Rodeo Wrap-up

One of my favorite things about volunteering for the rodeo is when it's finally over. And I don't mean that in a negative way; I get to read all about another wonderful year at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in the wrap-up press release. Granted the numbers are rumored to be padded, but I'm pretty good at exaggerating myself. Here's my own version:

Marie (aka Catazon) Finishes Up Her Third and Final Year as Club East Captain - March 21, 2011 - For Immediate Release - On the morning of March 21, 2011, Marie made her final trip to Reliant Stadium as a Captain on the Corral Club - Club East A Team to help her committee push all the beer boxes, margarita machines, and portable bars downstairs to Equipment and finish cleaning out the leftover alcohol and other sundries.  She took home a buttload of limes to make fresh margaritas later in the evening, because we all know you have to wean yourself slowly from twenty straight days of rodeo excess. 

Following are the highlights of Marie's own personal 2011 March Madness:

ATTENDANCE

• Officially worked six nights: Sugarland, Selena Gomez, Martina McBride, Gary Allan, KISS, and Alan Jackson.
• Helped out the other teams for two nights: Clay Walker and Jason Aldean.
• "Played" on seven additional nights: Janet Jackson, Billy Currington, Lady Antebellum, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band, and Brad Paisley.
• Yes, that's a total of 15 out of 20 nights that Marie was on the grounds of RodeoHouston.

SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT

• Drink tickets purchased: $240 worth (not counting the tickets sweet-talked off the husband)
• Wine tickets purchased: ~$30 worth (those were hair of the dog days; more money will be spent on wine next year)
• Carnival tickets purchased: $100 worth (half-price, of course)
• Carnival tickets donated: $50 worth
• Alamo tamales eaten: $12 worth (3 half-dozens, usually on the hair of the dog days)
• Gifts bought for the Assistant Club Chairman's last year: $315 worth (money collected from the Club)

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS AND NOTABLE NUMBERS

• Steps walked: ~503,000 over the past six weeks; the majority of those on the 15 days at rodeo.
• Number of times riding the rollercoaster of death: 2
• Number of times riding the rollercoaster of death in the front seat: 1 (just happened to be the day before and you know it was with The Kitten)
• Number of days Pole 21, the same place I've been parking since I started volunteering seven years ago, was unreachable: 12 (don't even get me started; it's pretty much documented via Facebook and Twitter)
• Number of gifts my team bought me for my last year as Captain: 4
• HLSR pink and black windbreaker
• HLSR pink and black rhinestone belt buckle
• HLSR sterling silver bracelet
• And my favorite, HLSR Corral Club key fob

Another great year of giving back to my community and also getting something in return; not only material things but pride, respect, love...too many positive emotions and feelings to list. As I mentioned, there's an Assistant Club Chairman position open on my Club, and I'm up for it. 2012 may be even better than 2011, if we aren't killed walking to our car a mile away or being flung out of a carnival ride!

Yet Another Weekend Full of Wine

This past weekend, I attended the Gruene Music & Wine Fest.  Although I've been to Gruene, a quaint little town on the Guadalupe River snuggled up next to New Braunfels, many times, this was the first time I had the opportunity to attend the wine fest. I highly recommend a visit to Gruene any time of the year, but this was an especially enjoyable weekend, as you will see.

My sister and I took off about 10 a.m. on Friday with her family's pop-up trailer in tow.  I, of course, made her stop at Buc-ee's in Luling even though she was very nervous pulling the pop-up around.  Thankfully, they expanded the parking lot recently, and she had no problem getting in and out of there.  Things were not as easy when we arrived at the campground about an hour later.

A sign at the campground informed us that we could pick any site except for those marked reserved.  My sister was looking for one in particular.  When we got to 100, a reserved sign was sitting on the table so we continued driving and quickly noticed that there were no more campsites with hook-ups past 100.  Trying to turn a camper around with a cliff on one side and the river on the other is not easy, and about halfway through the task, someone starts screaming about how they are going to pee on themselves from laughing about it.  No, it wasn't me, but when my sister brought it up, well yeah, then I started laughing so hard I almost peed too.  It took us a while to turn back around and stake a claim on campsite 99, but luckily, there was a guy who witnessed us doubled over in holding back pee mode and helped us back the damn trailer into the site.  And who cares?

We were at the river!  Later that night, my sister got really trashed and tried to climb through a fence when a gate was two feet to her left, but you really had to be there to appreciate that.

You might have noticed that I started this post in a very mature tone, but it has quickly gone south.  Ok, at least I tried.

Saturday at the wine fest was kick-ass.  A good friend had joined us by now, and we quickly turned into the trio of women who caused a stir. That's my sister in the headdress.

And that's our friend in the Groucho Marx getup.

I have no idea how I became the normal one this weekend.

The tastings included wine from none other than Miranda Lambert's own line and an award-winner from the podunk town I couldn't wait to leave.  The picture directly above was taken in Gruene Hall where we saw the cutest little fiddle-player who we all wanted to sample.  Meow...

One thing I realized from this weekend was that I should be the normal one more often and take amazing pictures to remember everything.  I'm sure I'll feel more like myself by next weekend.