Here's to America

Memorial Day Weekend.

Oh where to even begin..

This past weekend was one for the books. To start off, Hallie and I hit the road with the car LOADED down. I don't at all take packing lightly. Hungry as hippos we flew to Dickens to eat at Ponderosa BBQ. I have ate little things in there before and they have been amazing, but never there pineapple "puddin". If you are ever on 114, it is for sure worth the stop. Quite possibly the detour to Heaven. After chowing down on some BBQ and "puddin." We hit the high road. We made it all the way to Jacksboro and then had to stop and see some friends. Well actually just one, but it took 45 min to clear the town. Just to pull over in Runaway Bay and take pictures of the ferris wheel that I had been telling Hallie about. We finally made it to Krum and sat down in the back yard to drink a beer with Daddy when Emily and Mom showed up back from Denton. (Emily beat us home) As the night moved on, and we grew drunker, more of our friends started to trickle in. About 1:30, after swimming all night, Hallie had the idea to go to the bar. Much to our dismay, there is some stupid law or something that bars can only stay open until 2. Who would have thought? So we decided to high tail it to Thackerville to hit up Winstar. After loosing way too much money, (I'm still up on Winstar!) we finally made it home about 5 Saturday morning. A few short hours of sleep later we were wide awake and ready to go again. Saturday was another day of soid drinking. (Notice a trend) Mom and Daddy had a crawfish boil at our house later that night and a lot of people came over, some that I had never even met. Drunkness led to dancing on bars and before any of us knew it, we were one giant shit show. After getting mad because some rando started making out with our friends, Hallie and I decided to go to bed. Sunday morning we all got up and Emily and the Munday boys decided to head out, leaving just Shelby, Hallie, my parents, and me. Hallie and I decided to go to Ft. Worth since she had never been. The rest of my family met us down there later. Ft. Worth is great, but seeing that I am a broke college student these days, my budget did not really hold up to the prices at Maverick where I love to shop. Of course, in Ft Worth tradition, we had to take Hallie to Joe T. Garcia's. A real quick meal and a strong margarita put us on the road to Jacksboro, where all of the craziness started again. One drunken night later, Hallie and I somehow made it back to Krum by 10 Monday morning. Lord only knows how. Since I had not seen any of my grandparents all weekend, it was time to get showers and go granny hoppin. My Nana and Papa took us to Denton to eat some Mexican food, then it was on to Ponder to say hi to Mimi and Poppie. I came home, got my ass chewed, and then hit the road back to Lubbock. After little to no sleep the whole weekend, the trip back might have been the longest trip of my life, as I was fighting my eyes to stay open. All-in-all, I think that it was safe to say that this memorial day was one I'll never forget. It was more fun than I have had in a LONG time!!! I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has to hold.

"You Ain't Met My Texas Yet"

I would have to say that the past year has been one hellacious rollercoaster. I don't even know where to start. There have been quite a few events that will forever shape that person that I have become. Some bad, some good. School has been a trip for me. Needless to say, I am THRILLED that the semester is now over. I have changed my major to Agriculture Education and I am pumped to get started in those classes. I am DONE with the business classes!! Whooo!!! With all of that being said, I have one goal this summer. My goal is to see every aspect of Texas. I have visited and experienced many of the experiences that "My Texas" explains. However, I am ready to do the things that I have not and relive the ones that I have. I have finally broke free from home and I will not be returning this summer, except for some short visits. In celebration of that, I am going to make this summer one for the history books. I have so many things that I want to do, I am not sure that I will ever get them all done this summer. I'm always down for a challenge. By next summer, I want to have accomplished almost everything listed in that song. So, with that being said, here is my bucket list by next summer. Some I have already done and will take a back seat priority to those that have yet to be accomplished.

Climbed up to Enchanted Rock
Drink a cold Shiner down in Luckenbach
(Been but I'm ready to drink down there)
River Walk!!
float down the 'Ol Frio (Guadalupe, Comal) 
Red Dirt music on your radio
Eat Cooper's down in Llano
Houston rodeo
Sing "Carry On" at a Pat Green show
See an Abilene sunset
Catch a trout down in Port A (Only Corpus)
Hear the words to "Corpus Christi Bay"
Fireworks on PK (only been there 100 times, but not crossing it off until I see the fireworks)
Have a kolache when you go through West
GO TO the Larry Jo Taylor fest (and suds and sounds)
Go to the Ft. Worth stock show
Sang along with Cory Morrow
See a hill country sunset
Hike through Big Bend
Have your hair blown back by a Lubbock wind  (Daily)
Go somewhere where they call you "friend"
Go to the San Antone rodeo
Sing "Everclear" at a Creager show
See an El Paso sunset

With a few minor adjustments in the words of the songs, I am sure that I can accomplish all of these by next year at this time, and redo all of the ones that I have already done!

