that tall redhead: heartbraker in houston...

there are two types of people in texas....

people that love dallas and hate houston

and

people that love houston and hate dallas

it's kind of like being a fan of alabama or auburn...you have to pick a side. i always appreciated being from austin...everyone likes austin.

i fall into the group of "people that love dallas and hate houston"....you're welcome dallas.

since my mom is from lake highlands (dallas), we visited quite a bit growing up. i know dallas like the back of my hand.

the best experience i had of houston was in feburary...(see blog post for feb) other than that, houston is one of those cities where i always seem to get lost and have frizzy hair thanks to the humidity.

it didn't disappoint this trip.

in november, we found out my alma mater, baylor university, would be playing in the texas bowl at reliant stadium in houston. this is the first time since 1994 that were eligible and chosen to play in a bowl game. so definitely a big deal for baylor. and for me, i have never been to a bowl game.

let me give you a quick history on baylor football. my family calls the team the "folding bears" because that's what they do, they fold, just when you think there's a chance of winning.

my dad and i have this joke that we feel like drug addicts with the baylor football team. we keep going back even though they continue to let us down.

so, back to december 29th. game day.

one of my best friends from baylor, emily, graciously offered me a ride from austin to houston with her and her husband, spencer.

about halfway to houston, it started raining...nothing to worry about, right?

once we got to houston, we dropped off spencer and emily's dog (bailey) at emily's friend's apartment.

next up....reliant stadium (luckily a covered stadium).

actually...next up was houston traffic....with it accompanied by pouring rain...

we were cutting it close, 15 minutes until kickoff and didn't know what lot to park in.

not to mention, that i hadn't thought to bring an umbrella and spencer and emily only had 1 in the car.

spencer graciously let us out at an entrance where both me and emily took off running toward the covered area. once we got under the cover, we were both drenched. like standing in a shower for a minute drenched.

then we realized that this is the "club entrance".

seriously?

unfortunately, the ticket takers didn't care that it was pouring down rain, we couldn't go in this entrance...rude, i know. clearly, the rain messed up my negotiating skills.

so emily and i took off again running toward the closest entrance.

by the time we got to the comcast entrance, i had to wring out my clothes...completely drenched. i my look the equivilant of 5 minutes in the shower.

luckily, one of my other best friends from baylor, cayce, had her husband (john) standing there waiting for me with my ticket. cayce and john had my ticket and i sat with them and some of our old friends from baylor. emily and spencer were seated with some of his fraternity brothers in another section.

john and i walked quickly to make it to our 20 yard line seats by kickoff.

and kickoff....

after 10 minutes of watching baylor play, i knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

and it wasn't.

we ate our troubles away with nachos (thanks john and cayce) and cotton candy (thanks lauren and steve).

final score:

baylor 14, illinois 38.

after our horrible defeat, i met emily and spencer in their section and visited with some of their friends.

we picked up bailey for the drive home and for some reason got turned around...actually we can thank the exit signs they put up in houston for that one. we got back to austin around 1 a.m. the next morning.

regardless of the score, it was fun to see old friends and have the opportunity to go to a bowl game.

me and cayce...obviously still wet....