The Mommy Park Review: Zilker Botanical Garden

  Map: 2220 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78746

Overall: 3.75/5

Factor	Description	Rating (Out of 5)
Uniqueness	Did it have that keep Austin Weird unique vibe? Was it new and interesting or same old neighborhood park? (Nothing wrong with your neighborhood park...but if we took the effort to travel...we want something different and unique!) A value of 1 means it was not very unique, a value of 5 means it was crazy unique and different.	4
Variety	Refers to the different areas or different activities that were available. A value of 1, means there was not much variety. A value of 5 means it had a lot of different things for the kids!	5
Safety	How safe was my toddler without me having to intervene much? Did he fall multiple times? Did he hurt himself? A value of 1 is not very safe and probably would not bring the kid back. A value of 5 means safety was in the mind of the designer and pretty much kid proof.	3
Kid Friendly	Was it Intentionally design for kids? Or mostly for adults? A value of 1 would mean that it was fun enough for kids, but not really designed for kids. A value of 5 would be it is designed for kids.	3
Overall	Average of all factors listed below for final overall score	3.75

Cost: Depends on age and being Austin Resident. It was 8$ for me and my kiddos free as they are 2 and under!

Stroller friendly? Mostly yes. A few areas have paths that get more narrow and inclined near the Japanese garden...for most part it is stroller friendly.

Restroom available: Yes! Near the entrance.

It was very fun to go to the Zilker Botanical Garden! My son loves fish so the whole time we were looking at all the ponds to find the fish. (Spoiler: we found fish only in the pond at the entrance parking lot and that was his favorite spot!)

 It is stroller friendly for the most part. We just followed the path to where my toddler was going. There was an area with dinosaurs, and another one with butterfly chairs. It was rainy when we went and in the middle of winter so not many butterflies...but I believe in the spring there should be more butterflies.

I gave safety a slightly lower value mostly because of the rocks and because some of the areas are uneven and I was having trouble pushing the stroller around without it sliding. If you know me you know I am a strong woman! So I think your average person might have some troubles too!

It is not a park with swings per say...but overall a fun adventure!

They also have a small area just for kids. We did not stay there too long though! My toddler loved the fountains and the dinosaurs.

The Most Magical Day!-- Austin,TX Wedding Details!

On my last post I gave some advice on some things to think about when preparing for your wedding! It took me a whole year to complete that post...and it's now time to share the pictures of that amazing day.

Our wedding ceremony was in Pflugerville and the reception was in Hummingbird house. We had about 120 guests total. The best was to have both of our families come together and celebrate us!

I often go back through the pictures, because the day just went by so fast! My advice: Enjoy every second and don't take everything so seriously!

Ceremony: St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Pflugerville Texas.

For our ceremony we choose my church in Pflugerville. As a side note, make sure you let your priest know at least 6 months to a year in advance about the wedding. Giving long term notice, allowed me and my fiance to take the required classes on time. We also paid for using the church this day.

I was trying to see where everything would be that day! Hopefully these pictures can help you a bit!

Groom ready to come in!

My dad walking me in! :-) So sweet.

Listening to our priest and obtaining God's blessings. All our family supporting us.

Listening to every Word.

Exchanging our Vows--I did not cry here!

My new husband escorting me out! 

Post Ceremony Bubbles:

All the bridesmaids and groomsmen were blowing bubbles at us!! It was fun.

Location: Hummingbird House
http://hummingbirdhouseaustin.com/home/

I loved this location from the first moment I saw it, because it looked simple and elegant! A few of the pictures from the moment we went in until Midnight are below!

Our Walk in! Our reception started at 5pm with cocktails

Saying hello to all our guests!

Dancing with my Dad 

Dance with my Love <3

Sunset pictures by the pool.

Sunset Pictures.

MOH Speech

MOH and my Older Bro.

Dancing with my younger bro :)

My beautiful mom and dad. We choose a song for them to dance--they were surprised.

