Style + Austin: Zilker Park

Gulp! I’m (more than) a little nervous that my loved ones will think my ego has outgrown my head, or perhaps even my house, but I’m also very excited to be doing my FIRST EVER style post on the blog.

My husband was so nice to agree to take these photos—particularly because he and the AC almost never part ways in August, when triple digits become the norm here.

We (I) decided to turn our outing into a picnic. I am a huge fan of picnics, especially the kind that include alcohol and Central Market Love Dip. So on our way we stopped and picked up a baguette, some Love Dip (here’s a recipe, in case you’re not familiar), and a six-pack of Lone Star tall boys.

I thought I was being a good citizen by avoiding glass containers, but I just looked up the rules and apparently alcohol is not allowed in Austin parks. Oops! I think I have been trying to un-learn that rule for the past 24 years. Here, let me try again: (fingers in ears) la-la-la-la-la.

I found this dress (by Necessary Objects) at the Lake Austin Boulevard Goodwill several years ago. I love its flouncy skirt (which makes 100° at the park sort of doable), its roomy pockets, and the tetris-esque heart print. Plus I love any dress that gives me a chance to wear this great bracelet, which I call my Wonder Woman bracelet despite the fact that I only have one and it’s not gold. I always tell my kids that I have Supermommy powers, so maybe I should call it my Supermommy bracelet instead.

Zilker Park, as you may know, is huge. For our picnic we were in the part that gets swarmed every year during the ACL Festival. It was in that very field, as a matter of fact, where my husband and I (along with a gazillion other people) stood ankle deep in mud not too many years ago, when a couple days of rain turned the whole place into squish. And now look at its gorgeousness.

Poor grass, it has no idea that it’s about to get trampled all over again in a month.

I’m having a lot of fun doing the whole short-boots-with-skirts thing. I think if you went with a bit of a heel, the effect would be more flattering. I just couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on a heel, since any shoe with a heel is worn so seldom by me. So much of my life is kid related, and heels and kids don’t really mesh. I could in theory wear heels to the school or to Costco, but come on. That’s overkill. I love dressing up, but at some point you start to feel like a dork.

(Like a month or so ago, when I got all dressed up—short dress, big gold jewelry, heels—for a date with my husband without any regard to where we were going, only to remember—too late—that all anyone wears to Alamo Drafthouse are flip-flops and maxi dresses! I looked like such a tourist.)

Apart from music festivals and slightly-law-breaking picnics, this part of Zilker is used for a whole lot of fitness. Over the last two years, I have seen many a boot camp sweating it out as I drove by this field on the way to my son’s preschool. My husband practices soccer here every week; he found his team nearly a decade ago through one of the many pick-up games that occur here daily. And families and their pups run wild here on a regular basis. You know what Zilker could use more of, though? Tai chi.

One thing you don’t see too often in Zilker Park is a rainbow, but look! There is a rainbow over my head in the photo below. Of course, it is August, which means there was no rain to go with the rainbow. (I didn’t even know that was possible.) But seeing a rainbow is pretty cool nonetheless.

Have you been to this part of Zilker Park? What are your favorite memories here?

© Amy Daniewicz

Style + Austin is my new monthly style feature. Nearly 25 years ago, I moved to Austin, and immediately I felt like I had come home. Over the years I’ve developed a list of my favorite corners of Austin–some you’ve heard of, but some you may not have. On these posts I play dress up and then photograph my (usually vintage or thrifted) outfits in these more- or lesser-known corners of Austin.