Florida Georgia Line - Rodeo Houston Part 2

THE CONCERT!

The actual Rodeo ends at around 8:30 and then quickly set up for the concert, which for many is the main draw - or maybe not the main draw, but a way to differentiate between nights at the Rodeo. When people say things like what night are you going? It's usually in reference to who will be performing the night you are at the Rodeo. The Rodeo gets a lot of country bands - Blake Shelton, Reba McIntire -- but also some other genres - Usher, Maroon 5. I went on Florida George Line night!

Hauling the Stage Out After the Rodeo Finished

Very Effective Ford Advertisement - Who wouldn't want the fancy nice truck?

Florida Georgia Line (FGL) has two guys that are the main vocals - although one of the guys (the more hickish of the two) is definitely the lead vocals in that while the other is just kind of a mix of lead and not lead. They came out in jeans (TIGHTER THAN JEGGINGS - it looked so uncomfortable), shirts with the sleeves cut-off, and cowboy boots. The looked the part of backwoods hick all the way down to the hair. 

As the show was starting they set off a bunch of fireworks INSIDE the Stadium! It was so fun and awesome! This was happening as our singers were driven to the center stage in the back of one of the Ford Trucks. 

Fireworks of Anticipation

The concert itself was pretty great. They were very energetic and very good at walking off the stage to go mingle with the fans that are pretty far away from them because of the way the Stadium is set up.  They were also good at getting us all excited about the next song. Lots of Where's my Houston Ladies?! - I screamed with the best of them! 

When the sang one of their hits "Shine On" they asked everyone to get their lighters out. I assumed this would be like they do it in Utah - turn the flashlight app on their smart phone and wave it in the air. While this was what most of the people did I surprised at the fact that people actually had lighters on them - Like real ones!  (It was so strange to me to think about people still smoking - I mean we've established lung cancer is a thing right? I understand people my parents age smoking, but anyone my age?! Seriously - do you ever read the news?!)  The lighter/cellphone glow during shine on was just too pretty, so I took some pictures for you:

Now about the concert. Although these guys are played on country radio - their live performances are much different. The newspaper report on their concert called their genre "hillbilly rap-rock." In high school tennis, we would made up a similar genre we called it Crap - which stands for country-rap. These guys had it down. They had all the head-banging of the Rock genre with the hand gestures of the rap genre all this while still clinging to their country-roots. It was so funny.  In my mind I could see these guys in their garage in high school taking themselves very seriously talking about making it big then being here today with not much changing as far as performance style goes. They definitely seemed to be living their dreams in real life. 

Guitars!!!!!!!

Rodeo Houston (Texas-Sized Post)

I managed to snag some free tickets from work to go to the RODEO last night! I don't know if I explained this before, but the Rodeo is like the Park County Fair on STEROIDS! There is the Rodeo happening in the football stadium, a giant carnival outside the stadium, and a few building full of shops and livestock. There is also food on STEROIDS.

The Food

Sweet Diana and I hit up the food first. When I say on STEROIDS - I mean it. Although here instead of calling it STEROIDS they say "TEXAS SIZED" which after driving 12 hours through Texas to get here - I do know that Texas-Sized is an accurate descriptor of the food I saw!

I personally grabbed a $12.75 TEXAS SIZED turkey leg and dug in. It was great!

Obesity's Genusis

But when you get 1/2 halfway in, you start feel grease dripping (dripping) down your chin, which may or may not be a figment of your imagination, but regardless you feel gross after chowing down. 

My did I really just eat that? selfie!

All the progress I made before I had to stop.

 All this food made me laugh at sweet Todd in Africa. Here I am surrounded by good eats and fattening desserts and he's eating cow's foot. Poor guy!

Post Meal - Pre Dessert Pic

 Fried Desserts:
   Okay team - I feel the need to report on the urban legend of Fried Twinkies (on the left below). They are not that good.  If you ever get to a place where they sell fried anything - go for the Oreos - they are 10x better than the twinkie and apparently the fried snickers. TRUST ME. Definitely worth your $6.

The Rodeo

The Rodeo part is pretty typical of all Rodeos I've been to - except for the venue. It's so massive. It's a Football Stadium transformed into a Rodeo Grounds. It is awesome. We were lucky enough to get seats on the first level and on the same side as all the action. So bulls still looked huge from where we were. 

