Sandhills Day Trip

Our friend Brady came in from New York for a quick visit this week, the first of what I hope will be many visits from friends in the upcoming year. There wasn't much going on in town, so we made a spontaneous day trip to the Monahans Sandhills State Park.

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.

¡Jalapenos!

Sam & our host Chris brought home a small bag of jalapenos a few days ago from a farm stall down the road. I was thrilled, because they were the first fresh jalapenos I've seen in the four months we've been in this country.

Adventures in West Texas

My first trip to Marfa was at the suggestion of my friend Sarah. She visited me in Texas and told me she couldn't leave without seeing the Chinati Foundation. Days after our trip, we got our cube tattoos, full of inspiration after immersing ourselves in the work of Donald Judd.