Houston is packed with so many opportunities for fun. You can check out my Houston Bucket List guide for more fun things to do around Houston, but here is a round up of some of my favorite free things in the city. 

• Visit the Museum of Fine Arts (free on Thursday)
• Walk, run, or bike (if you have one) along Buffalo Bayou
• Walk, run, jog in Memorial park
• Bring a deck of cards and play your favorite game in Memorial Park
• Watch movies outside at Discovery Green
• Take a stroll through nature at the Arboretum
• Watch a play at Miller Outdoor Theater
• Catch a light show during sunset at Rice University's Turrell Light Exhibit
• Visit the Contemporary Arts Museum
• Go to The Menil Collection
• Go on a Street Art Tour
• Take a picnic and go to the Water Wall
• Visit the Zen Gardens next to the Zoo

Do you have ideas for other free things to do in Houston? Let me know in the comments below!

UP Art Studio and Gibson Hall are proud winners of the Mayor's Keep Houston Beautiful Award. We won for our work with Mini Murals, and bringing color and light throughout the city of Houston. 

Mattress Mack also won an award for all of his help with Hurricane Harvey. It's cool to have 2 of my favorite web clients both win such great awards for the city. 

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The smell of sweet victory looms over Houston.

From the Super Bowl in January, to Harvey in September, there's no better way to cap off the year than by having our home town Houston Astros win the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The City of Houston was awarded the day off (literally, the Mayor cancelled public school) and a little over 1 million people gathered downtown to cheer on the Astros players as they paraded through downtown on firetrucks. 

Congrats to the Houston Astros! #HoustonStrong

It wasn't until I met an out-of-towner that I realized the importance of having a bucket list. My friend just moved to Houston from another state and every time someone would say, "you better check out ____", she'd add it to her bucket list. 

I was able to review the bucket list and was reminded not only of places I have been, but haven't been to in over a decade. There are hidden gems hidden all over the city, and sometimes right in our backyard. 

Use this list as starters to create your own bucket list or even work on it with your spouse or friend so you can knock stuff off together. Whenever you have free time in your weekend, reference this bucket list and cross something new off the list!

1. Rent B-Cycles and ride bikes along Buffalo Bayou
2. Have a picnic at Hermann Park, followed by a show at Miller Outdoor
3. Visit Galveston. Bike along the sea wall and shop the strand
4. Visit the turtles & nature at the Arboretum
5. Watch the bats off Waugh Bridge
6. Visit the Livestock Show & Rodeo in the Spring
7. Visit James Turrell light exhibit at Rice University
8. Go to a play at The MATCH (Catastrophic Theater)
9. Go to the Museum of Fine Arts and visit the Turrell Exhibit (it's free on Thursdays)
10. Watch a midnight movie at River Oaks Theater
11. Shop for produce (in Spanish) at Caninos
12. Run the Memorial Loop
13. Hit golf balls at Memorial Park
14. Volunteer at the Houston Food Bank
15. Visit one of Houston's many breweries
16. Take a trip to BAPS Temple
17. Visit the Water Wall (another great place for picnics)
18. Walk through Glenwood Cemetary
19. Kayak Buffalo Bayou
20. Visit Urban Harvest Farmers Market on Saturday mornings

Have other bucket list ideas for Houston? Let me know them in the comments. 

The Museum of Fine Arts invited me and other Digital Ambassadors to preview the new Oscar de la Renta Exhibit. It was filled with beautiful dresses worn by (ladies of Houston) Lynn Wyatt, Carolyn Farb, and Barbara Bush. Each dress was paired with a painting from the country that inspired Oscar de la Renta. 

Video captured at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston during #MFAHafterhours, part of the museum's Digital Ambassador series.

The exhibit goes through January 28, 2018 and you can learn more here.

2018 will be the year of "Doing it for the Gram". With a steady increase in digital influencers, lots of new Instagrammers want an opportunity to cash in and start making money on Instagram. But, how do people get so many likes on Instagram? Well, it takes time, but here are some best practices: 

• Make sure your account is set to Public. It's hard to get new followers if you're not allowing people to preview the content you offer.

• Make really good content. Great content will help you win organically. Pay attention to picture quality and don't overuse filters.

• Write great stories and captions. Tell viewers why you posted the photo or what the photo means to you. A really compelling story will get your more likes, comments, and shares.

• Use relevant hashtags. I know they may seem annoying to put on lots of hashtags, but now that people can follow hashtags, it's important for you to use them.

