This weekend almost killed me

If I don't have another beer-battered, fried piece of food for another year I think I may be able to reconcile some of the damage I did to my cholesterol this weekend in South Padre Island.

God love em, people in love. But why is it that we throw sense out the window when we fall in love? Celebrating a friend's pre-nuptials my boyfriend and I headed down to South Padre for a weekend of fun and frolicking with a few other couples. Could I have fore-shadowed my own alcohol consumption I would have laughed out loud. It's true, you are allowed to have 8 mixed drinks at Schlitterbahn and yes, you will still walk out of there. Drinking, fried foods only seems to enhance the experience, as evidenced by our combined $500+ spent on debauchery at the water park.

Here is what I learned about drinking & eating in South Padre Island, with a group where no one else really gives a damn what's going in their pie hole, or sometimes, what comes out:

-DON'T be the annoying person who refuses to indulge. No one likes an anchor of guilt sitting next to them when they order 3 beers at lunch. Roll with the punches.

-DO drink water after every drink so you are not the other annoying dip-shit that got too drunk and pissed somewhere you shouldn't have. Like on the bed. This may also prevent you from having ill-fated heart-to-hearts and royally upsetting your peeps. If you can't carry on a conversation stop drinking. :)

-DON'T mix spicy food, beer, liquor AND fried foods unless you want to sleep in the restroom. It will hurt no matter how "badass" you think you are. Hot wings count for 2=fried and spicy.

-DO get your punk ass out of bed in the morning so you don't miss critical beach time. It could be the only time of the trip you were not too drunk to see all of the nice, normal people building Hogwart's worthy sand castles in the sky.

-DON'T be ungrateful to your event planner. There is one on every trip. The person who brought it all together and kept you from playing Skip-Bo all day in your rooms. This person doesn't usually claim themselves because they secretly are planning everything THEY want to do anyway, but you don't have to think very hard or entertain, so be happy. That's vacation. Hugs and drinks are usually good payment but if you feel so inclined a handwritten note or shout-out on their Facebook page will do nicely, thank you.

And finally, do something YOU want to do. One thing. At a minimum. Take that walk alone. Sketch at the beach. Watch a movie in bed. Drive around looking at architecture. It will be your memento memory when you get home.

FYI, we came home and cleansed ourselves at Central Market then I made a RAW dinner using my new Japanese slicer! Zucchini spaghetti, tomato, red pepper, cilantro, garlic, green pepper, basil, oregano, olive oil, salt, pepper marinara. YUM!

Happy to be home.