Everyone loves a parade!

The Clear Lake Shores 4th of July golf cart parade was another rousing success. Kudos to the civic club for putting on another fun event!

Here is our cart all dolled up:

Mom and dad participated, too!

Our friends Dave and Adelia won... can you see why?

Hope you had a great 4th!

Drag Races

Those of you that know me, know that I love the drag races. LOVE them. Jay and I have been going for about seven or eight years every Spring to the race track in Baytown on the Friday of the O'Reilly Spring Nationals. It's tons of fun. Those guys are crazy.

So imagine our excitement when we first heard about the Clear Lake Shores drag races. Jay thought that everyone got together on their golf carts and raced. That would be fun. Probably a little dangerous, but fun. Well, we were sorely mistaken.

It just so happens that the Clear Lake Shores drag races happen every Memorial Day weekend. And for every Memorial Day weekend that we've lived here, we've been out of town, so we've never been able to attend. Until this year. And this is like no other drag race I've ever seen. Take a look for yourself:

Sexy?

"She" is my favorite

Those heels make even my feet hurt!

I really don't know what to say about this

Right before the race

The one on the left is "Crystal Meth." He's one of the ones responsible for this debacle.

Don't ask, because I really am not sure myself

As you can see, there are no golf carts involved, except for those of us watching this spectacle unfold before our very eyes. I about peed my pants on several occasions laughing so hard at some of these "ladies," who, by the way, all have stage names. It was certainly a sight to see. I would say about 200 people showed up to watch. The "ladies" race around Sundial park (yes, in high heels), and then they get to do a sashay / prance / walk / dance in front of the judges. There's a crown, sash, and trophy for the winner. No, I'm not kidding. And speaking of the winner, here he... er, I mean she... is:

"Sunshine" took home this year's drag race trophy... yes, that's what that random leg sticking out on the left is. The trophy.

Yes, this may be a bit whacky and crazy and out there, but it's part of what makes living in Clear Lake Shores so damned fun. I can't wait to see what they do next year! Nice job, ladies!

What an EGG-cellent weekend!

I don't know about you, but I had a really great weekend! It was rather EGG-cellent, if I do say so myself. Get it? Egg-cellent... as in it was Easter weekend, and Easter is all about the eggs. Ha! I crack myself up sometimes.

So Friday I was off work (yay!), and the weather was beautiful. It was beautiful all weekend, as a matter of fact, which made it all that much better. Jay helped a friend with the bilge pump on his boat, and he in turn treated us to lunch at Bakkus in Kemah. O.M.G. If you've never eaten there, YOU MUST! I've been there before, but it's been awhile, and Friday reminded me of why we should go more often. It was amazing. They have this fire feta cheese appetizer that is to.die.for. We sat outside (did I mention that the weather was beautiful all weekend?), and had a really great time. Thanks, Dave!!

Saturday we got up early and went to the Farmer's Market. One of our new friends on the island owns a flower business, so I ordered some stargazer lilies from her for Easter. Can I just say GORGEOUS!! Wow. They are amazing. And they smell SO GOOD! We had breakfast at our favorite weekend breakfast place, Skipper's, and spent the rest of the day riding around in the golf cart doing a little campaigning (yes, I'm running for City Council in Clear Lake Shores).

Easter Sunday we got up early and went to sunrise service at the park across the street. Yes, you heard correctly... Jay and I went to sunrise service. We've lived on this island for nearly seven years now, and never gone, so we figured it was about time. And we're glad we did. It was gorgeous to watch the sun come up over the channel and to be with our neighbors. After that,we headed to La Brisa for breakfast with Dave and Adelia, and then it was time to get ready for the deviled EGG-stravaganza. The Civic Club was hosting a crawfish boil and fish fry for Easter Sunday, and it kicked off with a deviled egg contest. There were prizes for best tasting and presentation. I was FLOORED! The amount of creative talent on this island is amazing! I took so many pictures that I didn't want to post them in a big long post, so I made a slideshow and posted it below. Check it out. Wow, wow, WOW! Needless to say, I did not win. But that's OK. Grandma's deviled egg recipe is still the best to me! The rest of the afternoon was so nice. About 200 people showed up to the party, and we had a great time, complete with a horseshoe contest that was one by the mayor's wife. No, it was not rigged... she's just that good! With all of the crap that has been going on recently in our little slice of paradise, it was nice that neighbors came together to be neighbors, and put the BS aside. One more reason I LOVE living in Clear Lake Shores, Texas!



Have a great week!

Soup cook off!

Today the weather was a bit chilly and gloomy... a GREAT day for a soup cook off! The Clear Lake Shores Civic Club sponsors this event every year as a fundraiser for the scholarship committee. We had 11 soup entries this year (including my roasted red pepper soup), and people pay $5 for a chance to taste all of the soups. They award a third, second, and first place, as well as people's choice and best theme. It was definitely a good time, and I even got to meet some neighbors I hadn't met before!

