On May 5-9, Momma D, Aunt Di, Jenna, Greg, and I took a little family trip to the wonderful New York, New York. This was Greg and Jenna's first trip to the Big Apple so of course we had to see EVERYTHING! No exaggeration there, we seriously visited all that New York has to offer. My favorite experience from this trip was a tie between getting to see the Broadway show "Wicked" and our visit to Ellis Island {insert "snort" of sarcasm}.
On May 12-15, Greg and I went to New Orleans to celebrate our friend J.C. Moon's bachelor party. This was my first trip to the Big Easy so we tried to make it not completely about the "celebrating" part (I don't really know how successful we were). We spent a lot of time on the infamous Bourbon St., but we also took time to do a little touring. My favorite part of the weekend was when Greg and I rented miniature cars to drive around and see the sights of the historical New Orleans.
The weekend of May 21st, Tara and I traveled to Austin for a double celebration weekend. Her sister, Blake, graduated from the University of Texas, and her cousin got married. Sadly to report, Blake did not trip while walking across the stage (she did screw up and leave her diploma slip on stage so it wasn't a complete let down). The wedding was actually in a town outside of Austin and was absolutely beautiful. My favorite part of the weekend was the wedding reception (you may see a trend here) and getting to see some of Tara's family that I haven't seen since we dated in high school.
Over Memorial Day weekend (May 27-30), Greg and I traveled to the huge city of Memphis... Texas. Memphis, Texas holds an annual Memorial Day golf tournament. This may be my favorite weekend out of the entire year. The tournament is three days long (54 holes) and on a 9-hole golf course that is crammed on about a square mile of land; no one takes the tournament seriously. The town is about the same population of my hometown (somewhere just north of 1000). Besides playing 2 on 2 basketball at 3:00 am in the Maddox household's driveway, the best part of this weekend is getting to see all of our old friends and making new friends. Even though we only know people through the golf tournament; it's like going to a family reunion (but actually looking forward to the next year).
That brings us to June. One morning, I was sitting on our back porch with my mother, and she looked at me and seriously asks, "Chad, what's wrong with you? Are you depressed?!" HAHA! If you have ever met me, you know that my personality is as far away from depression as possible. I explained to her that I was just exhausted. I don't normally get to go back "home"(not real sure where my home is anymore) during the weekdays like most people. I am always traveling for work, so I'm normally put up in a hotel somewhere. I literally live out of a suitcase.
The first weekend of June, I traveled to Gunter, Texas for my buddy Chadly Harris's first annual Beer Olympics. This is where you divide up into different countries, dress like the people of that country, and play various games. Each game contributes points and the country with the most points at the end of the games is the champion. My team consisted of Chad Harris, Amanda Gromaski, Tara, and me; obviously we were the African country Chad. It was a close tournament, but in the end, we brought home the trophy. Besides the tournament itself, my favorite part of this weekend was getting to be home and lounge around the house with my family.
The weekend of July 11, I traveled to Dallas to celebrate the wedding of my two friends, Clint and Kelsie. These are easily two of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was awesome getting to experience them take the plunge into a lifetime of marriage. Besides their wedding reception, my favorite part of the weekend was being talked into staying an extra day in Dallas by my brother and friends. We watched the Mavs beat the Heat to win their first ever NBA Championship. Then we celebrated... a lot.
This last weekend (July 18), I traveled to Lubbock, Texas to celebrate my buddy Moon's wedding. Moon married the lovely Kimbra (who is way out of his league so good for him!), and they are currently laying on a beach in Hawaii. The thought of Moon (one of the last Cowboys of a dying breed) on a beach makes me laugh so it will be interesting to see how that turned out. Every time I go back to visit Lubbock, I think that my brother is a genius for not leaving after college. I love Lubbock; I always enjoy going back. My favorite part of the weekend (next to the reception!!) was singing/screaming karaoke every night at my brother's house until the wee hours of the morning.
Fortunately but unfortunately, this long list of my weekend activities isn't over. This coming weekend brings a golf tournament in Arkansas. After that, we have my favorite holiday of the year, 4th of July! That weekend will surely get an entire blog in itself because there is always some story about how we almost blew up my brother's fire work stand or how we ruined my aunt's good patio furniture.
THEN, I get three glorious weekends of having absolutely nothing planned. Maybe after sitting in Oklahoma City for three weekends in a row, my mother will stop worrying about my depression. But if I were you, I wouldn't come knocking on my door expecting to find me sitting around my apartment.
