I am pooped. Finally back home and taking it easy today. Got no sleep the night before my flight home. Had to leave my cousin's house at 5am for a 7am flight. Got into Knoxville, TN around 2pm and had to wait on Eman to pick me up. We then drove over to Gaitlinburg to eat at one of our fav restuarants. Got home late and hit the sack, only to get up early Friday morning to head to Atlanta for the weekend.

I experienced so much over the past two weeks that I am feeling overwhelmed and have so many pics to sort through and resize, so will take it post by post. So, for today, here is a list of a few things I observed while away.

1. I realized that Asheville, NC is HOME. I loved visiting New Mexico and it is the home of my roots, but my heart is in North Carolina!
2. Blood is not thicker than water.....some relatives are just simply jerks, sadly.
3. I am so incredibly grateful for the chance, however late in life, to get to know my cousin as I have. We discovered we are very much alike!
We both:
Are anal about clean hands
Collect chickens for our kitchen
Collect old postcards
Love to smell our hubby's armpits (I really thought I was the only female who loved this!)
Cackle and snort when we laugh hard
Have weird senses of humor

4. Only in New Mexico can you order just about anything with green chilis on it!
5. The wild west still exists today
6. I very easily pick up a mexican accent when back home.
7. I didn't think I had picked up anything southern, but found myself calling everyone sweetie and hun while there.
8. Pinto beans cooked anywhere else besides in NM do not taste the same...and pinto beans are the perfect side for every meal! I forgot how much I loved them!
9. Dion's Roast Beef sub is the BEST!
10. I loved looking out and seeing for miles and miles......
And an observation while traveling: I recall how I loved talking with whomever I sat next to on a plane or at the airport while waiting on my flight. But, it seems you can't do that these days....everyone is on their cell phone.

Well, was going to add a few pics but Bravenet is in the middle of a makeover and I don't have that option today!

Yay! It has only been two weeks? It seems like you have been gone for forever.

That is really weird about the armpits. I can't say that I would try that but I do snort when I laugh really hard.

Welcome back! I laughed at some of the things on your list, but there was one guy back in 1960 whose armpits I loved to smell, and he claimed that he didn't use deodorant - it was his natural smell.

I LOVE New Mexico! We took a road trip, this past July, and visited family in Taos. We had the BEST time there! We had a vacation home that over looked the town and sat on the deck watching the fireworks from the Plaza. I can't wait to go back to NM. *sigh*

And I LOVE to smell my husband's arm pits. *lol* That is a strange sentence to type. :)

How true. Some relatives I would never see were it not for the fact that we are related. Just because you're part of the same family doesn't mean you have to like them.