Don’t Sweat Us

Time for the annual girls weekend with Colleen and Val.
This year we will be in the land of perfection known as San Diego. I hear it will include a hike at Torrey Pines State Reserve (my favorite), Mexican food, a night out dancing, and a slumber party afterwards with some of the other SD girls I miss.

Be back next week!

Points for Mr.G

I know most of the time that I am very blessed. My husband, while not perfect, is pretty close. I have a few friends that are single moms with babies under 1. They have very busy lives and don’t get to go out as much as the rest of us. I invited 2 of them to join me in seeing “Confessions of a shopaholic” and one couldn’t find a sitter.
So what did my husband do? He babysat a 5 month old baby so we could go to lunch and a movie. Yep, he changed a diaper, made and fed the baby a bottle and even got him to take a nap. When we walked out of the move and found no urgent text messages from him we were all a little impressed. I think he’s a keeper.

My Mornings

I have a morning routine. The alarm goes off, and the TV goes on at 6:28 am to the sound of Fox 4 “Good Day”. I listen to the first 10 min of the 6:30 news then start getting ready with the Good Day Gang on in the background. I feel like I know them. This morning I was so sad to hear that my favorite, Megan Henderson, is leaving town and that Friday will be her last broadcast. I called Chris on my way to work and this was the conversation:

M: Megan is leaving
C: Megan who??
M: From Good day.
C: I'm sorry, I know how you feel about that show. She was way to smoking hot to be an anchor in Texas anyway, I can see her in LA.
M: This was not the direction I was going this morning, but thank you for the sympathy.

I know this is a random post, but I love her, and my mornings just won’t feel the same.

A trip to the ER

I woke up at 5am on Sunday in Lake Charles, and knew that something wasn't right. I felt terrible and was having difficulty breathing. Being in someone else’s house and a town I don’t know I was a little panicked. The Hay family likes their sleep, and I didn’t want to wake them. I also knew that they would be so concerned they wouldn’t want me to go anywhere alone. I like to be alone when I’m sick. It’s my thing...so I Googled “urgent care” on my handy iphone, found out none of them opened until 10am! I tried searching a few other options and the magic phone found me a starbucks and the ER at the touch of Google. Hey, I have priorities. Iced grande skinny vanilla latte, then the ER.
I snuck into Celeste’s room to grab her keys and headed out. As predicted Celeste didn’t wake until 11:30 and by then I was almost finished at the ER. I found out I had a terrible upper respiratory infection that was exacerbated by the 5k run that Celeste and I had done the day before. I was given a steroid shot and prescriptions for when I got back to Dallas. Never a dull moment I guess.

Mardi Gras Lake Charles Style

My weekend in Louisiana with the Hay family was more than I even imagined. It was my first time in the state of Mardi Gras so for me it was very entertaining. Here are just a few of the highlights.

I flew into Houston, Celeste picked me up and we headed to Lake Charles. Celeste has the nicest family, so open and welcoming. They have a beautiful house, on the water with a very cool boat dock. I looked for alligators only to be told they don’t see them in the winter. The fact that they see them at all is enough for me to know I’m never swimming off that dock. Ever.
We arrived in time for dinner which was an exciting fish fry at the Pentecostal church down the street from her parents’ house. Again, I have never been to a fish fry for a Pentecostal church so this was a good time. The description Dorsey gave me was that the girls don’t cut their hair or wear any makeup and dress like little house on the prairie. Her description was spot on.

Saturday night we had the Crew du lac Mardi Gras Ball and we needed to find Celeste a costume. The theme was “out of Africa” and everyone was going tribal. We made our way to the ethnic beauty store and were in search of some good hair. I got a wig and Celeste got a hair piece to attach to her ponytail. She was asking the man behind the counter how to attach the hair, and he took it upon himself to give her some additional recommendations. He asked her if she wanted a “booty pad”. A what? We were totally confused by his question, and then he pointed to a fake ass that one would wear to give more of a “booty” and we both about died laughing. Um, no...I think we have more than enough junk in our trunks already but thanks.

That night with the costumes and added hair we headed to the ball. On our way I insisted we stop at a one of the drive thru daiquiri places I saw earlier that day. That’s right you drive thru and they hand you a cup of blended alcohol goodness. I had never seen one, and felt an obligation to try them. Delicious.
Each group in the crew dresses in a different theme for this ball, and some of the costumes were awesome. I personally loved the crew that came in Chef attire and called themselved the "master baters". Classic. After the court was introduced (duke, duchess, king, queen) the dancing began. Celeste’s uncle was a Duke this year, a great honor, so we all had special tables. Let’s just say the girl has a lot of family. Most people had begun drinking hours before the ball even started so people were having a good time. We all danced until well into the morning and I hope to be invited back again next year.

