Bryanna went to San Antonio today for some boyfriend stuff and then instead of just going home, she came to visit me in Austin. Clearly WAY MORE FUN than just returning home to Houston.
On Tuesday she becomes an old lady of 17 so tonight I took her out for a little girls only birthday celebration. We had an excellent dinner at Z Tejas in the Arboretum and then went to Mozarts on Lake Austin for coffee.
We took this picture at Mozarts and I feel the need to qualify a few things. 1) the photographer was sitting and we were standing. quite possibly the worst angle ever. 2) it's humid so we are "glistening" if you will 3) I have discovered I am least photogenic in the state of Texas. odd I know but true 4) no matter how much I think this is not a rockstar photo, it was her birthday out and it deserves to be comemorated!
Sep 30, 2007
Sep 29, 2007
CLHS @ ATX
Apparently the 2003 CLHS graduating class has migrated to Austin. James and his roommate Dylan just moved here and had many of us over Friday night for drinks and inadvertently, dancing.
I hadn't seen most of this clan since graduation, with the exception of Dorian. But I had a blast! Their house is great, 3 bedrooms, patio with an outdoor bar. How much cooler does it get?
There may be many future Friday nights at James and Dylan's casa.
I hadn't seen most of this clan since graduation, with the exception of Dorian. But I had a blast! Their house is great, 3 bedrooms, patio with an outdoor bar. How much cooler does it get?
There may be many future Friday nights at James and Dylan's casa.
Sep 27, 2007
damn it Ross
First of all, he wouldn't be too happy if he saw the name of this post. But ignore that fact, and, damn it Ross!
Why don't we have any pictures of us? I keep telling him, my adoring public (ie Jane, AJ and Anna) want to see pics! Yet do we have any? No. Now in all fairness to him, not totally his fault. The couple times a camera has surfaced around us, he's been game. There have even been a few times out where he asked why I didn't have a camera.
Tonight I took my camera to his mom's birthday dinner - kinda. The camera made it to her house but never left my car. So not Ross's fault but still, he seems to be the easiest person to blame. :)
One day folks, one day. The pictures will come and before I go to Boston or I fear the wrath of my adoring public.
Why don't we have any pictures of us? I keep telling him, my adoring public (ie Jane, AJ and Anna) want to see pics! Yet do we have any? No. Now in all fairness to him, not totally his fault. The couple times a camera has surfaced around us, he's been game. There have even been a few times out where he asked why I didn't have a camera.
Tonight I took my camera to his mom's birthday dinner - kinda. The camera made it to her house but never left my car. So not Ross's fault but still, he seems to be the easiest person to blame. :)
One day folks, one day. The pictures will come and before I go to Boston or I fear the wrath of my adoring public.
Sep 26, 2007
Sit Still!? That is for the weak!
So much! I am mind-boggled over tomorrow being Thursday. I have far too much to do before the work week is over!
Monday I sent out the press release about Girl Scouts of Central Texas to 70-some odd media outlets. Big announcement, big release, hopefully big coverage.
Before I even sent out the release, Olga Campos, the 5 o'clock anchor on ABC called to say she wanted an interview with our CEO, Etta. I then spent an hour or two coordinating the filming of some Girl Scouts and scheduling Olga into Etta's Wednesday. It made for a very hectic Monday but when the nightly news calls, you must answer. If you are local - keep your eyes on the 5 o'clock news for some Girl Scouts.
Tuesday I made my way down to South Austin to meet with the cameraman so he could film the cute little Girl Scouts. I made it there in record time so I stopped by Nikki's shop to say hello and kill some time. She showed me her wedding dress - gorgeous! But I digress...back to the filming. For the record, Brownies are adorable! The girls were great, if not a little silly. Good job girls!
I had a meeting today also in South Austin so I stay with Ross last night. He made me amazing turkey tacos for dinner. I felt like we were a couple of hippies - turkey tacos on whole wheat tortillas with organic salsa. Kinda funny since Ross is in no way a hippie. I got up at a regular old time today and worked from Ross's house all morning til my 1p meeting. The most productive morning ever! Very pleased. Went to my 1p meeting and then received a call from Austin City Hall; our proclamation of Girl Scouts of Central Texas Day on October 1 was ready. Found City Hall, got our pretty sheet of paper and finally made an appearance at the office.
