How to Marry a Cowboy - Day 1

So we drove for hours today - really no idea how many, but we ended up only about an hour and forty minutes away from Austin. Our route took us through Spicewood and several different counties, but we ended up here in Fredericksburg for the night.

The weather has been beautiful all day! It has, of course, been nasty and humid, but we didn't really expect anything differet.



We headed down SH 71 to Spicewood first. It ended up being pretty close to noon by the time we got out of town, so we were reallly ready for lunch by the time we got there. We followed the directions on a billboard to this place:



First we were impressed with the view from our table:



Then we were delighted by our food; the picture of which is not very pretty. I always forget to take a picture before I start eating. Oh well...we ended up pleasantly full and pretty much danced back to the car:




Fredericksburg was the next stop, but we wanted a pretty drive. So we asked about a scenic drive at a gas station and got an enthusiastic recommendation of Tallow (sp?) Willow Road. The guy gave us directions and we set out to follow them. We did find a very pretty drive, but we never did find the turn off for Tallow Willow. Oh well - maybe next year.

This is what we did find:





We also set up my tripod for the first time and took a picture (or ten) of us together:




In case you're interested in a scenic drive yourself, we took Sandy Road. It runs from 281 in Johnson City to a RR outside of Fredericksburg.

Many miles and many country songs later, we ended up here:




At Serendipity Guest House in Fredericksburg. It is delightful!! You never realllly know when you book a bed & breakfast, but this one turned out okay. It's a little quirky (no inside stairs from the downstairs to the upstairs) but it makes up for it in downright cuteness.


Whoo! Long day = long post. Hang in there! There are cowboys on the way!!

But before we got to the cowboys, we found some sustenance at Hondo's in Fredericksburg. Yum. And a cool place, too!

Finally, we made our way to Stonewall, Texas and found...:




Just exactly what we were looking for! If you can call a rodeo cute, this one was the cutest! It was in a tiny little arena in Stonewall. They started with Mutton Busting and ended with Bull Riding. There were mannnny cowboy hats and lots of very excited kids (some of them in what looked like adult-sized cowboy hats! So cute) But unfortunately the light got pretty low pretty quickly, so that's all we have from the rodeo.

We stuck around for the dance, but Stonewall is apparently not a very dance-y crowd. Oh well! We had a great time.

We're off to bed soon, but at the moment, we are sitting outside a McDonald's pinching Wi-Fi (it's free anyway - they just happen to be closed) to post this blog. The Wi-Fi at the house is a little spotty and it wasn't doing anything for us when we got back from the rodeo.

Whew!! Thanks for sticking it out to the end of that one! More tomorrow!

On the Road!

The much-anticipated day has arrived, and Brandi and I are moments (probably like an hour) away from hittin' the road! We're grooming and packing and then we're on the way. Well, after we stop for gas...and a map...and some makeup for Brandi...

We are at least well prepared to catch Brandi a cowboy! The clever girls at NASA put together this little kit to help her in her romantic pursuits:



The brownies and the hat are for luring the cowboys in the first place. The flask is to get them a little tipsy and therefore off their guard so that she can rope them with the lasso (we're gonna have to practice that one). The picture frame is for a picture of her and her new beau. The Don't Mess With Texas Women sign is to hang at her ranch. She bought the boots herself. Those are just cute.

Gotta finish packing! See you later!

Oh! Leave us some comments! I've set it to where anyone can leave a commnet - not just blogspotters.

Also - Brandi works at NASA and it was her friends at NASA who put the kit together for her. We did not randomly recruit NASA to help Brandi catch a cowboy. Here's hopin' they know what they're talking about, though!

Honky Tonkin'

So we need to learn how to two-step. Especially Brandi does. I have no hope of ever getting my husband to two-step with me. Brandi still has that possibility. We hit the Broken Spoke tonight. There were lots of cute boots twirling around the dance floor. Austin girls can wear them some boots!

