In Case You Missed It....

"It’s a euphoria you can’t buy and you can’t manufacture and you can take this win (with you) for the rest of your life.” ~Glenn Spencer (our defensive coordinator)


....  Pokes Win, Pokes Win!!

Last Saturday Cousin Swiss Mister and I were sworn, mortal enemies when his beloved Bears took on my Pokes on the football field.  (Sadly since he lives in Switzerland and I was busy studying for the bar, we didn't get to attend in person, but here are some flashback shots at prior events each dressed in our respective favorite colors!)

 

I am happy to report that the good guys came out on top (in dominating style) and the final score was 49-17.

 

 So now we have a week off to eat some turkey and get ready for the Bedlam battle against OU.  A win gets us the Big 12 Championship and a BCS bowl game.  The last time that was on the line at Bedlam ended up being one of the three most exciting sporting events of my life.  Here's to that happening again!

 

 

Bear for a Night

“And a special thanks for not burning up the whole ship. Including yourself, you daft bum-rag.” 
~ Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan

Cousin Swiss Mister is a Baylor Bear fan through and through.  I'm not sure that I've ever seen anyone be quite so proud of his alma mater.  So I wasn't all that surprised when he announced that he was going to fly 5,000 miles from Switzerland to attend the Baylor v. OU game last Thursday.  I was lucky enough to get an invite to this shindig.  Well, you know that I love all things college football AND Cousin Swiss Mister, so you best believe I was there!

We kicked things off with a little tailgating with some of Cousin Swiss Mister's friends.  This included a live 80's cover band and free bbq for everyone.  Hard to beat that!

 The best part of the night was when Cousin Swiss Mister, an admitted pyro, decided that the "redneck fire pit" needed another log.  (The fire pit was a metal bucket with charcoal and 1/2 a fire long in it to keep everyone warm.  Cousin Swiss Mister threw the half a fire log from across the tailgate to the bucket.  It was kind of like slow motion....you could see the disaster fixing to happen, but couldn't stop it.  Of course, the bucket tips over and catches the grass on fire.  Right next to a truck tire.  Cousin Swiss Mister tried to stomp it out with his tennis shoes.  We had no water (would beer have helped or make it worse?!?).  At one point he drugs his foot across it instead of stomping, which sent sparks everywhere.  Finally a nice guy in steel toed boots came over and helped stomp things out and someone else brought over some water to pour on the grass.  You literally never know what kind of disaster is coming next with this kid.

Then we headed to the stadium for the game.  Baylor did a black out and I have to admit I was impressed that just about every single Baylor fan complied and was decked out in black, myself included.

The game started out slow and kind of strange---I thought Cousin Swiss Mister might have a heart attack.  But in the end, his Bears pulled out the big W against Oklahoma and remained undefeated.  He was one happy camper. 

So that was my being a Bear for a night.  His Bears are on a collision course with my Pokes in two weeks....winner will have a huge shot at a Big 12 title.....so my green and gold days are limited!

Weekend Recap

“In terms of days and moments lived, you’ll never again be as young as you are right now, so spend this day, the youth of your future, in a way that deflects regret. Invest in yourself. Have some fun. Do something important. Love somebody extra. In one sense, you’re just a kid, but a kid with enough years on her to know that every day is priceless." ~Victoria Moran

It's Tuesday folks, and that means we're closer to the freakin' weekend than we were yesterday!  I thought I'd give ya'll a little weekend recap of the happenings around here.

 

 On Friday night, Soldier Cousin came to town!  I love that he's stationed within driving distance so we can hang out.  We ended up meeting up with BFF at the Dixie Chicken for a beer and just general conversation. Which somehow led to BFF suggesting that maybe I should consider getting some eggs harvested because my biological clock is ticking.  Just normal Friday afternoon conversation for me and BFF.  (We have an interesting relationship.)  After The Chicken, we headed to this amazing restaurant here in town called La Bodega for tacos with my New Roomie.  It was (by some miracle!) cooled off enough that we got to sit out on the patio, eat our tacos, and just hang out.  It was an awesome Friday night in my book.

But....I failed to take a single picture.  FAIL.

On Saturday, I was wide awake at 7 in the morning, while Soldier Cousin slept in like a good teenager.  So I ran a bunch of errands, balanced my checkbook, did some shopping.....wild and crazy, that's me!  After we grabbed some lunch, I took him on a tour of the A&M campus, including the ever-popular photo op at Kyle Field. Look how tiny he looks!!

Then it was time for a little road trip.  BFF, The Persuasion, Soldier Cousin and I headed to Waco.  First stop:  Baylor University to take some pictures to send to their biggest fan, Cousin Swiss Mister.  We drove all over that dang campus trying to find the bear habitat, where the mascots live.  We must have asked 5 people--Baylor students/alum, no doubt--and none of them could give us coherent directions.  Come on, people!  But we finally found them.  And they were taking a nap.  Grrr.  But we took the picture that Cousin Swiss Mister requested.  I don't think he was so impressed with my foam finger....GO POKES!

Check out the anatomy of taking this photo

Setting up the foam finger....

BFF thinking he was too important to get off the phone...

The money shot.

Then we headed off to check out the new football stadium being constructed.  Looked like a construction sight to me.  That's about all I can say.

And then, it was time for the main event.  Kiddo was playing an acoustic set at golf course/country club.  I've heard him play his guitar 100 times, but it was my first time seeing him play at a show.  He did great!

He looks a little Eric Church-ish, no?

Instructions to BFF here?  "Look cute."  

Love that kid!