Tomorrow Ross has an interview in San Antonio. Fortunately the job is not in San Antionio, he would be the insurance rep covering Austin he just has to interview down in SA. Cross your fingers! Then we are having dinner with his family for his mama's birthday. I really like his family so I'm excited to see them.
Speaking of Ross's family! His stepdad, Jack, is doing a program for the Girl Scouts in the spring. Details are still being worked out but the program gals are very excited about it and it's making me quite popular around that part of the office.
Also tomorrow, we have our monthly department meeting which is always fun but takes some time out of what I know is going to be a busy day. Becoming GSCTX in general is making life busy and crazy. On top of all this, I have to move cubes! I think it will be a good move - bigger cube and closer to the boss lady which will make things move along faster.
And sometime before I leave Friday I need to finish preparing my speaking notes for the volunteer training I am leading on Saturday.
Assuming I am still awake by 7p Friday, I am going to see an old friend for his housewarming/roommate's birthday party. Good old James Mason just moved to Austin. James was my senior class president and a friend of mine since sometime in junior high school. Austin is great in that it's almost like being home where I run into people but not so home-like that we all eat at the same restaurants every night. (Though I do love Don Pico's and will continue to eat there when at home, even if it is one large CLHS reunion every time.)
I've also been getting into the classes at the gym more. I really enjoy the spinning and the step dance class. Unfortunately my work schedule is making those hard for this week. But really, one spinning class a week is about all I can handle. Must work up to 2 - 3 classes each week.
On another, non-Cheryl's life note, what is Gov. Perry doing!? If you haven't read any of the articles, check out this one in the Houston Chronicle. Texas tax payers are paying his rent to the tune of $10K per month. Why in God's name does he need a place that extravagant? I understand he has to entertain and he needs a nice and spacious place. I won't argue that. But $10K per month? That's somewhere around 3x the average starting salary per month. Governor Perry, please find a home that is $5K-ish a month and invest the rest in your community. Remember the city's "I live here, I give here" campaign? You live here; it's time you start giving here.
Monday I sent out the press release about Girl Scouts of Central Texas to 70-some odd media outlets. Big announcement, big release, hopefully big coverage.
Before I even sent out the release, Olga Campos, the 5 o'clock anchor on ABC called to say she wanted an interview with our CEO, Etta. I then spent an hour or two coordinating the filming of some Girl Scouts and scheduling Olga into Etta's Wednesday. It made for a very hectic Monday but when the nightly news calls, you must answer. If you are local - keep your eyes on the 5 o'clock news for some Girl Scouts.
Tuesday I made my way down to South Austin to meet with the cameraman so he could film the cute little Girl Scouts. I made it there in record time so I stopped by Nikki's shop to say hello and kill some time. She showed me her wedding dress - gorgeous! But I digress...back to the filming. For the record, Brownies are adorable! The girls were great, if not a little silly. Good job girls!
I had a meeting today also in South Austin so I stay with Ross last night. He made me amazing turkey tacos for dinner. I felt like we were a couple of hippies - turkey tacos on whole wheat tortillas with organic salsa. Kinda funny since Ross is in no way a hippie. I got up at a regular old time today and worked from Ross's house all morning til my 1p meeting. The most productive morning ever! Very pleased. Went to my 1p meeting and then received a call from Austin City Hall; our proclamation of Girl Scouts of Central Texas Day on October 1 was ready. Found City Hall, got our pretty sheet of paper and finally made an appearance at the office.
Tomorrow Ross has an interview in San Antonio. Fortunately the job is not in San Antionio, he would be the insurance rep covering Austin he just has to interview down in SA. Cross your fingers! Then we are having dinner with his family for his mama's birthday. I really like his family so I'm excited to see them.
Speaking of Ross's family! His stepdad, Jack, is doing a program for the Girl Scouts in the spring. Details are still being worked out but the program gals are very excited about it and it's making me quite popular around that part of the office.
Also tomorrow, we have our monthly department meeting which is always fun but takes some time out of what I know is going to be a busy day. Becoming GSCTX in general is making life busy and crazy. On top of all this, I have to move cubes! I think it will be a good move - bigger cube and closer to the boss lady which will make things move along faster.
