The cure for any homesick Texan...

As much as I have been loving my new adopted city, there are a few things about the ol' Bayou City that are irreplaceable, and every so often I get a wee bout of homesickness. What, you may ask, could possibly make me miss summers in the swamp? Well listen up, and I will tell you dear friend.

1. My friends and family: This may be, as my dad would say a major "DUH!" (the mans humor as well as my social life may have peaked when I was in 7th grade), but it is impossible to understand how truly amazing and unique my brood is unless you know them. Making new friends is hard, and the older we get the harder it seems to find "our people", especially as we scatter hinter and yon chasing careers, adventures, and fiances all over the globe. I am loving meeting new people up here, and the opportunity to create a new group of bosom buddies, but that could never make me miss my Texas pals any less. 

2. Heat. Yes, heat. I get that to most normal humans 100 degree weather and 90% humidity sounds pretty inhospitable. Combine that with blood thirsty mosquitos the size of hummingbirds, and at times I might even agree with you. But likely most of you detractors have never sought relief from your overly-airconditioned house, opened your front door, and had that Houston air just wrap around you like a big, slightly moist, blanket. It's not for everyone, but it feels like home to me, and honestly? 50 degrees in June doesn't seem right either, I'm talking to you Chicago.

3. Blue Bell Ice Cream. I am not going to wax on about this delicious treat right now, because I do not have time to get into it and I don't want to rush explaining something that is so near and dear to my heart. Suffice it to say that it is Mothers Milk to me, and although I know I can get Homemade Vanilla (tip for all of you living out of the homeland) at any AppleBees, the fact that I would actually have to go into an AppleBees to get it kind of ruins that for me. 

So on a chilly, bosom-buddy free Wednesday I felt my first real pangs of homesickness. Combine that with a broken oven (CURSE YOU BACHELOR PAD) and a foiled dinner party plan (the first Worldly Wednesday will have to reconvene next week) and no delicious Blue Bell available for an afternoon pick-me-up, and let me tell you, I was really in a way.

Enter: My Knight in Shimmery Armor. Pete McCarthy. 

Bless his heart he knew, the only cure for a homesick Texan? A delicious, salty, limey...Margarita!

And I am not talking about that saccarine sweet crap you get at restaurants that is half powdery lime mix, half fire breathers tequila, and 100% regret and sadness the next day. I am talking about a pure, 1/3 fresh lime juice, 1/3 tequila, 1/3 triple sec elixer that can set even the wonkiest day straight. Or, more accurately, get you wonky enough not to care. Luckily in my quest to make Chicago a respectable home I have found an establishment that can provide me with the good stuff when I need it, so this post goes out to you Salpicon on Wells in Old Town. A tip of the hat, and a wink, for picking me up out of my Humpday Homesickness.