So much to say....

Sorry for the long blog, but I have a lot to catch everyone up on. Grab a drink and your favorite blanket and curl up next to your computer. I'll divide it out in chapters so you can stop if you need to.

Chapter 1: Airport Round 1....

Texas was fun it was a "whirlwind" but I managed to see everyone I needed to for at least an hour or more. Friday when I got to the airport my flight was delayed a bit so I sat at the bar. The bartender, she always remembers me and I really don't fly that often. I sat next to Teresa and John, they are frequent flyer's. John, 47, lives in Victoria, TX and contracts out for Nissan in Canton. He travels every weekend back to Tejas and has been doing so for about a year and a half. Teresa, 32, is in the Air National Guard and is hilarious. I don't think she's ever met a stranger and she lives in Clear Lake, TX on a boat. She is based out of Meridian and too travels every weekend to be back on her boat. So, then we have Little Amy....she is a MSU student and was traveling to Houston to see her ex boyfriend. She was a cute little blond, reminded me of SM's sister. We all became BFF instantly. I hate to fly so Teresa being a pilot made me feel more at ease until she was like, "yeah, I hate turbulence, it scares me." - You're a pilot for pete's sake! John was an old pro and so as we sat by each other on the plane I warned him that I would possibly grab his arm or leg at points throughout the flight...he assured me that would be alright. No freaky-sneaky going on. It was a great flight - no worries. The stewardess was hilarious and cracking jokes over the intercom the whole way. Then we landed...We all exchanged numbers and made sure Amy had our numbers in case her ex decided to leave her for freak out or if she decided she didn't like him anymore. (which when I told my dad this story he said that not too long ago a boy killed his girlfriend after the broke up and he BBQ'd her to cremate her on the grill - great dad, thanks!) So we figured out who was going to be on who's flight back to MS and I was to travel with Amy.....I'll update you on that later. I didn't get to approve of the ex boyfriend, but the rest of the gang went to meet him and make sure it was safe. Crazy kids.

Chapter 2: Picking me up

My long time friend Amy (not to be confused with MSU girl) picked me up from the airport in her bling bling'n new Tahoe and instead of eating somewhere fabulous like PF Chang's or Cheesecake factory we headed onto her mom's house where they cooked steaks. It was good to see her mom and step dad and of course Clayton aka. Potty her fiance. Potty and I went to school together and I had forgotten why we called him Potty until words foul-ly flowed from his mouth. He's a good guy, but his name gives him justice. (Potty, Amy Chole & Rudy)

It was late and she dropped my off at my mom's house. My mom and I stayed up until 1 am chit chatting and she had to go to bed because she had to wake up early and start cooking for my Great Aunt Martha's 100th birthday. My mom caters a lot.

Chapter 3: Saturday

Amy picked me up at 10am to go and be fitted for the brides maids dress (royal blue). We traveled to the next town over and my flip flop broke so I had to walk into this store with no shoes - how red neck am I? I apologized and asked if I could be fitted and purchase my shoes so that I could wear them to go eat breakfast! I was fitted in 2.4 seconds and then we went and picked up Prasek's because it's only the best meat you can buy in Texas. I ate my ham and cheese and a cream cheese kolache (if you aren't bohemian that is pretty much a danish). Super yum. Amy took me to her new house and we ate and talked then she took me back to my mom's so I could help her with the food. When I got to my mom's Jason and Jenn (brother & sister in law) were there and we all helped out as much as we knew to do - my mom makes fancy food and I just don't know much about gourmet cooking since Chippy does the cooking and it 99% of the time deals with a grill. But I did my best for my mom.

We went to the party early, about 2 to set up. I knew no one except like 4 people including my mom and Aunt Martha. (pictured in purple is Aunt Martha with her 2 daughters - couch, their 2 girls - each side of chair and the grand daughters 2 daughters - behind chair) When the party started up a few cousins came and it was good to see them even though they seemingly have 3 kids a piece. Jenn made me sit outside with her the whole time because she was afraid that the old people were about to die. When you are 100 all of your friends are no younger than 85. They were all so fragile and so Jenn got scared. After sitting in the 100% humidity for an hour I decided it was time for me to see Jason and Jenn's new house and try out their pool. We went and got a lot of beer, called Amy and swam for a couple of hours - that was a lot of fun hanging out.

Then we decided we were hungry and went to Greek Brothers. Pictured (l-r) is Jenn, me and Rachel - Jennifer's sister. I ate shrimp cozumel with a salad with jalapeno ranch dressing - yum. Then we had too many shots sent over to us by Rachel's fiance, Matthew who owns Greek's; my brother; and Jenn's mom. Glad I wasn't driving! Amy was with me the whole time and then my friend Christy came. It was good to sit back and talk about our crazy times....me, crazy, nah! At times throughout the weekend we felt like it was our 100th birthday, talking about gardening, flowerbeds, kids, what old mo-mo's we are! But we had a super great time. Christy starts her invetro (sp)fertilization on the 16th of this month. So, she may be having triplets in a year if all of the eggs/sperm take. On that note, both Christy and Amy informed me that Chip and I don't have to worry about having kids - if we don't then their kids will take care of us when we get old....we just have to move back to Texas, which isn't a bad deal!

Pictures...me kissin' Amy! - Christy, Amy, Me - Jason & GoldenTee.

Chapter 4: Sunday, Rachel vs. Airport

With all that said, I got home about 2am - sooo tired and woke up at 10:30am Sunday. I called my dad when I woke up to see what time he was coming to "the camp." He and my step mom were coming to El Campo to see progress on Jason & Jenn's house and then eat lunch and take me back to the airport. And that is exactly what we did when he got to town at around noon. It was good to visit with everyone. But...before we left town I had noticed a sign that cracked me up and I HAD to take a picture to share it with all of my blog readers. My dad was kind enough to not tell me to my face I'm an idiot, but I had to....This picture was taken at the local oil change place. Does anyone find that as knee slapping hilarious as I do?

I'm tired of typing and you are tired of reading so I will wrap up my airport story - I got to the airport tried to check in...My flight was booked for Saturday, not Sunday. I must have rolled the mouse up when I booked my flight and changed the date - story of my life. I was on standby for the 4:10 flight and it was over booked, as was the 9:45pm flight so thanks to my awesome husband he aggressively checked Southwest.com until it said - 9:45 flight Available. I paid extra money to get on it, but at least it was a guarantee. I got home at around 1:15am saw my husband for 2 waking seconds until he left at 7am to drive to Bama. If you were wondering about my airport friends...Little MSU Amy, had a fun time with her ex boyfriend. We had a chance to talk about it before she got on her real 4:10 flight back to Jackson. I'll be visiting her in Starkville soon. As for John - we flew back together and because of weather I did have to grab his leg a couple of times. We will go eat at Amerigo's in Jackson soon. And Teresa - she wasn't flying out until Monday night, I'll email her.

So, good friends, good fun, good times, fun memories.......Texas was good. Need to do it more often.

Fin