And sometime before I leave Friday I need to finish preparing my speaking notes for the volunteer training I am leading on Saturday.
Assuming I am still awake by 7p Friday, I am going to see an old friend for his housewarming/roommate's birthday party. Good old James Mason just moved to Austin. James was my senior class president and a friend of mine since sometime in junior high school. Austin is great in that it's almost like being home where I run into people but not so home-like that we all eat at the same restaurants every night. (Though I do love Don Pico's and will continue to eat there when at home, even if it is one large CLHS reunion every time.)
I've also been getting into the classes at the gym more. I really enjoy the spinning and the step dance class. Unfortunately my work schedule is making those hard for this week. But really, one spinning class a week is about all I can handle. Must work up to 2 - 3 classes each week.
On another, non-Cheryl's life note, what is Gov. Perry doing!? If you haven't read any of the articles, check out this one in the Houston Chronicle. Texas tax payers are paying his rent to the tune of $10K per month. Why in God's name does he need a place that extravagant? I understand he has to entertain and he needs a nice and spacious place. I won't argue that. But $10K per month? That's somewhere around 3x the average starting salary per month. Governor Perry, please find a home that is $5K-ish a month and invest the rest in your community. Remember the city's "I live here, I give here" campaign? You live here; it's time you start giving here.
Sep 24, 2007
River Racin'
Saturday was the first Statewide Girl Scout Race on the River out in San Angelo. Shannon and I drove 3 or so hours there, stayed in San Angelo for 3 and a half hours and then drove back. Long day, mucho time in the car but not so bad. The kids and their families were really cute in the race and such.
They did the flag ceremony by bringing the flags up on canoes - i've got to say, pretty cool way to do it.
They did the flag ceremony by bringing the flags up on canoes - i've got to say, pretty cool way to do it.
Sep 21, 2007
Have a good day dear!
Ross is on his way to a big interview. It's his second interview for an asst store manager position (or management training program, something like that) at the Denver Mattress Co. It's up on my side of town so he stayed here last night and this morning, it was almost like I was his cute little wifey sending him off to work.
Fixed him breakfast while he showered, evaluated his tie tying, gave him the once over (for the record, he looks sharp), sent him out the door with a kiss and a "good luck! call me!"
I probably won't spend many years as a stay at home wife for any man, but there's something comfortingly traditional about helping one's sweetie get out the door to bring home the bacon. Maybe because its a novelty still, but I don't mind some of the traditional woman roles. I like cooking dinner for Ross, timing it to be done within 10 minutes of when he gets here. I love making breakfast and sitting together lazily to eat it on a Sunday morning. I even like to fix his plate for him when I do the cooking - of course he's a good man and always fixes my plate if he's done the cooking.
I do, however, draw the line at ironing his clothes, as he asked if I would do last night. One failed puppy dog face from him and it went from "will you iron my shirt?" to "can you bring me the iron and ironing board so I can iron my shirt?" Why yes, dear, let me get that for you.
Fixed him breakfast while he showered, evaluated his tie tying, gave him the once over (for the record, he looks sharp), sent him out the door with a kiss and a "good luck! call me!"
I probably won't spend many years as a stay at home wife for any man, but there's something comfortingly traditional about helping one's sweetie get out the door to bring home the bacon. Maybe because its a novelty still, but I don't mind some of the traditional woman roles. I like cooking dinner for Ross, timing it to be done within 10 minutes of when he gets here. I love making breakfast and sitting together lazily to eat it on a Sunday morning. I even like to fix his plate for him when I do the cooking - of course he's a good man and always fixes my plate if he's done the cooking.
I do, however, draw the line at ironing his clothes, as he asked if I would do last night. One failed puppy dog face from him and it went from "will you iron my shirt?" to "can you bring me the iron and ironing board so I can iron my shirt?" Why yes, dear, let me get that for you.
Sep 18, 2007
Vertigo?
Sounds like the name of a cool band, maybe from the 1990s. Actually - is it?