"There's no place like home...There's not place like home..."

I guess that you could say that I woke up Friday morning with Red Slipper Syndrome. It's a serious condition from what I hear and highly contagious, so you better watch out! JUST KIDDING! I was getting EXTREMELY homesick last week and I needed some good ole' Krum time. So, on a spur of the moment trip, I headed 309 miles (I'm not counting or anything) East and found my self arriving at about 10:30 that night. I only saw like 75 state troopers. Shocker! Don't get me wrong, I love Lubbock, but nothing beats Krum after a good ole' rain. The second that I got home, I didn't waste anytime. I had places to go and people to see. ;) I got to meet some of my Mom's friends from North Carolina and spend a good amount of time with the friends that I hold so dear to my heart ♥. I just couldn't find it in me to leave on Sunday so I decided to wake up EARLY this morning and head back to the LBK. Nothing crazy exciting happened really, but it was a lot of fun. I got to see people that I hardly ever get to see, have the rest of my life thrown at me (not so fun!), have the rest of my life planned for me♥♥♥, get a good amount of "windshield time", have really rude people play not so nice jokes on me, and tear up some mud tracks. Here are just a few of the pictures that I snapped this weekend:

I got to meet Tiffany's family.

Creeper Points: I still don't realize why really wealthy people who can afford to buy anything try to dress like Ginger Spice. 

I got to see my favorite little sister. :) 

I got told that I might need an intervention for my MAC addiction. 

I taught people how to curl my hair! Best idea ever!

Drank maybe a bit too much, but who's counting?

On my way back this morning I got to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises that I have ever seen

                                          

                                             I did have to leave this little turd in Lubbock and that broke my heart. 

"Merry Christmas From The Family"

So to set the title of this blog straight, our family Christmas could be defined 100% by Robert Earl Keen's song. I wouldn't exactly call us white trash, but we are not exactly the most "put together" family that there is out there. Any how, that is the way that it is, and that is how I LOVE it! This Christmas season has snuck up pretty quickly on me. I feel like I just celebrated my birthday, and that was over 4 months ago. Ready or not, it was here and now it is over. I know this is sad to say but it has taken me 19 longs years for me to find and enjoy the real reason for the season. I have always known that Jesus is the reason for Christmas, and have always enjoyed that. However, it has been the little things that I have always taken for granted that I have learned to appreciate. Regardless how "white trash" our family can be at times, I would not want to spend the holidays with anyone else. People always say you don't know what you have until it is gone, and well they have a point. While none of my family is gone, every year the time that I get to spend with them is cut short for some "grown-up" reasons. I used to spend days and weeks preparing for Christmas with my mom, dad, and grandparents. Now I barely make it home in time to celebrate. Also, when I was little I was so excited to unwrap the gifts under the tree. At this point in my life, I am more concerned about what I am going to be wrapping to put under the tree, and if it is the perfect gift for that recipient. While I will always miss my innocent child hood days of Christmas, I will try to spend my adult ones appreciating all that the sweet Lord has blessed me with. I am so appreciative of every gift, big or small, that I have ever received. Even if it is a warm, long awaited for, home cooked meal on the dining table. Maybe it's even getting to celebrate the holidays with your loved ones that might not be around forever. This Christmas, as well as every Christmas, I was spoiled rotten and received more than I could have ever asked for. Another thing that I have realized this holiday season is how much I really do miss home and everyone here. In the past six months I have not had the chance to spend many days in Krum, six total to be exact. Fortunately, I managed to take a long Christmas break. I forgot how much I like getting to sit on the back porch, and how much I missed just driving around with my friends. Also, it is crazy how much people change, some for the better and some for the worse. This trip at home has definitely thrown me some curve balls, but it has been great. It even makes me want to lock in a college degree plan so I can get my indecisive self back to North Texas. It is really going to be a tough on me to head back to Lubbock on Monday.

"...I wanna do right, but not right now..."

So first off let me point out that I have gone nuts and I am writing this blog at 5:20 in the MORNING! I have officially lost it! Well actually not, I had surgery yesterday and I woke up to take medicine and cannot go to sleep.

