Fare Fire Sale

Ok, there is a flight from Chicago to Austin on sale at AA.com right now for ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN DOLLARS AND I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING.

Also from Chicago to El Paso for $167! I had to refresh the web page just to make sure I wasn't going crazy like that time JetBlue was selling fares for $.99 cents or whatever and it turned out to be a computer glitch but they didn't catch it until about a gazillion and a half people bought tickets.

Hook 'em Horns!

Texas Fight! That is all.

It's 4:29 p.m. and OU still sucks

Just returned from a relaxing few days in La Jolla, California. I was grateful to have some unseasonably warm and sunny weather from which to tan by, some spare hours with which to read and reflect (mostly on the freakshow that's been my life since our last visit to the same resort in 2005 - I say freakshow in only a minimally negative way. Some freakshows are fun.) and the freedom to sleep in, which I did with only limited interuption from work dreams.

I was not, however, impressed by the boutiques or the general shopping climate at all. I did score a pretty cashmere cardigan and shell on sale from White House Black Market, but I have one of those next door to my office in Chi, so it wasn't the exhilarating omg gorgeous one-of-a-kind SoCal find I was hoping for. My problems, they are burdensome.

Now trying to decide whether to keep my original flight and return to Chicago on Saturday afternoon or to rebook for Sunday because apparently I was smoking crack when I booked my tickets - in the middle of the Red River Shootout! If I stay and we lose, it'll be a waste of time and money. BUT! if I leave and we win and I miss the whole thing, well, that's just a situation a Texan should never put herself in. What was I thinking?

(Not really, Mom. It's a turn of phrase)

Observing a religious holiday

You know, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I probably have the best seats at the Sun Bowl to the Texas vs. UTEP game next Saturday.

College football season is here, people, and not a moment too soon! Expect for me to talk about it to a maddening degree.

Texas Fight!

You don't know me; you don't wear my chains

Great lyrics to "Boston" by Augustana. Took a bit of creative license with them to be fitting with Texas, of course.

She said I think I'll go to (Austin)
I think I'll start a new life
I think I'll start it over; where no one knows my name
I'll get out of California; I'm tired of the weather
I think I'll get a lover and fly him out to Spain
I think I'll go to (Austin)
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town; to leave this all behind
I think I need a sunrise; I'm tired of the sunset
I hear it's nice in the Summer

(I don't really want to leave Chicago. I just like the song.)

Family Time; or a summary of my trip to Texas in two words: Diet Coke

(edit) I am now writing you from the glorious DFW Hyatt, after my flight was cancelled (predictable; yet infuriating). Texas just couldn't let me go, I guess. I'm wrapped in the Hyatt robe with a glass of wine, so I guess it's not the end of the world. I'd really like to see my boyfriend and kitty, though, thanks.

I am writing you from DFW, where my flight to Chicago has been delayed from 9 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. One wonders how certain airlines can remain in business with such a terrible record of on-time departures. And/or safety. You know, whatever.

But anyway. Texas. My most recent business trip took me to Midland, where I was able to stay with my grandparents. And my mom drove in from El Paso, so it was a great week. I'll be in Waco next week, with two personal trips to Austin on the weekends before and after. I'm a lucky little Texan.

And speaking of little Texans, this trip reminded me that if there's one thing the women in my family do well, it's drink a lot (like. a LOT) of Diet Coke and spend a lot of money at Target. I found a bunch of tights on crazy clearance (no need for tights in May, Midland?). Any girl living in Chicago knows that tights are essential winter (and fall. and spring. sigh) wear. I got opaque black, brown and charcoal grey.

Other items of note: my Mee-Maw gave me some beautiful vintage jewelry (her mother's - my great grandmother's) this week. Gorgeous and very glam. I'll try to post some pictures, like, someday.

I Heart Texas

Today I begin my Week of Texas (part I of II). I'm headed to Midland for work (with the added bonus of seeing my family) and will be back in Chicago on Friday. But the Texas doesn't end there, people! I'm getting my Chicago Texans (and honorary Texans; see me for an application) together to see Pat Green at Joe's on Weed Street on Saturday.

Best of all, I have that unmistakable, fluttery feeling I get every time I'm headed back home to Texas. I love that feeling. Gah.

Lone Star State, here I come!

PS - I was in Evansville, Indiana (40 miles from the "epicenter") for the Midwestern earthquake on Friday morning. What a freakshow this life is.

("I'm having a nervous breakdown and you're saying words like epicenter to me?!")