Butterflies

Texas Adventures - Part 3 Out of Hill Country and on to Austin!

Texas Adventures - Part 3 Out of Hill Country and on to Austin!

So much summer fun (and heat, haha) in the famous Texas Hill Country! Here we go into the third and final day of my weekend adventure.
Taking a stroll through a beautiful wildflower center, the historic Driskill hotel, and of course more food. #obviously

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

This wonderful botanical garden just southwest of Austin was lovely for a morning adventure. Reservations and advanced ticket purchases are required, get all of the details here.  This was so fun using the TravelStorys app to enjoy a walking tour and learn far more than was available on the educational signs.  Especially with voice recordings from Lady Bird herself, it was quite a treat!  

"The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is the Botanic Garden of Texas. The Center promotes its mission to inspire the conservation of native plants through its internationally recognized sustainable gardens, education and outreach programs, research projects, and consulting work." 
I love what they said along the tour about the plants that make a place. "Lady Bird Johnson famously said, 'Wherever I go in America, I like it when the land speaks its own language in its own regional accent.'  What she was referring to is called a 'sense of place.'  It's intrinsic, something we just feel based on a broad combination of factors -- and native plants are a big contributor."  Isn't that a cool way to think about the places we travel to?

And now, here are my tour highlights from that Monday morning!

Welcome!  Wait, what?!? Rattlesnakes?  And now I am awake at a whole new level.  Who needs coffee? 
😲

This place was filled with both natural beauty and such distinct stonework buildings.


The cool spray from the waterfalls was a welcome reprieve in the shade as I wandered the grounds.


I think I have seen a lizard in most every wildflower sanctuary I have visited, even in North Carolina!


Adventures are always made better when there are butterflies nearby, wouldn't you agree?  These aren't Monarchs, do you recognize what they are?


I could keep going with pages more of bees, flowers, and beauty, but the adventure must continue!  

Downtown Austin

It's time to hit the big city and take in the history, skyscrapers, and more!  I had my heart set on some Franklin BBQ only to find out they were closed on Mondays. #NowWeKnow  I guess I will just have to make another visit in the future.  I found all kinds of great views downtown and on the way to the airport even stopped at a park to enjoy lunch and blow some bubbles.


Can I just say how rad it was to see this 3D view on the car GPS?  Of course, it didn't do this beautiful Driskill Hotel building justice, but it was pretty cool!


What historic downtown wouldn't be complete without an incredible church or two.  And I even got to see the Texas State Capital building.  Then onto lunch at Honest Mary's.


This Smoky Poblano Summer Bowl was worth writing home about, wow!  It makes me miss the veggie bowls we would get in San Francisco.


Is that the Texas state reptile right there?  He's a tough lookin' bugger!  My unicorn birthday ballon from co-workers even made the flight home with me.  

Well friends, I came, I saw, I bubbled the Mercedes.  Time to catch a flight home!  Will you fly with me off into the sunset above the clouds?  



If you missed the kick-off to this Texas Adventures series, check out Part 1 and Part 2!  Never miss out on an Adventures for #RealLife blog post, subscribe now.

Information courtesy of Echo Schneider


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Meet Echo Schneider, Chief Adventure Officer

 
Overworked, burned out, and with waning loyalty to an industry that had lost its way and was no longer true to itself.  Of course, career burnout was at an all-time high in my sector and amongst the worst in any field.  It wasn’t all even just about work, though my perfectionism often got the best of me there more than other parts of my life.  I look back and see that I was overwhelmed and questioning so many areas of my life.  Was I doing the right things? From diet to products I bought, from how I was involved in the community to time I was spending with family, and from how I was walking out my faith and showing up in a meaningful way to my world. In this craziness is where I found myself.
 
Healthcare (watch my fingers make air quotes as I say that word and use the term loosely at best) in the US had long been bought and paid for and was no longer masking their symptom management and disease maintenance focus.  It had lost its focus on health; they could give you a pill or cut you open.  But to nurture your health and foster your body’s God-given ability to heal itself, they no longer knew how to do that.  Or worse, no longer desired to be in the business of prevention and healing.
 
