What a country ass two days!

I finally floated the river and shot a gun! What an experience...

First on Sunday i went with some coworkers to the Brazos river to float the river. I camp on a river back home so I thought I knew what to expect of this adventure. As always I was way off base.

We go to get in the water and it is the biggest shock to me. the water is brown and warm. DISGUSTING! I'm so used to an ice cold crystal clear river. Even our lakes in WA look cleaner than this! However when you have a choice of being in that nasty water or out in 100+* weather you will choose the water, trust me.  Also the river had absolutely no current. We would have to swim or walk to get the floats to move down the river so it took a full 3 hours if not more to get to our destination. I learned the water is released from a lake on Saturdays, or else this river would be bone dry like the rest of Texas. The float was a lot of fun, especially for the rest of the group because they got to tell me about river snakes, snapping turtles, and then would humm the Deliverance song all to try and scare me (they succeeded). I felt like I was on the Animal Planet channel. We also saw some of the trashiest people I have ever seen pull their floats to the side of the river to tie a rope to a tree and try to swing off it. The water was waist deep at highest, so I was ready for someone to get injured. Luckily the rope broke off the tree on the first try and the idiot just fell straight down for minimal damage. Their country accents were stronger than ever. The floats kept on slowly creeping away and then you would hear one of them yell out 'go get my beer its floating away!' Altogether this was a great day, I got to cool off and get a very nice tan :) couldn't be happier!
Sadly my pictures of this trip aren't postable yet because they are on a water proof disposable camera that I need to get developed/on a CD first.

This morning I went to shoot guns! I cant believe I am about to say this, but it was SO MUCH FUN! I have always been scared of guns and kind of anti gun, but this was actually a great experience. I freaked out for the few hours before we went thinking about how scary it was going to be. Michelle comforted me by telling me 'Texans like shooting targets not people' haha.Then we got to the shooting range (a big field) and heard some big ass guns going off. I got even more nervous. Then we walked into the gun store place to pay, get our ear plugs, and our targets. Ben (the guy that took Michelle and me to shoot guns) greeted the store owners by name so I know he has been there a ton. I wish I had a picture of the owners, a older classic Texas couple in my opinion. The man was older, wore dirty jeans, a plaid button down shirt, and a truckers hat. He couldn't look or sound any more country and then he handed us our ear plugs and said "now don't you throw these away. If you throw them away I am going to think you're a democrat". I couldn't stop laughing! Luckily this man knew nothing about me or where I am from.

We went out to the range to shoot the guns and I did pretty well actually! We shot a '22 long rifle' and a '223 Remington'. Both look like big guns, but I am pretty sure they are as small  (in power) as they get. I have tons of pictures of Michelle, Ben, and I so enjoy :)

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 I think this also might be the first time y'all get to see pics of my coworkers! Michelle is the one I spend most of my time with and Ben is the only male RC. Neither are direct supervisors. Both are a ton of fun to hang out with!

 

 LOOK HOW GOOD I DID! A BULLS EYE MY FIRST TIME OUT!

 What can I say I'm just a bad ass natural :) haha

Looking forward to August

So first off sorry still no art updates, I haven't done anything worth sharing. If that changes I will let y'all know! Also I haven't done anything new (no guns yet) but this weekend is looking promising so more updates on TX stuff coming soon... in the mean time I thought id let y'all know my exciting plans for after TX!

I am so happy and sad to leave TX in only 17 days! I never felt like I would miss CA and I never have, but I am 100% sure I will miss TX. As sad as it is to think of leaving I am so excited for what will be happening in August!

First when I get back I have my mom's birthday! We are going to go camping for a week to celebrate :) It is something we have done every year for the past 10 years or so, but I haven't gotten to attend the last few because of Reslife training so I am ecstatic to be able to go this year! We go camping near Roslyn WA and it is by far my favorite place in the world to be!

Once we get back I will have one day home and then off to Denver Co!  I have for a very very long time wanted to go to Denver Colorado. I have tried to convince family and friends to go at different times, but it has never worked out. So with a little less than a month off with no responsibilities I thought it would be the perfect time to finally visit Denver and see if I love it as much as have always thought I would. I also have always wanted to go on a road trip so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

So this trip starts with me flying into Denver Co and staying a few nights (where unknown, looking into couch surfing). While in Denver I hope to visit some local hip restaurants, parks, and go hiking at least one day. Then I will rent a car and drive to Salt Lake City Utah to visit my soul sista for a night! Next I will head for Pullman to visit friends and pack my car with all the stuff I left in storage in May. I hope I can stay 2 nights in Pullman, but we will see. Then back home to unpack.

