My summer has been absolutely INSANE y'all. I still basically live in New Hampshire, but I just spent TEN consecutive days in Houston (that's the most since March). I went to Omaha for the College World Series. I attended an Eagles / Chris Stapleton concert, aka the highest concentration of middle-aged white people I have ever seen. I'm up to twenty-one Astros games this season (got that replica ring!). In a particularly out of character turn of events, I even watched a little bit of the World Cup (on purpose). Meanwhile, my college roommate Sarah, a Houston skeptic who lives in Austin, crashed on my couch for a few weeks while she was here for an internship. This was my opportunity. Finally a real-life application for all the work I've done on this blogging project over the past few months - convincing my friend that Houston is actually an underrated wonderland of food and culture (or at least a pretty good place to live). I can't say for sure that it worked, but she did post a photo on Instagram with the classic caption "Houston, we don't have a problem," so I'm calling that a win. I don't know that it was necessarily my hospitality and all of my fantastic recommendations that inspired this, but I assume it had to have been a contributing factor. Anyway, we covered a LOT of ground in a short amount of time. Here are some of the highlights.

Bingo in the Heights*

* We didn't actually go :(  This was from January. — * We didn't actually go :( This was from January.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. A classic Thursday night activity in Houston. If you've never been, it's exactly what it sounds like. You literally play bingo (it's at SPJST Lodge 88 in the Heights), and you can bring your own food and alcohol (but not beer, because it's sold there). It's cheap, it's all ages, you can actually win money (I won $100 once), and it's so much more fun than you would think. It's also really popular...I'd recommend getting there an hour or so before it starts (it starts at 7), especially in the summer, to secure a table. Unfortunately, I did not take my own advice this time and they were already over capacity when we got there. But I'm sure Sarah would have loved it.

Eureka

I don't know why this brewery is jorts-themed, but I'm into it.

Obviously we had to go to at LEAST one brewery at some point, and Eureka seemed like the logical choice after bingo fell through, since it’s only a few blocks away. I’ve covered this place before (when I crushed it at Parks & Rec trivia night), but it has become one of my favorites. It’s mostly indoors, which was ideal because the weather was extra gross that day, and it ended up being a great place for our group to talk and watch whatever World Cup game happened to be going on that day on the huge projector. Also, I just really like the beer there. I finally bought one of the cute little bunny stickers they sell! (Because they make a beer called Buckle Bunny…get it…?...I know that detail is not actually very exciting…I just really like stickers).

Astros (obviously)

I think it goes without saying that we would be attending an Astros game. And the day we went just so happened to be the inexplicable fedora giveaway night! We roamed around the stadium and admired it's beauty and murals, got helmet sundaes, and stood in our favorite spot in left field for most of the game. I’m working on a full Astros update post for next week, so for now I just leave you with this picture of us in our amazing fedoras. Mine now sits safely on the Astros shrine in my apartment.

The Texas-shaped Lazy River at Marriott Marquis

So we didn’t actually go to this lazy river…this was just coincidence. Another friend of mine was in town and staying at that hotel, so we met here before going out downtown. We were basically only there long enough to take this picture. But this is a pretty cool thing we have in Houston, right!? I mean, if I didn’t live here, I would definitely be impressed.

House of Pies

A true Houston institution. I think my parents first told me about this place. It’s a 24-hour diner, and the more ridiculous the hour, the better. House of Pies has become somewhat of a weird tradition with my friend group; we always seem to end up here for random milestones / celebrations. It was our first post-Harvey meal, we’ve celebrated several of my friends getting new jobs here…it just seemed like a place Sarah needed to experience. We ended up here around 2 AM on a Tuesday night / Wednesday morning (technically the Fourth of July), and I ordered actual non-pie food for the first time ever. It was great for what it was: greasy late-night breakfast, but this clearly isn’t the kind of place you go expecting amazing food. We still got pie though, despite being absolutely stuffed. 100% worth it. Quality life choice.

Heights Theater

This may be the coolest thing we did. We’ve been huge fans of this country / rock-ish (?) singer / songwriter named Sean McConnell since college, and he played at this conveniently located venue several weeks ago on a Sunday night. As always, he put on an excellent show. It might partly be a nostalgia factor, as I’ve been following this guy for a while and have been to probably ten of his shows over the past eight years, but he has a truly incredible voice and is such an engaging and talented performer. I’ve always secretly wanted to be a music critic, but this isn’t the time or place. I’ll just say this – the show was great, and this is one of my favorite venues. It’s a converted old theater on historic 19th Street, and it’s small, so there’s not a bad view in the house. This show was all standing room except the balcony, but I’ve attended other shows that had seats on the floor level. Concerts of all genres take place here multiple times a week, so if an artist you like ever comes by, I would highly recommend going.

Slowpokes

When my friend asked for a recommendation for a coffee shop to get some work done, I was prepared. After listing off about ten options, I eventually pointed her towards Slowpokes (also featured here), my current favorite coffee shop for productivity (and also probably in general). The coffee is great and I always love the eclectic sloth-themed decor, but I forgot that they also serve cookies from Fluff. I LOVE THOSE COOKIES.

Hay Merchant

This has become one of my go-to spots. Actually really great food (one of my favorite burgers in town), solid happy hour ($3 beers from 3-6:30), close to my apartment, PARKING, and appropriate for so many occasions. Need a place to get brunch (just learned they have brunch, obviously it was good), watch the Astros, and address 25 envelopes? A bar you can take your parents who don't really drink to? Casual date spot? This place serves many purposes, and is, in my opinion, one of the quintessential Houston bars.

I could go on and on about the best places to take visiting friends to convince them that Houston is awesome; that's kind of the point of this entire blog...but also. We don't need everyone figuring that out and wanting to move here, right? Keep Houston underrated y'all.

<3 liz