Day 2 & Happy Birthday Texas!!

Day 2 of the blog challenge – post a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

It would definitely be my sister. hello, we grew up together! I can’t help but crack up laughing at memories of us as kids. We had so much fun switching bedrooms, sleeping in the same bed (we still do when she comes to visit without her fiancé), playing with Barbie dolls, jumping on the trampoline, fighting over clothes (thank you Jesus, not boys!), laughing uncontrollably, and so many other great times. I love you KaKa (what I used to call her when I couldn’t say Karen ) and still have so much fun with you. I can’t wait to see you in 2 weeks!

in other news….

Today is my great state’s 175th birthday!!

An attorney I work with sent the following in an e-mail today and I just love it!

“On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. The Alamo, which had been under siege since February 23, would fall four days later, but the Republic of Texas would win its independence on April 21, 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto.

“You can all go to hell, I’m going to Texas” Davy Crockett reportedly said this to his former constituents in Tennessee after he lost his re-election bid for the House of Representatives.  Davy Crockett died on March 6, 1836 at the Alamo.

When JFK visited the Alamo and said he wanted to exit through the back door to avoid the crowds in front, he was told “that’s why they were all heroes, there is no back door.”

I am so proud to be a Texan! Happy 175th Birthday, Texas!! You’re still lookin’ good!

Rodeo Recap & the cab ride from hell.

Oh what a weekend. I hope you took the weekend to do something relaxing, fun, or check something off that was on your to do list. If you read Friday’s post, I’m sure you can guess what I did all weekend and man, did we have a great time!! We ate lots of great BBQ, listened to some great music, hung out with good friends and met some new ones. All in all the cook-off never disappoints and this year was no different! I didn’t take a bunch of pictures.. I was busy havin’ fun, but here are a few!

Welcome to Texas, y’all!

The boys

Rich O’Toole band – awesome!!

You never know what Texans are gonna do!

Me and my cowboy

We were responsible of course and took a cab there and back and boy was that an interesting ride!

The cab driver started it off by arguing with a cop (we should’ve known what we were getting ourselves into right then), then he was driving 95 mph on the freeway, weaving in and out of cars. I was gripping my boyfriends arm the whole way! THEN we get home safely but he decides that he would rather have cash so he offers to take us to an ATM. The first ATM we try is out of order so he pulls back on the road and stops at a red light. He proceeds to look us and say “Those red light camera things are over with, right??” and runs the light…..

The Second ATM we try is out of order as well, he pulls back on the road and instead of turning right and making a U-turn at the median, he decides to go LEFT on a one way street into oncoming traffic. As he pulls up to the third ATM he hits a curb and a bush and that one is out of order as well … finally the FOURTH ATM works, we get our cash and we are SO happy to finally be headed home. As he is reversing out of the parking spot ….he hits a parked car. Unbelievable.

We ended up walking the rest of the way home.

What a bizarre, crazy experience. I realize now how dangerous all of that sounds but really in the moment of it all my friends and I could not stop cracking up laughing. It was just one of those “are we on candid camera?” moments. Definitely the cherry on top of our night.

Put on your boots y’all, it’s Rodeo time! Part 2–The Cook-Off

The BBQ Cook-off is the weekend long BBQ contest/party that kicks off the Rodeo. Words cannot truly express how much fun the cook-off is. If you have never been, please promise me you will go once in your lifetime. You will not regret it!

The gist of the cook-off is pretty much rows and rows and rows of tents that offer free drinks and free food inside (you have to have wristbands to get in) Last year we only had wristbands to 2 tents but this year we have a couple more options so I am really excited to get to see some different tents and try out all their drinks food. Thousands of people come out for the cook-off and everyone just has such a great time (I mean.. is there better company than southern people eating and drinking for free?)

To make things even better is great music playing as well!

and to top it off, the carnival is going on also! I don’t think it gets any better than that!

Put on your boots y’all, it’s rodeo time! Part 1

(I LOVE my boots! the boyfriend did good, real good!)

The time has come. Rodeo Season is here!! If you have been living under a rock and didn’t know… Houston has THE best and THE biggest Rodeo in the world. Understandable, because everything really is bigger in Texas.

The History

1931 – The Fat Stock Show and Livestock Exposition is    established after 7 men meet for lunch.

1938 – The first Fat Stock Show, horse show and parade is held at the Sam Houston Coliseum.

1952 – The first trail ride takes place. FOUR men take the ride from Brenham to Houston. *now, thousands take the ride from all over Texas to Houston. Rides ranging from 66 miles – 216 miles. (let me tell you from experience, you do not want to get stuck behind them in traffic! it took me an hour and a half to get 10 miles to work one day)

1961 – The Fat Stock Show is officially changed to The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

1966 - The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo moves from the Sam Houston Coliseum to the Astrodome complex. The first performance in the new domed stadium draws 25,340 spectators, and attendance even tops 40,000 for one performance.

1974 - The first World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest is held.

1995 – Paid Rodeo attendance reaches 1 million

2000 - Groundbreaking ceremonies are held in March for the new 70,000-seat, retractable-roof RODEOHOUSTON/NFL stadium.

2001 - Tickets go on sale for the Show's finale in Reliant Astrodome. The March 3, 2002, concert featuring George Strait sells out in less than two hours.

2010 – Attendance reaches a record high of 2.2 million

How incredible! The numbers keep growing and growing and the Rodeo shows no sign of slowing down which is fine by me and I think the other 2.2 mill would agree!

Stay tuned for Part 2 – The Cook-off

Yee Haw!