Houston (City of the Syrup)

Happy Easter/Passover Weekend!  I'm feeling a little down because this is the first Easter I won't be with my family dying Easter eggs, getting a basket full of goodies, hiding/hunting eggs and eating a huge meal filled with love.  Ah well, I suppose it's all part of growing up?  I'll just keep telling myself that.

Even though I won't be able to spend the weekend at home, I did get to spend the past few days there on my days off work.  I had such a great time, as always!  I got to catch one of my brother, Kaleb's, baseball games Tuesday night against Crosby, my mom's alma mater.  He's currently the third baseman and he did a phenomenal job contributing to the ultimate victory.  His team was losing 3-7 until the very last inning.  Kaleb scored a triple run which gave the rest of the team hope, and they started hitting like crazy from then on.  It was such a thrill!  It almost brought me to tears watching them celebrate at the end.  One of the best things about the game was that most of my family was able to attend, and we all went out for a big, greasy Mexican dinner afterward.

I spent Wednesday afternoon independently roaming around downtown Houston.  I started in my favorite neighborhood- The Houston Heights.  It's a historic-turned-trendy area just inside loop 610.  I've been going down to the Heights for as long as I can remember.  My Pop (Mom's dad) grew up there and spent much of his adult life visiting the area.  Every now and then he would take me down there with him and we'd have a cheeseburger and a chocolate malt at Yale Street Pharmacy (used to be a pharmacy; now it's a diner).  So, that's what I did after shopping around at a few of my favorite thrift shops on 19th Street.  After lunch, I headed over to Beauchamp St. to see the little house Pop was raised in.  It could really be a great house again after a little fixing-up.  Then I decided to head over to Rice Village for a little more shopping.  All in all, it was a nice, relaxing day by my lonesome.

I came back to Austin Thursday evening and was so glad to be reunited with Jason and the pets.  I had a wonderful time in Houston, but, as always, it's nice to come home.