schrader valves

on saturday morning, my mom, hana, and i said goodbye to houston & took off for a girls' weekend. somehow i've been to san antonio 184903 times, but i had never been to gruene. we arrived around noon, and it was definitely 100 degrees outside. our first stop was the gristmill for lunch - certainly lived up to the hype & was a very neat location, nestled in the woods by the river! after a quick little walk around the town, we decided we weren't texan enough (hello, okie by birth!) to brave the heat, so we jumped in the car and headed to our hotel in san antonio

after appreciating the wonders of a/c for an hour, we ventured out to the quarry market - super nice outdoor shopping complex ... as if that wasn't enough, we hit the mall too... and walmart, twice... within 2 hours - typical mustafa behavior

the next morning, my mom insisted we go to the UT Co-op store to shop for my brother... ohmygosh: i was drowning in burnt orange and cream. and while i don't hate UT as much as A&M (hello, UTMB next year), my allegiance to my alma mater prevails... and with no sight of green or gold, and nothing but bevos for miles, it just wasn't pleasant...

we finally made it to the river though, rented our tubes, and set out for our first float. it was amazing - cold water + 100 degrees outside = perfection - unfortunately, we weren't the only ones that thought this made for a wonderful combo - everyone within 100 miles was floating with us - fun for people-watching, not so fun when you are actually bumping into the creepers' tubes... eeek - awesome overall though!!!

sidenote: per my usual graceful behavior, i found it necessary to jump onto my tube from the side of the river. note this now - it will be important later...

fast-forward to this afternoon... hana and i went shopping in the galleria, and i was trying on a dress. my back had been hurting since this morning, and i went to zip the dress and noticed a red splotch on my back. when i looked closer, i saw this (and yes, i made my sister hold up a pen so that you could tell the size of it):

my first thought - OHMYGOSH: some kind of parasite must have burrowed into my back while in the river - wouldn't surprise me with all the people and nastiness that comes with them... i was already imagining a trip to the doctor & feeling the pain of this worm being dug out of my back. just for kicks, here is what a parasite under the skin looks like:

as you can see, my theory was not far off. both pictures exhibit curved patterns and appear red and inflamed. lucky for me, in the middle of my panic attack in the urban outfitter's dressing room, my brains of a sister points out that it is bruised and probably resulted from blunt injury...

and then i remembered how i jumped and landed straight on the schrader valve, aka that pointy thing you inflate the tube with (i only learned the proper name after this recent incident) - in my defense, on my tube it was sticking straight out of the top & was 6 inches long. perfect for nearly impaling me.

imagine the relief of realizing you aren't harboring a parasite inside you: fantastic. we celebrated by buying the dress i was trying on, going out for meditteranean food, hitting up the biggest williams-sonoma store i've ever seen, and topping it off with my first ever trip to sprinkles. hooray for being parasite-free!