Our last dance of the night.

Pictures at night.

Sparkler goodbye

Sweet Kissess. <3

UPDATES:

One month with @corazon_y_alma as my husband. #soinlove a little bit of fun, a lot of crazy, definetly some changes and new challenges but with God on our side...we got this!! ❤ 2016

#lifepartners #charlana2016 @corazon_y_alma yesterday was like a dream. I love you so much Amor!!! Such an amazing day! So happy for all of you that joined us!! We had a blast!! Special thanks to my MOH! @caroldiazv and all of those that traveled from far away!! @moniiiz27 @namsaqueenodaworld @pdiazvargas @just__deyra @david2raw_96 @banananads

One month with @corazon_y_alma as my husband. #soinlove a little bit of fun, a lot of crazy, definetly some changes and new challenges but with God on our side...we got this!! ❤

This morning we were getting the kids ready and finally had Cam in his stroller and Charles in his swimsuit for the splashpad at daycare and we stepped out and saw a humningbird. "Look, a hummingbird!" I said. We all stopped and looked at it and it just felt magical. We got married at hummingbird house, and have a connection to hummingbirds now...like when we see one is like a reminder of that promise we made to each other...they are just so quick and feel magical when we spot one...  Anyways...this hummingbird left to another tree and then, there were two hummingbirds! So it felt even more magical, bc I can't recall ever seeing two hummingbirds at the same time and on our anniversary. Just like, we are, meant to be. Love you @corazon_y_alma

Wedding Prep--Austin, Texas

Today I was asked what the best day ever was to me. No doubt, my wedding has been absolutely the best of the best. There is just something about being with the one person that you love the most. However before the big day, there was a lot of planning!

Hummingbird House, Austin Texas.

If you read my post on our proposal, know that we tried to take one day off before all the craziness began. Make sure to let your family know personally about this big step in your life! You do not want to be in an awkward situation where your parents find out about it through  facebook. To us, our family was first. We called our parents a few hours after being together. We talked to them and shared their happiness with them. The following day, we shared the news with closed friends. I did it by text as I didn't have facebook to do a "status update."

I'm guessing for each couple it is a bit different on how they want to approach the planning. For us here's how it kind of happened and some advice.

1) Budget--We talked about how much money we were planning on spending. This is big! Before going to pinterest and claiming "this is my wedding" there must be a reality check on what to get with the money you have. My parents were also willing to help us out and pay forward so it was better for us to pay in installments for the venue, dress, etc. 

2) Pinteresting--I loved getting ideas from pinterest. Again! Make sure to know what really is most important to have. 

3) Location--We visited about 5 places in Austin together to get a feel. Note that pictures can be deceiving so go into the place. Some of the areas you see on pictures look larger than they actually are. We ended up choosing Hummingbird house. When I walked in, I could just feel it was going to be a magical place. And I could really see our wedding being here. This place had a hint of nature and modern touch. The price was in our budget and wasn't the most expensive of all the places we visited. Wherever you go make sure to always ask what is included in the price. This will allow you to also know whether you need to obtain anything additional. Hummingbird house did not provide a kitchen--for us this meant when we were selecting food vendor we had to make sure that they could provide a kitchen themselves or a way to warm up the food and complete all the prep outside. Also review closely the contract!

For our ceremony we choose my church in Pflugerville. As a side note, make sure you let your priest know at least 6 months to a year in advance about the wedding. Giving long term notice, allowed me and my fiance to take the required classes on time. We also paid for using the church this day.

Ceremony Location: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church
http://www.stelizabethpf.org/

More pictures on the following blog.

Reception Location: Hummingbird House
http://hummingbirdhouseaustin.com/home/

The venue had AC so even if  our wedding was in June, our guest were cool inside. Love the all windows feel!            

Water + Flowers

Gold and Purple everything!

Yummy Cake. Red velvet.

