Day Dreaming

I have started reading a book, okay I started it months ago and haven't picked it up since, called Stumbling on to Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. From what I have read so far, part of being happy is our ability to day dream and to anticipate things/events. This is what our brains do, basically.

So that's great because I day dream a lot!!!!! I must be really happy.

Anyway, I have been stuck in a lot of traffic lately. I think the number of cars on the road has doubled since pre-holiday to post-holiday. Why? I don't know. Maybe Santa brought everyone new cars and so there are less car-poolers.

Back to point, I got to thinking about where I live and where I would like to live. I live in one of the largest cities in the United States. It is huge! I will say of all the places I have lived (Texas, Florida, Virginia and North Dakota), this is the biggest and most spread out. I have also been to 26 states and have driven to or through most of those. I have driven from Virginia to Texas to North Dakota (not all at once but that is kind of the U shape of places I have been)..... I have been to Maryland down the East Coast to Florida (of course) as far west as New Mexico all the states up to Montana over to Minnesota.... Let me just list them really quick its probably easier.


Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
New Mexico
Colorado
Wyoming
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Missouri
Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Tennessee
And finally Hawaii


But of all these places I have been, where would I live? The Texas Hill Country. Now as much as I have travelled outside of Texas, I grew up here in Texas.... Love it! As a kid we didn't have a lot of money to take family vacations to Disney or the Grand Canyon. Nope, we did a lot of day trips or overnight trips all around Texas. See we have roots here. My great (5x) grandfather fought with Sam Houston during the fight for Texas' Independence from Mexico. The Declaration was actually signed on my Birthday which I used to think was really cool!

Where would I live in the Hill Country? I would love to have a ranch (maybe not a working ranch) between Austin and San Antonio. I have always loved that area and I was there last year for my Birthday. I want a house that just looks like it belongs there. Not really log cabin and not spanish style.... but something in-between. I want to wake up in the mornings and not hear the highway (I can hear one in my current house).... I want to be able to grab my morning drink and head out to the porch and just watch the day wake up. I want birds and wild animals to be my neighbors. I don't want to be woke up by my neighbors barking dog or the other ones' loud music or the one across the street working on his car. I also want some kind of water.... Pond, lake, creek, river.... something near by. I love the water. I want to go fishing. I want to go hiking. I want to do something besides sit in traffic all day.

Anywho, that is my day dream of late and I know I would never live again outside of Texas (I hate to say never, if the offer was just right, maybe but it would have to be damn good!). I wanted to just share a bit more of myself, not to mention sitting in traffic for an hour in the morning and in the evening tends to make a person have a lot of thoughts..... I need to get them out so I can have new ones!