Just Vote

Since it seems like the whole world is taking to Facebook to express what they are thankful for as well as presidential candidates, I'm going to dedicate this post to both topics.  For the record, I voted 2 weeks ago in the early voting.  It is off of my To Do List.  Voting early has made it easier for me to ignore all of my strongly politically opinionated Facebook friends.

This year, I am thankful to be living in a state that is clearly not a swing state.  When I lived in Florida and California, the months leading up to a presidential election were torturous.  Getting bombarded by political ads, mailers, hand-outs, signs and is rather horrific. 

Several years ago, I got to see local political corruption at its worst.  I witnessed it at the City of Miami Beach.  It left me sick to my stomach for a few months.  Ever since then, I have an aversion to the whole system although I recognize that Miami is known for their corruption and it shouldn't taint my view of all politics.  Don’t get me wrong, I see the value of the government and I appreciate what they do.  I just hate politics – even office politics. 

This year, I am happy I live in Texas.  We all know who is going to win here, so the candidates don’t even bother to campaign to Texans.  Maybe they do a little, I don’t have cable or even local television channels.  Almost all of the bumper stickers and signs that I've seen have Mitt’s name on them.  I haven’t even received anything in the mail. 

I don’t consider myself a Republican or a Democrat.  I like to look at the issues and vote for the candidate I like best.  A few months ago, I took one of those online matching tests that identifies which candidate lines up with your views best.  It was back before the Republicans had picked their candidate.  The results were that 77% of my views were shared by Mitt Romney and 75% of my views were in line with Obama all of the other Republican candidates were a distant 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, etc.  I just laughed, so much for Romney & Obama being polar opposites. 

I think that is as far as I want to go with my political talk.  I am not here to convince you to vote for either candidate.  I believe that we give too much credit to the office of president.  Whoever wins will not have nearly as much power as we believe they will unless congress sides with them.

This post isn't over yet, I do want to mention our celebrity sighting.  It has been a while since I posted one of these:

Photo from Oprah's Magazine

My kids happen to be rooting for Mitt Romney, because he goes to church with my mom in La Jolla, California.  He is there almost half of the year.  My mom, the kids and I have been around him and his family.  First of all, his hair really is that thick.  He also LOVES his grand-kids more than you hear/read about in interviews. They sit in his lap at church and adore him.  He is very cute with them.  I’d say more than most men in his generation.  He is very funny and personable.  

People often talk about his handsome sons.  It is true, they are.  However, the thing I remember the most was how absolutely GORGEOUS his daughter-in-laws are, especially the mom of the two on the far left (one standing & one waving).  Sadly, I can't tell you her name.  I am better with faces.  She is a complete knock-out.  In fact, she is so perfect that you would expect her to be the biggest snob you've ever met.  I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely nice she is.  She, her husband and kids ended up living in the Romney's La Jolla house for one summer while we were living in California.  Her sons were in the nursery at church with Jordan so I saw and talked to her quite a few times.  

By the end of today or maybe in a few days, we'll know if Lexi & Jordan can say they met the president.