w.i.r.i.p.

this trip has been in the works for quiet some time.

mardi gras 2011... 

certainly had me and some of my college buddies name on it.

ana, erin, kavitha, matt and i headed ourselves to the red roof inn for a taste of the big easy. the weekend included: friendship, beads, reminiscing, debauchery, parades, inside jokes, experimentation (i am a biology major), laughter, beads, a trip to the jv house for their party (since my college buddies were coming in town i didnt go to mardi gras with the jvs. sad face. but was able to see them a few times... happy face), papa johns pizza, rain, hurricanes (not the storm), beads, disposable cameras (only kavitha knew they still made them) and LOTs of other fun things that i cannot think of right now.

but take a peek for yourself!

 blog reader (high dad), meet my roommate (who i know you know). she was just elated to be back in her home state of texas. our trip had to start with a stop at spec's so she could get her favorite beer, lone star light. and to share our love of ed hardy paraphernalia (which we do not actually love at all).

 ok so mardi gras isn't really celebrated in the north. i mean i don't know anyone who has ever done anything for it. but obvi it is THE THING in new orleans. we went to both day and night parades and the time when we were at the day parades it eventually poured.... which in mardi gras land is kind of a good thing... because the people on the floats throw out EVERYTHING to you. we got TONS of beads, souvenir cups, coins, stuffed animals, inflatable animals, bouncy balls shaped like inappropriate female body parts, puppets, stress balls, a bag of cookies... i mean the list of strange things we got could go on and on.

 as cool as the floats are... some of the groups were even better. this gang of guys were dressed ridiculous, slightly intoxicated and doing VERY IMPRESSIVE SYNCHRONIZED dances. happy mardi gras (hide your children).

look at these beautiful friends of mine. 

matt. erin. kavitha. analisa. 

happy mardi gras!

kavitha! (and me)

so maybe you might notice that we all have similar/ the same shirts! pretty exciting. the front said mardi gras 2011 and the back said "it needs us."  this is a play off of some sweatshirts we had made last year (senior year) for marathon monday that said "they need us" (in reference to the runners needing boston college students to cheer them along).

thanks for the mardi gras surprise!


p.s. the title of the blog.... an exert from a text erin received. we didnt know what it meant (found out later "when it rains it pours") but we made our own BETTER version of it

wicked. intense. rip. in. pants.

photo dump.

Celebrate we will

Because life is short

But sweet for certain

.dmb. 

wowsers. life has gone by... so it is time again for another photo dump.

expectro patronus.

 so the other night for a community night (thanks tom mayer former co-leader for appalachia and current friend for the idea!) i did a reflection/activity based on harry potter and the 

patronus curse. cara did a spectacular job explaining what a patronus is and does (defend against dementors etc). the first part of the night we shared the positive thoughts we would think of (a necessary action to procure a patronus charm) the second part was painting a visual portrayal of what our's might look like. see mine to the right!

also that table i mentioned (did i mention our dinning room table fell (broken) victim to some birthday party celebrants (roommates) when they were dancing on it.  it looked like this for a little bit (upside down) but after two different sets of drills, a trip to home depot and some of the boys in our life (i tried... woman power... but was unsuccessful) and our dining room table is back in action. however i would not suggest dancing on it. (or as emily likes how my dad said it "maybe next time not TWO people dancing on it"... but really this table is out of commission for dancing.. 

but that doesn't stop my roommates from dancing on this one!

ok well it is hard to tell but this is emily and alex dancing on our coffee table in our living room. happy birthday joey (jv from the other house). 

to support local catholic schools the archdiocese of galveston/houston has a "steps for students" 5k run. tomás, alex and i decided to run it as cristo rey had a team. the 5k run really reminded alex and i about how out of shape we were but this guy (see left) runs it and takes third for his age group. regular old all star (also note he worked the 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. set up shift of the race and THEN ran the race).

after the race tomás and i went to the museum of natural science. it is just blocks from my house but i had never been there. there dinosaurs and taxidermy animals and diamonds and science and most importantly flattened pennies!

this is what happens when you squeeze a ketchup bottle too hard. not only does it squirt all over you but also it 

squirts

      in

        the

             eye

                 of

                   a

                     nearby

                          woman. 

