FOOTLOOSE and FANCY-FREE

well, not exactly...i've been pretty busy between going to class everyday for almost 6 weeks (i'm getting my master reading teacher certification), going to physical therapy 3 times a week for chronic neck pain that started from a car accident five years ago and last but not least, getting hit 2 times in a week, this week! hah.
but, other than that, it's been a FOOTLOOSE and FANCY-FREE summer!

shady grovin' it.

SOCOollin' it at south congress cafe.
domainin' it. eating at north and listening to some lovely swingin' music.
A life without love is like a year without summer. ~Swedish Proverb
FOOTLOOSin' it at zilker park with kathy, john and alexander.

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen

lodgin' it with the parentals.

red's porchin' it w/anna v and mikey.

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~Russel Baker

4th of july weekend=fun w/friends

on the weekend of the 4th, adam and i headed to mckinney to visit christina and her husband, jason.

we shopped in downtown mckinney. i LOVE downtown mckinney. almost all of the cafes in downtown mckinney have outside patios...so european, ah.

we also went to a baseball game at this really cute stadium.

we watched the game from a suite...we totally beat the heat!

christina and jason were the perfect hosts! thanks so much for having us!

the game ended with fireworks...so glad to see them because what's the 4th without fireworks? and in austin, fireworks cancelled because of the record heat.

my parents were out of town on the 4th, so we didn't get to do our traditional small-town 4th in seguin. we did end up meeting up with friends on lake travis for dinner though!

me, angie and anna banana

good-bye, 4th, 'til we see you next year!

ruidoso rendezvous, part 2

the next day, adam and i took a drive to the white sands national park.

we had a lot of fun sliding on the sand!

king of the hill...

the sand was quite hot as it was 105 that day.

adam wanted to stop at a zoo in alamogordo. if you know me, you know that i don't get overly excited about animals. however, this zoo was different. it even excited me! it was a quiant, little zoo that's been open since 1892 and the animals were all very unique, most of them almost extinct.

we also had some intriguing stops along the way in the indian reservation that you drive through to get to white sands. we went to an indian museum run by the native apaches. i liked that the museum was reflective of the native americans' perspective.

a modern-day tipi that the apaches were staying in during a muliple day celebration.

day 3, we decided not to rush around so much. first, we went on a hike and had a picnic.

that afternoon, we went to the ruidoso downs horse rases.

i really didn't think i would be much of a fan especially because i am not at all a fan of gambling, but i must admit i had a really good time at the races. here i am "studying" the stats to pick what horse i wanted to put money on!

i loved when i actually "won" or picked the right horse! it only happened once though. heh.

day 4, we went on a hike again.

then, adam went back to the races while i walked around downtown ruidoso and "windowshopped."

he got some cool action shots of the race.

unfortunately, the national forest was closed while we were on our trip and most of the roads that are in the mountains are part of the forest. luckily, on the last day of our trip, we did find a road in the mountains that was still open to take a scenic drive on. good-bye ruidoso! 'til we meet again!