Rick Perry to Ridin' a horse to School: Texas Myths

What is this Texas mystique, anyway? It's much more than giving an Ann Richard's style "Howdy Y'all" to everyone I greet. It isn't the Hollywood version of All Things Texan, overdone and stuck in the 80's. (A good Texas woman may be flashy, but she isn't out of style. She just has her own interpretations of it.)




I'll toss my hat in the ring and be blogging about the Top 8 Texas stereotypes that just aren't true:

• We don't ride horses to school anymore.
• Not everybody knows how to two step.
• We aren't all god-fearin' Christians.
• We aren't all Conservative Christian Republicans.
• Not everybody voted for Rick Perry and his hair.
• We don't all carry guns.
• Governors aside, we aren't all uneducated hicks.
• We don't all talk like J.R. Ewing.

And I'll touch on the the ones that ARE true:

• Boots look great with a man's suit.
• Nice jeans and boots can take you anywhere.
• Everything tastes better with a little hot sauce.
• Austin IS a part of Texas, even if that's where all the liberal tree-huggin', organic granola chuggin', Prius lovin', old hippie types live. 
• God Bless the Alamo.
• People ARE friendlier. 
• And  yes, we do things bigger here. Why not?
• It's hotter than hell here.

So sit back, grab an Ice Tea, sign on to my Feed so you can keep up, and join me as I explore Those Texan Parts of Me that I Lost When Life Intervened.

From Texan to Plain Vanilla and Hopefully Back Again

I'm not sure when it happened. It must have been so gradual that I didn't even realize it. Why didn't somebody tell me? 


I lost my Texan-ness. I became part of the plain vanilla of Every Person. Probably because I'm always trying to fit in somewhere and win approval from somebody. 


It's nice to fit in and be approved of. But it can be boring to feel plain vanilla. And I don't want to hear snarky comments about my judgement about vanilla people and their excitement-challenged lives (Bless Their Hearts). 


I woke up one day to realize that my closet didn't have a single pair of cowgirl boots in it, and my jeans all have fancy designer labels. Not a pair of Wranglers in sight. Who have I become, this person? 


Back to the roots of it all. Fourth generation Texan, growing up in North Texas between Dallas and Fort Worth. Back then, there WAS a between Dallas and Fort Worth. Nowadays, it's all a blurry mess of houses and McMansions. But I'm telling y'all, back in the day BETWEEN Dallas and Fort Worth was farms, ranches and lots of horse country of which I was a big part. 


Then: Rodeo Sweetheart. Bull Rider. Texas Aggie. (I am a complex gal.) 


Now: chiropractor, interior decorator, hard worker and sometime lazy bum, overeducated and under-fun-exposured.


Let's all take a moment of silence for the Loss of my Texanhood. And everybody give me an Aggie Whoop of support to find her again. The longest journey must start with a big ol' step in the right direction.