Ohhhhh, Laredo...

Top o' the mornin' to ya, friends! I hope you all had a joyous 3-day Easter weekend with friends, family and beautiful weather! We really need to do something about incorporating more of these 3 day weekends into our schedule, dontcha think?

What kind of weekend wrap-up would this be without me showing you pictures of our weekend spent, once again, out of town?! (Sidenote: this weekend will be broken up into 2 different posts. 500+ photos in one post would really piss you off, now wouldn't it?)

While most of you were baking up a storm, dying eggs and planning out your Easter morning attire, we actually had a pretty non-typical Easter.

A little explanation of what went down this weekend...

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So a good family friend of ours referred us to this incredible custom bookmaker from Mexico, Carlos. He does an awesome job, charges like a fourth the price of what you could get made here in Texas and you can totally customize your boots to have whatever your little heart desires on them.

Amazing, right?

(Beau has 2 pair so I can honestly vouch for his work...)

There's only one catch...

You have to go down to the border to get them made.

...and when I say "border", I mean "the Mexican border".

I tell no lies...

Yes. That's a cop you're looking' at right thurr and a hotel surrounded by barbed wire. 

The Mexican border is just to the right...ohhhh about 200 yards away...

Ok wait. There's  one other catch...

Carlos speaks not one ounce of English and, therefore, you must bring a translator. 

(AKA: Beau's brown friend, Irvin. And for the record, he calls himself "brown" so I can too.)

So we drive down to the family ranch the night before. We wake up bright and early the next morning, drive for 2 hours and meet Carlos at, actually, a pretty decent hotel called La Posada. (Did I mention it's the closest hotel to the Mexican border?)

It's literally an in and out kinda deal. Do not waste any time.

Don't walk around outside the hotel property. 

Don't give anyone weird looks. 

Girls, don't even wear your wedding ring. 

Go in, get your boots made, pay the man. Leave. 

(With a  few margaritas at the bar and a pit stop at the pool, of course.)

How it works:

1. Bring almost every boot you own to use for inspiration

Beau's custom boots are the red/black UH ones and his dad's are the brown/tan ones with the TX emblem.

2. Google the hell out of custom boot ideas and when all else fails, refer to Carlos' book for ideas.

3. Draw a pretty picture of what you want.

Pink, paisley & personalized. Did you expect any less?

So my art skills are lacking...you get the point.

4. Get in good with Carlos and politely ask him to take a photo with you. :)

(Thanks, C!)

5. Stand on a manilla folder to be measured up.

So professional, right? 

6. Have brown kid translate the exact shade of pink you're wanting so Carlos can make his final notes.

 "No. Not hot pink, Carlos, lipstick pink...there IS a difference."

(See. This is where the brown kid comes in...)

7. Sit back and watch everyone else pick out their boots...

8. Booze heavily and hope to GOD Carlos understands exactly what you're wanting...

He's single, ladies! ;)

Finally, you wait 3-4 months before they come in the mail 

and then you sport the heck outta those puppies every chance you get!

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Anxious doesn't even BEGIN to describe it!!

The fact that these pretty little gems are made out of elephant skin (sorry, I'm not sorry, PETA), have my initials on them aaaand no one else on the face of the Earth will have anything even remotely close to them...can I just say...feels pretty damn cool?

Good.

'Cuz it is pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

***

So while we all know Laredo isn't the safest of places, I must say, 

it really does have a lot of beautiful things to offer...I mean, it is in Texas...

See? Beautiful things, right?!

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To be continued...