• Interact with other influencers by commenting on their posts or tagging them in yours. They'll eventually reciprocate the favor and you'll get a lot of followers in return.

• Use a strong call to action on your posts such as "like this if you agree" or "double tap to show your support". Sometimes a simple message goes a long ways.

These are just a few ways you can build more followers on Instagram. Are there any practices you've been trying that give you good results? Share them with me in the comments. 

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I was invited to a private dinner with other Instagram Digital Influencers to Tony's, Houston's oldest fine dining restaurant. Tony Vallone started Tony's more than 50 years ago and has hosted the last 8 Presidents for dinner. 

This intimate evening was spent enjoying lots of amazing food, beautiful dishes, delicious wine, and tons of laughs with new friends. 

#TonyLovesHouston

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Attached is a growing list of murals I've found around Houston. 

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Volunteers at GRB Convention Center Day 1.

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Gibson Hall is introduced as Creative Director for Decode Digital, an interactive advertising agency based in Houston, TX. Gibson will oversee the entire Design and Development team, and lead the company based on creative direction. 

Decode specialities in digital marketing (search ads, social media marketing), traditional advertising (TV, billboards, magazine ads), and website design & development. Decode has worked in the Virtual Reality space, organized events, and has a team of heavy-hitting app developers. 

Gibson will work on the CHI St. Luke's Health account, as well as work with local restaurant groups, B2B ventures, local realtors, and family owned businesses. Gibson works with a team of hungry entrepreneurs, including CEO, Kathleen Perley. 

I visited the new art exhibit at The Museum of Fine Arts: Kusama: At the End of the Universe. The museum gets Digital Ambassadors together for a sneak peak of the exhibit so we can blog about it and share it. If you can't tell from these photos, it's definitely worth checking out. 

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Visiting Denver's RiNo district. 

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@WileyArt

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The Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) helps build Houston's economy by joining like-minded business owners for fundraising, city planning, and ongoing development. The GHP hosts monthly luncheons, inviting Houstonians to share their stories about how they are helping shape Houston. 

Gibson was the featured speaker in June 2017, sharing what it was like growing up an entrepreneur in Houston, helping one of Houston's billion-dollar companies find success through Customer Experience, and how a city art program is transforming neighborhoods throughout Houston. 

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston invited me and other Digital Ambassadors to #MFAHAfterHours to preview the newest exhibit Pipilotti Rist. Pictures don't do the exhibit justice, and I recommend checking it out while it's in town!

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Responsive Product Details Page

ACADEMY.COM

Website Design, User Experience, Cross-Channel Marketing

As lead User Experience Researcher for Academy Sports + Outdoors, Gibson helped create omnichannel shopping experiences online, in the mobile app, and for associates in more than 700 stores. Gibson created experiences for Browsing & Navigating the website, Viewing Product Information, and Completing the Checkout Flow.

While working for Academy.com, Gibson led the UX research to completely rebuild the website to be Fully Accessible (ADA Compliant) and Responsive, while maintaining the same backend and no downtime.

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UX Process Defined and Followed

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UX Research Methods Practiced

Tree Testing

Card Sorting

Advanced Analytics

Quantitative A/B Testing

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UX Design For Academy.com

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Seattle has been on my bucket list since I was a little kid and discovered Nirvana and the grunge culture. Being a big art and music fan, Seattle has plenty to offer. The Museum of Pop Culture was one of the coolest museums I’ve been to, housing many pieces from Seattle based musicians and companies like Jimi Hendrix and Nintendo. 

I also highly recommend Maneki, the oldest Japanese restaurant in the USA and the best sushi I’ve ever had (yes, better than Uchi). Seattle is known for their fresh fish, so I pretty much stuck with fish all trip and was happy everywhere I went to eat. 

We went on a hike on of the days up Rattlesnake Ridge and some of those photos are below. 

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Kam Franklin and Bun B representing Houston during the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 51 came through Houston and I think the city did such a great job playing host. Downtown launched 7 new restaurants all within walking distance from Discovery Green, several hotels opened, and the game was incredible. 

On the flip side, traffic has been insane! Especially living near all of the mayhem downtown, I'm excited we had such a great week celebrating, and also happy it's over! 

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My good friend invited me to Beaver Creek, Colorado for a week of skiing and relaxation. Spending a full week off work is great for resetting and it was my first time skiing! I can't wait to go back. 

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