Spent last weekend in Texas on a lake (Lake LBJ outside of Austin). My dad’s house is on that lake. Lovely Texas. It’s where I was raised. Not on the lake. I grew up near Houston.

This was the first trip I loved being on the water, specifically the lake. The breeze made the heat tolerable. Check out my hair. Yeah, it should be no surprise that I’m the blonde holding a glass of wine. The brunette is my darling cousin. Please note: jewelry around my neck was a loaner from my 6 year old niece.

I even went in the lake and had a blast. Kids, water and wine do that.

There are a ton more pictures, but I don’t want to bore you with the boat parade, more family poses, or the wild life in Texas. And by wild life, I mean wild living. Not exotic outdoorsy animals. And in Texas that only means armadillo!

I’m in Texas. Visiting family. All of whom live in this glorious state. Well, except for me. I live in Utah. Now I know why.

Things in Texas that scare me…

• Billboards advertising “Cowboy Church”. Mom explained that this is quite a popular trend. They have church mixed with horse riding and stuff. Tried to get a photo, but mom missed the shot as we drove by.
• Chilled merlot. It is also not uncommon to have white wine served over ice poolside. I learned this a the country club pool earlier.
• Decor. Everything decorated for July 4th. Houses, boats, boathouses, jet skis, cars, etc…
• Temperatures. They are extreme. You’re either dripping sweat outdoors or sporting goosebumps in the air conditioned indoors.
• “Barn Sale” signs instead of the standard “Garage Sale” announcement.
• Manners. People are ultra polite. For example, I was leaving a gas station and there was a man about 15 feet in front of me walking in the same direction. He apologized to me, while holding the door opened for me, for not holding the door opened continuously until I arrived at the door. See what I mean? I’m so used to opening doors by myself, I forgot what this is like.
• The landscape. I am lost without mountains. I have no idea which way is which.
• The art. Bloody unicorn heads and 40 oversized bronze cattle sculptures in a park. Enough said.
• The price of homes. Huge homes in great areas for reasonable prices.
• My family. Because we are crazy, quirky and just us.

Although I haven’t lived in this state for over 20 years, I still love it. And I’ll be back. Even though this shit scares me.

Travel. It is one of my favorite things to do. But until I’m at the airport settled at my gate, I stress out.   There’s so much to think about and organize in my head.

Packing.  I dread every moment of it.  For each outfit I must coordinate jewelry, purses, shoes, bras, panties. Plus how many bikinis and shoes are TOO many? Really, what do you think?

Entertainment. What magazines and books should I bring? How many?

Carry on liquids. This is always a problem considering my lip gloss fetish.

Blah, blah blah on all that stuff. Being stressed is old news because I’m here now. In Texas. Dallas for a few days until we travel towards Austin for a July 4th celebration. Then back to Dallas.

And I can assure you, everything is bigger in Texas. This was great news when I was reminded by the pour of my wine at lunch. Let’s hope my ass doesn’t realize the trend before I leave this state.