Colorado

Sweet typography by Simon Walker, via Sarah

Uncle Stan the sport man learning about guns. Note pure delight.

eat your hearts out boys, these ladies are about to be someone's wife

Colorado is weird. We took a whole slew of photos of our family hiking around an aspen/pine forest and some "cool" ones of me driving my dad's new old 1973 Corvette but after going through security our camera was wiped so you'll have to content yourself with an eyeful of my husband, dad and uncles dorking out shooting some evil tree stumps.

Colorado really is weird though. The mountains are full of hippies and Denver comes off kinda blue collar with a very large spare tire of suburbs encircling it. The city planners were crack smokers and every street is one way only and if you cross another street it changes it's name. DON'T ORDER MEXICAN FOOD. The stuff labeled as such is shameful and I'd rather wrap a tortilla around some Alpo. It's even hard to make your own good mexican, they don't know what tomatillos or serranos or corn tortillas are, and Pace picante is the extent of their south of the border selection. Find a good indian joint and go every day.

I did live here for a few years, tending bar at the ski resort and snowboarding on my lunch break. I learned all about nepalese food, how to rock climb, to appreciate micro brews, the names of a bunch of wildflowers during my short stint at the state park and how not to die when you hit a patch of black ice. The thrift stores are treasure troves but the music tends to be jam band-y or bluegrass, the art is limited to hemp necklaces, glass pipes and howling wolf paintings, the fashion is mostly in shades of fleece and hiking boots and there are absolutely no brown people. There are however, tons of dogs and vegetarian restaurants.

 Also, did I mention the nine months of snow? The digging your car out of a snow bank each morning and driving thirty minutes to the nearest anything, trying desperately not to slide off the cliff into a ravine or careen into the side of a mountain? Don't forget the deer! They love to jump in front of your jeep and kill you and your family. Our trash had to be hoarded in the garage because of bears and our family dog Mattie was devoured by an actual mountain lion in the driveway. Really.

The mountains have a stark majestic beauty but I'll take the big swampy trees of Austin any day. I love Texas. Sorry Mam! I like being warm. I'm addicted to tacos. Swimming. Art. Rock'n'roll. Leisurely driving without my brights or four wheel drive. Wearing one layer of clothing. My friend Sarah grew up here and is now living in Amsterdam, writing blogs about how much she misses Texas. Today's post was 10 Reasons why Texas is Awesome and I am honored to be included in the list. Ha! The sky is bigger and the sun yellower in Texas. People are warm and salsa is spicy. There's a mural on the side of every building and a cat on every porch. We eat roasted meats and swim. It's just my style.

Uncle Kevan bomb

flower girl/ ring bearer practice

Grammy, the seed and matron of our huge weird family tree