Bienvenidos a El Paso

First off, Happy October!!! I can't believe the year is almost over!

I spent the past week in El Paso, Texas with my husband preparing for his 2nd deployment, but I might as well have been in Mexico - - thus the reason for the title of this post.

Although I'd been to Texas before (Houston, Amarillo, Dallas...), I'd never been this far South... literally 10 mins from the border and about 15 mins from Juarez, Mexico - - the most dangerous city in the world right now. As a friend so eloquently said, "The murder capital, where they murder for capital..."

Driving on the e-way you could see the ginormous Mexican flag waving proudly in the sky. This picture (to left) didn't do it much justice, but it was actually a HUGE and very beautiful thing... yet it couldn't distract from the eyesore that was the majority of Mexican homes. Wow, they looked like the freaking slums and shacks on shacks on shacks. No wonder why folks are always running for the border and a better life. Can't say I wouldn't be doing the same thing if in their position.

Crave Kitchen & Bar - - my favorite place

A highlight of our time in El Paso was the the food!! I mean, being that close to Mexico you would expect them to get Mexican cuisine right, but they hit it out of the park. Tex-Mex cuisine is so delicious, no wonder they're one of the most obese states. My favorite restaurant was hands-down Crave Kitchen & Bar. The food was impeccable and the service was great. I'm still thinking about the bacon-wrapped shrimp I had. Yummy in my tummy.

I'm someone that loves history and wanted to enjoy some of the historical delights that El Paso had to offer. I made my husband drive me to the cemetery (kinda creepy, I know lol), so I could view the Buffalo Soldiers memorial they had. My husband definitely wasn't a fan of trekking around the graves to find the memorial, so I had to send him back to the car to wait for me lol... everyone can't hang in a cemetery I guess...


Still, the memorial was pretty cool. Just the historical significance of the soldiers and all that they did - - again, I was reminded of how amazingly great black people were and it still makes me sad that we went from being soldiers to "soulja boys"...  *electronic tear*

Another fun part of my trip was being able to squeeze in some time with my family in Arizona. I think it's always wise to schedule longer layovers in cities you have friends/family so you can make the most of your travel time. Things worked out great as I had time to eat breakfast with my parents and play with my dog. And can I just say that when I stepped foot off the plane and into the gorgeous weather of AZ it definitely made me long to live there again. Yes, I still own a home there so I'm not totally free of AZ, but I work and live in Chicago right now and with the approaching Winter (which I'm dreading), the beautiful Fall/Winter temps of Arizona are calling my name.

I'm still learning to juggle my new job, school, and blogging... which I'm self-admittedly struggling with lol... but I'm hoping to set aside some time to knock a few blogs out and make some YouTube videos. I want to write about my life as a military (air force) wife, new hair cut trim I got which is driving me to tears (it's so freaking short), along with some other random musings.