I love these because my husband and I made each of them. They have lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary! We purchased the bottles at Amazon and we stamped all the stickers. We got the stamp at Office Depot

We had a painting I made with Austin's skyline for our guests to sign.

4) Date--We selected a date based on location availability. I was not crazy about June (because I felt it would be too hot) however this was the month that my family could make it. Again the money factor comes into place for date. Some venues have a breakdown and cheaper prices winter months.

5) Guest list--My fiance and I literally sat for 3 hours and brainstormed on every person we knew. Then we ranked them on basis of must be invited, would be nice to invite, not necessarily need to invite, no big deal if they are not invited. We also made sure to capture the number of guest that the location could hold. Guest number will change how much you are spending on booze and food. 

We made sure to list +1 as well on our estimates.

6) Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, and MOH. Asking your bridesmaids and groomsmen if they are available also very important! They should also know what they are getting into. For example they would need to be available for the rehearsal and they will probably be spending $ for their tux and dress.

6.5) Engagement picture: These are really not necessary, but it was for us part of all the magic! We were traveling to Brazil, and since my uncle lives there, he had a contact of someone who really knew the best places to take pictures!

This shot in Brazil was so fun! We already had a trip planned so we just went for it!

A little sepia never hurt!

The date picture is a must too! :-) Specially if you are in a beach!

7) Wedding Coordinator: Because a wedding has so many moving parts to it, we decided to hire a wedding coordinator. Actually, we just hired Dream Weddings. They were absolutely amazing. They took care of the food, flower arrangements, decor of the venue and overall coordination. This was great for us as we thought it would be hard to coordinate everyone on the day of the wedding. Having all these moving parts under one umbrella helped us a bunch!

http://dreamweddingsofaustin.com/

Sometimes coordinators might have an idea of what should be happening. Make sure that they know what is on your mind. They have a lot of experience and can give you ideas, but ultimately, you decide how the timeline will be. For us, we wanted to give a speech. We got a few looks from them, but I wanted to say a few words, and my fiance wanted to recite a poem. We did and we had no regrets.

8) Music DJ: The best way for us to know if we wanted him was by going to one of his events! We stopped downtown to hear dj Aaron from Altared weddings. They were clear to tell us that some of his events were not related to their company, but we just wanted to get a feel, and we loved it! Aaron was awesome, he was playing all night and even a bit longer than we requested. He just told us he felt the vibe and everyone was having such a fun time he just kept playing songs!

9) Photographer: Our photographer was Estrella Chacon. We met for coffee and she let us see her albums of previous weddings just for us to see her style. She was not pushy at all. We chose her and could not have been more pleased on the final product. At first I was thinking she was not capturing the natural moments, but she was! I just didn't see her. She works with her husband as second photographer. Both of them were extremely professional! For her work please see the next blog I'll write with their pictures!

10) Wedding invitations: Make sure to let someone else proofread it!

11) Dress advice: Don't feel rushed to pick one on your first trip to a Bridal store. You will hear other brides finding "the dress." Trust me, you will know when the dress is right! Make sure to go with 1 person, maybe the Maid of Honor. They are truthful and will keep you grounded on what you wear.


On my next blog I will show pictures of our day! :-)

Looking back--walking forward!

I always plan. I like to think ahead and to have everything set up before starting. That is why starting my own business has proven a little more complicated than I thought. You always hear from people that failing is an inevitable aspect of any business. I am trying to understand that concept a little better. As I was jogging the other day, I thought about Nikola Tesla. All the inventions that he came up with but that he did not patent and were taken by Thomas Edison. Tesla was a thinker, Edison was a businessman. I think about what I want to do. I want to do both. I wish I was more like the people who start building and having new inventions all the time. Oftentimes, I think “That idea is not worth it, why bother.” The why bother is nothing more than a roadblock. It stops me from starting and from actually completing something.

