Amanda Guilbeau and Kristen Klein have a solid decade of love and life experiences under their belts. They moved back to Austin, the city where they met, after spending five years in San Diego and have started a business together.
Their clever idea—delivery meets the best guilty pleasures of your favorite convenient store—is where these two are pouring all their energy. Whether your house party ran out of beer, you’re plagued with PMS and can’t stand the thought of getting out of your sweats to get yourself a chocolate bar, or your dog just settled into your lap and you’re struck with a craving for Topo Chico and Funyuns, these ladies serve as your magic genie. Where once we would have to call it an early night or suffer through changing into real pants, now Austinites can just call Amanda and Kristen.
Through the past 10 years and starting their business together, this spunky pair keeps each other in check—Guilbeau lives for change and loves to take chances while Klein prefers to stay in her comfort zone. With balance like that, Couch Potato Austin is sure to be just one of many successes they experience in their life together.
The most classic lesbian “how-we-met” story. The two met in classic lesbian fashion at Austin Gay Pride weekend in 2003. “We caught eyes across the bar; I walked over and Kristen said, ‘You want to make out?’ We kissed and she asked if I wanted to come to her place. When she told me she lived in San Marcos, I said, ‘no way am I going that far.’ The next day at Pride, I recognized Kristen and told my friends, ‘I think I made out with that chick last night!’ We ended up hanging out the rest of the day and partying together that night. She slept over at my place and when we woke up she was really shy unlike the person in the bar. I thought her shy personality was the cutest thing ever. I made her wear my shorts home so I knew I had to see her again. She went to the movies that day with her roommate and when she got out of the movie, she had 10 missed calls from me and thought, ‘that girl is crazy!’ She called me anyway. We hung out a lot after that and decided we would make it official June 11 because Kristen loves the number 11. She said she almost did not go to back to Pride that next day because she was so hungover… but I am glad she did,” Guilbeau tells the tale proudly.
The challenges and successes of being partners in life and in business. The two opened their business, Couch Potato Austin, in March 2012, and are tasked with keeping their relationship fresh while working long days. “It is hard to unwind now that we work 14-16 hours, seven days a week,” Guilbeau admitted, “but we love happy hour and watching our TV shows; we are reality TV fanatics.” They work hard and have memories of great vacations in Hawaii and Boston to keep them going through this busy time, not to mention dreams of movie marathons like they used to have. “In San Diego you could bring food into theaters, so we would get a pizza from California Pizza Kitchen and all kinds of snacks and wear our PJ’s and go movie hop all day. We would map out our times before we left. The most we have seen in one day was five. We sure do miss that and can’t wait until we can do it again,” Klein said.
While a date night may be out of the question right now, their compatibility (plus wonderful friendship!) keeps everything in sync. Where Guilbeau is the dreamer who always has big plans, Klein listens and brings everything back down to reality. “We balance each other out really well,” Guilbeau said. She shares her nickname for Klein: “Little Miss Perfect because she has a place for everything. For instance, when she makes a taco, it has to be perfect. Every bite.”
“We have made it through trials and tribulations and know that at the end of the day, we have each other to lean on. We are each other’s rock. We are best friends with benefits,” Guilbeau summed up their relationship beautifully.
Matchy matchy. While they may have had opposite haircuts when they met, things have changed some in the past 10 years. These two have a seemingly endless collection of adorable little stories. “Occasionally when we go shopping we will separate in the store and when we meet up, we have the same items in our hands. So weird,” Guilbeau laughed.
Even their gift-giving styles match! Guilbeau said her favorite gift from Klein is the “ring she gave me when she proposed on our eighth anniversary in New Orleans.” The feeling is mutual. Klein too loves “the ring Amanda gave me Christmas morning 2011 when she proposed back.”
While we can’t go into details about what you may encounter if you invite these two to your next Halloween party, let’s just say it involves a play on words and a liquor bottle.
