0 Going Texas, y'all

Since moving to Texas, I have been on a quest to assimilate. I will forever be a California girl, but when in Rome, or in this case, Texas, you do as the Texans.

Tacos for every meal? Check. A quest to find the best BBQ in the Austin area? Check. Big a** donuts? Check. And then it got away from the food sector.

It started simply enough with settling on a country station every now and again while in the car while the other stations were on commercial or playing annoying songs. That turned into knowing a few of the more pop country artists and songs enough to download an album(Cole Swindell, anyone?), or to put a pop country Pandora station on in the house. I figured it was pretty innocent, even though the 18 year old music snob version of me is rolling in her indie-loving grave.

This this past weekend, I upped my game and went all in.

Friday night, one of Billy's coworkers invited me out with her girls for dinner, drinks, and to hit up the country bar in town, Wild West. I've never been to a country bar, or even watched country dancing other than at weddings when the Cupid Shuffle or some other "line dance" is played. This was a whole new world for me. People were dancing, like almost ballroom style. it was called two-stepping, and everyone, young and old, knew the steps. How do you learn how to do this? Is it a Texas thing that you have to be born into? Much observing was done on my part. Thankfully Wild West plays more than country music, so I made it onto the dance floor to do my signature shake the hips and wave my hands around moves. I have some real smooth moves. Later I was asked to dance, and when I said I didn't know how, the guy said he'd teach me, it was easy. Actually, it was! I made it through an entire song, with a few spins, without falling on my booty or looking like a complete fool. I'm just guessing about that last part, I never know exactly what I look like.

 

Saturday, I went even bigger. I ran with the bulls. Yup, you read that right. Real, big, 1500lb bulls running alongside me. It was the Texas Bull Run. I heard about it thanks to a Meet Up group I'm a part of, and originally had signed up to chase the baby bulls in an all girls run that ended up being canceled. So I woman'd up and ran with the big boys, in my Batman tank, no less. Twice. To say it was terrifying is an understatement. I played it safe and stayed near the front of the pack, and real close to the gates to be able to hop up on the fence when the bulls rushed past. "Bull rush" has so much more meaning to me now. Those suckers are fast and don't mess around. My only injury is a small bruise on my arm from where another runner shoved me into the fence in order to get in front of me. Not cool, bro.

I totally photo bombed my new friend Ben here. He was part of the group I floated with, so it's cool.

No joke, y'all. These suckers were scary.

After the bull run, I did another very Texas thing, and floated the San Marcos river. Floating is a new concept to me, so I'll explain it in case it is for you also. From the ranch, you are driven by school bus up the river, dropped off, then you float for four hours all the way back to the ranch. It's basically a floating party. Coolers full of beer get their own tubes, and you hook yourself together around them. Then you just...float. It was actually quite fun. I'm pretty sure it had a lot to do with the fun group I was with, but know it would be nice even in a different group. I would definitely do it again. No photos were taken, to preserve my phone from taking a dip in the river, but I'm sure you get the idea.

So there you go, I am going full on Texas, y'all. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. Oh wait, that's just Friday Night Lights ;)