My table

Everybody loves a parade!

Especially when it's a golf cart parade!! Every year, our little slice of paradise, has two golf cart parades - one for Mardi Gras, the other for July 4th. Seeing how this is the last weekend of Mardi Gras, guess what we did today?!?

We didn't go all out on our cart this year as we have in the past. Too much other stuff going on, and I didn't have the time to decorate it. In 2008 we won second place. This is what the cart looked like then:

Nice trophy, eh? And this is what our cart looked like today:

It was what we could do with what we had. The lights at night look pretty cool, though. We get lots of compliments on them.

Here are some pics from the golf cart parade today. This is one more reason why I love living in Clear Lake Shores. It brings the neighbors together to have a good time!

Yes, that is a trailer hooked up to a golf cart! They took third place.

Second place.

Winners!

Yep, that's a real chicken.

Even the puppies dressed up!

We even get our own police escort... this is our chief. Thanks, Chief!!

These were the winners! Congrats, guys!

Have a great week!

Never in my wildest dreams

If you would have told me 10 years ago - heck, even five years ago - that in 2012 I would be considering a run for public office, I would have told you that you were nuts and should be admitted to the looney bin. But, that's exactly what is happening. I am considering a run at the Clear Lake Shores city council in the May elections. Crazy, huh? You can stop snickering now.

But that's what shitty decisions by the current city council will do to you. It will make you think about giving them a run for their money and taking their place on council. Ever since Jackie Fuller and Tami Perkins were elected to council two years ago (I still have a hard time digesting this fact), I have paid more attention than ever to the actions of city council, and have had it up to here (if you could see me now, my hand is above my head) with their inept abilities to do anything good for this city. They have done nothing but ruin the reputation of some good people, and set this city way back. It's going to take a couple years just to get it back to where it was before they took office.

My problem is this... I want to think that I can help change this city around. I really do. But it's going to be a challenge because of how far set back we are and how divided the citizens have become. But then I think, "well, it took these two yahoos to put us in this position, so why not believe that I can make a difference?" I always say that it only takes one, and that's exactly what has happened. So why not that one be me? (That was totally not the proper grammar, but I don't know how else to say it.)

I think I'm fair. I always listen to both sides of the story (thanks to being in management!). I try to think about what I'm going to say before I say it (although we all know that my big mouth sometimes gets the best of me!). I definitely understand what it means to be a steward of taxpayer money (something Jackie and Tami have no concept of)... I have to be that every day in my day job.

So, we'll see. I have until March 5 to file the papers, so I have a little time. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great week!

Harvest time!

Last year we planted fruit trees in our back yard to complete our spring planting. Today, we picked some of our harvest. So, so, SO excited about this! We had two lemons, a big orange, and a ton of little satsumas. The limes are just starting to sprout, so those will be next. We're going to use the orange and satsumas to make an orange sherbert in my new ice cream maker. Yum!

 Jay makes the first harvest!

 Lemons!

 This will soon become sherbert.

 Limes

Our new (kinda sorta) chariot

Thanks to Jay's mom (thanks, Cheryl!) our "chariot" (a.k.a. golf cart) has a new look. We got new seats on it as our Christmas present from her. And boy, did it need it. The seats on it were original (from 1996), so you can imagine what kind of shape they were in. But now, it's like a new golf cart! And we absolutely love it. As a matter of fact, most everything on the golf cart is new... new wiring, new tires, new batteries, and now new seats... all within the last year! Now, all we need is a new paint job and we'll be set! But it's totally worth it... this is how we get around on most evenings, and pretty much every weekend (with the exception of the grocery store!). We always say that if we can't get there by golf cart, it's not worth going!

A special shout out to 5 Star Upholstery in League City for a job well done. We're very happy!

Winter planting

Last weekend, Jay and I worked our asses off in our yard planting our winter plants. At the time we were thinking, "why in the world did we decide to do this landscaping?" But in the end, it's totally worth it. We were popping pills for about three days straight because we were so sore, but we think it looks great! And so do many of our neighbors that drive by. We did pansies again this year, but instead of just the purple and gold, we added white. We took out the dusty miller, and added really pretty snap dragons instead. And along the walkway I went with petunias.

We also replaced the two camellias that were on either side of the front windows (the other ones fried in the ridiculously hot summer we had here), and they are blooming now (thanks to two good soaking rains), and they are GORGEOUS!!!

In the back we pulled up the four camellias that died this summer, and replaced them with two hawthorns from the front, and two Mexican key lime bushes. Nice and pretty green!

This is the view we get to look at every time we sit on our patio. I LOVE IT!!!