Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Californian in the South


Everyone’s been getting sassy about me not blogging recently, so I apologize.

To all three of you, I’m sorry.

Anyway, I guess I should do a little catch up:

          Tommy came to the South over Christmas break and it was fabulous. This boy is way more redneck than I could ever dream of being, so he fit in just fine. He flew into Nashville, so we decided to make a night of it and walk around for a little while. While we were wandering, we had the wonderful (read: disgusting) opportunity to watch a spicy chicken-eating contest. Tommy loved it. We got to eat dinner with Jane Alice (one of my best friends from school - Hootie hoo) and Kelsey (my senior year roommate/soulmate).
He loved Nashville
            That night, we drove back to Knoxville and crashed at my cousin’s lake house. We woke up bright and early the next morning to go hunting (yes, hunting) in Allardt, Tennessee. AKA a city that my dad (who has lived in Tennessee for 40+ years) had never heard of. Tommy was alarmingly good at killing birds. I was alarmingly good at losing my cell phone in a 500-acre field. Enough said.

"I've killed things"


            Pigeon Forge/Dollywood happened. It was so cold that some of the rides weren’t open for the first half, so we just walked around and people watched, which is basically a sport there. 
We go-karted. He drove. I died a little. This is me trying to smile...
Can't go to Dollywood without taking the obligatory nest picture...

            Then came the road trip to Texas. I REPEAT: precious Tommy had to road trip with my family from Knoxville, TN to San Antonio, TX. Bless. On the way, we stopped in New Orleans for a night and got beignets at CafĂ© Du Monde, authentic Cajun food, and walked Bourbon Street. Talk about culture shock. We also toured a plantation. Then, as we left New Orleans the next morning, we saw an airboat tour off the interstate and decided to try it out. The tour guide had one of the strongest Cajun accents I’ve ever heard.
Airboat 



            We made it to Texas and went to Seaworld (I know I know, I watched Blackfish afterward… please don’t kill me). I’m pretty sure the highlight for Tommy was the Texas barbeque we constantly ate and touring the Toyota plant where his Tundra was made (redneck). 
Californians think "friendly" and "driving" are antonyms. 
            On our flight back from Texas, we sat next to Camilla Alves (Matthew McConaughey's wife) on the plane. I fangirled hard and snuck a picture. Tommy had a brief "oh cool" moment and went back to watching The Alamo on my laptop.
99% sure she was talking to Matt. I WAS SO CALM.
            So, back to Malibu. Dad called me a couple weeks ago on a Thursday and told me he had a surprise meeting in Los Angeles on that Saturday. Best surprise ever. He flew in Friday night and I got to spend Saturday hanging out with him. That Friday, Tommy and I were at an Eric Church concert (redneck), which was super fun.


            Second semester has been great. I’m taking Quantitative Methods and Communication Ethics, and both have been really great so far. I find pretty much everything we’re studying really interesting, so that’s a good sign.
            Tommy and I just took a little day trip up to Carpentaria, which is a precious little beach town. We just hung out on the beach then ate the sketchiest sushi you’ve ever seen,  but we didn’t get sick/die so that’s good. Moral of the story: if you have a choice between a pizza place and a sushi place, choose the pizza place.
Beach


I got a fish.
Reginald Fishgerald

That’s about it for what’s been happening. The whole fam is coming to visit in about a week, so I’m sure there’ll be some stories from that. Prepare yourself.


So much love to all of you!!