July 31st - Old Man River

My parents and I are in Baton Rouge for the weekend. They attended a wedding this evening, and I came along for the ride. Our room overlooks the Mississippi River. It's amazing to think my mom and I have seen two major American rivers (Hudson, Mississippi) within the last month.

July 30th - Storage Unit

The movers arrived this afternoon so now all my stuff is in the storage unit. It is definitely nice to have everything in one place again, even if I won't be using it for a while.

July 29th - Scan it, baby

Over the last few days, I've been spending quite a bit of time scanning in some of my high school pictures. It's been fun to reminisce, wonder what the heck I was thinking about my haircut and clothes, and pare down my stacks of photos. I love little organization projects!

July 28th - Chuy's

After an amusing job interview, Mom and I met Esther for a late lunch at Chuy's.  It was delicious as always. Before we left, I took a picture of these little people on the mantle.

July 27th - Where am I?

I only took one picture today. Can you guess where it was taken?

July 26th - Rainy Henderson

Since I've taken rainy day pictures in Natick and Framingham, I thought downtown Henderson deserved the wet treatment as well. (My windshield definitely needs to be cleaned.)

July 25th - Bird Watching

Mom put new food in the bird feeder today so that I could take a picture of a bird. After waiting most of the day, I was able to capture this female cardinal as dusk fell.

July 24th - Family Pictures

An entire wall of my parents' house is devoted to old family pictures. The picture above represents a small portion of the wall.

July 23rd - Texas Shakespeare Festival

This afternoon my mom and I revived one of our favorite summer traditions: attending a play at the Texas Shakespeare Festival in Kilgore. We saw As You Like It and both thoroughly enjoyed it. Next week we will see a production of Moliere's The Learned Ladies.

July 22nd - Bill White

This evening I went to the "East Texans for Texas" event at the Henderson Civic Center with my parents. While we were there, we enjoyed some delicious pie and heard Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor, speak.

July 21st - Cally

Since arriving home on Sunday, I've spent a lot of time looking through the photo boxes on the bottom shelf of my bookcase. I found a picture of Cally, one of our cats when I was a kid, during my search. She really was such a pretty cat.

July 20th - Still Packed

Mom and I made it back to Henderson on Sunday, but my bedroom is still packed with suitcases from the move home. Hopefully I will be able to unpack a little bit the next few days so that I can at least get to the desk.

July 19th - Feline Meeting

Sammy and Parker met for the first time this evening. Things seemed to go fairly well — at least there wasn't any scratching or screaming. To be continued . . .

July 18th - Millsaps College

Mom and I stayed in Jackson, MS, last night and then drove home this morning. Before leaving the city, we drove by Millsaps College, the school I attended my freshman and sophomore years.

July 17th - Udderly Delicious

Mom and I spent most of the day in the car, driving from Knoxville, TN, to Jackson, MS. One of our few stops was at Sweetwater Valley Farm, a dairy farm located in Philadelphia, TN. We sampled some wonderful cheese and then bought a lunch package with cheese and crackers. Cheese is the best!

July 16th - Natural Bridge

Mom and I stopped at the Natural Bridge on our way through Virginia. It was definitely a tourist trap (our ticket included admission to a wax museum), but it truly was a majestic site.

July 15th - Pennsylvania Traffic Jam

Mom and I ran into major road construction on the way through Pennsylvania today. Traffic was down to one lane going south on I-81. Mom did all of the driving through this leg of the journey, while I took a short nap. I was still awake long enough to realize what a traffic jam we were in. At least we were able to take in the beautiful scenery as we crept along.

July 14th - Kaaterskill Falls

Mom and I explored the Catskills today.  We saw a lighthouse, walked across the Hudson River, visited Eleanor Roosevelt's & FDR's homes, drove past the Vanderbilt Mansion, and finally found Kaaterskill Falls. It was a nice day, even though it rained on us in the morning.

July 13th - Cat on Board

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Mom and I strapped Sammy's case on top of my cart so that we could push him around Brimfield. He behaved really well but did get a little hot. Sammy is going to have more adventures over the next few days than he's had his entire life.

July 12th - How NOT to grow roses

I'm glad Handy wasn't around — there would have been a lot of dead roses in Marblehead.

In other news, I officially moved out of my apartment in Natick. *Tear*

July 11th - Moving Day

The movers came to pick up all my belongings today. The apartment looks a little sad and empty now.

July 10th - Tech Savvy

My parents are so cool now that they've gotten their new Blackberries. When we eat at a restaurant, they get them out to pass the time before the food comes.

July 9th - Dad can clean

The packing and cleaning process in the apartment continued today. We bought a new carpet cleaner at Wal-Mart, and Dad focused his efforts on cleaning the carpets. It's looking much better now.

P.S. This is my 100th post!

July 8th - Strawberry Surprise

After a long day of packing, the parents and I decided to try Terra Brasilis, a Brazilian restaurant in Framingham. We all really enjoyed it, especially the dessert. Mom and I thought this chocolate treat was just chocolate-covered ice cream, but when we split it, we discovered a strawberry inside. Yum, yum!

July 7th - Swan Boats

My parents flew into Boston today to help me move back to Texas. My dad arrived first so we went to eat at Legal Seafoods. On our way there, we walked through the Public Garden and saw the swan boats.

July 6th - Hotel Living

Yay for AC!

July 5th - Home Depot

Another day, another trip to Home Depot for more boxes.

July 4th - Long May It Wave

American flags were all around downtown Natick this morning. I snapped this picture after church.

P.S. The night skies were getting into the holiday spirit as well.

July 3rd - Troublemaker

I just can't win.

July 2nd - Boston Day Trip

This afternoon I took the train into Boston to go to the MFA and look around my old neighborhood. It was wonderful to be around my old haunts again and see what had changed and what hadn't. One of my favorite parts of the day was visiting the James P. Kelleher Rose Garden near my old apartment. I always felt like it was my secret garden because so few people seem to know about it. I snapped this picture while I was there.

July 1st - House of Brady

This afternoon I met Jo-Anne for lunch at Olive Garden in Patriot Place. It was good to catch up with her, and I was able to see Gillette Stadium (a.k.a. the home of the Patriots) for the first time.