White Water Rapids

My post happens to fall the weekend before my fall concert, so it's one of those times when I am so focused on what I have to do that I have to remind myself to stop and take a deep breath every once and a while. It's what I imagine paddling through white water rapids would be like. You are so focused on keeping the raft afloat that you cannot take in the beauty of nature around you. There is, however far away it may seem, the comfort of knowing that at some point calmer waters will come.

Amidst the rapids there have been a few rather hysterical "You're not in Kansas anymore" moments, a few of which I thought you might enjoy.

First: homecoming mums. This is the explanation a website gives regarding this Texas tradition.

"A homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsage decorated with three-foot long streamers in the school colors, bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows, sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights."

This is the first time middle schoolers were allowed to wear them at my school (new principal), so I had not experienced them before. Our theatre teacher has children at the high school so she was showing us pictures the day before everyone wore them to school and I seriously thought it was a dress. The next day she explained everything to me. Each of the mums cost more than 100 dollars and up to 300 dollars. I've included a picture I found online for your viewing pleasure.

Second: my toilet. I can't remember if I shared all of my plumbing trouble with you in my last post, but I sure had my fair share of it when I moved into my new apartment. The kitchen sink leaked as well as the bathtub faucet, which caused the apartment below me to flood. They finally fixed all of that and my toilet started constantly running. It took about a month to get it fixed and now when I flush, it flushes three times, every time! So much for saving money on rent :), I'm paying it all back in my water bill!

Third: the size of high school football stadiums in Texas. I think they rival KU and K-States' stadiums :-). James and I have season tickets to the UT Football games this season. Even though the team is struggling it has been fun to be one of the 100,000 fans in the stadium during home games. Here is a picture I took on my phone from our seat.

A couple of cool things I have discovered this fall are segway tours and glass bottom boats. James and I were given a segway tour of Austin as a gift, and riding a segway is awesome! I highly recommend it if you haven't had the chance. Here is a picture from our tour.

Also there are natural springs in San Marcos, a 30-minute drive south of Austin, which give glass bottom boat tours. You can see everything beneath you perfectly. They have lots of fish and other wildlife, and you can see the water bubbling through the sand at the bottom of the spring. If you ever travel this way, you should definitely stop for a tour.

I think that is about it for this post. Have a Happy Halloween! Love and miss you all!

Blessings,

Hannah