Austin: Hijo

So over the last month I've made about about 10 roundtrip drives to San Antonio, as my father lives there and is terminally ill. I always make a point to break up the long drive from Dallas with stops along the way. Whether it's lunch at Monument Cafe in Georgetown, a stop at the Texas Monthly office, or a coffee break at Bistro Bakery in Olmos Park.

 My latest stop has been to Hijo, Michelle Teague's new little shop in the back of Jardinero's Nursery in East Austin (that hood is my favorite, btw). 

 You may remember Michelle from previous posts about her great store JM Dry Goods. Originally in Marfa, she moved the store and her family to Austin a few years ago. 

 Her tightly edited Texas-meets-Mexico merch is spot on. It's clean, but everything also has a handmade rustic feel to it; somehow it's all evenly balanced. Everything from the gorgeous Oaxacan hammocks to painted Turkish clay bowls to bowls of skull-shaped beads made me swoon.

 Next time you're in Austin, I urge you to head East and explore. It's really where it's at now and if I could, I would move there in a minute. 

 I bought a handful of these babies below in white and blue and have them nestled in some white geodes I bought from Michelle. They look so great all piled on top of the paper mache skulls I picked up in San Miguel in February.