Starbucks is a gift from the gods

Thursday morning I was up and out the door by 7am. Downtown for a YNPN breakfast at 730, back to the office by 915-ish. Worked until 430pm. Jumped in my fun little car, ran to the Starbucks near my apartment and hit the road down south. A surprisingly quick journey down Mo-Pac to Ross's, quick clean up at his place. Into the super sweet jeep and out to his mama's. Dinner at County Line -- great view. I think it was off of 360 but really I'm not sure. Ross drove and went through all these little streets. I didn't know that area from Eden.

Dinner went well and I completely credit Starbucks for it.

Today piled the trusty GS-LSC Communications staff into my car, hit up Starbucks and on the road by 8am, up to Florence, TX; a town where my suspicions proved true: there is not a whole lot of anything there. Took some pics, ran a couple Girl Scouting workshops, mingled with local media and observed TX GS history. We are officially realigning and becoming the Girl Scouts of Central Texas!

Again, I completely credit Starbucks for the success of the day.

No they are not paying me but I think they should. I accept frappacinos.

Cheryl Lowe: Professional Sorting Hat

At the office this week, our tech center is hosting a Harry Potter themed day camp. And today I was the sorting hat, sorting out the Ravenclaws from the Griffindors, Slytherins from Hufflepuffs. Do I have the greatest job or what?

Furthermore, the 7th book is pretty darn good, though I'm only 250 pages into the 700-some odd epic that it is. I won't be a spoiler but so far, so good.

In un-Harry Potter related news, Mom visited which was good. We were mostly lazy but it was nice to have her here. And Kev got to see the puppy, always popular with him. And on Friday, Ross got his new jeep. She's a beauty. I like her (him?) lots.

Make New Friends But Keep the Old

...One is silver and the other's gold.

Girl Scout songs/lessons that are good for life. I remember singing that one repeatedly as a Brownie.

I've definitely made new friends this week. Tuesday I had drinks with Nirav, older brother of my friend Ankur who was in Sydney with me last year. Nirav just moved to Austin about a week ago to start grad school at UT's LBJ School. And he's also a BU alum so needless to say, anyone smart enough to go to BU for undergrad and then move to Austin for grad school is a friend of mine. He was great. I look forward to seeing my new friend much more often :)

Last night I attended my first YNPN Happy Hour. Let me tell you, professional organization of my dreams. Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. Me in a nutshell perhaps? And they were all fabulous! I met Melanie, marketing pro for Big Bros/Big Sis and Scott, major gifts officer for the ACS. NEW BEST FRIENDS these two.

And as for keeping the old friends, Amy attended the YNPN HH with me and then we had dinner. One of the few times we'll see each other before she starts grad school in Scotland. Thats my Amy, nomad extrodinaire. We ran into Dorian too, who is interning with Leadership Austin and if they are smart, she will become a reagular full time employee very soon.

So there you have it kids. Lessons from Girl Scouting applying to life many moons later. Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver but the other's gold. A circle's round and has no end, thats how long I want to be your friend.

One Sweet Week

HOT 3D Glasses
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.

In the past week...

Sunday: lunch and prickly pear margaritas/Zilker Park with a sno-cone/movie with Ross

Monday: work, dinner with Ross at my place

Tuesday: getting geared up for Harry Potter...

Wednesday: Harry Potter 5 in 3D. The coolest 3D experience of my whole life, complete with a little girl who looked just like Hermione. Btw midnight shows are always better than shows at any other time. And, as if life could get any better, dinner and live music with margaritas with Ross.

Thursday: Britts at softball, hanging out with Ross (there seems to be a reoccurring theme here)

Friday: outlet shopping in San Marcos which resulted in an amazing new bag. Down to Corpus Christi, gossiping with the best friend (Melissa), out two-stepping with the best friend and her outstanding friends

Saturday: sleep in LATE, delicious shrimp lunch in Port Aransas, sleep on in the best lazyboy ever while the 40 Year Old Virgin plays in the background. MORE two-stepping in Corpus Christi

Sunday: drive back from Corpus, one more stop at the outlets for a set of sweet green glass martini glasses. God I love Crate and Barrel. Afternoon with Ross, dinner with Ross, Nikki and Stephen.

Monday: back to work, catch up on domestic things

It didn't seem that busy when I was doing it. But now, writing it, I'm exhausted. Whew, g'nite

Austin: The Little Big Town

S8000966.JPG
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.

Austin cracks me up. Its a city (clearly) but not a very big city. And it tries REALLY hard to have all the same things as a big city. But its all in a smaller scale.

Big cities have baseball, the Sox, the 'Stros, Braves, Angels, whatever. Austin has a minor league team and a super cute field for them to play on. The good news: the Express players are just as cute as any MLB players I have ever seen and that much closer to you since the field is small. (Britta's family was very nice to invite me to last night's game and we had a geat time!)

Big cities also have airports. Well so does Austin. But its teeny tiny and really funky, basically its everything that is Austin represented in an airport.

And ya know what? I kinda like this little big town.

Excursion Dos

Last night I went out with Ross, a 26 year old TX State grad who will be starting a job in sports marketing next month. I had the best time! Originally we were going to grab lunch on Sunday but last night when we were talking it was just too nice out and I was too curious to meet him. So downtown we went.

I beat him in air hockey but I'm sad to report, he beat me in fooseball. Comes the breaks huh? However, I got a great review - was told it was the best date he'd had in years. And Sunday lunch? Still on.

Look Ma! Friends!

Britts
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.

OK, so maybe that's a little dramatic. But I'm pretty excited to have friends here in Austin like I did in Boston. And the Britts (I can't say Brittanys or Brittneys due to their diff spellings) are fabulous. They make for some darn good friends.

And Britta makes a mean flounder. And Brittn's brownies rock. We ate well to say the least.

Hurray for amigas!

Princess Mango Lily

Princess Mango Lily
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.

On my last day at FH we decorated fruit. I love arts and crafts!

Excursion Uno

Online dating date # 1: Success.

Tonight I went out with Nick, a North Carolina boy moved to ATX for a computer engineering job with IBM. We had a great time! Our date was 6 hours long (not so shabby huh). Dinner and drinks. Excellent. Nick's fab and has invited me and Kev out on his boat for 4th of July. Lake Travis here we come!