September and October were incredibly hectic in terms of travel. Over the span of two months, I helped my boyfriend move to New York, had my girls’ trip in Switzerland, spent a few weeks in Dallas (my “home base” during the digital nomad journey), attended a bachelorette weekend in Asheville, flew back to Boston for a weeklong work trip, and then finally drove down to Austin. I didn’t get through it unscathed: before leaving for Boston, I developed an awful sinus infection that lasted way longer than it needed to. (My toxic trait is believing my body can just heal itself without medicine…next time I’m starting antibiotics ASAP!)

But now I’m healthy again and have been enjoying my fourth week in Austin before driving back to Dallas tomorrow, where I’ll be with my family and boyfriend until Thanksgiving. The travel never ends! Here were a few highlights from my seemingly-incessant bopping around:

Irving

While home, I hung out with friends from high school, picked up skating again (it had been months!), took long walks with my parents’ dogs, and spent time with family. My parents also have Netflix, so after a year of no streaming services (I was a victim of The Great Password Crackdown), I watched the latest season of Love Is Blind and the first season of Wednesday, both of which were delightful in extremely different ways.

I also started leaning into group fitness classes! Now that I don’t have a steady gym membership, I’ve been getting creative with how to keep up the habit of strength training. SunstoneFIT had a generous “new student” promotion, so I signed up for a trial month and did a fair bit of yoga, pilates, and barre at their Las Colinas studio.

Asheville

My childhood best friend is getting married in May, and in mid-October was her “Mountains and Martinis”-themed bachelorette! I was not involved in the planning, but the girls who were went all-out. The four-day weekend included a hike, a night out, vineyard hopping (with a bus that took us from one to the next), and so much booze lol. Honestly, I was a little nervous going into the weekend—it was a group of thirteen girls, and I didn’t know anyone but my friend and her sister—but everyone was nice, and it was great to finally place faces to the names I’d heard over the years. It was also my first trip back to North Carolina since graduating college!

Boston

Even though I was there for work, Boston still felt so cozy and nostalgic. I meant to meet up with friends during my free nights, but my sinus infection—which involved a nasty cough—started hitting hard during my stay. Along with cancelling hangouts, I even had to skip a day of my work summit, which I felt awful about (though I’m sure my coworkers were grateful to not be in a team-building escape room with someone hacking up a storm). Nevertheless, I’m still happy I had the opportunity to briefly visit my old city.

Aaaand now that leads us to Austin! Even though it’s only three hours from Dallas, I was so nervous to make the drive. It’s the longest I’ve ever driven on my own, and I felt like I couldn’t talk about how nervous I was because then I would’ve been urged not to go. I am so proud of myself for officially starting my digital nomad journey by conquering that fear.

When I got to the Airbnb, I was thrilled to see that it matched the pictures exactly. It’s technically listed as a tiny home, but it’s at least twice as big as my Cambridge apartment lol. (When I mentioned that to my host, he said, “Oh, yeah, it’s ‘Texas tiny.'”) I love the decorating style and have gotten so much inspo for my future home. One thing I’m particularly obsessed with is the coach, which is super wide and feels more like a bed that just happens to be in the living room. Of the time I spend in the apartment, at least 80% is on that couch…what can I say, I love to lounge!

My first week here was all about establishing a routine. I immediately found my local skating rink and bought a punch card after learning their public skating sessions aligned with my work hours. The Austin figure skating community is also very active, so I always see people working on new moves or taking lessons whenever I go. It even inspired me to sign up for private lessons myself, which have been super helpful! In general, this past month really solidified my commitment to the sport.

After establishing my skating routine, I did some research on local fitness studios and decided to try out Urban Lagree. I’d only done reformer pilates once, and that was over five years ago, so I had very little idea of what I was getting into.

It turns out, Lagree is a very different type of workout than I was used to. It’s done on a Megaformer machine, which felt a bit overwhelming because of all the cables, numbered platforms, and differently-colored springs. In Lagree, the springs (aka weights) aren’t labeled with numbers, so it’s unclear how much you’re actually lifting or pulling. Adding or removing weights is just called “changing the springs,” and the instructor might say something like, “For this next exercise, use 1 black and up to 3 whites.” To this day I’m still trying to figure out how much weight I’m using. For example, I know one grey spring is half a white spring and that a black spring is heavier than four whites…but again, I could not tell you a single number. (I’m sure it’s written online somewhere, but where’s the fun in that?)

