Taking the slow road

We recently made a quick trip to San Antonio to visit the little one's Granny & Granddad. That is always a treat, because when we get there stuff like this is waiting for us. Sigh. And then Granddad makes us the most delicious paninis we've ever tasted. Wish I had a pic of those, but I inhaled both (yes, both) of mine before I thought about it!

Granny is always up for a game of tag.

And their kitty Babs lifts our spirits when we start missing our own fur balls.

On the straight, flat, and mind numbing drive home, we decided to make a detour. We hopped off of I-10 and took the old highway instead. It runs through all of the little old Texas towns that were passed by when I-10 was built. Little old Texas towns are great for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that you're virtually guaranteed that they'll have a Dairy Queen. Look what I found there :

Riding around past cow pastures and windmills with the sun streaming through my window, and eating a banana split. Well, that is one of the best times I've had in a long time.

Taking the old highway will lead you through towns with names like Flatonia and Schulenburg. Places that still have town squares that look like this :

You will also get to drive over pretty bridges like this :

And if your family is anything like ours, your own little one will take about 150 pictures of her toes.

Can't wait to do it all again.

Something you don't know about me

When I was a little girl, I was absolutely convinced that my dad looked exactly like Elvis. Exactly.

Just for good measure ... my favorite Elvis moment :

Freckles Switch-a-roo

One of the many pets I had as a child was my dog, Freckles. I loved that little doggie. She chased me around the yard and tried to steal my popcorn. We played together in the giant dog house my dad built for her. She was nice to my cat Heidi. Lots of fun memories.

Many years later, I was looking back at pictures from my childhood. I began to notice something unusual. The back of every photo of Freckles had things written on it like, "Freckles #1, and Freckles #2, and Other Freckles, and New Freckles" ... hmmmm ....

I asked my mom what all that was about. She got really quiet, and then proceeded to tell me that my dad had accidentally run over the original Freckles. He ran out and found a dog that kinda sort of looked like Freckles #1. Brought it home. They never said anything, and I never noticed. Even though Original Freckles was brown, and New Freckles was black and white ... I never noticed.

Fun at the expense of others

20 years ago I was still living at home with my mom, in a cute little apartment near the city center. Mom spent years traveling the globe, and as such, had many friends from around the world. They would always come to visit us whenever they found themselves in our area. Dining out was one of our greatest pleasures, and we loved sharing the great restaurants of our city with them. Invariably, on the drive home with our visitors, we would take the same route. Mom would be making casual conversation with whomever, and every single time, as we passed a compound of buildings mom would say ...." blah blah blah, oh, and right there is where Kelley goes to school, blah blah blah" ... the person she was speaking to would turn to look at "my school", and they would see this :

Then, things would get really quiet in the car, as they tried to figure out if she was joking or not ... which now that I think about it, is kind of insulting. I still drive by that place several times a week, and I giggle to myself every time I do.

Anyway, that was my mom. She was awesome like that.

What I saw while driving to the grocery store

A young woman with :

• A tattoo sleeve
• Maroon hair
• Tight pink t-shirt
• Leopard print scarf
• Riding a Vespa with "Thrasher" spray painted on the side of it

She was SO awesome. I wanted to be her for an hour or two. I love it when the whole tough but girly look works ... and she had it down.

She turned into the parking lot of a tattoo parlor. Work perhaps? I drove on, still thinking about the tough girl in pink. A thought popped into my head. As a little girl, I loved watching reruns of Happy Days on TV. I was fascinated by Fonzy's girlfriend, Pinky Tuscadero. She drove cars in demolition derbies. She was tough. She wore pink leather. I wanted to be her ... and apparently, I still do.

PS : I loved her so much, that my dad called me Pinky Tuscadero instead of Kelley. It made me so happy.

A Saturday in pictures

It's SO hard to wait for Granny & Granddad to get here ... especially when they come bearing early birthday gifts !

We had an impromptu Christmas card photo shoot

Here at last !

She picked out her ensemble all by herself .

Off to Herman Park .

Riding the train !

Cute !

She's so not amused by self portraits .

Getting a lift from Granddad for the loooong walk to the car .

 Cupcakes at last !

Presents at last !