futbol fakers and go back if you can't let go (me entiendes?)

went to the u.s. men's olympic qualifier soccer match vs. Colombia last night. And we lost. As well we should've...ball possession was non-existent. Alas, No U.S. men in the Olympics this year....

Here's the thing about soccer though....why do soccer players fake so much? And it's worse when playing country vs. country!
We didn't see it so much in Barcelona when they played Valladolid.
Just freaking play -  don't throw yourselves on the ground hoping for a penalty especially when the ball is still in play!! ugh...futbol...not questioning their athletic ability but give me rugby or hockey or baseball or curling anyday.

And so I'm going Juanes music today. All those Colombianos last night (there may have been more of their fans than ours?) - and they won - a tribute. Plus I love Colombian food. 

Question though...I wonder how many of all those rooting for their team actually live here and are U.S citizens?
I mean it's easy for me -
if we play against Mexico or Canada I have strong connections to both - BUT I'm born here. USA all the way, every time.

And so this is where my thoughts on immigration come to play - I welcome people that legally come here to work (and I've known those that do and have and will -  with amazing work ethic no less)
I think it's courageous AND I can totally understand coming here to make a better life for yourself.
To me it's not a matter of them taking jobs - I think the majority of the jobs they take nobody here wants anyway...and the rest well...what's more American than competition...

But I also think if you come here to settle, you've got to come with the understanding that a) you need to learn English, if you don't already know it and b) learn to embrace your chosen country as your own.

Keep your language and your culture yes (never lose that) but you've got to adjust to being here.
Don't be obnoxious, wear your foreign colors loud and proud at an olympic qualifying soccer game, then go to your "land of opportunity" house 10 minutes away and tuck your children safely in bed. To me es una falta de gracia 

Also don't only keep to "your own" cause "that's all you know".
Not making any effort to know and understand someone that doesn't look, act, and speak like you is really an insult to everybody else here and maybe then those people who can't let go, should go back to the place that they can't let go of.

the big easy (or not my kinda friend)

New Orleans good - as always.
We re-hit a few of our places - lord those bbq shrimp poboys at liuzza's by the track get better and better....

Didn't have time to test more really for the one day we were there.
It's definitely different meeting up with a group of people out there.
I guess I've just gotten so used to how Jamie and I travel -  its hard to compromise and adjust to people who don't travel like us?
With two things especially - sharing food and spending money

...I mean Jamie and I have shared food with people we just met at the bar - if you're acting that funny about it around a mutual group of friends,  I can already tell being direct friends is probably not going to happen.

AND I get being money conscious -  but the whole "to the penny" splitting is a little exhausting and really telling.

OH and dammit I saw that Amy Schumer was there and saw the Rebirth Brass Band off Frenchmen St!
I would've left her alone (or maybe I might have stared at her like this for a bit....)

who knows...I do know she freakin hilarious and that she likes the RBB.
Two checks on my list for being my kinda gal.....

I had it as an option to go see them - OF COURSE I DID -  we couldn'tve made it though...Jamie was already too much to handle,  and that was with us calling it an early night....

regardless I think we're on to something with these weekend trips. We might be doing more, more often.

I think we're gonna lay off the group trips for a while though - unless it's with people we know aren't gonna bring us down, cause who wants debbie downers on a vacation? seriously.

books
Elizabeth Hoyt - Ice Princess - i actually thought it was a well written girl in bad circumstances gets herself out story...just really short...if it was a bit more fleshed out I think it would've been better.
Denise Hunter  - Married till Monday - second chance story. I finished it but not really sure I liked it. Nice, normal guy tries to overcome complicated abused girl issues.
Stephanie Perkins - Anna and the French Kiss - a more mature YA I liked she realized there's a whole wide world out there. The whole back and forth got a little old .

do whatcha wanna (unless your kid's in the car and you're so obviously wrong!)

jamie and i got into confrontation the other day. I'd normally wouldn't want to write it down to remind myself what happened but it was just amazing to me how utterly wrong she was and she refused to admit it. The lesson she taught her 8? year old son was, it's ok to dent another persons car, talk trash, not admit you're wrong and get away with it. It boggles the mind.

