A friend of ours gave me tickets to an event held here in Houston called the "Nutcracker Market." Its a fundraiser for the Houston Ballet. It is held at Reliant Stadium and the indoor arena is full of merchant booths from all over the US -but mostly Texas or local vendors. Having lived in Seattle where the Farmers' Market and handmade gift vendors abound, I thought I would check it out, imagining it to be something like the gift area of the Ballard Market - just a whole lot bigger.
Well, I was sort of right. It was bigger. There was much more glitter, and sequins, and rhinestones. There were multiple bars and women tailgating in the parking lot with their friends. There were plastic rain-cowboy boots. You could get a hand painted candy cane sign for your front yard, or a clutch with the name of your favorite football team on it. You could get glittery crosses in every size, shape, or color. You could get personalized everything - photo frames, tote bags, ornaments, jewelry, etc. I saw a decorative Santa that was about 2 or 3 feet tall with animal fur and peacock feather clothing for $750.
Its not that I think any of this is a bad idea - I think its kind of cool - the idea of women friends and family getting together and making an event of the whole deal. The tailgating might be a little strange, but it is held at a sports arena, after all. I was just unprepared for the size of it all. Just how big and loud (visually) everything was. Part of my problem was I was completely mistaken to have the Ballard Market in my mind's eye as I entered this event. I should have known that the scale of this event was far beyond our pea sized farmers' market vendors. But even so, as I was walking around, I realized people's homes are big here in Texas, and so they buy very large, loud decorations to fill their large homes. I had forgotten I was no longer living in the land of fleece and technical outdoor wear, but that a gold lame trench coat would feasibly be worn by a woman here in Houston. Or a cute nubby plaid waist length sweater coat (I was supposed to be shopping for other people, not for myself.)
Ultimately, I felt very lonely because there were groups of girlfriends walking around together, of every conceivable age group, and I was there by myself, pretty far away from nearly all my girlfriends. So, even though I had not yet tried any of the fudge or pie or wine or Cosmos, I decided to leave. I really couldn't convince myself that buying gold sparkly Christmas ornaments was a good idea yet - give me a couple more years here to adjust the scale of the Texas life style. And if I ever return to the Nutcracker Market, I will be well armed with a friend and a drink.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
We moved to Houston
We moved to Houston one month ago. I thought I would drop the blog when we returned from Taiwan, but I think it might be OK to keep it going. I decided this for a couple of reasons: first, people have blogs about their life - not just while they are traveling; and second, living in Texas, I sort of feel as if I am living in another country. Some folks here like to think of themselves as living in the "nation" of Texas and its all new to me.
We are official - we recently acquired the appropriate drivers license and license plates to prove it. I had several 'incidents' involving a lack of Texas Driver License. After we unpacked, I wanted to recycle our boxes and paper, so I loaded it all up into the truck and took it to a waste center. They were not going to allow me to recycle it there because I did not have a local identification! It was as if I had driven our moving boxes across state lines just to throw them out. Preposterous, of course. Luckily, after I promised to bring BBQ ribs to the gentlemen who worked there, he agreed to walk my ID up to the office with his fingers covering the name of the state. Ay yiy yiy... The other 'incident" was at 24 Hour Fitness and was much less pleasant or amusing, so I'll just skip it. Anyway, I spent all day on Monday acquiring the license plates ($400!) and the identification. I think my eyes are crossed in the photo, but oh well, what are you going to do?
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