August is going to be full of fun adventures and then I will kick off the new job on September 1st! :)

Dublin Dr Pepper

First of all I am sorry for not posting in 2 weeks then posting 2 times in one day... But hopefully you enjoy the posts :)

I don't know if anyone knows this, I certainly didn't before I got here, but Dr pepper is a big deal here. It was created in Waco Texas and then is produced in Dublin Texas. Dublin is the only place in the entire country that still creates Dr pepper with Imperial Sugar. They are only allowed to sell it within a 40 mile radius (which includes Stephenville!).  The town is tiny and completely based in the pride of Dr pepper! each year the town gets renamed DR PEPPER TEXAS for their anniversary, then goes back to being Dublin Texas. So I went there this weekend to see what all the hype was about. I got to tour the museum and bottling area. I also got to drink Dublin Dr Pepper (with imperial sugar!) out of a old school glass bottle.
 Check out this link for info on how Dr pepper is suing Dublin! Also get a little better idea of the town by watching the video on that site!
http://www.nbcdfw.com/the-scene/food-drink/Dr-Pepper-Sues-Dr-Pepper-124675289.html

Here are some photos from the adventure:

 Yes I got cowgirl boots incase you were wondering... :)

 So inside there is a map of the USA where you can put  a pin where you are from! Pretty much everyone was from Texas as you can see, but I am the first to put a pin in Pullman WA! 9 other people from WA have been to Dublin though so that was pretty cool :)

So yeah it was a pretty awesome side trip and something to cross off my Texas bucket list! I have also been to whataburger which is good for breakfast. This week I am shooting a gun! I will make sure to take pics if I don't pass out from fear first haha

Sorry it took so long to post this! 4th of July adventures!

4th of July weekend was great! I went down to Austin with a coworker and her 2 year old son. Funniest thing is Michelle, the coworker, has dark skin with dark hair while I am bleach blonde and have light skin. Her son is also blonde and has light skin. So when we would go out to eat a lot of the time people would ask what my son wanted to drink! felt so awkward! He is the cutest kid though so I have attached a photo :)

I got to see Coree! yay! She gave my friend and I a tour of Jester hall, which is MASSIVE! It used to be the largest residence in the country. It includes a food court, classrooms, and basically an art exhibit. I was very impressed. The pics below are of the parking garage for the residence hall and then the actual residence hall. Also we all went to lunch at a great restaurant that served only vegetarian and vegan food :) totally my people!

I went to the outlet malls in Round Rock Texas after seeing a bit of Austin! Bought some more business clothes for my current and future job. Then down to see some folks she knows near Austin.

This  place was crazy awesome. The woman is a certified hoarder, her family even tried to get her on the show. I didnt take pics because that would be insanely rude, but trust me when I say this place was covered inside and out with piles and piles and more piles of crap. They had set up a TV in the back yard and barbequed for all the friends that came over because we cant fit in the house with all the crap.

THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER HAPPENED HERE! The woman also works for the humane society and takes in many animals to get them back to health or just give them a temporary home. Everything from dogs to donkeys were on the property. Even BABY DEER! so freaking cute, and I got to feed them out of a bottle! it was the coolest experience I have had since being here. Funny since most people around here kill deer, but hey I helped nurse them back to health :) sorta. Once again no photos :( sorry!

We then headed to the hotel to crash. Next morning was the 4th of July! yay! We went and visited Michelle's parents for a bit then a friend of hers. We waited till around 6pm to go to Fort Worth because it was so miserably hot out! None of us wanted to walk around in that heat. Once there it was pretty cool. A small fair was set up, a lot of military equipment was out to look at, and a few short shows.

They listed all the states and then would shoot a cannon after each one. You better believe I cheered when they said Washington! However cheers for Texas were much much louder haha. My favorite show they did was a demonstration of the military dogs in action. I tried to get a pic but its hard to see anything...

The dog jumped through the window of the van and attacked the pretend bad guy. It was so cool to watch! I would love to train military dogs!

A pretty impressive firework show went off later that night and then we drove the 3 hours back to Stephenville. All together a fun weekend :) I think if I would ever move to Texas it would be to the Austin area.

Dried up and parkless

So a weird Texas thing I have recently discovered is 'stickers'. I heard a lot of people saying things like 'ughh its sticker season' or 'I hate stickers!', but I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. I had two ideas; one being Winnie the pooh stickers that I had as a child and the other of the giant salmon berry bushes sometimes referred to as sticker bushes when I lived in Redmond, WA. I was wrong on both thoughts. I was told they were these tiny little sticky poky things that are from some plant that stick to your shoes/feet/legs/anything when you walk by them. Sense then I have had many of them stick to my shoes on my jogs and I now understand the annoyance! Most times they get on your shoe just close enough to your leg to poke you every time you step or move your foot. I took a picture so you guys could see them:

I have googled it and I think the plant name is sandspur plant, but not 100% sure. Thought it was interesting...