And quite frankly here is an example as to why I'm even more ok with not having children...I'm not worried so much about how I'd raise them, I worry the influence the rest of the world would have.

 even more venting (and then I'll let it go cause that's it) .....I can't fathom any woman being ok with this new level of wive's meme ridiculousness with the republican party.
You know it's bad for them when a past member of the Republican Women's Club of Richardson Texas I know shakes her head and says, "i just can't do it. I might just go ahead and vote for Hillary and I don't believe it...."

Moving on....
-  another anniversary come and gone - we had a good date night - yet again Neighborhood Services was yum. Just can't go wrong with that place. Can't believe Badovinus got overlooked again for a James Beard nomination...we've eaten in many a places...and his is still top 5.

- off to New Orleans to join the friends tomorrow - it's supposed to rain - but IT'S OK

cause new orleans

I think I might be coming up on a fork in the road?...I'm not gonna even write about as to not jinx it. i'm pondering...we'll see!

in the beginning, bb, belieber and in 50 years we'll all be chicks

ack I've fallen behind - this time of year is always a little crazy i think?

Quick(ish) recap -
Wore my sassy "book" skirt and "Urban Decay'd" for date night down in Deep Ellum. Tried Filament  (good feel but food was eh) and walked over to armoury d.e for an after drink  (good drink and good feel bar).

DE has changed even more since last time ....(again) I'm glad it's coming back...I just hope it keeps its grungy-ness of old. I hate how things are turning so cookie cutter.
On the subject of cookie cutter - what's wrong with Boaty McBoatface for a ships name? i love it and i just snort-laughed when i read about it.  Maybe if we had a little humor to serious subject matters more people would be interested? 

I did not see the (should've been last) last Divergent film this weekend - i will eventually i guess? - maybe... (ugh).... I still haven't even seen the last hunger games movie and I had more interest in that one. This article makes good points: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/allegiant-fail-why-ya-movies-dying-is-bad-for-everyone-20160321

Tried to test out the "Rover" app to take care of BB this weekend and the gal just cancelled, then the second guy said he couldn't  - even though his calendar says he's available?....ugh...kinda shady no? And I thought it was such a great solution....oh well....Guess Jamie's parents got themselves a black brat dog this weekend cause I'm done experimenting for now and we're going back to NOLA. 

As far as books go (and before I forget to keep track)  - read The Kind Worth Killing - it was twisty but a bit predictable if you ask me. It did keep me reading.

AnnnNnnnd I came into a bunch of books! -  old and new! -
Most everyone I know can't understand my happiness at this...but it was a bit like this for me. 

so picking at random I also started reading A Short History of Nearly Everything - interesting but very nerdy about the "Big Bang" ...annnnnd I lost interest when he got to the supernova's.
Not saying I'm not gonna finish....it's just gonna be a slow goer for me. It's super cool and he's good at putting it in layman's terms - had no idea Pluto was that small. Even more cool to see the images from the New Horizon mission he mentions that just posted  a couple of days ago.

Also picked up reading In 50 Years We'll All Be Chicks - and while it started out funny (and I think pretty spot on when he's talking about modern men) by the 3rd chapter I was weary of the ranting. If I finish it it will be a long time from now cause I'll only go back in between books in short doses.

Lastly, I wasn't really a Belieber until I heard the Latin remix of this song.
SEE! life lesson - you don't need to pontificate, lie, and push and yell....just remix a little (and merge culture a little) to bring people over to your side.

nothin but dust

Jamie's parents sold their lake house - we spent the weekend helping them get ready for a garage sale.

