the stars at night are big and bright

People say everything is bigger in Texas. Up until this point in my life I never really thought twice about that statement. I mean, I can get a supersize meal with a 64-oz. drink and back-pack size bag of fries at McDonald's in any ol' state, so how much bigger can everything actually be in Texas? Then I went to Texas--Houston to be exact--and I think I'm starting to understand just what this bigger statement means.

It means Texans have the biggest pride for their state.

It means Texans have the biggest love for their state. Freddie and I asked just about everyone we ran into (so that means we asked Uber drivers...) whether or not they liked living in Houston and without one second of hesitation they all said, "Yes!" Yes with an exclamation point. A big fat yes. 

It means when Texans do something they really do take the statement, "go big or go home" to heart. So they go big so that they can stay home in their beloved state. 

And yes, the bags of peanut butter M&M's available at the airport were very large and in charge so I can totally get on board with Texas being bigger. 

Freddie and I didn't have a car this trip so our main modes of transportation were our feet and Uber <---when I say Uber I mean it in the way that I'm pretty sure Ricky and I funded 75% of their profits this past weekend. It's kind of fun (in a daunting and not fun kind of way) to go to a new city and have no plans or car and no idea what to do or where to go. The city is yours! Go forth and explore! So that's exactly what we did. We chassed over to Hermann Park where not only did we daydream about napping in the grass under the sun, but we also saw some actual dancers who were chasse-ing in the grass. #1 moment of the trip I knew I liked Houston. Real dancing! Right in front of my face! 

From there we ran across the street and into the Houston Museum of Natural Science because it was Thursday and apparently admission is free on Thursday afternoons. Get on our lucky level! With only 45 minutes left to explore before closing time we managed to make friends with Little Foot and friends. Success. 

The next day we decided to test out our physical fitness levels by walking all. day. long. Walking the seven miles of under city tunnels to find dumplings to walking to Discovery Green to take pictures with sculptures and to do some more grass napping daydreaming to walking into quaint bars with friendly bartenders and pomegranate mimosas. Alcohol helps the weakening leg muscles, okay? I'm a dancer. I know these things. So since our legs were really sore by dinner time (we didn't calculate but decided to go ahead and say that if we had Fitbits they'd be super impressed with our million steps for the day) (wink), we ended the day with more bars and lotsa tapas. Lotsa tapas! That's fun to say. Say it. See, wasn't that fun? It was equally as fun to eat that tapas. 

Our last day was full of friends. We were kidnapped/chauffeured (you decide) by one of my longtime dance friends/wedding photographer who basically spent the entire day talking up Texas. Like I'm pretty sure Randy could get a job either making everyone love Texas and/or just brainwashing them to believe they love Texas. By the end of our day with him we were both big time in love with the big bad Texas. We were also big time full on the delicious sushi and drinks and sights he provided us along the tour. By the end of Valentine's night, after happy hour with this view...

...and finally eating some crisp to perfection pizza, I couldn't help but think how much bigger my heart had grown for Texas in my short four days there. 

Sometimes you just need a little vacation from your beach vacation home to put things in perspective. Life is pretty darn good.

And Texas is bigger ;)

Thanks to Randy and Ellen, and Ryan and Rachel for being big time rocking friends and hosts!