As so many professional people were doing in the modern economy, we, as healthcare professionals, we’re doing more with less.  Mandatory overtime, poor ergonomics, and complete lack of an environment to practice self-care were the norm.  And to make it worse?  Because of our specific industry, we added in a loss of our medical freedoms just to stay and do our jobs.  The days of job security were long gone, and I watched in fear as friends and colleagues in sectors across the board were being laid off just to help top leaders move the stock up for shareholders.  How terrifying that this could be the reward for lifelong dedication and hard work!
 
At home, it didn't feel much better.  I fought to find a non-existent work-life balance and to be present while feeling exhausted (have you ever come home from work to fall asleep on the couch and finally be awoken when your Mom calls? Tell me this isn’t just me!).  I was disappointed in myself seeing my self-care fall away, time with friends and family slipping by, and I wasn’t spending the time I wanted serving with my church family or in my community.  
 
Add to that the confusion and frustration of what should have been simple daily choices.  What foods should I be eating? Is this trendy thing something I should try?  Wait, is the product good or bad, I paid more for it, but I feel like I saw an article on them that there was a recall or they were green-washing.  So frustrating and such a time-suck trying to keep up and have the health and abundance our family deserved!  I felt like at every turn that I was running to keep up and felt like I ultimately just found more of the same lies in the name of profits, and more ways my health was ultimately paying the price, yet again.
 
How could anyone thrive in this culture when even those who were well educated and seeking out something better faced with such daunting challenges?  I know, first-world problems, but I longed to create something more, a legacy for myself and others.  To break generational chains and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it stuck in this rat-race.
 
Set the stage for that something.  I have, for so much of my life, been interested in learning, growing, and being a student of personal development.  From an investment with top leadership development companies through their programs for years to Law of Attraction to Conscious Language and so many others, I was finding the mentorship and teaching I needed to make the changes I so desperately desired.  
 
There wasn’t an overnight shift or an immediate awareness to change, but I began to find my path slowly and as a result, was investing myself in new ways.  I was raised by a wise and visionary Mother who had shown me what it was to be an entrepreneur.  I always admired that title and was drawn to it in many ways.  As I dabbled in businesses from my youth through college and beyond, I was picking up pieces of freedom and a stage where I could work for myself to create something new.  
 
As the years went on, I kept pushing myself in that path.  I was helping others, and I was welcoming a team of like-minded friends and family to come with me.  This was possible; we were doing it!  It wasn’t easy, we were doing a side-hustle while still being full-time professionals and wives and Mothers, but we were doing it none the less.

I'm so excited to have found a platform to speak truth. To show up for others in "true health" in ways that I didn’t know could exist when I started down this path.  But I know now that we don't have to settle any longer.  Any of us, friends!  It's time to live the great adventure that you were made for.
 
Now it’s time to move beyond business beyond vocation.  Now we are building a blessing.  That has so many meanings, one being the definition of “a herd of unicorns,” in case you didn’t know.  I was given the title of ‘unicorn’ from a dear friend when she came to know me and saw what I was capable of achieving.  And now it’s my turn to see that light in you.  Join me, and together, we can create a community and movement with a vision to change it all.
 
I don't care what your background is.  What education you received growing up in business, finances, or medicine.  Those things don't matter.  We are walking a new path to freedom in all areas of our lives.
 
I'm writing a new future and destiny for myself and my family, and I won't journey alone.  A mentor taught me to carry the confidence that God has called me to rise, but I will not rise alone.
 
I'm reaching out my hand to you (don't worry, I recently used a plant-based hand sanitizer) so that you are not alone; we will do this together!  
 
You are so worthy.  
 
Your family and your dreams are worth it.  
 
Together we can do this, but you must take the first step. ðŸ‘Š

I can't wait to connect with you via text, email, or on social media!

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Adventures 4 #RealLife ~ Echo Alexzander
Echo Schneider

Highlandville, MO 65669
USA
Phone: 2082415018
Email: echo.schneider@gmail.com

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