{ in the middle }

a couple of weekends ago i went to a little cabin in berkley springs with my book club girls. most of these ladies are a lot more outdoorsy than i am, so while i was focused on taking in the logistics of building a fire and trying not to get lost on our hiking trails, the rest of them were pretty much in their element. i really enjoyed it though, and am always reminded in times like those (especially late at night when you look up and can actually see thousands and thousands of STARS) how nice it is to get away from the city lights and just slow down. 

while i don't necessarily consider myself outdoorsy, i love going to new places no matter what kind of place it is. beach, woods, city, small town, you name it. it's a joy just to be in a new surrounding. 

for those of you who don't know, i was born in texas and that's where almost all of my family still resides. i lived there until i was in third grade, so i still have lots of memories of living in the south. every time i walk into a texas bbq shop, my childhood memories come flooding back to me and it's almost as if i never left. riding through the small town where my parents grew up reminds me of long weekends i used to spend at my granny and grandpas. pam tillis and george straight reminds me of two stepping in the kitchen with my mom while she would cook dinner.

and don't even get me started on what happens when (the one and only) reba comes on the radio. 

my dad mentioned to me that sometimes he wonders what my sister and i would be like if we had grown up in texas our whole lives, instead of moving to baltimore. i've wondered the same thing, and it's definitely strange to think about, because it's safe to say my life would be drastically different. in addition to interior decorating, i also work at the arts high school that i attended here in baltimore city, which is also where i met trevor, who i've been with for seven years. those are just two ways in which so much of my life and love is wrapped up in the weird, quirky city that is baltimore.

i like to think that i've been lucky enough to experience the best parts of both places, though. ill never forget the first time i saw new york city with my own eyes and the christmas that i spent watching the rockettes at radio city music hall, just like i'll never forget the memories of riding around in my grandpa's pickup truck singing patsy cline.

when i talk to people from either the south or the northeast, i get this strange feeling that i need to downplay or apologize for the other part of my life. like i need to make myself seem as if i don't love the northeast as much as i do, or pretend that i don't really have much of a connection to the south anymore. isn't that weird? im not sure why that is. i feel pride and love for both of these places for different reasons, and it means so much to me that trevor will get to experience a piece of my childhood when we go visit my family this thanksgiving. 

i'm no yankee, and let's face it, i'm no cowgirl either. i'm somewhere in the middle, and i like to think that's not such a bad place to be.