Lovely Weekend! Historic, Even!

So me and Mr. Wonderful Stefano had yet another charming, romantic, fun-filled weekend out of town. Well, overnight anyway. After I managed to get about 6 hrs. of sleep on Sat. morning he came and swept me away, down south towards the coast. On the way we stopped at Buc-ees, the huge truck stop w/delicious food, and got snacks: him salty, me sweet! He also got a beer in a brown paper bag and I was sipping Sweet Tea Vodka from home the whole way. Found our hotel, the legendary Luther hotel, built in 1902 and located 2 blocks from the gig place, Outrigger's. While we were expecting a real old-school hotel w/no AC or TV's in the room due to what we'd read online, Luther's has now upgraded and installed window AC units in all the rooms as well as little 13-in. TV's. The ice was in a hallway downstairs in an ice chest w/a scoop inside. It was a groovy experience and a real adventure! I loved it!

After some romantic time together in our groovy room, I went down for a quick nap while Stefano went exploring and to buy a bottle of Crown. When he came back it was time to get ready to get to the gig. We got there and got a table for us and the rest of the band for when they eventually showed up, and the owner sat down to chat w/us. I asked him about the price of shrimp going up and availability of shrimp going down due to the oil spill, which is an issue that's been heavy w/me thanks to my fanatical love of shrimp. He said no worries so far but in a few months it could be another story. Soon the other band members showed up, including the bassist along with his wife who I'd met at their CD release. We grubbed and I had the grilled shrimp--yummy!

The band set up on an outdoor wooden stage and we had to liberally apply lots and lots of mosquito dope. The bay was in view and it wasn't even that hot anymore by the evening due to the steady sea breeze wafting in off the water. Gorgeous! Later on a few of Stefano's friends showed up and we visited w/them in between drinks. The bassist's wife had brought tons of liquor and Diet Coke setups but I was drinking my coco rum on the rocks as usual. She and I had fun getting to know each other better too, though she wouldn't dance w/me! (She just joined Weight Watchers and wants to lose like 100 lbs.) The band played 3 solid sets and I took some pic's. They were supposed to play 'til 11pm but they shut it down by 10:30pm, more time for us to party!

Stefano and I decided to host the band on the huge front porch of the Luther which was outfitted w/rocking chairs and plenty of tables so they all came over and we drank and socialized for awhile. By 2am it was just Stefano, me, the bassist and his wife and our drunk asses finally had to call it a night. Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!!! The next morning we checked out by 11am and headed down to the beach. The Matagorda Bay in Palacios TX is really a fishing bay, and I saw no beaches for swimmers anywhere. Then we headed back to Houston, picking up kolaches before heading home.

Sunday was spent relaxing, picking tomatoes from Stefano's garden--everyday there are new ones to pick!--and more relaxing. Monday Stefano had to go into work for a few hours (he was pissed about it) so I did some more lounging around my house although I did have to go drop off some tomatoes w/my mom so they could be eaten quickly. In the evening Stefano came over and spend the night and we watched Up In The Air, which I'd rented for him.

BTW, last Friday night's patrol shift w/Mudflap was so uneventful I wanted to cry. But it was great meeting Mudflap at his house and we were able to use one of the warrant team's vehicles downtown. I drove for the first 3 hours or so and I was amazed to see how well I knew the district, since the regular deputies I always ride with never offer to let me drive. That area has been sinking in with me though, for real! Anyway, we were out from almost 9pm-2:30am and we did a grand total of 6 measly calls, and 3 of those were backup!!! Lame, man! A Friday night of a holiday weekend??? Still, it was fun to hang out w/the Flap again after such a long time. Now that he's made Lt. he's just so busy and I'm of course, busy as hell w/my band and social life.