(see her in the white shirt. poor/unsuspecting woman)

and that is the this edition of photo dump.

i am an adult? i have to chaperone children?

someone donated tickets to the rodeo for all my students. wow. generous. AND each student/group got a set number of tickets to go on some rides at the carnival section. despite being exhausted and a partial zombie since mardi gras... i picked myself up from my bootstraps (but wore tennis shoes) and joined in the rodeo fun.

i had a stellar group of 5 sophomores who as veteran rodeo-ites were ready and willing to show me the ropes. it was an adventure to say the least

ah. new life.
slash this made me think of the wisconsin state fair (i have found some odd similarities between wisconsin and TX).
this is a new chick! we got to watch it hatch.

his name is spanky.

this is my group. so brave before the ride. this what was quiet the whip-around.

yehaw.
look at them being thrown around!

 

ok. i will admit that this is a little bit rude. 

i mean i just snapped a photo of a random family.

i didnt ask them.

and i made it look like i was having glare issues while typing on my phone

but..

look at this little texas family. note the kids are matching. all are in boots. belts. hats and jeans. and the ma and pa are holding hands. 

all in all it was a great day.

the total vomit count was 3 students. such is life.

deep in the heart of texas. 

deep in the heart of texas...

Well.... looks like we've got the Rodeo in town!

(you know you live in texas when everyone is talking about the "rodeo")

The next few weeks March 1st-20th are filled with all things rodeo in the Houston area. So grab your boots, hats and friendly cowboys and cowgirls and get your rear end to the rodeo. 

Ok but honestly, I haven't never felt more "I live in Texas" than this past weekend. Tomas' dad gave us tickets to head over to the "World Championship Barbecue Cookoff" (screams heaven for a vegetarian). This event kicks-off the whole rodeo... which started today. So, since I am far from being from Texas, I hadbeen trying to get a grasp as to what this means/what this event would be like.

It was incredible! There were TONS of tents all on the grounds/parking area of Reliant Stadium.  You had to have a ticket to get into the "tented" area and then you had to have ANOTHER ticket to get into your specific host tent. In these tents were all you can eat BBQ and more importantly drinks! 

 (this was our ticket into the cook off) 

So off we went with our tickets (which we then were given bracelets to wear to readmit us). Once in the tent it was pure TEXAS. 

Cowboy boots on every foot. 

Hats on heads.

Jeans with interesting stitched patters abound. 

Country music playing by a western DJ with a real intense mustache.

Southern twangs spittin every which way. 

deep in the heart of Texas. 

There were a ton of food and a ton of people. There was a buffet of BBQ and a ton of meat (or something like that).  There also was INCREDIBLE chocolate cake (that was more up my alley). It was an open bar with a liquor/wine bar and a beer area. We had officially settled in for the night. 

We made some friends from South Caroline and Forth Worth... the South Carolina man was "preparing" for a marathon. The longest he has ever run is 2.5 miles... but he informed us he was on a 40 week training program.  The Fort Worth cowboy said he felt guilty eating meat in front of a vegetarian, but "not that guilty to not eat it." 

deep in the heart of texas.

Tomas and I did our rounds of tent time (food/drink), people watching, concert listening, people hunting (trying to find friends who we knew were there but there was NO cell phone reception due to the mass quantity of people on the grounds), carnivaling (the action of walking around the carnival). Tomas failed miserably at a carnival game (don't tell him I said that) and later we went on one of those carnival swing ride things.... simply marvelous.

 I would do it all again if I could. It was quite the "Texas" event.

deep in the heart of texas.

The stars at night, are big and bright,
deep in the heart of Texas,
The prairie sky is wide and high,
deep in the heart of Texas.
The sage in bloom is like perfume,
deep in the heart of Texas,
Reminds me of, the one I love,
deep in the heart of Texas.

The coyotes wail, along the trail,
deep in the heart of Texas,
The rabbits rush, around the brush,
deep in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry, "Ki-yip-pee-yi,"
deep in the heart of Texas,
The dogies bawl, and bawl and bawl,
deep in the heart of Texas.