But in my life, right no unfortunately it is my roommate's diagnosis for my recent dizzy spells. Sounds a lot scarier now doesn't it? Don't worry Mom, I'm making an appointment with the doctor today. Hopefully instead of "vertigo" my doctor will say "Clearly there is not enough ice cream in your diet. To fix this, eat 2 - 3 bowls of chocolate or chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Blue Bell if you can find it, each week. Go along now, to the frozen foods aisle with you."
But in my life, right no unfortunately it is my roommate's diagnosis for my recent dizzy spells. Sounds a lot scarier now doesn't it? Don't worry Mom, I'm making an appointment with the doctor today. Hopefully instead of "vertigo" my doctor will say "Clearly there is not enough ice cream in your diet. To fix this, eat 2 - 3 bowls of chocolate or chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Blue Bell if you can find it, each week. Go along now, to the frozen foods aisle with you."
Sep 13, 2007
Taa - Daa!
Last big piece of furniture - HERE.
Ross did a great job of helping (and by helping I really mean he did most the work) move it in on Saturday. Such a swell guy.
Anyways, the chair is huge! He and I can both fit in it comfortably. Great for football watching, or so he tells me.
Ross did a great job of helping (and by helping I really mean he did most the work) move it in on Saturday. Such a swell guy.
Anyways, the chair is huge! He and I can both fit in it comfortably. Great for football watching, or so he tells me.
Sep 10, 2007
Series of the Month
On Friday the baseball series of the month begins - Red Sox v. Yankees at Fenway for the last time in the 2007 regular season. And we're inviting you over. Come one come all, bring yourselves and your drinks of choice.
While we don't encourage violence, we aren't opposed to a little more V-tek in A-Rod's face. I mean, can you blame the guy?
Yankees fans need not attend. Anyone caught cheering for the Yankees will be asked to leave immediately and will be shunned.
Sep 9, 2007
TGIF
Friday was an excellent day. Work went pretty well.
After work I went with our VP of Development & Brand (ie my boss's boss), Kathleen, to the United Way Day of Caring celebration at La Zona Rosa. This was exciting for a lot of reasons.
1) La Zona Rosa is sung about in a Little Texas song, "Amy's Back in Austin" that I've been singing for years. Now I've been. Cool.
2) Kathleen invited me to go with her and it was some great bonding with the boss lady time. We also discussed my desire to work in fundraising and how she can help make that happen a little. Super cool.
3) Free drinks!
4) Great networking. Met Jeff from TateAustin, an awesome PR firm in town that I harrassed for a job for months. No dice but turns out Jeff is friends with Avery, one of the gals at the GS office b/c Avery's hubby works at TateAustin. Very good to know.
5) Got me downtown for the next set of adventures.
Around 6 I meandered off to Cru, a wine bar at Second and Colorado to meet the old FH gang to celebrate Lindsay's new gig at FH as a full time staffer. Yay Lindsay! I also ran into Rick, Ross's best bud, on the walk over so stopped to have a chat with him. I like Rick. Good guy. We had a nice little chat, just catching up on life.
Drinks with the folks at Cru. Got to see Katie, Eric and Jodi, some of my favs from my time there. All in all not so bad.
Ross picked me up, we grabbed a bite to eat at his place and I got to see Nikki. The Alfred Angelo she works at was right near the Chili's we ended up going to. Very good to see her, even for just a moment.
After that, yes there's more!, we went downtown with Ryan and Suzanna who are among my favorite of Ross's friends. Really I suppose there aren't any I don't like but Ryan, Suzanna and Rick are among the best of the gang. Any day where we hang out with all three of them is a good day.
Ross has the friends here that I had in Boston, different than my friends here. Like my BU friends, his friends are all friends with each other. They all hang out together but it's not just one person that connects them. I love my Austin friends but I don't have that "group" per se. That's really what AJ, Joe, Val, Kristin, Ben, Bob and Anna were for me - my group. So I enjoy going out with Ross's friends because its a very comfortable group. They are all laid back and there's very little of that meeting for the first time type conversation. Even I have hung out with them enough now to be beyond that. It's swell.
After work I went with our VP of Development & Brand (ie my boss's boss), Kathleen, to the United Way Day of Caring celebration at La Zona Rosa. This was exciting for a lot of reasons.
1) La Zona Rosa is sung about in a Little Texas song, "Amy's Back in Austin" that I've been singing for years. Now I've been. Cool.