Ever since I was little I remember having a plan. I would come up with these ingenious strategies to make money and I would share these plans with my sister. The plan always involved me telling her what to do, her believing it was a good idea, trying to do it, and then us obtaining a few quarters for the job. When she was 8, I had this awesome idea of cleaning windows for our neighbors and getting a quarter per window. Take into account our community was forty houses. On the first house my sister introduced herself while I watched from another house. She would say what our services were, then call me out. I would be embarrassed for her blowing my cover, but would come out and tell the people what it was we were selling at the time. As we grew older and went to middle school and high school the idea of selling stuff seemed less appealing to me as we were forced to sell door-to-door for orchestra fundraisers. I did not enjoy that because it was like a chore. In college all the door-to-door stopped. Now, a mere 3 years after graduating with an engineering degree, I’m looking at entrepreneurship closely. I decided to start small and decided to begin by making wooden letters. See below for a few designs:

I made a spreadsheet with all the calculations, even had a shop name: Silverpearl

I also gave my sister a sample to help me show our potential costumers how it would look.

I opened an Instagram account on the shop, made a logo (Rafael came up with a clever design) and opened an Etsy account for the new shop. However, I only had 2 people show interest in buying. One guy said he would love his name made but then never bought the product. Another friend asked me about the business 3 months later, but by that time I had forgotten about the shop. I told her I was not in business anymore.

If I could re-do something again. I would continue with my first business. I want to have a chance to say. What wooden letters would you like me to make for you? What is your color of preference? Leave a comment if you are interested.

What makes a business successful? You have to believe in your business. Costumers might not fly to you right away. I waited for a while and after not getting attention, I stopped paying attention to my own business. I am not proud of that. I am taking baby steps. I am trying to learn from the options that haven’t worked. I always play in my mind those words I told my friend. I am not making letters anymore. I don’t want to give up on myself. I want to keep trying. That is why I thought about starting again. I have realized that there is a lot of people that have tons of ideas but they don’t know where to start. They do not have a prototype or they don’t know if their idea has already been made or who their potential costumers are.  Of course I talked to Rafael first.

"Tell me what the company will be about" He said curiously as he cleaned the kitchen island. I looked at him and said:

 "It’s a company about ideas"

I did not have a business plan. Just an idea in my mind. “It is maybe like a consulting service for people who want to make their ideas come to life.”

He stopped cleaning, looked me in the eye and said: “Have I ever showed you the business plan for D2G?” I had not seen his plan so he showed me a power-point and it had a process flow of all the services his business would provide. It was much more extensive than what I had in mind and much better than I had imagined. But it was exactly what I was thinking but with a good draft in place.

Since then I have been working on a lot of things. I want to be a doer and I do realize that there is so much that I don’t yet know! I want to start this business. I need to sharpen our business plan. I have started with the logo, but not yet a webpage. I want to be better than last time. I don't want to make all  these accounts and then just think that the business is going to run itself. Some parts have already lined up for us:

A friend of Rafael already does some of the prototypes for a company here in Austin. We met about 3 weeks ago and are planning on partnering up. The side of the company that I would take would be in charge of marketing and distribution. I have talked to a lot of people about this. My parents included. They have experience and they are very smart. My dad’s advice: start with someone you can rely. That is you. Do not try to rely on a lawyer or a patent officer yet. Stay small first to build your reputation. Everything sounds great theoretically. I am still working on a plan. Working out the details. There is so much to do. I want to get our business plan beyond a powerpoint. I want to talk to people and make deals. I am not the type of person that does that, but I feel that is what it might take to get support from those small businesses. I realize that I am no expert. I am looking into going to business school. I am studying for the GRE. I know classes don’t make you an entrepreneur, but I want to fill up some gaps. I need to make connections. There is still a lot of work to do. The first step: take one idea through the whole process. I will talk about that process and about my first two ideas on the next blog.

Until then. Please pray for me. I will keep working hard and learning as I go!