Houston Day 2 & 3

The primary reason for heading to Houston was for an annual Fourth of July party held by Karson's friends, the Browns. With the 4th being in the middle of the week, they moved the party and opted to have it the weekend before. They've got both a pool and a hot tub and had a massive amount of food and beverages as well. They were great hosts!

Some of the food for the party

There were 5 dogs at the party. This was the biggest dog there, but she was very well behaved.

Getting ready to hop in the hot tub with Matt's awesome homemade margarita. :)

On Sunday, Karson and I headed out to be tourists at the Johnson Space Center. We were going to do some other outdoor activities, but it kept raining and that put a damper on plans - so after a few hours at the Space Center, we went back and spent some more time hanging out since we were taking off for San Antonio the next day.

At the Johnson Space Center. I don't think either of us is cut out for a life in space.

Texas 2012

Omaha to Houston

The day of our traveling was mostly spent getting to Houston. We left the Omaha area after work on Thursday and drove to Wichita, primarily on two lane roads. Being the planners that we are – and since we’re experiencing a heatwave in the Midwest, we brought along a cooler of water bottles. It was a godsend. I also made a ziplock baggie of trailmix to cut down on gas station snack purchases. We encountered some road construction, but nothing awful on our way to Wichita. After getting to Wichita and paying the toll, we went to our hotel. We arrived around 10 p.m. tired and ready to call it a day, there were two vehicles from out of state in the loading area. Karson went in to check us in and I waited in the car. A little over five minutes later he came out shaking his head. The people ahead of him had not booked rooms and were trying to pay with cash.  They didn’t understand why the hotel still wanted them to put some type of card down for damage purposes.

Friday morning we set a goal to leave Wichita by 8 a.m. – so we were up and going by 7 and on the road by 8 a.m. We were rolling along just fine, we decided to stop in Norman because I was jonesing for an iced coffee – I needed my fix, we both needed a bathroom. We gassed up, decided we’d wait a bit longer to get lunch and got back on I-35. And by got back on I-35, I mean that we then sat on the interstate for an hour or more, waiting. There had been an awful accident at 6 a.m. that morning and 5 hours later they were still cleaning it up. So, our schedule got messed up. We’d hoped to get to our friends’ house in Houston at 5, we arrived around 7,  STARVING.

Karson had been telling me for two months that when we went to Houston, we would would go to the best Mexican restaurant EVER. He would then go on and on about it. Eventually, I told him he needed to quit talking about it because I was a afraid it wouldn’t meet expectations. It reminded me of when people build up a movie and then you see it and your opinion is, “That’s it?”  Fortunately, El Tiempo was not the overhyped movie. http://www.eltiempocantina.com/

After freshening up at his friends’ house, we headed out to dinner at El Tiempo. I don't think I've ever been to a Mexican restaurant with a valet before. The place was busy and apparently there are multiple locations throughout Houston. If you're ever in Houston, I highly recommend it. The drinks and food were both quite tasty. After that, we headed back to the Browns' and it wasn't too much later before I called it a night.

2009 Recap

Overall, 2009 was a pretty good year. In late January/early February, I made a trip to Chicago for my friend, Amanda's, 30th birthday. I haven't been to Chicago in ages. It was great to catch up with a lot of friends there.  May saw me going to a bunch of concerts, which was a great time - Jason Mraz, the Nadas, Billy Joel and Elton John. I also traveled back to Eastern Iowa for my cousin, Alice's wedding in June. In July, I headed to Vegas for my 30th birthday, it was definitely an experience to remember. August had me heading to Lansing for a week of training for work. I ended up catching up with some friends there too.  And I managed to make a complete idiot out of myself in the process. YES!!! Football season kicks off and I feel like I move to Ames, which is always a good time. This year, I also got to travel to Kansas City to see Kati and Sara and their Justin's along with Stacy. November, hmmm....oh yeah, I bought a house in November. And December seemed to be all about the holidays. So really I can't complain. I managed to not go to the ER last year, so I achieved my biggest New Year's resolution goal since I'd gone twice in 2006, once in 2007 and twice in 2008. My health insurance company probably thinks I'm dead.

Throughout the year, I managed to make a bunch of new friends in Omaha, and reconnect with a few old ones too.