The Venue!

 One thing unique to this Rodeo was the calf scramble. All these high school students who are either FFA or 4H(pictured in white below) get the chance to catch a calf and put a halter on it. If they are able to do this - they are awarded different scholarships. The kicker is that there are more kids than calves, so it gets sad when people are trying so hard and not successful. It's a neat idea, but last night it was so violent (which I'm told was a rarity).

Kids were getting stomped on and pulled around. For those of you familiar with the Lewis Branding Event held each spring these calves were noticeably bigger than what we typically brand, but not by a lot. And they were feisty - which I know is not a rare thing - so maybe the violence shouldn't surprise me?

The technique used the night I was there was to grab the calves tail and pull hard. When the calf had kind of given up, you would then jump for it's head with all your might. One girl literally had her legs wrapped around a calves neck while she sorted out the halter. It was psycho and hilarious. But people were crying and fainting, ankles were twisted, hands were seriously rope-burned, and noses were bloodied. One kid got the halter on then his calf started going CRAZY and the kid fell over - still holding the rope and got stepped on like 2 or 3 times - on his HEAD while being dragged around - and still he held on. #realcowboysliveinHouston

The people in black vests help herd the calves towards the kids dressed in white.

After the calf-scamble, they did some mutton-busting (kids 4-6 years holding on to a sheep as it runs to the fold/herd of other sheep (is it a fold or a herd?) until they can't hold on anymore). I kept thinking about sweet Aubrey trying it - I couldn't decide if she'd be game or not. It was so fun to watch, and the little boy that won, by holding all the way to the herd/fold was so cute. They asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up: "A team roper" in his sweet, polite "yes ma'am" way. It was adorable.
And added to the fantastic event that is Rodeo Houston! 

Because this is already TEXAS-SIZED, I'm going to finish my Florida-Georgia Line performance review in the coming days - which happened after the Rodeo Festivities! Check back soon!

What Are You Worth?

Hey team!  Institute was so good that I thought I'd share some of what we said!

The teacher at one point stopped the class and had us ponder on the moment of 3:00 p.m. today. What were we doing? Who were we talking to? What were we thinking or feeling about that person?

Then he had us stop again after sharing with our neighbor that moment. Then he had us answer in our heads the question:

What am I worth?

There's a story about my sister Dawn that I love. The story goes (as I remember it): She did an internship at Goldman Sach's before she worked there full time. At the beginning of the internship, she felt like she wasn't seen as someone to take seriously. People didn't seem to care about what she had to say.  Sweet Dawn said to herself - These people don't understand who I am. Then she spent the rest of the summer making sure that they did. And by the end of the summer, she was a contributing and important part of the team. There is a person that knew her worth!

I love this story because it reminds me that my worth is not stored in the opinions of those that don't know me. I think of that story whenever I show up in a new place and I feel like I'm once again re-discovering who I am and what my worth is. I keep waiting for that to happen here in Houston, but so far - my core being has yet to be challenged. (I think it has something to do with some key things I learned in Wyoming, which I will not bore you with here, but that this blog post helped me to realize.)

Back to Institute after pondering that question on our own the teacher had us turn to Romans 8:16-17  and then to Romans 8:35-39.

If you're not in the mood to click on those links, just know that those scriptures testify that we are joint heirs with the Savior Jesus Christ and nothing can separate us from His and God's love! I know that my worth comes from many things, but most importantly in the knowledge that I am loved and accepted by my Heavenly Father. I hope that when your self-worth takes a hit - you can remember to turn to those scriptures and remember for yourself who you truly are and forever will be: a child of an infinitely loving Heavenly Father!

I like that my teacher didn't stop there with that testimony. He finished with perhaps the most important question of the evening:

How does this knowledge change that moment at 3:00 p.m. today or any other moment of the day? How does knowing and remember that you are child of God change how you act and feel?

I hope to live tomorrow remembering who I am, and I hope you are able to do the same!

Destined To Be Single

The roomies all went to the Rodeo, so I zoomed out to the 'burbs to do some shopping! I returned hours later with $40 in my pocket thanks to a shoe return. After spending a quiet night reading and thoroughly enjoying myself, I did a quick Facebook scan and found this Buzzfeed quiz on my friend's wall. She got "Single and Loving It," and I got this. 

