You can take the girl out of Texas...

This weekend, Sam and I went out with our host Chris and a few of his friends. Before we left the house, I got tired of my lank hair and put it up in my new favorite hairstyle, the sock bun. At the last minute, I decided to change out of the turtleneck I was wearing in case I got too hot. After a while at the pub, we headed to a club, but the first place we went wouldn't let us in because I forgot our passports and they wouldn't accept my Texas drivers license. So we went elsewhere.

For all these reasons, we met our first fellow American in New Zealand. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, "excuse me, are you from Texas?"

Score one for neck tattoos.

Photo by Mike Garten

Sam at work

In other news, we are back in Clarkville with Chris and Paula. We finished repainting the windows last time we were here, and now we're prepping the eaves for painting, as well as the exterior stucco. We're going to be working extra hours in the next two days so we can take some time off to spend with Harry when he arrives, so it seems we'll be missing the Superbowl. I'm okay with that, though. My favorite part of the Superbowl is free food at my parents' house.