Relaxing in Texas

Hello from the great state of Texas! That's right...I am currently relaxing in my home state with no plans to return to Mississippi in the near future. The near future being tomorrow. I will be returning in the distant future (Thursday) as I am beginning to miss my house, my church, my friends, and the repetitiveness of unpacking boxes and hanging things on the walls. Oh, and I miss Mike, too. As my mom says, I get kinda mopey when he's not around.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Mike and I headed to Texas on Wednesday and spent Thursday with his family eating way too much and being entirely too lazy. It was fabulous.

On Friday, I experienced life in a whole new way. For the first time in several (and I mean many) years, I was not among the crowds of people waiting to get into stores at ridiculous hours of the morning. A part of me missed the adrenaline rush. But a bigger part of me was thrilled when my alarm went off at 7 instead of 4.

However, all shopping was not forgotten. One of my favorite family traditions is our annual Black Friday/Post-Thanksgiving weekend trip. We stay at the Westin Hotel, which is connected to the Dallas Galleria, and shop until we drop. Then, we go to our hotel rooms, rest, eat cookies and watch HGTV, and then go downstairs and start all over again. Unless you are a male member of the family, in which case you spend the majority of the weekend lying in a hotel room watching football.

You may be thinking that I am incredibly ridiculous because one of my favorite holiday traditions involves the mall, but I don't care. It's one of the highlights of the year. I mean, when fourteen people and two dogs all get together, hilarity is bound to ensue. Really, though, it is a great time to hang out with family, visit, play, and yes shopping is definitely a part of it. Just ask my mom about the time that things at Macy's started ringing up for 1 penny. It was one of the happiest days of her life.

I planned to take several pictures of the weekend, but I left my camera at home. And when home is in Mississippi, there's no going back. Until Thursday, that is. So, for now I am hanging out in good ol' Texas with my family (Mike drove back to Mississippi Saturday). There is much Mexican food to be had. I'd better get started.