I'm still scratching my head. Doesn't it seem a little sad for a Buzzfeed quiz? 

And I'm trying to figure out what answer put me in this category? 

My love of Taylor Swift songs? My affinity for pizza? 

How does one end up Destined To Be Single? 

If you take the quiz - married or not - let me know your results, I'd love to see what the other options were that I missed! 

Driving Like A Boss

My Chariot!

Today I was called upon to drive through the bustling metropolis of Houston in a 12 passenger van packed to capacity with clients eager and excited to shop at Target! 

The driving part wasn't actually that bad, but after pairing the driving with: the actual shopping, the CHECKING out process, the getting clients food part, and getting everyone back safely part I thought to myself - I deserve to buy myself something nice for lunch.

 It's just so stressful all at once - last week someone I was guiding walked into a metal pole that was in the middle of nowhere and someone else got lost in the women's bathroom - THAT particular someone was a man. 

This week we avoided major catastrophes, except that we brought our two clients that visually impaired AND deaf with us, which added an extra challenge. I've been picking up ASL through interacting with them and am sadly the most proficient at work - I say sadly because I'm still so far away from being able to communicate effectively.  So I was trying to sign to our ASL peeps while guiding the rest of the group around Target and finding everything they needed - while trying to avoid being too much in the way of the other customer's at Target. 

It's a work-out I tell you! 

So while it was a wonderful mastery experience, and I do feel like I handled it like a novice pro - I've got to say that the empty van safely backed (point of pride there - I backed it into the place you see it in the first picture!) into it's designated parking spot, was one of the calming parts of today! 

What bliss looks like - an empty, unscathed, parked van!

But the best parts of the day had to be:

1. RECEIVING A PACKAGE FROM ONE OF MY HIGH SCHOOL BESTIES DARCEE! It was a congrats you did it package and it made re-excited about moving and getting a job! 
2. The SO WARM WEATHER - seriously it feels like the beginning of summer in MARCH! 
3. A long and detailed phone call from a friend I made during my most recent stay in Powell! It was so nice to hear the gossip again! 

Fat Tuesday, International Pancake Day, and Lent

Apparently "Fat Tuesday" has always been a thing, but I just never knew about it? Tell me I'm not alone in this? Apparently the Tuesday before Lent begins everyone indulges in whatever the heck they want before giving it all up for Lent. I'm not familiar with the traditions or doctrines behind Lent or Ash  Wednesday, but Fat Tuesday was something I could definitely get into!

It's a FAT TUESDAY FEAST!

It was so convenient that it landed on International Pancake Day (or maybe that was on purpose)! That my friends is also a thing. I know the Institute in Powell celebrated it with my mom making millions of pancakes and serving it to the kids there, but for the rest of the world not living in Isolation you can just head on down to IHOP for a free round of short-stack pancakes! The idea is that you donate what you would've spent on pancakes to the Shriner's Children Hospital.

The best hot chocolate I've ever had!

I knew that this year was my year! I was no longer living in extreme poverty - lived a measly 2 miles from the IHOP and I had a roommate I was fairly certain could be coerced into going with me. I got home and said "You know what we're doing for dinner tonight? FREE PANCAKES!" I think I had her at FREE or maybe before with my ENTHUSIASTIC FACE. Needless to say - WE WENT!   

The pancakes were so-so, but for a mere $2.29 I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had! It was amazing. I know that's a rather unsophisticated thing to say about a chain restaurant's drink - but seriously don't knock it till you try it!

 I didn't have cash on me and there was a rush at the cash-register, so I skipped the donating part, but I'm so glad I went! It's fun to get into the spirit of things, and I did leave a nice tip so maybe that's like donating in it's own way? Right?

I also spur of the moment decided to honor the Lent season by giving up television - I have a co-worker friend that's Catholic, so maybe it was solidarity? (Although she's giving up wine and added sugars, and I'm just sticking to TV). I think ideally I would have given up television and added something more holy in it's place - like scripture reading or exercise, but I was a little overwhelmed by giving up something so big that I just stuck with that! I'm going to start to write a list of blessing that have come from giving up TV for 40 days, which I'm already seeing, BUT at the same time I'm looking for some better ways to spend my time! Your ideas are welcome and appreciated!

