Spring round-up: Home is where the adventure is

Six months in Doha? Impossible. I've spent the time:

Exploring Dubai (where my first Ski Dubai experience ended in an hour of me going around the ski lift):

Catching up with this talented rising musician who's performing at The St. Regis' Vintage Lounge:

Boot scooting at a Texas A&M Qatar fundraiser, where I wore subtle amounts of burnt orange.

Wandering the Museum of Islamic Art's Marvelous Creatures exhibit ...

... which wasn't nearly as trippy as witnessing Carnival in Venice ...

Celebrating my first Easter without family at a local church, where the kindest strangers helped me and a friend out of a sitcom-like parking mishap.

Crashing the British Embassy's birthday party for The Queen:

Surviving my first sandstorm (and subsequent trip to the ER for a swollen eye).

Quadrupling my knowledge of sports with my first handball game, equestrian competition, tennis tournament (at which David Beckham made an inexplicable appearance) and club "football" match. I'm as surprised as you are:

Searching for ways to channel my overseas experiences into writing (stay tuned), and coercing my Houston editors into letting me write from afar, including this profile of a savvy local boutique owner and this defense of my favorite movie of 2014:

Being enamored with this guy's insanely good solo album:

Applauding this parody that smartly tackles rape culture:

Coveting these:

Missing this:

Digging this (unbelievably, May 25 marks 10 years since this creative force won "American Idol"):

Anticipating a trip to this fascinating country next month.

Standing by my best friend of 15 years on her wedding day, and getting ready to join the festivities for another in a few days ...

... and feeling humbled by new perspective, new challenges and new friends, one of whom anonymously gave me this oddly endearing housewarming gift (identify yourself!):

*Post written to the sultry tune of Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," the non-controversial song that sparked the most ridiculous non-controversy earlier this year. 

Summer round-up: Castles, Spitfire, clear eyes and full hearts

Crazy year, crazy summer. The latter’s been made a little sweeter by:

This win for humanity, this tenacious Texas senator and this T-shirt (timed perfectly with my long overdue discovery of “Friday Night Lights”):

This firecracker, so energetic that she snapped me out of my jet lag funk at her Houston concert last week:

This understated Grand Ole Opry debut of Kree Harrison, one of five reality TV-boosted local singers I covered in the latest issue of Houston magazine (check it):

These comprehensive ‘All-Time Greatest’ lists over at Entertainment Weekly, outlining the best shows, movies, music and books of the past 100 years:

This honest discussion of Houston’s ethnic and cultural transformation:

This new album review format we introduced over at Country Universe, starting with LeAnn Rimes’ top-notch Spitfire (current favorite: “Who We Really Are”):

This view from the mountains in England’s Lake District…

…these ruins just south of Kilkenny, Ireland…

… this castle in Stonehaven, Scotland – all from a trip to Europe earlier this month with friends who have become like family…

…and this full circle opportunity to visit the site of my old school in Aberdeen, Scotland, just three days before it would be completely demolished:

It inspired me to reach out to a special teacher whose encouragement and belief in me as a (very) amateur sixth grade writer shaped me into the writer I am today. Learning that he had recently shared with his kids one of my writing samples from 15 years ago is the sweetest thing on this list.

*Post written to the tune of this acoustic beauty, currently on repeat.