Warm Hearts and Freezing Temperatures: A Wedding in Idaho

I'm baaaaack!! I got home yesterday from my brother's wedding in the frozen tundra of Idaho. It took 12 hours, but I have thawed out now. I'm so glad to be back home and to see that it's in the 60s here, when I left it was 10 degrees at 5:30 in the morning. Needless to say I was not a happy camper Friday morning when I left Texas, but I was even more unhappy when I landed in Pocatello, Idaho, and it was 1 degree. That's not a typo, it was really 1 degree at noon!! I'm not really sure why anyone would put up with that, but apparently a lot of people do. So the wedding went off without a hitch...correction--the wedding went off with a hitch! Jason and Jessie got married and it was beautiful. Her folks are the greatest people I've met in a long time. It's really cool when you meet one person and think, "Wow, they're great, they can't all be this great." Then you stand corrected, again and again. Jessie is a wonderful woman, I'm so lucky to have such a cool sister-in-law. Then I met her parents and realized where she gets it, they are such loving and accepting people. Then I met her sisters and grandparents and nieces and nephews, I'm telling you guys that the whole dadgum family is wonderful and sweet. I'm amazed. It was fantastic to travel from a warm climate to such a bitterly cold place, only to get around a family that was so loving, they just warmed us up inside and out. It made me aspire to be such a loving person, to be less judgmental. For a family of potato farmers from the country to accept a nose-pierced, tattooed city girl from Texas is inspiring. I love them. My brother is the luckiest man on Earth. Here are some pictures from the big day...






And one of the Best Man, Isaac Brewer, with the groom's sister...

Texas Rarities: Graffiti, Gators and Galveston

In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow.

In Corpus Christi, it is illegal to raise alligators in your home.

In Galveston, it is illegal to have a camel run loose in the street

The Real Goings-on

I know it's been a really long time since I've posted anything, much less anything of substance. So here's what's going on with me. Some of you know that Alan (my husband) and I are in the process of getting divorced. If you didn't know, Alan and I are getting divorced...it ended in October...yes, I'm ok...no, I really don't want to talk about it. Ok, now that's out of the way, what else has been happening in my exciting life. Jason (my brother) was here this week and it was really great to see and hang out with him. He and Jessie are getting married this weekend but due to the inclement weather, we aren't sure if we'll be able to make it to freaking Idaho. Who in their right mind gets married in Idaho in December anyway? So, depending on what happens with the rain, sleet, ice, snow event we are supposed to be experiencing tomorrow, we may or may not go to his wedding. I have to admit that I was really looking forward to meeting my new sister-in-law and seeing my little brother again, but the thought of seeing my father was freaking me out a little since I haven't seen him in so long I can't remember when. Not that that means a whole hell of a lot since I can't remember how long the chipped, red polish has been on my toes, but I do know that I had my pedicure at some point this summer and I haven't seen my father in at least a couple of years. Apologies to all those Table & Fire folks who might be reading this...but I guess if you were able to get past the divorce part, you probably aren't too shocked. Speaking of T&F, there's something that I've wanted to get off my chest about an old post about drinking in public and being a Christian or a minister. Someone on there posted something about how it's not a good thing and how a pastor should be held to a higher standard and that if they were to see one of our pastors at a bar they would be offended (paraphrased). My question is...if drinking bothers a person that much, why would they be in a bar in the first place? I mean if I'm down on Greenville Avenue, upstairs at the Cavern on Sunday night after bible study, drinking a Boddington's and someone from church walks in and is appalled that I'm sitting at the bar knocking one back, why are they there in the first place? I certainly wouldn't be offended if someone from IBC decided to go out for a beer or just to hear the awesome musical stylings of Ricki Derek (he sounds exactly like Sinatra). Anyway, I just had to get that out and since T&F is down, I thought I'd shoot my mouth off here on my blog. So there, nah! By the way, I'm totally aware of the fact that part of my drinking tirade sounded like an old joke. So a pastor, a rabbi and a priest walk into a bar...

Fives List

Five Things to Do Before I Die

• Travel somewhere outside of North America
• Become a Literature professor - which includes finishing my BA, MA and PhD
• Wade in the Dead Sea
• Buy back my Grandpa's lake house in East Texas (or build one that looks just like it)
• Meet at least some of the Table and Fire gang

Five Things I Cannot Do

• Sing (although I do sing to the radio in my truck with the windows down because I don't care if someone hears me because I won't see them again)
• Play an instrument
• Keep my feelings to myself
• Win at freecell more than 3 times in a row
• Stop buying shoes

Five People I Would Most Like to Hang Out With For a Day

• Toni Morrison
• Kinky Friedman
• Laura Bush
• Willie Nelson
• Bono

Five Favorite Books

• The Bluest Eye
• Mere Christianity
• Blue Like Jazz
• The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
• All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Five Movies That I Would Watch Over and Over Again.

• The Ref
• Home for the Holidays
• Office Space
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Dogma

Five Songs That Are Currently Playing On My Computer

• Good Times - Charlie Robison
• Cover of the Rolling Stone - Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
• Bad Habit - Cross Canadian Ragweed
• Ball and Chain - Social Distortion
• The Letter - The Box Tops