Seventeen Silly Things I Miss About the Lone Star State.

A month ago I moved to a place whose state animal is The Rocky Mountain Elk, you guessed it, I'm in Utah. I am sure you could also guess what I miss most about Texas, our Texas. My family, friends, the young ladies from church, the kids I used to teach at Old Settlers, and all of the other great people in my life. I would love to gush on and on about how amazing those people are but that's a little boring and will probably make me sad. So instead I have a list of 17 not so serious things about Texas that I miss more than I should.


1. The SKY!!!!! "The stars at night are big and bright....deep in the heart of Texas!" The song does not lie. The sky just seems so much bigger in Texas, I miss climbing up on the roof of my house and looking at the stars. Also Vitamin D. I miss it so much.

2. John Klingberg. Okay yeah, in the original plan I was going to leave out people but I miss him so much (as well as all of the other Dallas Stars players). I miss hockey! It is weird not having professional sports teams close by. That is definitely something I took advantage of in D-town

3. My paints! Luckily my mother knows me better than anyone and mailed some of my watercolors to me last week. They keep me sane.

4. The taco shack on Corporate and Southwest Parkway, I could really go for some guacamole but,
to my dismay Bowling For Soup was right "the Mexican food sucks north of [Texas] anyway."

5. The Dallas Skyline will always have a place in my heart, right next to Sweedish fish and new mascara.

6. Access to a cupcake ATM 24/7. Need I say more?

7.  Nolan Ryan (okay another person, but  I feel like he embodies Texas better than anyone)

8. "y'all" "hey, how's it goin'" and "howdy"

9. The giraffe I met at the zoo once. He was nice.

10. The hot air balloon festival in Highland Village every August. I seriously keep thinking of my summer traditions and realizing that I won't be in Texas all summer. 

I guess it is time to start some new traditions.

11. The entire city of Austin. All of it. The food. The music. The Capitol Building. Everything.

12. Blue Bell. Yes, I am lactose intolerant. No, I have not had ice cream in years but I'm pretty sure if you talk about the great things about Texas and don't mention Blue Bell you get kicked out forever. I don't want to risk it.

13. The Dallas Temple. It will probably always feel like home to me. I miss it so much!

14. Deep Ellum. The food, the art, all of it!

15. Getting up early and walking around the farmers market, trying all of the amazing fruits and vegetables in the middle of downtown. On a Saturday morning it doesn't get much better than that.

16. I miss diet coke. Obviously Utah still has coke products but it's just not the same.

17. Shady Lakes Ranch. I miss it because of the trampoline on the lake, and everything else that goes along with it. The mark of summer begins with standing in the mess hall belting "moose, alpaca". I don't know what I'll do without it

While I do miss home, I have found a few silly things to love about Utah.

1. First of all, Utah has a "State Fossil" (the Allosaurus, naturally).
2. The grass here is awesome. It's cool (literally), and not full of fire ants. I may or may not have fallen asleep today laying on the grass on campus. It was amazing.
3. They have lots of soda shops here which is super funny to me but I am not complaining.