In San Marcos, the Manor Market Refillery is a force of change: the “refill” shop advocates for a zero-waste movement and an overall decrease in single-use plastics by offering a unique service for customers to refill everyday household products like soap, detergent, and lotions. This “bring your own container” model allows customers to fill their […]

This fall marks 25 years of the Texas Book Festival uniting Texas readers with authors, spreading books and smiles all around the Texas State Capitol. Usually, the weekend festival erects tents down the streets surrounding the capitol, full of author panels, cooking demonstrations, book sales, activities for kids, book signings, and more. This year, however, the festival will inspire book lovers around […]

For Jim Koehn, the vast and seemingly endless Texas highways and roadways offer more than a means from point A to B. The artist, drawn to locations with historical and sentimental value, has captured countless Texas restaurants, movie theaters, and live music venues through watercolor and acrylic paintings. Specifically, his more recent collection of 5×7 […]

Reading for leisure is a lifetime hobby. For many readers, books can provide an escape from reality, regardless of genre, and the novelty of a new book is exciting with every turning page. But book clubs bring readers back down to Earth. Convening and conversing about a recent read provides the essential human element of […]

Beautiful and lovely, scented candles are often used to create a cozy atmosphere. The following information strives to break down some of the components that work synergistically to create them. Waxes The type of wax from which a candle is made dramatically impacts how that candle performs. The melting point is important, determining the number of burning hours that it will […]

Since 2002, the symbol of a yellow, interlocking fleur has taken Texas and the world by storm, becoming synonymous with one woman and one brand: Kendra Scott. A woman who wears many hats, or rather, pieces of jewelry, Scott is a chief executive officer, founder, lead designer, philanthropist, wife, and mother. Her geometric designs framing natural gemstones embody the […]

“Let’s get it done . . . so we can have some fun!” This is a key mantra of Erin Condren, founder, and chief creative officer of Erin Condren Design. Erin Condren is a lifestyle brand that fuses function with fun. They produce colorful, high-quality paper planners, notebooks, stationery, and more. Condren built her brand from […]

Joy Thomas can hardly contain her excitement when she talks about Art in Uncommon Places and, in particular, the nonprofit’s recent overhaul of Paintbrush Alley in Downtown San Angelo. Sitting in the front room of Art in Uncommon Place’s (AIUP) building on South Irving Street, its gray cinderblock walls adorned with a plethora of brightly colored canvases, […]

On March 31, 1995, the news of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s tragic death spread throughout the Lone Star State and world. The Corpus Christi singer rose to stardom after winning the 1987 Tejano Music Award for Female Entertainer of the Year while singing in the Quintanilla family band, Selena y los Dinos. The young artist, famously known […]

Texas is home to a number of noteworthy individuals who have shared their talents and work with the great state and beyond. From former United States Presidents to award-winning musicians, the Lone Star State has ties to several established professionals, bestowing the honorable title of Texan on their already long list of accolades. Here is […]

The oilfields in West Texas are not the only thing booming in the Lone Star State. There is a deep well of talented red dirt and Texas country musicians pumping some liquid gold of their own, with new bands packing the barrooms and dance halls of West Texas oil boom towns like Big Lake and […]

Texas's capital city is full of hubbub and creativity! These local businesses have considered how they could impact the Austin creative scene and took the plunge to do just that.

The Lone Star State is home to the unparalleled photojournalistic talent of Jeremy Lock, a retired United States Air Force (USAF) Master Sergeant Combat Photojournalist with 22 years of service.

It was a great equalizer. If a man could work hard enough and get lucky enough, oil could turn a pauper into a prince, literally overnight. Long before Houston and Dallas were big Texas cities, and well before sustenance was no further than the local H-E-B, Texans were roughing it out on the frontier, trying to make a living any way they could.

Sometimes the thing that makes someone unstoppable is simply their inability to stop. According to award-winning Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez that is exactly how his career began. As a child, Rodriguez never dreamed of being famous. He was just a kid having fun with his father's video camera, at least until he saw John Carpenter's science-fiction thriller Escape from New York at age 12. From that day on, he was determined to be a movie director.