I was always a little meh about South Padre Island. I thought it was all spring breakers, crowded beaches, and run down hotels. And it is kind of all of those things, but in a completely charming way during the off-season.

Never again will a road trip be complete without a stop at Buc-ees.

Though I could probably navigate the Texas Tropical Trail without two GPS systems and a fuzz buster.

I’m pretty sure you fall off the side of the earth when you reach the end of the island.

The view from our room at the Pearl Hotel was so lovely I don’t think anyone would believe it was Texas (no offense, Texas).

My first time though border patrol was exciting. I felt like Nancy Botwin. (Specifically, season 4 episode 2. Prius? Check. Iced coffee? Check. Broken tail light? The only thing missing.)

Oh, and a dog jumped through my car window.

Ever go somewhere you weren’t expecting to like but end up really liking it? Yeah. That.

If there weren’t witnesses, no one would ever believe this story.

On our drive home from South Padre Island this weekend, we stopped at a Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere. I rolled down the window, placed our order, and started to pull forward to pay when I spotted a big, friendly looking mutt outside the front door of the restaurant. Being the dog lover that I am, I said hello to the pup who cocked his head and perked up. I thought he must be waiting for his owner inside, but no; he wasn’t on a leash so he jauntily ran towards my open window. He jumped up to say hello and was as sweet as pie so I gave him a scratch behind the ears. He circled my car and came back to the my window where I gave him some more love and looked around for his owner.

That’s when he proceeded to launch himself through my open window and onto my lap.

By the time he made it through the window I was in panic mode, hoping he was friendly as I judged him to be, when he places a paw on each of my shoulders like he was giving me a giant hug.

(At this point, I feel like I shared a bit of a moment with the pooch, so I’d like to refer to him as Herbert from here on out. Herb for short.)

Herb wasn’t a small dog and I honestly don’t know how he fit through the window in the first place, but when he did, he knocked my car into reverse, got tangled in the seat belt, and honked the horn with his tail. I was able to open the door while my friend got out, ran to the other side, and coaxed Herb off of my lap.

Thankfully, he just wanted to give me a hug and not maul my face off. Unfortunately, none of us had the wherewithal to snap a photo until after I regained control of the vehicle. And rolled up my window.

But now I can’t stop thinking about Herb.

He looked well taken care of and was clearly used to someone loving on him, but his collar had no tags, otherwise I would have contacted the owner and waited for them to come pick him up. Hell, I would have given Herb a lift home. I told the restaurant manager what happened and she said that he had walked in and out of the restaurant a few minutes earlier and they were calling the animal shelter for help finding his owner. When we pulled away, he was laying safely in the shade in the patio area.

Thanks for the memories, Herb. I hope you found your way home. Your owners will never know what a day you had.

xoxo

Thanks for sticking around for another edition of Cash, Money, Clothes! Are you liking it? Have you joined in? You probably should.

I was so close to a no-spend-week (something I’ve been trying to attain since my very first paycheck) but the necessities are necessary. Veggies, toilet paper, mascara.

• $37 CVS
• $38 grocery
• $48 Target

Where’d you spend your money this week?

• The Shops at Target are so cute and the Webster for Target line is adorable. Unfortunately, everything I ordered was elephant-size so it all had to go back. Shopping sabbatical saved.
• I really think people underestimate the  merits of crushed ice. It makes pop fizzier, homemade iced coffee perfect, and is infinitely useful in case of emergency.
• Fatkini. Work it.
• Raygun is where I bought my favorite Yay Cleavage tshirt (not only is it funny, the material is divine) and now I’m loving the I’m not a player I just blog a lot tshirt (even though it’s super cheesy).
• I just registered for another 5k. In New York City. If you’re going to BlogHer, run the BlogHer 5k (very very slowly) with me!
• I thought Casey Mulligan’s Met Gala dress was grand and I love that she listed it on ebay to benefit Oxfam. She’s even covering the shipping!
• Jalapeno popper grilled cheese. Then we all died of happiness. And a heart attack.
• I am beyond excited for a roadtrip to Buc-ees this weekend. Don’t judge me.

When I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher, Miss Cacey, taught a lesson around the song Johnny’s Camaro by David Wilcox. I don’t remember what the lesson was or how the song related, but I remember that we sat in a circle in the commons area, listed to the song on an old record player, and most everyone in the class rolled their eyes.

Clearly I was not one of those people as for the last fourteen years, every time I’ve spotted a Camaro, I’ve spontaneously busted into my own personal rendition of Johnny’s Camaro.

Wwhich is basically me screaming JOHNNY’S CAMARO at the top of my lungs.

So you can imagine the first thing I did when Chevy asked me if I wanted to ride around town in a brand new Camaro for a week just for the fun of it.

That’s right. I busted into CORRIN’S CAMARO.

And you can probably guess what I did when they dropped off the Camaro at 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning.

CORRIN’S CAMAROOOOOO!

And you might have a hint as to what I was singing all week with the windows down.

CORRIN’S CAAAAAAMARO!

Well, actually, I was singing Barracuda. But you get the idea.

Chevy provided me with a Camaro and a full tank of gas. I was not required to blog or Tweet about my week with CORRIN’S CAMARO, but how could I not?