Maria Maria

My good friend, Amber, lives in Phoenix but spends a few weeks every year working in San Antonio. When she does, we usually take advantage of her being so close to get together. She'd planned to be in the Alamo city this month, so we arranged for her to come up this weekend and spend the night.

On my Friday commute home, a local radio station took 10 callers to give away pairs of passes to a celebrity clothing line preview party. I called and was one of the lucky winners. Amber and I were going to a fun party at a cool club in downtown Austin.

So last night, we got dressed up to go to this:

Pangaea's website has this to say of their hot, new Austin lounge: The latest incarnation of the enormously successful Pangaea lounges in New York, London and Marbella, Spain, Pangaea Austin is the next chapter in what has been called a New York nightlife institution. Pangaea was hailed by the New York Post as “the hottest place in New York” and “a hangout for top models and celebs.

Five minutes after we arrived, the show began.











Once the show was over, Lauren Conrad came out to thank everyone for coming. Even though our passes were supposedly VIP, we didn't get close to L.C. In fact, from where we were standing, it was hard to get a good view of the clothes.

On our way to Pangaea, we passed a restaurant called Maria Maria. Once the style show was over, we decided to go over to Maria Maria and enjoy the live, latin music we'd heard on our way to Pangaea.

We sat in the bar area, right in front of the band, which had a decidedly Carlos Santana sound. We didn't know it then, but the restaurant is part of a small chain, partly owned by Carlos Santana. We each ordered mojitos, which were very, very good.

Our LC adventure was not something we'd have paid for, but it also wasn't something we'd get to do anywhere, anytime. Plus, if not for those free passes, we'd have never known about Maria Maria. I'm definitely taking my husband back to that fabulous place!