Then we wrapped up the night with dinner/breakfast at Denny's (attached to a truck stop, no less) and the hour drive back home.  I'm way, way, way too old for this kind of thing.  Especially when I wake up at 7:30 on the dot Sunday morning.  I'll be trying to catch up on sleep for the rest of the week.

Eastern European Adventure Part VI: Budapest

From Vienna, we headed off to Budapest, Hungary.  I have to be honest with you and say that other than the beautiful view of the Danube at night, Budapest was easily my least favorite place I've been in Europe.  I am glad we went there and got to see it, but I have no desire to go back.

Summary of Budapest:  Big, spread out, beautiful at night, expensive, conflict, struck a deal.

Day 8:  May 9

We arrived in Budapest after a short train ride from Vienna and headed to our apartment.  I have to admit that when we saw the building that looked like it was dilapidated and falling apart, I was pretty nervous.  Like, real nervous if I'm being honest.  I took a picture to show you guys what I mean.

But when we walked inside, it was probably the nicest apartment we stayed at.  Phew.  Bullet (maybe literally) dodged.

Anyway, we only had about 36 hours in Budapest, so we ended up doing the hop on/hop off bus tour because it seemed to be the best way to see the main sites in the city.   I am so glad we did this because everything is SO spread out in Budapest that I don't know any other way to actually see the things you want to see.  Plus the tour gives a lot of info on history, and in particular the Communist rule in Budapest.  It was really sort of eye opening to me because I have to admit, I knew very little about this history.  It was amazing to realize the struggles and sacrifices that the Hungarian people made in order to get out from under the Russian rule.  It was equally amazing to me to realize that not that long ago, even when I was a little kid, people from the US could not travel to Hungary.  Just amazing.  And I think that learning about this struggle really gave me some insight on the people of Hungary, and the difference between them--most of whom lived through that--and Americans, who have always been free.  It was really fascinating.

Anyway, that was a soapbox.  Here are some of my favorite sights from the tour.

Castle Hill

Chain Bridge

Great Synagogue 

Chain Bridge over the Danube

Freedom Bridge

View from the Buda side of the city.

Parliament

St. Stephen's church

During the the tour, I shot this picture.  I have to say, I saw a lot of domestic disputes when I was in Budapest.  I mean seriously, I counted 5 times where I saw women beating the crap out of men or screaming their heads off at them.  These two were the funniest.  See the girl crying behind the tree?  When we pulled up in the bus, she was beating the crap out of this guy.  Like punching him, all up in his face, crazy.  Then she went and cried behind the tree for a while.  Genius dude in the red just kept talking.  Cousin Swiss Mister kept saying, "Shut up, dude, shut up, don't keep talking," but this guy didn't take his advice, and before we drove off the chick was back up in his face.  Drama, drama.

After about an hour and a half, we hopped off the bus and grabbed some lunch.  And four desserts.  We couldn't decide which ones we wanted.  It was vacation, so we ordered them all!

Which one do you think was the best??

 Then we went out to find the Ronald Reagan statue in Budapest.  We were quite excited to take our pictures with our favorite president.

That night we took the night bus tour, which I have to admit was absolutely beautiful.  The city all lit up along the Danube River was amazing.  This was hands down my favorite part of our Budapest adventure.

This next picture is not as cool of a picture, but I love it for what it stands for.  For years, there was a flag with a red star on it--representing Communism--that flew over the top of the Parliament building.  Today, the Hungarian flag is proudly displayed.  I just couldn't help but think what a feeling that must have been in 1989 when this flag went up and that red star went down.

Day 9:  May 10

This day ended up being a little family bonding for me and Cousin Swiss Mister.  We decided to get up early and go on a little run.  I thought I would show him up, but he has super long legs, is stubborn, and runs sort of like a gazelle, so he held his own.

After that we headed out walking around and decided to have lunch.  That's where things got interesting.  Cousin Swiss Mister was dying, and I mean DYING, to eat at Hooters.  Now, I think this is stupid on so many levels, primarily because I hate the idea of Americans eating at chain American restaurants in other countries.  Much less Hooters.  But, then he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  If I would eat at Hooters with him and talk him up to the waitresses, he would (1) buy my food, including fried pickles and drinks; (2) upgrade me to a business class ticket on the flight home; and (3) take my photo at three tourist locations of my choice that afternoon.  Hooters, here we come.

The happiest Cousin Swiss Mister was the entire trip.

Despite Cousin Swiss Mister's best efforts, and me following the script to make him sound like a nice, rich, American guy, we failed in our attempt to find the mother of Cousin Swiss Mister  Jr.  Shocking, I know.

After that, we were off to take the photos I bargained for.  :)

St. Stephen's

Under the dome at St. Stephen's

Alter at St. Stephen's

Collecting on Cousin Swiss Mister's promise to take my picture.

So the architect who built the Chain Bridge was really proud of these lions,  so when some kid
at the opening of the bridge pointed out that the lions didn't have tongues, the architect jumped
off the bridge into the water.  Crazy, right!

Another jumping photo.  Took some skill to pull this off in a dress and not flash  everyone in town.

Sean doesn't quite have the jumping photo down.

Then it was time for Cousin Swiss Mister to bow out of the trip.  Even though there are times I want to strangle him for being on his iPhone non-stop or oogling a 21 year old, I just love that guy to death.  I always hate having to say bye to him.

After he left, Miss Canada and I met up with a colleague of mine from back home for a drink to talk about all of the adventures to this point.  We also ended up planning a trip for next year to Montana for the Bucking Horse Sale.  I'm pretty dang excited about this prospect!  And then we headed off to the airport for the next overnight train experience.  You'll hear about it more tomorrow, but let me just tell you that it was not fun.  Not fun at all.  Stay tuned for the Krakow update up next...