labor day weekend roundup

so i know what i do in my spare time is so compelling to everyone who reads this (NOT!), but i had quite a lovely weekend so i'd like to catch you up on my whereabouts.

it started off pretty lackluster if i'm honest with you. you see, my social dynamics have changed considerably since jess moved to houston, lauren found the love of her life, and amanda started renovating her new love shack w/ josh. these are the three amigas that i did EVERYTHING with and due to the phases and stages of life that inevitably happen, i no longer see them as much. this sucks. hardcore. sometimes i feel as though i will always be stuck at the age of a young twenty-something while everyone else graciously moves on with their lives. (different post entirely.)

as i was saying, my efforts at making labor day weekend 2009 an affair to remember were quite lackadaisical. i spent friday night curled up on my front porch swing reading "cash: the autobiography," which is fantastic and probably the best autobiographical work i've read in a very long time. and saturday i was holed up in my living room watching college gameday and watching those bears kick some demon deacon tail! GO BEARS! by saturday night, my cabin fever had reached fever pitch and i decided to pull myself up by my bootstraps and get out of the house - or else, i'd go insane.

rather spontaneously, i decided to spend the next day in bandera because i knew that they were having their annual festival and i could surely find something to do there. like always, bandera did not disappoint. if you've never been there, you'd be amazed at how historically and culturally preserved they've managed to keep the town. when you walk down main street, you literally feel as though you are in tombstone. believe it or not, all the locals ride horses everywhere and you just tie up your horse outside the general store when you feel like going in for a tall glass of lemonade (or whiskey in most of their cases.) ever heard this song? yeah, he wrote it about bandera. every time i go, i always make sure i listen to that song. in my heart of hearts, i know that REK and i would get along really well...oh to sit down and have a beer with that man.


[bandera main street cattle drive. a regular sight around these parts.]

as i was walking around the courthouse lawn, i received a random phone call from one of my very best friends from bu (allison w.) who just so happened to be in pipe creek (literally 5 min. away from bandera) and she was appalled that i was by myself so she ever-so-hospitably invited me out to the walker ranch cookout. the walkers, allison's in-laws, are the most kind-hearted, salt-of-the-earth people and they welcomed me with the most open arms. they've got 75 acres of prime bandera county property and the views were just spectacular.

since al is pregnant (i'm going to be an auntie!), she was getting pretty tired and i decided i better not wear out my welcome, yet i wasn't ready to call it a night. i knew that aaron watson and zach edwards band were playing at the 11th street cowboy bar, so i figured, shoot..i've got nothing else to lose...might as well go check out the show. definitely an exercise and stretch of my independence and confidence, because it sure as heck isn't easy to go to a live show all alone and walk around like you chose that.

however, when God closes a door, he always opens that proverbial window. i kid you not, about 30 minutes after i got to the show, i heard, "shannan, what are you doing in bandera?!" i turned around to see an old familiar baylor face and was so overcome with relief that a huge smile spread across my face. johnna invited me to join her posse (which was surprisingly comprised of a large majority of friendly west texans) and we had the time of our lives!! we sang our hearts out to aaron's songs, but poor little damian green, all of us girls have an innocent little crush on that extraordinary fiddle player. his gf was there (and she is cute!), but damian, i have to tell you that hearts are breaking across texas tonight. in summation, the only way i know how to explain the night is that it was eerily close to the events of one of my favorite songs. i will tell you there is nothing better than shootin' the breeze in bandera, texas and making lifelong friends as a result.


[new fav venue. 11th street cowboy bar. it's grrrrrrrrreat!]

after the concert, we all went out to hayden's ranch outside of kerrville and had a huge bonfire and fired off a few guns. my goodness, that land is a like a dream...about 470 acres of beautiful, beautiful hill country. there's two houses that sit on the property which pre-date the civil war and they're both historical landmarks. the property's been in their family for over a hundred years, pretty unbelievable if i do say so myself. we stayed up until early dawn, so today, we slept late, stumbled over to save inn for huevos rancheros and migas, then rossco and i went to get a hunting license! forgot my camera, so i don't have any pics of the ranch, but it looked a little something like this:



so yeah, it was essentially a perfect weekend. i hope yours was every bit as magical.