If you look, I have not blogged since the beginning of October! Wow! That is forever. A lot has happened since then. I feel like my theme for this whole year (yes I am weird and theme things) is change. I change constantly, so does everyone else. For the past month, I have tried to teach myself to grow as a person. I think that I have finally realized what it is that I want to do with my life, and what I am going to have to do in order to make it happen. I also realized that regardless how much I want to obtain my dreams, I still have to maintain other aspects of my life and not forget those as well. I have learned that I absolutely  CANNOT live without my friends and family. Also, God puts you in the right places at the right time, when needed. When I sometimes need reassurance it seems as if an event will happen and faith is restored. Additionally, God puts the right people in your life, at the right time. Sometimes you need someone to shoot it straight with you at certain times, and someone to take care of you, even if they are a little over 300 miles away.

Okay! Enough with the whole change thing! I would like to share that I am obsessed with the new Miranda Lambert CD. Since the day that it came out, I have had it on repeat in my car. Well until someone, who claims that he hates Miranda, stole it. BUSTED! So now it is just on repeat on my phone. If I could sing like one person in my whole life it would be her. She is beyond amazing, and absolutely gorgeous. Most importantly, unlike many celebrities, (Taylor Swift *cough cough) she seems totally down to Earth.

Also, I faced my largest fear yesterday. My whole life I have refused to get surgery because I have an irrational fear of anesthesia. Well the time came and it had to happen. I am honestly very impressed to know that I went 19 years without it happening, knowing my track record. After many tears being shed, the plan of what would happen to all of my belongings upon dying, I did it! The most caring anesthesiologist took care of me and then for the first time you will ever hear me say it, I really needed my Mom! Granted, I think that maybe she has slept more in this process than I have. For some reason, I feel great, I am just ready for Thanksgiving and I am determined to be able to eat solid foods before then since Mom bought rack of lamb! (YUM!!!) Now since I made it through it once, I think it's time to get the boobs done! HAHA Yeah that will never happen!


Even though I am 99% certain that no one ever reads any of these, I would like to wish many blessings for you and your families this Holiday Season! Much love to all!

One Lucky Little Bitch

What a title right? Well that is the term that I am using to describe myself right now. You know those moments in life when you think that NOTHING is going right and somehow everything falls right into place? Yeah, well that has been my life this past month. When it comes to school, I feel like absolutely nothing is clicking and then I get to a test and I feel like a brain surgeon because I get so smart all of a sudden. When it comes to work, I feel like the day has been so crazy and busy and there is no way in the world that I could possibly balance, and BAM! I balance! My mom has always told me that I am one to "start out covered in shit and come out smelling like roses." Well, my mom has never been more right in my life. All I can say is that God has been holding my hand through my life and especially the past few weeks. I feel more blessed than ever.

Somewhere Beautiful

So I have this little tradition on my way home. It is kind of a weird one, but the first time that I was coming home from Lubbock this song came on right as I hit the city limit sign of Krum. Now, it is my tradition. I know just about everyone and their dog has heard the song "My Hometown" by the oh so amazing Charlie Robison. Well that's my "city limit song", simply because I am certain that it pertains to every Krum resident's life in some form or fashion. It's a classy joint. During one of my typical day-to-day activities of just driving around today, this song came on and reminded me how much I just need to go home for a day or two. I was so excited about leaving, I feel as if I forgot to say goodbye. I didn't exactly accomplish everything at home that I feel like I needed to this summer. My grandpa was in the hospital the two weeks before we left, and I was so worried about him that I didn't do the things that I said that I was going to do. August 1st got here really fast, and I have not been back to take care of any unfinished business since. When that song came on today every little thing started reminding me of good ole' Hawkeye road from the smell of cow poop to the thought of drinking water from a well. Yeah, it's that bad! Unfortunately, I am about to learn how to cope with the the thought of not going home until Thanksgiving. Praying that I get to go home then. Between school and work, there is just not enough time in the day for that four and a half hour journey. My parents come to visit VERY often, but that is just not quite filling the gap for me. I need to see my puppy, my old friends, all of my family, and that driveway to my house REALLY bad! Until then, my current mood is homesick. However, I can't bare the thought of leaving my house here for very long. They always say "home is where the heart is", well I have a problem that I don't know how to fix. My heart is in two places that are very far apart.

The sunset that I miss seeing every night.