies and Plush Pillows 
• My Stuffed Bear Robin 
• Cuddling 
• Chocolate

I Love{d} Reading:

• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown 
• Paris My Sweet by Amy Thomas 
• Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley 
• The Year I Turned 16 
• 50 Shades of Grey 
• The Tall Book of Make Believe 
• At Home with Madame Chic: Becoming a Connoisseur of Daily Life

I Love{D} Watching: 

• Wicked on Broadway 
• The 10th Kingdom 
• Younger 
• Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst 
• Butter 
• The Price Winner of Defiance Ohio 
• Mansfield Park 
• You're Not You 
• By the Light of the Silvery Moon, on Moonlight Bay 
• The Devil Wears Prada 
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 
• The Holiday 
• Julie and Julia {Julia Child is my distant cousin} 
• Mona Lisa Smile 
• Eat, Pray, Love

I Wish I Lived In:

• An Apartment in Paris 
• The Cottage from The Holiday 
• A Villa in Italy 
• A Hut in Bali 
• A Castle in Europe 
• My Dream House with my Family and a Puppy

I Hoard:

• Books 
• Clothes, Discount Shopping is my Weakness 
• Cute Stationary from the Dollar Section of Target

Things I Want To Own:

• A House 
• A Puppy 
• An Unlimited Amount of Flights so I can Travel the World

I Am Addicted To: 

• Being Around Animals and Petting Puppies 
• Family Time 
• Going to the Beach 
• Being Fancy

The First Thing I Do in the Morning Is:

• Make My Bed 
• Pray 
• Workout 
• Read 
• Plan My Day

I Use:

• The No-Poo Method 
• The Word "no" Almost as Much as the Word "yes" 
• My Voice to Empower Myself and to Empower Others 
• My Strength to Carry Me Through the Day 
• Many DIY Allergen Friendly and Natural Cleaning Products 
• A NuMe Curling Wand 
• Book Sleeves as Bookmarks 
• Vaseline as Lip Balm

I Miss: 

• My Brother, he passed away 12.25.2016 
• Being Naive 
• Having my Family Together 
• Feeling Careless

I Admire: 

• My Family for their Strength 
• Caleb because he is one of the Kindest, Sweetest and Strongest People I have ever Met 
• Strong Women Everywhere who Fight for Their Freedom 
• Miley Cyrus for Owning Who She is and Accepting the Stages of Her Life, also for her Amazing Foundation Happy Hippie.

I Respect:

• Human Beings Who Stand Their Ground Even if it Means Losing Their Life 
• Women Who Dress Modestly and are Still Able to Make a Huge Impact 
• Honesty, Commitment, and Compassion

What Wows Me:

• Human Compassion 
• God's Way of Shaping our Lives 
• Nature

REVIEW: Grizzelda's, Austin

Walking into Grizzelda’s feels like walking into an oasis amongst the quickly changing east Austin landscape. Palm fronds dot the walls as a green bar lights up the restaurant providing a pop of color reminiscent of an island resort’s pool bar. Wicker basket lights hang from the ceiling and mismatched tables feel like you’re in someone’s chicly designed home not one of Austin’s hottest restaurants.

Near other popular spots like Jacoby’s and Pitchfork Pretty, Grizzelda’s is nestled near a small strip center. It’s neon sign beckoning millennials.

It’s Taco Tuesday but the restaurant isn’t overly crowded. You can actually hear the person across the high top table speaking – something rare in Austin’s burgeoning restaurant scene.

Our server greets us by asking if we would like a drink, my companion asks which he would prefer: the Grizz Mizz (signature house rocks margarita) or the Fro-mo (house frozen margarita). Instead of telling us his preference he tells us about the secret menu where you can get a half and half featuring both of their star margs. We both are intrigued so we order.

While waiting on our drinks the chips and salsa show at the table. Biting into the thick chip provides a crunch that only the freshest of chips can give. A light dusting of coarse salt provides nice flavoring without being overpowering. The maroon-colored salsa is thick and inviting. When the salsa hits your tongue it provides instant heat but is followed with a more mellowed smokey hint. The flavor left in your mouth makes you reach for more.

Our server chats to us about the Taco Tuesday special, $5 for one taco or $12 for three tacos, which features a pork cheek Carnitas taco with red chile salsa, onions, cilantro and a soft corn tortilla.

After ordering some house queso we drink our margaritas, taking in the strength of the tequila and the different textures mixed together. While the frozen margarita half is incredibly strong, the on the rocks version at the bottom has a smoothness to it.

The queso arrives as we order our tacos as well as a sweet potato dish. Grizzelda’s queso reminds me of some of the first queso I ever tried in Texas. Not a lot of heat but it warms your insides like the hearty-goodness it is. The dip passes the drip test (no evident spots on the table or our clothes) but it could have a bit more flavor; in order to add a little heat we combined the salsa and queso in one bowl.

Our tacos arrived shortly after along with the aforementioned sweet potato dish - camote rositizado – with its slices of sweet potato, Mexican brown sugar, and diced pecans. We both immediately dug into this dish because our server promised us it tasted like Thanksgiving.

And boy did it. The sprinkle of sugar provided a nice addition to the sweet potatoes but there was a hint from serrano peppers that made the aftertaste spicy. The potatoes were cooked extremely well, firm on the outside soft on the inside.

The tacos are served on one of those hipster, stainless steel taco holders that remind me of the Whataburger logo stretched out. They were small but mighty as they packed a spice punch. The meat was tender and both my companion and I liked the traditional onion and cilantro toppings. The only critique from both of us was our wish for the tortillas to have been fresher.

The restroom featured beveled subway tile and a wallpaper ceiling that looks like the “Modern Mexico” exhibit posters at the Harry Ransom Center. A light fixture above the sink looks like gnarled tree branches with exposed pink light bulbs. It is clean but a little bit of a downgrade in design from the incredibly chic décor that lives outside the restroom’s walls.

Dessert came in the form of a Mexican Chocolate Popsicle from Odd Pop. When the Popsicle hit my taste buds I instantly tasted the cinnamon but it was followed by immense happiness over the creaminess of the ice pop. It was basically an ice cream bar (think Dove or Häagen Daz) without the melting.

Grizzelda’s food is simple and good, their wait-staff are wonderful and you get to enjoy it all in a restaurant that looks like it was created by a set designer of a film set in Cuba during the 1920s.

Week Re-Cap

The new Ladybirds president and I had dinner at The Original Hoffbrau Steakhouse.  

Alyssa and I had been wanting to go to Midnight Cowboy 

all semester & we finally got a reservation. 

They just re-did their menu and it is beautiful. 

Yes...I went to Miracle again...I couldn't help it. 

This time I had the egg nog drink & look! It was green.

Studying at the new Austin Central Library, it is so beautiful.

Drinks + Fries with Sophie at Le Politque. 

Formal

Last week my spirit group held our formal and I just loved the photos too much not to share. Be aware: it is a photo overload. My dress is from Altar'd State they don't have it in the maroon anymore and it is not on the amazing sale I got it for but it is super flattering. So if you see it go on sale anytime soon, snatch it up - xoxo darling, Hayden. 

My wonderful date, Jimmy.