Also I have been going on many walks/jogs lately so I looked into seeing if they had anything interesting worth walking towards. I found out they have a trail that runs along a river! exciting right?!?! Well I thought so too because so far their idea of a park has been a 10'x10' plot of grass and maybe a bench or two if your lucky and its been miserably hot with no sign of water besides the sprinklers that come on at night. So needless to say I was excited at the idea of this oasis! I walked about 1 1/2 miles to get to there and what a sad disappointment it was. First of all the river is gone. Dried up by the Texas sun I assume (pics below). To top it off the trail was only about a mile long and had nothing exciting happening at all. Just a paved path in the middle of a field near where a river should be. Sad day. There were some trees! and a short bridge in the beginning! And the trail ends with a street sign that says 'end' which is kind of funny...Otherwise not so exciting. I'll just keep walking through neighborhoods enjoying the cute houses and dogs for now.

Good news! Heading to Austin this weekend and then to Fort Hood for the big 4th of July this weekend! :) Hopefully will be hanging with Corree for a bit too! Should be a great weekend and full of great stories and photos to share will you all!

Loving Texas right now

So this week has been great! Could not be happier... well snowboarding would make me happier, but still I am pretty excited about this week. Here is why:

1. I got a free piercing! Sounds sketchy I'm sure, but I promise it was a legit shop! I got my cartilage done and the cutest guy did the piercing. I might have to get my tattoo there just to see him again... haha

2. I think I know what my tattoo will be... not telling ya yet, but I promise to post photos when/if I get it done

3. The weather finally cooled down! Its been as low as 75* at one point this week. AMAZING!

4. I have been working out with a woman here for the past few weeks so I'm feeling great. I have finally figured out how to stay motivated btw! here is my advice:

• work out with an engaged woman. She will be more motivated to look good in a dress than you could possibly imagine
• work out with someone with a child because if she is paying for a baby sitter during the work out then she is gonna make it worth her time
• work out to build muscle for a sport or activity you like. For instance I started researching how to train for snowboarding and I feel way more exited about my work outs now than when it was about looking thinner.

5. Last but not least work has been great! I had a full house this week with 4 camps in my building. I loved it because I was busy, got to meet a lot of interesting people, and I got a lot of compliments on my customer service ;) This week at work has also included me giving tours of the residence hall and show room to orientation students. This has been really bizarre because everyone asks what my favorite thing about the school is or my best advice about the school, so I always end up explaining where I'm from. Its great though because in  the process I've met one vegetarian and two people from WA! (from WA as in lived there 5-10 years ago, but still!). Best part about work though is that I am working with a RC to set up and affiliate RHA for their campus! How legit is that!?! What an amazing resume bullet point. Where there was once no RHA there now will be one because of me :) boo-freaking-yah! 

I am happy to report that it has been great here in Texas! Today was the first time I fully realized with sadness I was going to have to leave this place (something I never felt when living in Cali, so you know I'm more a Texan girl at heart). That said I still miss everyone a ton and will be excited to see your smiling faces when I return! 

I have a few more photography jogging classes to show ya too! 

So these sky / cloud pictures where during the beginning of a storm. They started white and gray then became vibrant pink in the sunset! It was pretty amazing looking the pictures don't do justice. 

These last four photos I took while on my jog. Its the older less developed side of town and I just thought it was so interesting how run down everything was. A lot of places are closed or for sale. Pretty sad since this side of town is WAY cuter than the other side which is walmart and mcdonalds. 

Heat

I was warned again and again about how hot it would be when I got here. Then once I was here everyone and their mom warned me again. I think I prepared myself mentally for the heat during the day. This week it has been over 100* everyday and I think I have handled it quite well, however I did not prepare for the heat in the night...

Every night I look outside and its dark and  I think Ill just go outside for a walk or open a window to cool off. NO. bad idea. Its always hotter outside! For instance right now it is 12:30am and 87* outside. No one can warn you or prepare you for the unsettling discomfort of opening a door or window at night to get a breeze of hot air. It is the worst. It makes me sad. At least there is air conditioning inside though. I do miss a cool breeze, but I am sure the second I get back to WA I will miss the warm sunshine of Texas haha. Just cant win no matter where you go.

I checked in a 4H Roping team to my building today and boy are they a reminder of where I am! Never seen so many cowboy hats and belt buckles in my life.Plus they all smelt like a barn in my opinion. Also earlier this week I learned that everything in Texas really is bigger including bugs. Bees and Moths are the size of small birds! kinda scary...

Only New terminology in a while:
Cray-Cray = crazy

Anyways I hope to be checking things off my bucket list this week so I will keep you updated! Hopefully some more photos will be added in my next post too.