birthday girls, birthday haircuts!

My favorite thing my niece Ava did when I saw her in January in was say to me: "I don't have to miss you, because you'll be at my birthday!" My second favorite thing was the look on her face when I told her I was going to Las Vegas for my birthday. Complete bewilderment. In the end, we decided that I was coming out to share our birthdays. One of the things I love about UT School of Public Health is that my birthday has coincided with spring break for the last 3 years. This is the first year no one is getting married...so I was off to Las Vegas (weird, no?)

 I had been thinking about getting a haircut for a while. Sometimes you just need a change, and when everything else seems stuck in neutral, you chop off 10 inches of hair. I knew I wanted it short (not as short as it is, but I'll get to that), but I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it. Trust in the stylist, I guess. I was really excited when the woman cutting my hair said if we took a little bit more that I was thinking we could donate it to Locks of Love, so I said go for it. My hair grows like mad, and there so much of it! I was so pleased that someone else will get to use some!

Ava got a fancy birthday haircut too, and Sarah was kind enough to take some pictures of us. Can you see how short it is? I'm not always fond of pictures by myself but I was really pleased with how they turned out.

This one is my favorite. And we discovered that my face has this crazy ability to look really, really different depending on the direction you are looking at it from. 

This was our attempt at artistry. I actually think it is a really cool picture. See that weird double dip think my tongue is doing? Can you do that? Also, I really am making noise, but I'm not really yelling. More of just an "aaahh" like I'm filming a bad take in an even worse horror movie. And I was shaking my head back and forth, so I'm impressed that she caught this.

Loads of fun, playing model. More fun was watching Brenna throw play food in the street and have to go inside with Bryce. No wonder Sarah was excited to have an adult model for a change :) Thanks Schristor for the pictures!

you know you're in Houston if...

you live down the street from the country's biggest annual Livestock Show and Rodeo! And you get to go on a date to the World's Champtionship Bar-B-Que Contest - really, I have the ticket stub to prove it...the date and the contest :) 

We had "free" barbecue dinner courtesy of Mrs. Baird's Chuckwagon. I was quite impressed with the logistics of feeding that many people, they really had it down to a science. And according to Dan, who went back several times for more and talked to the people serving, they have never run out of food. 

And then we did what any good Texan does. Ate fried sweets. My first time, and I was a little nervous. As a group we had fried snickers, fried cheesecake, fried cookie dough (that's what I got!), and the original fried Twinkie. The cookie dough was surprisingly delicious. And definitely no more than a once-a-year treat.

Beth, Chelce, and Gavin and I decided to try a ride (thanks Oscar!) and boy, howdy was it the absolute best ride I've ever been on! We were thrown in every direction possible and Chelce and I were laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. Seriously, I was giggling like a little girl. It made me so happy! The hip didn't love it, and I regretted it later (but only a little!). I will forever be an amusement park ride junkie. 

I'm really glad I ended up going, because it wasn't the original plan for the evening. Now if I end up moving, at least I have experienced the Rodeo! And I can be less impatient about the havoc it wreaks on my drive to Target :)

older posts

just making sure you know that there are a few posts you may not have read. make sure you click "older posts" at the bottom of the page.

To the Author

To the Author

Your words pierce
From the thin white
Like eyes
That find my buried experience
And hands
That splatter it on the page

Claiming the past
What was not my history
Has become

Black lines connect
Form letters, words
Stories
That stretch my world beyond itself
And life
About which I was unaware

Shaping the future
What might not have been
Can become

instead of blogging about TODAY, I thought I'd write about this...

I had a memory today. You know, sometimes that happens.

I was on the phone with Mom and she told me she was coming home from Sheely's Irish Dance recital and was talking about the similarities between Sheely and I. Naturally, this led me to think about my short-lived Irish Dancing career. This picture was from my first Feis.

I learned a lot about myself in the short time I danced. For instance, I learned that I am not a dancer :) But I do really enjoy it (I actually do some of the dances now for exercise, though I have the hips and back of an 80 year old, so not with the same intensity). So I guess I learned that everyone can dance, even if you aren't a "dancer." I learned that anxiety can be overcome through practice, preparation, and prayer. I learned about my heritage. I learned that even big kids can start something new...you don't have to start training as soon as you can walk (this applies to all kinds of things). I learned that I bite my lip when I'm concentrating, and that putting a hundred pink curlers in my hair means my mom must really love me. So here's to the opportunity I had to try something new, to work hard, to make memories.

Why I don't eat rabbit...

my visitor!

I am so thrilled that my sister Corinne came out and visited me here in Houston. It gets lonely without family around, and I loved sharing my life out here with her and getting some one-on-one time. Things were a little hectic this week as I tried to make up for time lost in the hospital and with the wedding, but by Thursday I was grateful to relax and be a tourist with Kinny.

She flew in Thursday morning to the further away George Bush Airport, which was fine because it is awfully close to the National Funeral History Museum, where I have wanted to go since I moved here. And Corinne was the perfect person to go with me - she and I have the same interest in the weird and somewhat morbid :) It was really fascinating. I learned about Presidential funerals, different types of coffins and hearses, embalming (popularized during the Civil War...who knew?). My favorite part may have been the fact that from the outside, the museum looks like a warehouse. The whole thing is just really random. But that's how I like it.

After a fabulous lunch at Schlotsky's, Corinne was kind enough to attend a lecture with me at school. She was lucky though, because I'm not sure how many people get to hear about Ebola from one of the guys who discovered it. Joseph McCormick and Sue Ficher-Hoch gave a "shoeleather epidemiology" lecture about some of their more interesting investigations. These are two of my epi idols - I would love to have their careers. I recommend their book, Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC if you have any interest in infectious disease. They talked for two hours, but both Corinne and I could have listed to more. But luckily they did finish, because we wanted to eat dinner in Galveston. I have lived here a while now, and have never been. A real shame, because I enjoyed it immensely. We played on the beach until the sun went down and then had a fantastic dinner at Salsa's. I recommend. (Side note, how impressed are you at the picture I got of Corinne clicking her heels?)

Friday we grabbed Kolaches and went to the George Historic Ranch. It felt very Texan. I really enjoyed the Victorian House we toured, and I was reminded how much I would not have been suited to live back then. Afterward we took a boat tour of the Houston harbor, which was really interesting. They talked about shipping and the different ships that come in and out everyday. And it's free! We then headed up to Humble so Corinne could spend some time with Shaliece. Wonderful food, wonderful company. And she let us borrow her cooler...

...which was excellent because Saturday we drove to San Antonio to visit the Missions. I felt like I was back in Europe, exploring such old buildings. It made me think of my trip to Spain with Chris. I miss him...maybe he'll come visit me next!? We saw all of the missions, including the Alamo, which was more of a tourist trap than I personally care for. But it was neat to learn about this part of our history. I'll admit I was fairly ignorant about it before. We took a walk along the River Walk and had dinner with Corinne's high school friend Scott who drove from Austin. And don't worry, I took her to Buc-ees on our way back to Houston :)

I am so grateful to Corinne for coming all the way out here and for the good times and conversations we had. She is such a blast, and it reminded me of the time we used to spend together before I moved away for the first time. (Don't worry Other Sisters, I'll write nice things about you too if you come visit me!!)