Matchy-Maxi

I have wanted a maxi skirt for ages. Seriously since my beautiful sister Dawn got one, I've had my eyes open looking for the perfect one. I've tried on several, and each one didn't fit me right (read: made me look fat). So finally this week I spotted one at Target and tried it on. It looked just right! And it flowed nicely and was extremely flattering. I bought it right away - I told my sister it wasn't exactly an impulse buy because I've wanted one forever, but it was kind of an impulse buy.

So I woke up this morning pumped to wear my beautiful new skirt. I curled my hair! I did my make-up with extra care, and I looked awesome (not a lack of humility as much as it is a fact!).

Matching skirt or no - at least my hair was better!

I showed up at Church, dressed to impress, and feeling awesome, only to see almost immediately a girl with THE SAME SKIRT ON. THE EXACT SAME ONE. I was so ticked. My roommate sweetly told me I looked better in it, but honestly, the jury is still out on that one. 

I paired mine with a red cardigan, black shirt, cute hair with a giant bow, and sandals (yeah for Houston weather!). She paired hers with a black shirt, pink scarf and heels.

We avoided each other all day - on purpose on my part - not sure about her motives. Then at the end of the day we ended up talking to the same person and some girl was like "Oh my gosh you guys match!" Thank you Captain of the Obvious. I smiled at the Captain anyway and turned to the thunder-stealer and said "Cute skirt" rather unenthusiastically.

So instead of the post getting to be an #OOTD (translation: outfit of the day) post, it has to be about my matching maxi, which is made me feel less cute, which led to me to be less excited, which led me to be lazy, which led to no picture of my cute outfit.  So instead you get a picture of my '80's-inspired-do - enjoy!

Everything's Bigger In Texas, verdad?

Which I did not actually wear to CHURCH. I was just super enjoying my volume and decided to have some fun BEFORE I left the house! Upon leaving the house, curls were tamed with a half-up ponytail turned classy with a bow in the back.

They call the thing RODEO!

One of best perks of doing what I do is the fact that I get paid to do fun things I would want to do anyway, and it also conveniently gives people to do it with.  Just one more reason going into this field was a good decision! For example, just last week, I got to go to the Houston Rodeo Parade - with special seating, parking, and food because I brought clients and families from the Lighthouse! 

The Houston Rodeo Parade in a picture
-people, horses, flags - just missing the marching bands!

The RODEO in Houston is a big deal and apparently one of the most fun times of the year! The weather is nice - not too hot and not too cold (although there was freezing RAIN the other day, which gave everyone quite the scare/excuse to be late to work).  It is also a time when everyone get their cowboy-wear on. We are a city in Texas which gives us a nice opportunity to be a little bit bi-polar. Apparently, we can get our Western/Hick on for one-month (rodeo-month) out of the year and then go back to city life the other 11 months.  Which is awesome!

Pretty sure it's impossible to have TOO MANY Texas flags in one place!

I came just in time for the hick/western month. The excitement everyone has for the Rodeo has definitely rubbed off on me! It's strange because for the first time ever in my life I actually feel like I need cowboy boots, and I'm doing on-line window shopping/research to try and understand what cute cowboy boots actually look like, which is something I've never once in my life actually seriously considered. I'm asking my mom send me the plaid shirts I thought I wouldn't need, and I'm listening to all the songs on Florida Georgia Line's album because I scored free tickets to their night at the Rodeo! These are all things I would not have thought to do just a month ago, but apparently, when Texas it's best to do as the Texans do! (Which hopefully means using the word y'all in a sentence without being self-concious and excited about doing so - something I've wished for my entire life!) 

Kelli's Dash Cam

I had to include the above picture to illustrate just how much the city gets into this holiday-month! They shut down major city streets and thoroughfares so the trail-riders, who are a major part of the parade, can get back to the places they camped the days before and after the the parade. People open up their parking lots and city parks shut down, so the trail-riders can have a place to stay. The city also designates several street-cleaners to be part of the parade to periodically clean up after the horses. They also have these street-cleaners follow the horses home after the parade, as pictured above.  The picture above was taken more than 5+ miles away from the parade location on my way home from the parade! 

The bottom-line here is that Houston and Houstonians throughout the city are serious about their Rodeo festivities, and I, for one, am so excited to be living here in Houston just in time for one of the best times of the year!