What 7-11 wants to be when it grows up

Today Carolyn introduced me to Buc-ees. It's hard to describe, but it's a rest-stop, convenience store, tourist trap, gas station all rolled into one. It was amazing how big the store was - about the size of ten 7-11s (I'm estimating, and please note that I'm a bad estimator). HUGE. They even had an Outdoor section with deer feeders. How cool is that??? Well, I thought it was cool until I found out it wasn't to be kind and feed the cute deer. Let's just say that the people who were buying the deer feeders were wearing camo and had gun racks. You learn something new every day. See more pics below.

Buc-ee the Beaver

Here's an up-close shot of Buc-ee the Beaver - the mascot of this wonderful rest-stop/convenience store.

The inside of convenience store heaven...

So I walk in and this is what I see. It's absolutely unbelievable. I'm a fan of the Kwik-e-Mart, so imagine how giddy I got when I saw this. They had EVERYTHING. There are fountain drinks, hot coffee, Icees, bottled drinks, snacks galore, their own snack mixes, a bakery, a fudge section, a deli, and tons of souvenirs. You could spend an hour there just going through the stuff. (Well, I imagine that I may be the only one wanting to spend an hour going through the stuff, but you get the picture - there's a lot of stuff to go through).

The store just goes on and on and on

What I've been doing in Houston

Interestingly enough, I've actually been doing a fair amount of work. I had a number of papers that still needed to be graded so I've worked on that. But beyond that, Carolyn and I have been gallavanting around Katy and Houston. A couple of days ago, we went and got mani/pedis. It's been awhile since I had a mani/pedi. How long? Do you remember the scene from Dumb and Dumber where the guys are getting their toenails (read: talons) sawed off? It's kinda what I felt like. Kinda.

Carolyn at the next chair

All is well...in Houston!

Checking in here at 12:40 am...Houston time. I arrived on Saturday, August 24th for a short vacation to be with my cousin Carolyn who will soon be moving to the Pacific Northwest. She's going to be in for a treat! She won't have to deal with the heat and humidity (we have rain - but that's different!). It'll be some adjustment for the southern belle that she is.

OK...the big news on the way to Houston. I got my aisle seat, and was hoping for the seat next to me to be empty, but no such luck. And when I say no such luck, I mean for the person who eventually claimed said window seat. As it turns out, I had the chance to sit next to Bonnie Dunbar!!!! Ok, you don't know who Bonnie Dunbar is. Here's the one sentence summary: Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D. is the current President and CEO of The Museum of Flight and a former NASA Astronaut! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG...I sat next to a rocket scientist (well, technically a Ph.D. in Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering but I'm not going to split hairs now). She was a part of 5 different flights to space. You can check out her bio here.

You can imagine that after my flight, it's all downhill from here. I'll hang out with Carolyn, have some fun, and then hele on home.

Update

OK...I have severely neglected this blog. Now that summer is halfway over, I've decided to get some stuff on here. So sorry to my (one) loyal reader (you know who you are).

Hopefully this will appease you as I work on getting more posts together.

Guess who I met this month?????

 

Laird Hamilton!!! Yes, the surfing gawd...the one who rides big waves. The one who popularized stand-up paddleboarding. Him. He and Dave Kalama were in Seattle for a lecture and then paddleboard demo. I went to the lecture. I skipped the paddleboarding for the obvious reason that I have no sense of balance. Anyway, I was riveted as he and Dave Kalama talked about surfing and paddleboarding. Then I stood in line for an hour to get his autograph. This is what single, middle-aged women do on Friday nights. Well, maybe just me and the girl in front of me. But she probably wasn't in her 40s.

Eating Cupcakes

 

Don't you wish you could eat a cupcake like this? Just take it out of it's paper cup, and go nuts with the frosting. Don't forget to leave frosting on your mouth, too. That's good.

 

 

 

 

Ruth-chan's Wedding

 

In May I was so happy to attend a wedding of a former student. Ruth was a student in the late 90s and has stayed in the Seattle area. After getting her degree, she landed a job at Nintendo, and then moved on to Microsoft. She's a successful woman in every way. Her wedding in May was such a happy occasion. Also in this pic is Ai, another former student, who also work in the area - also doing very well!

Eric turns 50!

 

The major happening in April was that Eric turned 50! 50. Really. 50. Weird, huh? Anyway, we celebrated by having a small get together at school, and then dinner with friends at a local restaurant. I think Eric really enjoyed it all - the friends, the food. Except turning 50.

Visit with Maggie (still in March)

 

Eric and I popped over to see Maggie. We are the worst godparents. Ever.

Pot Sticker Party

 

Susan had her peeps over for a pot sticker party, and I was a lucky invitee. The peeps are classmates from Susan's MBA class. Beibei made the dough and filling for the pot stickers, and then brought everything over to Susan's. Then there was a factory line to assemble everything. I, conveniently, arrived after everything was underway. Along with the pot stickers, Sandy made Vietnamese summer rolls where were also very good. Susan made a radish salad that was very tasty.

Dumplings Galore

 

We had so many dumplings - all very good. I couldn't taste a real difference in shape, just that some had more wrapper than others.

Isn't this the cutest dumpling you've ever seen?

 

Workin' it at the stove

 

Fried Pancake

 

With the leftover dough, Susan and company fried up some pancakes. Very tasty...a bit heavy.