The place is not touristy - don't let anyone tell you it is. I'm sure lots and lots of tourists come there, but there's no gift shop or anything. I didn't see any t-shirts for sale, although I find that a little hard to believe. Come to think of it, though, I've never seen anyone wearing a Broken Spoke t-shirt.

Here are the only pics that I could do anything at all with. I have no idea how to white balance for neon lighting. (Bring a real fast lense if you have one!)


The main (only) stage.



Brandi at a honky tonk.



I was not sure I liked this picture at first. It was the only one of the singer that came anywhere close to in focus. (I do not have a very fast lense.) But I think it's growing on me. In black and white like this, it looks really old. His hair, by the way, was only fractions of an inch below the ceiling.

Giddy Up!

Brandi is here and she's ready to catch a cowboy in her new boots!



We already got our nails did.




I know pink is not necessarily a good color for a redhead, but sometimes I just want Barbie pink fingernails! And I figured a road trip was a good time to indulge myself!

Now we're off to the Broken Spoke. I hope Brandi doesn't find her cowboy here and decide to stay in Austin all weekend.

Fun Stuff Ahead!

I really miss having summers off! Although, I gotta say the break I get on traffic when school is out gets me pretty excited! Still - not quite the same! I didn't take any pictures this weekend. I didn't really do anything worth taking pictures of. A picture of my pillow would've been appropriate. I slept A LOT! Michael and I were both just zapped, and we slept and slept and slept some more.

But there will be a ton of pictures coming up! This coming weekend, I am road-tripping with my sister! I plan on blogging each day of it, so come check out our progress. I won't go too much into detail about our plans now, mostly because they are totally subject to change! I will say we are hitting the Hill Country and there will probably be a small town rodeo and a parade involved.

In the meantime, head over to:

http://issuu.com/southernflourish/docs/southernflourishsummer2010

To check out a fun online magazine. Since it's online, they're able to include waaaay more material than a printed magazine, and they include links to all the ads and websites they write about. They don't publish terribly often yet, but when you take the links into account, you can spend a month on one issue! Here are a few sneak peaks:

A Photo Series by Brandi Dean

My sister took these pictures of me and Michael at Jack Allen's Kitchen.





We're such a handsome couple. We were celebrating Brandi's birthday. It was a little bit early. Logan is going to Switzerland the weekend after Brandi's bday, so we did everything early. This is also the weekend that we (just the girls) went out to the lavender farm. I think I liked it. It was kind-of neat and it smelled really good. I bought some lavender pillow mist. It smells really nice. And, the farmers there on that farm made it. So we walked around and looked at this stuff:



My grandma stole a sign:



But not really. It was already on the bench. Then we bought some stuff in the gift shop and then we sat on a purple bench beside the field and drank strawberry lavender lemonade. It was tasty.



That's Mom and Grandma on the purple bench.

Then we went to Fredericksburg to eat lunch, and on the way back we took this road instead of the highway:



And we stopped and bought some:



Hope you had a good weekend, too!

Not a Crazy Cat Lady

Okay - I am not a crazy cat lady just yet, but here is some of the fun we had this weekend:







My parents have a cat that had kittens a week or so ago. The black and white one falls asleep whenever he/she stands still. They are all adorable! But there are six of them and they already have two cats and a stray that has taken up residence in the back yard. So they can't keep them. My parents are coming to Austin next weekend, so if anybody wants one, let me know and they can deliver it in a few days.

Also while we were in Jasper we went to my cousin, Justin's, graduation. This is Justin:



When we arrived at his graduation, there were hundreds of cars at the rodeo arena. (Oh heck yes, we do have graduation at the rodeo arena.) The mayor happens to live right next to it and he waved us into his yard. He was wearing a wifebeater and cargo shorts. Then later, the valedictorian ended her speech with, "Sic 'em dawgs and git her done!" This town is our town - this town is so glamorous - bet you'd live here if you could ...