Texas Hearts Dairy Queen

I feel like I drove through most of Texas today. Really it was only 450 miles of it, but I was all alone, and after dark, the speed limit goes down to 65, so it seemed really long... There is NOTHING between here and El Paso on the 10, only a few tiny little towns, but I noticed something strange. EVERY town had a Dairy Queen! Sometimes it was a little one in a gas station, but most of the time it was a full restaurant. So I stopped at one them. A girl has got to eat! It was PACKED. I had to wait in line for a good fifteen minutes. Most of the people seemed like locals, they seemed to know each other, but it could be that they were all friendly Texans and just felt like chatting. On the window there was a sign about Dairy Queen being the place where Texans gather. I thought Dairy Queen might have been founded in Texas somewhere, but some internet research revealed that it was Illinois. So, in conclusion, Texas loves Dairy Queen, and I had the best Oreo Blizzard ever today!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Good news. Turns out every wasn't lying to me about Texas being warm all year! It has been in the 70's all week! The bad news is it brought in some serious fog, but I can deal with that better than cold. Of course, this comes the week after I buy my coat! But it's always good to be prepared. It was actually warmer than Phoenix a couple days this week. The other bad news is the humidity is back... Which isn't all that bad, becuase it gives me an excuse to not curl my hair!

I officially finished my Christmas shopping today! Now I just have to find a way to kill time here all alone! Last week was so crazy, I had a Christmas party or dinner to go to every night, and now that I am roommate-less and working half days I have nothing! There is a huge list of things that I should do during my down time, like maybe finally moving all my stuff into my room, and finally doing that last load of laundry that I'm pretty sure has been sitting there since I moved in! But instead, today after shopping I have taken a nap and watched Friends and had one heck of an amazing grilled cheese sandwich! Life is good!

The Joy of a Winter Coat

I can't believe I am going to say this, but I bought a winter coat (my first ever) and I actually can stand the cold. I don't enjoy it, but I can make it through. I won't die. I've lost the urge to pack up and move back to the desert. Now all I need is gloves and a hat and I'm golden!

In unrelated news:

I officially love the Christmas season! All of my students have been especially pleasant, and today at work they had holiday music playing in the lobby, and free hot chocolate and treats for everyone. People were just so happy, and I was once again overwhelmed with how great my life is. I have had that experience a lot since I moved here. There are so many amazing things going on in my life that even at my worst I find it difficult not to be grateful. I have been blessed beyond anything that I deserve. I have been thinking lately about how far I have come in the last few years. I was reading through some emails that I sent to friends when I was in college, and they are laughable. Not only have my writing skills improved considerably (thank you, grad school!) but things that I thought were important seem so trivial now. I can see how all of the trials that I went through helped me to become the person that I am now. I am so grateful to the Lord, and just hope that he sticks with me through my struggles now so I can become even better.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

It was 34 degrees when I left for work yesterday. 34 degrees. 34. I was not happy. Everyone told me it's so mild all year. You barely need a coat. It's beautiful. Whatever. People tell me horror stories about the winter they spent in Canada, or Vermont, or Michigan, which I guess is supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn't! I am from the desert! I need a coat to walk through the frozen food aisle at HEB! My idea of dressing warm is long sleeves and a sweater. I know it makes people laugh, but I just wasn't built for cold weather. I am a delicate flower!!


This experience has made me realize three things:

1) I really need to rethink my dream of moving to the East Coast. Maybe I'll move to the east coast of Florida and call it good.

2) I really need to buy a winter coat. And shoes. And gloves.

3) I need to complain less.

Back to School

As much as I enjoyed the last five months of doing whatever I wanted, I decided it was time to start doing something with my life again. So I started school last week. I always the the beginnings of things, when everything is new and excited and people haven't started complaining yet. With school starting I thought it was time to put myself back on a schedule, something I did obsessively during my undergrad. I really feel like it helps me get more accomplished, and I don't forget as many things. I've only been on my schedule for two days, and I am already remembering why I love it so much. I love to be busy! I don't want to look back on my life and see that I wasted all of it with meaningless TV watching, nap taking, and shopping. Ok, maybe not shopping... I see so many people around me who seem to do the same things over and over and not really get anywhere. I know you can never tell what is going in the life of another person, they may be making giant leaps and bounds of progress that I see nothing of, but I want to be able to measure my progress. But the funny thing is, one of the things I like so much about being on a schedule, is that every once in a while I get to blow everything off and do whatever I want for a while. What is the fun of goofing off if all you do is goof?

Getting Good at Goodbyes

I used to be so bad at goodbyes, I would drag them out for weeks, have small ceremonies at the "last" of everything, my last time driving down a street, my last time seeing someone, my last time eating somewhere. I think I would have had parades and hot air balloons if anyone would have come to watch them! I've realized recently that I don't have that problem anymore. I think I've realized that life goes on no matter what. No matter where I am or who I'm with, I'm going to have good days and bad days. There are going to be people I love, and people I wish I didn't see as often. There is a good and bad side to every situation. So the trick is to stay on the sunny side, and realize that everything happens for a reason.

Top Ten Things I Love About Living in Texas!

10. Great BBQ any time of the day.
9. I can wear sweats to the post office without feeling like a total scrub.
8. Country music is everywhere.
7. I can wear cowboy boots or a cowboy hat (or both!) without feeling like a cheeseball.
6. I actually have a chance of running into Chuck Norris.
5. The song "Come Back to Texas" makes a lot of sense now.
4. Not every building is made of adobe.
3. I can say Ya'll without being made fun of.
2. Total strangers chat in the grocery store and no one thinks anything of it.
1. GO SPURS GO!