Deep in the heart of Texas

Well, back to the daily grind here at school. I had a great spring break and am ready for the school year to be over! A fellow teacher and I went to Ft. Worth, TX to visit my sister Ranting Republican for a few days.

We drank a decent amount (did you know you can get a public intox ticket IN a bar in Texas?)...not that any of us did, but our sobriety was questioned. We went to Austin for a night and went to the Dizzy Rooster....the bar the Real World Austin cast frequently visited. 6th street is a blast, full of great rooftop bars, music, restaurants and they even close the street off to cars to give it that Mardi Gras feel. No, you cannot drink in the street as far as I know.

(Pictures from left to right: Austin sign at Dizzy Rooster, "Coyotes" at Coyote Ugly, and my hand in Johnny Cash's handprint at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth.)

We also went to see Willie Nelson at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth...well, only saw a couple songs b/c we wanted to bar hop. I did two step with a guy but he creeped me out. I spent a lot of time text messaging and calling my new boyfriend.....and yes, I was that girl for a bit of the trip!

The trip home was a real biatch. We were first delayed 2 hours at DFW airport b/c of bad inclimate weather at O'Hare, then once we did get up they closed O'Hare so we had to circle Omaha, Nebraska for a while....but couldn't land there to refuel for a while b/c there were storms at that airport as well. We finally landed and sat in a hot un-airconditioned plane for a while until a gate opened up and they let us off for a while. I breached security to get some food for us and then, luckily, our plane took off and we got home over 8 hours late! To top it off I had some jackass in front of me who had the seat reclined before we even left the runway. When a flight attendant walked by he put it up until she passed....to make matters worse, my seat was broken and I couldn't recline at all!! I even stated that fact loudly so he would hear but apparently he didn't care. Whatever, I'm just happy we got home in one piece!

My friend said she was at a Chicago country bar we all go to with him and some other people on Thursday night. He told me he was at another bar so I was confused. I called him and he said she ruined the surprise for me. He went to take lessons that night so he could suprise me and dance the two step and other couple dances so we didn't suck out there. How cute is that? I'm such a smitten kitten!

Well today is our one month anniversary! Feels like MUCH longer and I think that's the case because we see each other every day. My last boyfriend lived 35 miles away from me and with my crazy work shedule, it made it difficult to see him more than once a week. This guy works with me, lives with my best guy friends, and its only 10 miles away. I can tell this is a good, healthy relationship b/c we do cute little things for each other. I know that he likes tomato juice, so I keep that in my house and I Tivo shows he might enjoy like "Flip That House", "Kitchen Renovation" and anything soccer-related. Since he's a St. Louis Cardinals fan I don't allow him to use my Cubs blanket, so I'm making him either a soccer one (played college soccer and coaches at our high school) or a Bears one (and I'm a Packer fan!). He knows how much I hate the bright light in my bathroom so he brought over a dimmer switch and put it in. He took out my garbage yesterday, burned me a country cd full of great songs and we leave notes for each other in random places. Today I arranged it so I will be the one providing medical coverage for his game today so I can watch him coach :) I know, Ranting Republican is probably puking right now b/c she doesn't like all this kind of stuff!

He asked me to go to his grandpa's birthday party on Sunday to meet his parents and entire extended family! It's a good thing I'm so damn charming and parents love me otherwise I'd be totally freaked out...but instead I'm totally excited!!! I have to figure out what to wear that says "I'm cute and trendy but nice and Catholic" b/c I am being looked at as "possible daughter-in-law" material, as any family would do when a significant other is brought into a family occasion. So far I've gotten the okay from his 2 sisters and their husbands so I'm doing alright so far!

Now if only I can get rid of these swollen tonsils of mine, I'd be good to go!