Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a lovely holiday season regardless of what you celebrate.  I’m writing to you from South Texas.  Everyone has been asking me how it feels to be back in Texas, and my standard response has been, “IT’S SO SUNNY. AND WARM.”

When we left Indiana, snow from the previous week still lingered.  As we drove further south, the snow disappeared. It felt good to be back in the south.

Apollo did his best, but didn’t enjoy the road trip so much this time. He is like the bomb in Speed, except he doesn’t blow up if we drive below 70 mph, just barks incessantly.  We stopped in Little Rock for the night, and I’m sure the other hotel guests LOVED US.

We took him for a walk early Sunday before continuing on our journey.

Once the pup was sufficiently worn out, we checked out of our hotel and continued our journey.  We squealed with joy when Google Maps welcomed us to Texas.  My friends, did you know there is a Whataburger right on the Texas/Arkansas state line?  We literally drove across the state line and into the Whataburger drive thru line. IT IS EVEN BETTER THAN I REMEMBERED.  It was the first of delicious but regrettable meals I’ve had since coming home.

It feels so good to be home.  I miss the landscape and the cacti and succulents everywhere (also, in case I haven’t said this enough times – SUNSHINE AND WARMTH. ) I went for a run on Monday morning in sunny, 33 degree weather. I laughed, remembering how when I lived here, I wouldn’t run outside if it was below 50 degrees (unless I was training for something).  FIFTY DEGREES. And now here I was, thinking how great 33 degrees felt.  Indiana falls are like Texas winters, except I never saw seven inches of snow when I lived in Texas.  And it hasn’t been 70 degrees since probably mid-October.

We drove down to Austin on Monday. First we stopped by my old work to say hi to everyone, which was really nice. Then we had lunch at OneTaco.  Ohhhh man, they don’t make tacos like these in the Midwest.  I missed these.

We hit up all our nostalgia spots – Summermoon Coffee, BookPeople, Waterloo Records, Hill Country Weavers!

Husband played a show with his old band and our friends came out to see him. It was great seeing them again and to have a night out in Austin, listening to live music.

I miss Austin very much.  It was wonderful to be back but very bittersweet.

Yesterday we drove home to South Texas and finally saw our families after being away for five months! We were really happy to see everyone!  Since then we’ve been spending a lot of time with them and eating lots of yummy food.

We exchanged Christmas presents today; I am grateful for all of my gifts but since this is a crafty-related blog, here are crafty gifts I’ve received:

-Jo-Ann gift card, which is perfect timing! I’m about to test a crochet cardigan and was going to use some yarn from my stash, BUT realized today that the yard I’d selected has been discontinued. Glad I checked before starting!
-Husband’s grandmother cross-stitched napkins and a table runner for us.  They are so beautiful!
-My MIL bought me a llama ruler and yarn bowl.  Of course, I was wearing my Fa La La La llamas shirt today.

I’ve also been working on a knitting project while relaxing with the family.  This is a cowl in Caron Cakes, and I’m totally messing up on the pattern but TOO LATE. THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

I should probably go to sleep now.  If you made it this far, thank you for hopping on the nostalgia train with me.