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🌸 Mariel

@mariel.bsky.social

480 followers 650 following 3.8K posts

Latina. Texpat. Software Engineer. Lawyer. Alum: UMGC '25, University of Texas School of Law '12, Texas A&M '09. I love Houston, cookies, dogs, and making stuff.

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🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · Jan 18

I made maybe 4 TikTok videos total. All were of my dog. This is the first and best.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1h

Okay it's probably 30min til my family gets here and I successfully have brisket and ribs and sausage holding, sliced cheese on a serving tray in the fridge, and the Mac and cheese heating for later.

a man in a suit and tie is sitting in front of a window with blinds and the words nailed it .

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting in front of a window with blinds and the words nailed it .

media.tenor.com

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1h

I think the ribs are indeed a lot more tender wooo.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

I've also got tallow rendering in the oven, and the ribs in there to see if I can get them more tender. Idk what I did differently yesterday but they weren't quite fall off the bone but I had to move on because of the brisket.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

I think I may have done it ??? It's hanging out for a minute before it goes back in the smoker as a holding oven until my dad's here/it's time for food.

One of the reasons I love this smoker is the range is 100-250. So once you're done cooking it can just chill in there, no trip to a cooler.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

In addition to my miscellaneous Dad™️ hobbies,

Women are still not insignificant minorities in law and engineering,

And it never occurred to me I couldn't do either one.

Truly grateful tbh.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

According to my YT algorithm I am extemely [gender neutral] Dad™️ at this point.

Smoking meat, doing miscellaneous home repairs, tinkering in the garage while listening to football. LIVING THE DREAM.

WellActuary @wellactuary.bsky.social · 3h

"thermostat dad" is also gender neutral fwiw

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

No touch screen, only a couple of functions, where's the lie?

it's coup for my family @ghostesq.bsky.social · 3h

gonna tell my grandkids this was a Blackberry

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

Also shout out to my parents who never made me feel like an activity was "for boys".

They made have made me need years of therapy but they got that part right!

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

Being a woman and going all the way down the smoking meat and carpentry rabbit holes:

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

Okay but for real I was watching a video about brisket and the guy said "okay, gentlemen, here's..."

And I was briefly offended 😂

But then I thought nvm it's fine I can be gentlemen if it's for brisket I guess.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 3h

When someone asks me what feminism is:

Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 3h

ladies can be uncles too

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

That's good to know! I'll probably just get a miscellaneous Amazon one because I'll use it rarely and just need it to work.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

Also bless the BBQ dads on YouTube - I got way less anxious about trimming once they were like it's fine nothing is wasted you get tallow and burgers so a win no matter what. I just need to order a meat grinder now 😂

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

I did a batch of tallow yesterday so I'd have some to pour over the brisket this AM and I'm rendering the rest because don't waste it! I'm gonna give it to my dad.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

I've also got tallow rendering in the oven, and the ribs in there to see if I can get them more tender. Idk what I did differently yesterday but they weren't quite fall off the bone but I had to move on because of the brisket.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 4h

Me sitting here watching the meat probe temperatures 😂

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 6h

The beginning of this Gameday is such a TL cleanse 😂💜

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 7h

I appreciate you 💜

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 7h

I didn't take a picture of the top before I flipped it to foil boat it but the bark looked pretty! This is the fat cap so hopefully it firms up a bit. I also added more mesquite after it burned through what I put last night so it smells a little bit Texas outside 🥹

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 13h

Baseball is wild at least with football they put us out of our misery. Idk how yall do it.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

okay i just filled out southwest's little "compliment" form so somebody somewhere knows how much i appreciated Gloria's cultural understanding, especially right now given [gestures broadly].

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

she said "sometimes i hear myself and think oh i hope i don't have too much of that midwest accent yanno?" and i told her paul is from wisconsin and i went to A&M and "Aggies" comes out "Eggies" and she got a hearty chuckle from that. midwest solidarity, gloria.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

BECAUSE she's Texan, all i had to say was "I'm having an issue with how my name is spelled on my account"

and she pulled it up and said "Ah yup, the 'Delagarza'"? and i didn't have to explain it should be three words.

Gloria I appreciate that more than you'll ever know 😭

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

okay i chatted with a very nice lady in Texas named Gloria. her parents were from the valley but she was raised in Michigan and moved back when she got older, and her kids were raised in texas so they have a different accent than her. she got tired of the Michigan winters. and tbh, fair, Gloria.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

the 2 spaces in my last name has been a problem since i was born and it will never not be annoying.

spaces in last names are normal! and it's 2025 we have ways to deal with this! WHY HAPPENING.

🌸 Mariel @mariel.bsky.social · 1d

chase [correctly] has my last name as "de la Garza". southwest has it as "Delagarza".

because of this difference, chase won't transfer my rewards points to southwest.

AND IN HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH??

so now i'm listening to southwest's hold music. womp.