You Know You're in Texas When...

Your plane ticket says so.

I flew home this past week to visit my parents and my dear friend Dianna before she leaves for her mission!

Your hair gets frizzy before you even walk outside. 

Whoever thinks Texas isn't humid can kiss my butt. I don't normally have frizzy hair, but I do when I go home. 

You have a million good Mexican restaurants to choose from.

One of my favorite things about going home is this little Mexican restaurant called Alfredo's. It's legit Mexican food and their salsa is amazing. I seriously haven't had a better salsa in my life. 

You, a person who doesn't sweat even if you ran five miles (because that's the farthest I've ever run), sweat like crazy.

It's the humidity and the heat. Kills me. Sorry if that's gross, just know I'm being dramatic:)

You see more Texas flags than American flags.

Texas pride y'all. 

Gas is cheaper.

Okay, this might not be true if you are coming from just anywhere, but coming from Utah where the trucks have to haul through mountains, gas is fairly expensive. I paid $3.55 a gallon last week. On our way to dinner one night I saw it for $3.19. Are you kidding me? Life's no fair. That'd save me like six bucks a fill up. 

You notice that Southern Hospitality.

One of my pit stops while home was into my mom's new office to meet her boss. While I was there, her old boss, my 3rd grade teacher, came to congratulate me on my job. With a card and some cash She's the cutest and seriously one of the reasons I stuck with my childhood dream of becoming a teacher. 

Green, flat land never looked so good.

Ever since moving to Utah, I've sworn that I will never love a place without mountains. They're grand and remind you how small you are in the grand scheme of things (in a humbling, not depressing way). But man, seeing the fields of green and lush of trees I fell in love with Texas all over again. 

Blue Bell ice cream is everywhere. 

Worth every gosh darn calorie. 

This seriously was such a great trip home. My parents spoiled me, like usual, and I still felt overwhelmed by their generosity. My mom misses having kids at home, so she builds up a desire to spoil us which kind of explodes when we come home. It's mostly cute. I got to see a lot of my old friends which was really nice. It felt like the good ole days. And best of all, it felt like a real vacation. I wasn't worried about school or my classroom or anything. I just relaxed. 

Now back to real life. Three weeks from today is the first day of school. Cra-to-the-zy. Here's to living in my classroom. 

29 Days Left of Summer

This summer is going by SO quickly! Maybe it's because last summer I was engaged and counting down the days til I got married, which seemed like forever. Maybe it's because in just over a month I'll be standing in front of my class for the first time. Maybe it's because my to-do list is getting longer and my energy level is getting shorter. Maybe it's because I'm really enjoying this summer, that it's going fast.

My life as of late includes a lot of driving out to my school (32 minutes one-way!), meeting with my grade-level team, reading a stack of literature on setting up my classroom reading and writing programs, watching too much tv and trying to get Spencer to like all my weird shows, almost going on a field trip, but then realizing the bus didn't get scheduled, finishing summer school and saying goodbye to those cute kids, scouting out school supply deals, getting increasingly frustrated with my computer (probably because it needs to update and it needs an hour and a half to download it--I ain't got time for that), seeing my little brother (in-law) get his mission call to Thailand to proselyte for our church for two years, watching The Fault In Our Stars through my tears and crying when I think about it, dying of heat in our apartment (pretty sure we get all the stale air since we are in the basement and the AC unit is on the third floor), buying a fan, partying for the 4th (which seriously deserves a post of its own), renting some jet-skis and tubing on a lake, dressing up as cows and getting free Chick-fil-a, and recovering from a very bad sunburn.

This summer has seriously been the best. I have the perfect balance of things to do and boredom that equate to relaxation. We've done just enough summer-y things. Can it be summer all year long?

A Random Complaint and Its Solution

Note: Sometimes you just have to complain about the small things. That's what this is.

My hair has not been friendly lately. It feels super dry and is almost unworkable after a day (or if I sleep on it at all). I see more split ends than healthy ones (though I hope I'm being dramatic with that statement). And probably worst of all, it doesn't hold a style at all. But it's just so long!

I blame the stupid dry Utah air. I didn't do anything special to my hair in high school living in humid Texas, and it was healthy and happy. Out here I do a million different things to protect it, add moisture, I limit my heat usage and my hair looks fried! (again a bit dramatic). I've had hairdressers tell me that split ends are normal, and I shouldn't worry about having some, but they make me feel gross! So I'm cutting my hair.

I think this face sums up my feelings toward haircuts. 

                         

Tip: If you're growing out your hair (especially if you live in a dry climate), don't wait six months to cut your hair. 

And the result...

                           

It looks a lot shorter compared to the before picture, but Spencer didn't even notice that I cut it, which surprisingly says a lot since he's very possessive of my hair. 

Here's to happy and healthy hair!