2) Kathleen invited me to go with her and it was some great bonding with the boss lady time. We also discussed my desire to work in fundraising and how she can help make that happen a little. Super cool.
3) Free drinks!
4) Great networking. Met Jeff from TateAustin, an awesome PR firm in town that I harrassed for a job for months. No dice but turns out Jeff is friends with Avery, one of the gals at the GS office b/c Avery's hubby works at TateAustin. Very good to know.
5) Got me downtown for the next set of adventures.
Around 6 I meandered off to Cru, a wine bar at Second and Colorado to meet the old FH gang to celebrate Lindsay's new gig at FH as a full time staffer. Yay Lindsay! I also ran into Rick, Ross's best bud, on the walk over so stopped to have a chat with him. I like Rick. Good guy. We had a nice little chat, just catching up on life.
Drinks with the folks at Cru. Got to see Katie, Eric and Jodi, some of my favs from my time there. All in all not so bad.
Ross picked me up, we grabbed a bite to eat at his place and I got to see Nikki. The Alfred Angelo she works at was right near the Chili's we ended up going to. Very good to see her, even for just a moment.
After that, yes there's more!, we went downtown with Ryan and Suzanna who are among my favorite of Ross's friends. Really I suppose there aren't any I don't like but Ryan, Suzanna and Rick are among the best of the gang. Any day where we hang out with all three of them is a good day.
Ross has the friends here that I had in Boston, different than my friends here. Like my BU friends, his friends are all friends with each other. They all hang out together but it's not just one person that connects them. I love my Austin friends but I don't have that "group" per se. That's really what AJ, Joe, Val, Kristin, Ben, Bob and Anna were for me - my group. So I enjoy going out with Ross's friends because its a very comfortable group. They are all laid back and there's very little of that meeting for the first time type conversation. Even I have hung out with them enough now to be beyond that. It's swell.
Mmmmm Essays
I had forgotten how hard starting an essay can be. Let me tell you - it's HARD!
I've been staring at the prompt for the program at UT's LBJ school that I want to do. Holy cow. If anyone has any idea what the most important thing the admissions office should know about me is, or what I want to do professionally in 10 years or what a degree from the LBJ school will do for me (besides add to my debt) please, let me know.
Seriously. Comment with writing points. Pronto.
I've been staring at the prompt for the program at UT's LBJ school that I want to do. Holy cow. If anyone has any idea what the most important thing the admissions office should know about me is, or what I want to do professionally in 10 years or what a degree from the LBJ school will do for me (besides add to my debt) please, let me know.
Seriously. Comment with writing points. Pronto.
Sep 5, 2007
Texas oh Texas
I love me some Texas. Let's be clear on that. The bumper sticker that says "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could" is genius. Not that it applies to me - I'm as native as they get. I love salsa, tex-mex, margaritas (food in general as you can tell), country music, boots, football. I think tacky coffee cups with the state of TX on them are fab. I even have some affections for rhinestones and big hair. And ya know, remember the alamo - and the spurs, and chuy's and Astroworld, may it rest in peace. I also bleed burnt orange. I LOVE TEXAS.
But like anyone or anything that we love, Texas is not perfect. Currently the most obvious sign of this is spending HALF A MILLION dollars on a letter written by Davey Crockett(see Statesman article). I mean, come on. Half a mil? Do you know what we could do with half a million dollars? Well actually, we could pay my salary more than ten times over for starters. Build 9 houses through Habitat for Humanity. Put 50 kids through undergrad at UT. Don't even get me started on how many could get their associates at ACC with $500,000. You could buy at least 5,000 text books. 10,000 Texans could become first aid certified through the Red Cross. I could pay off my loans and still have plenty left for good deeds.
But what did the state of Texas do? It bought an old sheet of paper. We didn't even save this sheet of paper from destruction! It was living happily in someone's private collection. Texas, I love you and I like history but this, THIS PURCHASE was just a waste of taxpayers' money. Hmmmff.
