Oh, Texas

Andy and I just got back from a trip to Andy's hometown of Amarillo, Texas. It was mixing a little business with a little pleasure. I did an SUU recruiting open house and feel confident that we will be able to enroll a student or two from the efforts. If we're successful, this may be an annual trip. With that understanding, Brenda, Andy's mom, worked overtime to help make it a success. Thanks Brenda!

I loved being in Amarillo because people say things like "I'm fixin' to leave" and "Ya'll" and it cracks me up! We really had such an enjoyable time with Andy's wonderful family and lovely friends. That kid has an amazing collection of friends who I love getting to know.

We were able to take a trip to nearby Borger, Texas where Andy's friends Jason and Laura live. They own a coffee/gift shop called The Coffee Ranch and they live in a 1930's Methodist Church that they have transformed into a home, six car garage, and banquet rental space. These two have style oozing out of every pore and it was such a treat to see where they live. I felt like I was in Anthropologie.

This is their house. Uh huh.

That's Laura, Jason and Andy.

This trip gave me the chance to rekindle old friendships with Randy & Emily, Stoney & Song and also get to know La and his new wife Laah. Laah is expecting one month before I am so we had lots in common. We made a connection even though she only speaks a few words of English.


We all went out for dinner one night, but then they invited us over another night to Laah's aunt's house for authentic Vietnamese Pho! Pho is a really hot broth soup with noodles and beef. Then, you add in whatever you want like cilantro, mint, hot sauce, chili sauce, limes, sugar, fish sauce, and more. It was so delicious. And they also had these rice balls and fried Asian bananas. I felt pretty lucky.

Thanks Texas! We're looking forward to our next trip.