It's a little sad this progression into twilight years for them...they really loved that house - I wish Jamie's sister was a little less locked in her world/drama to realize that she won't have them around much longer. 

Jamie realized it this weekend.

the good part was his mom started drinking at 5:30 "cause she deserved it", by 8 she told everyone "I can do whatever the f I want" and by 9:00 she went to bed and "slept like a rock".

Bet not a lot of wives have fun stories of their mother in laws like that to tell.... ha. 

Read #2 Penny Reid - Friends without Benefits -  but it was pretty slow. Def liked the first one better.

Almost finished with Some Sort of Love - Melanie Harlow - and i dunno something wasn't really clicking here and I was able to put it down.

I'm getting really beat down by the election - at this point I'd say I'd vote for the person who pushes to make Texas exempt from Daylight Savings Time...then at least I'd feel I have one of my "representatives" on my side - even if I don't agree with anything else they think. I can compromise.

Unfortunately the one Texas representative that suggested this DST exemption is so completely against and utterly uncompromising to so many things I think matter, that I'm basically exhausted.

and so we Eli & Young band

giggling in the dark

i found one! - Penny Reid - I almost didn't start reading it, the title kinda threw me, but i got bored with watching Jamie's alaskan frontier gold (or whatever he was watching) and thought why not?

Turns out I had to force myself to stop reading so I could sleep....or let Jamie sleep really.

I'd keep giggling and he'd wake up and mumble something like "how far to the clubhouse" (cause of course everything leads back to golf ) and I'd reach over to push his head back to his pillow, but I'd end up hitting him in the face instead.
He'd groan, say "fuck Brenda!" and then pass out. man i wish i could sleep like he does.

so, not finished yet but close. I love finding a fun one!

my MINI sheldonita played me more Turnpike today on the way to work and so we turnpike - ...that damned Lorrie girl that did a number on him...smh

voo doo, who'd do? and woo hoo!

tried Portland's Voodoo doughnuts that just opened in Austin and seriously - yum.
if that's any indication for what Portland puts out, I'm in trouble for trying to choose where to eat for the two days I'm there...

Wedding out in Fredericksburg was nice. It's nice to get out into the country and be. As far as the marriage goes, I hope it works out...and that's all I have to say about that.

Read Jane Ashford's Married to a Perfect Stranger - eh. The guy lead got on my nerves. He was insecure more than not - and I already see that too often in real life, don't need to read about it too. 

Is it me or are men getting more and more insecure? -  insecurity is such a turn off. 

I'd think I'd really struggle if I were single right now...it's just in my nature to push to see how far I can go and if a guy keeps letting me push AND insecure, that's definitely not one I'd want in any way...ugh no way.

With the exception of the aforementioned book, I think more men should read romance novels to get a clue. I really think it would help all parties.

Case in point - reading Emma Chase's Appealed was a good rebound - I forget how much I like her style - not my total favorite, there's still some parts where I think could've been edited - and again, do the people that make the covers not read the book? He has a beard!....ugh.
Still... glad I found a winner in entertainment value - wooo. 

I'm trying not to be a miserable cow today.
I think it's a sign of maturity that I'm even trying (ask me 10 years ago and I probably was still in my uber-selfishness that most mid 20'rs go through.)

I did tell Jamie he was "taxing all my reserves" though heh.

Married life lesson #4 (90% accuracy - trial and error)
You find yourself getting irritated,
say perhaps because you feel your husband is planning things without consulting you first
or perhaps you feel he's steamrolling over your subtle hints that you don't want to do something?

Don't let it build up.
It will turn irrational. Nobody (especially the husband) wants that.
Instead relay the information in a short concise manner, as soon as possible, to said husband - whom you hope will (and usually does) assimilate and adjust (or proceed with caution) accordingly....

and to Austin for a wedding weekend we go....

Definitely a turnpike troubadour day
Your intentions good and well
Pave a little on the road to hell
Flew a little high and fell, you were smilin all the while