The workout is all about “time under tension,” meaning the moves are done veeeery slowly and that reps aren’t as important as being able to “stay in the move.” Several even have niche names; when I first heard an instructor tell us to do a “dancing catfish,” I genuinely drew a blank.

I was shaking like a leaf during my first class, but ten classes later I’ve gotten the hang of it! They’re pretty fun and I actually feel stronger, which is really satisfying. I’ll genuinely miss this workout when my trial month is over, as it’s $250/month on the regular membership. That’s unfortunately more than I’d want to spend on group fitness, though my threshold has definitely gone up. I now think around $150/month is reasonable given how much I enjoy taking classes.

One last thing about Lagree is that it feels…very LA!? This is coming from someone who’s never been there, but that’s the vibe I get. The studios, for one, look super sleek, but it’s also the people: I was dazzled by the instructor of my first class, who I genuinely thought looked like an Instagram model, and I can just feel myself getting influenced by what the other attendees are wearing whenever I go. (So. Much. Alo. 👀)

Because I’m still working, most of my days generally look like the following: get up, go on my Pimsleur walk, maaaaybe run (super weather dependent…how is it still in the 80s!?), work from home for the next eightish hours with a lunch break, and finally either go skating or to a Lagree class. It’s repetitive and maybe even mundane, but I think that’s just the reality of working life!

My main quandary is what to do at night. In Boston, I would usually see friends around twice a week, spend the weekend with my boyfriend, and have a couple nights to myself. The city was so small and had such demarcated bike lanes that I had no qualms about biking to places at night. Here, though, my discomfort around driving in an unfamiliar city in the dark keeps me from doing much beyond 7 PM… As much as I’ve loved having a car, it’s become increasingly clear how limiting a non-pedestrian-friendly city can be.

My weekends have been pretty filled though! For me, the key really is having free time during daylight hours. My first weekend, I joined an outdoor women’s club on a 4-mile hike at a nearby trail. It was a sizable group — around twenty people, spanning several age ranges but the majority being in their 30s — and everyone was super friendly. Afterwards we even grabbed Tex-Mex for lunch nearby. It was great to be outdoors, doing what Austin’s known for!

My second weekend, I did a free walking tour of downtown, which I really enjoyed. It was actually so interesting to learn about Austin’s unique history, and now I’m even more excited to tour the Capitol building next weekend with my boyfriend. It’s easy to forget that Austin was named after Stephen F. Austin and that Houston was named after Sam Houston…real people in the not-so-distant history of the state!

Any knowledge from 7th grade Texas History class had left my brain well over a decade ago, and this was one of the few times I regretted that. I checked out Texas: An American History by Benjamin Heber Johnson from the library, not long after the tour, to hopefully bridge the gap. (This was a real milestone, by the way. I can’t remember if I’ve ever, of my own volition, read a book about the history of a place. Yeehaw.) Later the same weekend, I had dinner with some relatives I hadn’t seen in years.

My third weekend, one of my best friends came to visit! She drove down from Dallas on Friday, and we spent the next couple days visiting cute restaurants, catching up, walking around downtown, and watching Nobody Wants This on Netflix (we binged the entire first season lol). After she left, I spent Sunday afternoon reading and exploring UT’s campus, and at night I joined my cousin and his girlfriend for dinner.

Aaaand now we’re at weekend #4, which will be spent in Dallas. My boyfriend’s coming to Texas for the first time ever, and he’ll finally get to meet the rest of my family. Tomorrow morning I’ll make the drive home, arriving a few hours before he lands so I can pick him up from the airport. I’m pretty sure he’s packing as I write this, and I’m just buzzing with excitement for his visit, since it’s been two months since we’ve last seen each other. On top of spending time together, I’ve tried to plan a stay that gives him the Full Texas Experience™️. My goal is for him to leave thinking everyone here wears cowboy hats 24/7. 🤠

Ending with a few camera roll snapshots: discovering that HEB sells my favorite ice cream, Blue Bell’s Birthday Cake (I’ve already repurchased!); enjoying a lovely cup of golden milk; first time painting my nails in a while — the color (and ring!) are courtesy of my grandma; my Airbnb host’s friendly Dalmation; some pie and reading time at Cherrywood Coffeehouse (such a good vibe!); and my two latest food obsessions: Texas toast and chopped almonds on sautéed kale and tomatoes.

🤘