But like anyone or anything that we love, Texas is not perfect. Currently the most obvious sign of this is spending HALF A MILLION dollars on a letter written by Davey Crockett(see Statesman article). I mean, come on. Half a mil? Do you know what we could do with half a million dollars? Well actually, we could pay my salary more than ten times over for starters. Build 9 houses through Habitat for Humanity. Put 50 kids through undergrad at UT. Don't even get me started on how many could get their associates at ACC with $500,000. You could buy at least 5,000 text books. 10,000 Texans could become first aid certified through the Red Cross. I could pay off my loans and still have plenty left for good deeds.
But what did the state of Texas do? It bought an old sheet of paper. We didn't even save this sheet of paper from destruction! It was living happily in someone's private collection. Texas, I love you and I like history but this, THIS PURCHASE was just a waste of taxpayers' money. Hmmmff.
Baby Mama
We had Haila's baby shower today! It was very PINK. Apparently a couple moons ago she donated the tulle from her wedding to the arts & crafts closet. Well we resurrected it and used it on her throne.
She gone some swell gifts, little onsies, diaper bag (all me), rubber ducky, lullabyes on CD and the big one - a swing.
I'm proud to say my pasta salad, which was taking its maiden voyage with my coworkers as guinea pigs, was completely finished! And I even remembered my camera.
In non-work-baby related news, I think I am getting my last piece of big furniture! I found a chair on craigslist and so long as it will fit in Ross's jeep, he and I are going to pick it up on Saturday. Yay!
And Britta accepted a position at Edelman today. Solid salary and a fun international client to work on. Congrats Britta!
What a good Wednesday.
She gone some swell gifts, little onsies, diaper bag (all me), rubber ducky, lullabyes on CD and the big one - a swing.
I'm proud to say my pasta salad, which was taking its maiden voyage with my coworkers as guinea pigs, was completely finished! And I even remembered my camera.
In non-work-baby related news, I think I am getting my last piece of big furniture! I found a chair on craigslist and so long as it will fit in Ross's jeep, he and I are going to pick it up on Saturday. Yay!
And Britta accepted a position at Edelman today. Solid salary and a fun international client to work on. Congrats Britta!
What a good Wednesday.
Sep 3, 2007
Camera?? Anyone?
I need to start taking more pictures! I've determined that I am seriously slacking in the photo taking department.
The past week's been an interesting one. The east coast gossip came on strong, like nothing you've ever heard. Four break ups in 2 weeks! AJ & Joe have moved into their house and she got a job. So a lot of my week has been on the phone with my fav selection of BU-ers.
Friday I had some QT with Amy who leaves for Scotland Tuesday (tomorrow!). We were going to go out for Pooja's birthday but it poured. Sixth Street in the rain = no good.
Ross and I ran around Saturday doing Labor Day weekend type things and BBQed at one of his friends houses. I feel more and more like an adult when he and I do things together. To some extent if seems strange, but in other ways, not at all. I guess it only seems strange when I step back and think things like "wow. John & Christina have that house. It's their house." And I realize we're actually grown-ups.
Ross and I had a little drama of our own this weekend but not a fight or anything. The short version is he talked about moving to Dallas, even just temporarily, to work with one of his friends and I hated the idea so I was very vocal about it. Long story short, no body is going to Dallas and we're spending this afternoon together.
All that said, it's off to the gym, Target and HEB with me. Being very ambitious before I see Ross. Wish me luck!
The past week's been an interesting one. The east coast gossip came on strong, like nothing you've ever heard. Four break ups in 2 weeks! AJ & Joe have moved into their house and she got a job. So a lot of my week has been on the phone with my fav selection of BU-ers.
Friday I had some QT with Amy who leaves for Scotland Tuesday (tomorrow!). We were going to go out for Pooja's birthday but it poured. Sixth Street in the rain = no good.
Ross and I ran around Saturday doing Labor Day weekend type things and BBQed at one of his friends houses. I feel more and more like an adult when he and I do things together. To some extent if seems strange, but in other ways, not at all. I guess it only seems strange when I step back and think things like "wow. John & Christina have that house. It's their house." And I realize we're actually grown-ups.
Ross and I had a little drama of our own this weekend but not a fight or anything. The short version is he talked about moving to Dallas, even just temporarily, to work with one of his friends and I hated the idea so I was very vocal about it. Long story short, no body is going to Dallas and we're spending this afternoon together.
All that said, it's off to the gym, Target and HEB with me. Being very ambitious before I see Ross. Wish me luck!
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