What the French toast?

So I’m gone a few days and missed a major change. I got into my car this morning and turned it to my favorite throw back station 107.5 "Movin" and instead of a little salt n peppa I hear Julio Iglesias. I was convinced that it was a joke of some kind, so I changed to another station for a while then went back to “movin” and again...Spanish music. I know that stations can change format suddenly but this was bizarre. Once I got into the office this morning I checked it out online and found this this. All I have to say is what the French toast? I loved that station. If I wanted livin la vida loca I would already listen to that crap.

Anxiety

I have a love/hate relationship with my birthday, and the month of February. I love that I usually had a day off on or around my birthday for Presidents Day and because of that I had birthday parties on the ski slopes most years. A bunch of girls running around the lodge at Alpine Meadows was not a bad way to spend the day. I loved that my mom made my day and Valentine’s Day 2 SEPARATE occasions. I love that the first call I get every year is from my parents telling me all about the day I was born. It’s the same story but I never get tired of hearing it. I get to hear about how my mom was so dehydrated from literally puking all 9 months that she had to go to the hospital and be hooked to an IV for fluids. While doing that she casually mentioned that her stomach hurt. Um yeah, that was LABOR. I also love that when the Dr came in to ask about drugs, my dad turned to him and said “no, and don’t come in here and ask again”...he never came back and my mom rocked labor with no meds of any kind. I love that one year, my parents threw me a surprise birthday party before school. That’s right. They set all the clocks back, so that I would get up thinking it was the regular time, and while I was getting ready my mom was driving around picking up all my friends. The doorbell rang; I opened it to see all their faces and was totally confused. In fact I started to cry and slammed the door, with them still standing out front. I composed myself and let them in, but the bizarre school day breakfast birthday party totally sums up my childhood.


The hate part is that I now have a total aversion to anything in the shape of a heart, conversation candy, the colors pink and purple etc, but the big anxiety is this. All my grandparents died, or had an event that led to death during February. My dad’s mom died suddenly the week I was turning 4, she was on her way to pick up my birthday present. My family still insisted on having a party, but seeing the pictures I realize how blissfully unaware I was of the events around me. My dad’s dad, being in poor health to begin with, followed her a year later. The pics from birthday year #5 are even better than the 4th. So in gearing up for my 6th birthday I had a special birthday wish, I told my mom’s mom that for my gift she had to promise she wasn’t going to die. All I knew was my birthday didn’t seem to be a good time for family, and I was tired of it ruining my parties. She made the promise, and I started to relax again, and then the big 21st birthday. I was in college but the entire family met for dinner, and the next morning my grandpa had a stroke. He never recovered and 2 months later he was gone. This time I was old enough to know just how much death sucked, and it was terrible. The year I turned 29 my grandma called to tell me she was going to have a surgery and it was set for Feb 28th. I begged her to move it; just a few days...they all know how I feel about Feb. She told me I was silly, that she would be fine. I didn’t agree, and flew out the weekend of my birthday to spend what I was hoping wouldn’t be the last with her. 2 weeks later and 24 hours after her surgery something had gone terribly wrong. 36 hours later I was on a flight to San Francisco to take her home to die surrounded by family. She made it 1 week and into March, and I still have a hard time talking about that week but it was amazing. Near the end she looked at me and said “I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep that promise anymore”. Knife. Thru. The. Heart.

So the birthday for me is a mixed bag of stuff. Blessed with a wonderful husband, family and friends that make time for me and include me in their lives, and places to go, people to see, dinners to have etc. But I also have the nagging sad part that sneaks up on me in the quiet of it all.

Rise

Jen was in Telluride skiing and missed the birthday “martini and movie” night, so we decided to have dinner and catch up once she returned. Christine joined us as well, and we met at Rise for dinner. Robin wrote about rise in her blog a while back and I’ve been dying to try it ever since. It’s a menu based on soufflés, and a few French basics like onion soup and brie sandwiches etc.
The place is adorable, and my food was very good. I’m not sure it’s a “must do” but its fun and cozy. I had the crab soufflé for dinner and we split the chocolate and bread pudding soufflés for dessert. We visited over a glass of wine and talked about all that is, and has been going on. It was fun to sit down and have some time with them. Once the wine was gone we headed home to beat the tornado warnings.

Ladies Night

To continue with the b-day theme Sunday night I had a little martini/movie party for myself here in Dallas. We intended on meeting early to grab a cocktail in the lounge, but we walked in 45 min before show time and the line was already forming. So we decided to forgo the drinks until after the movie. The Inwood Theater was the venue, and the movie was “He’s just not that into you”. The theater is amazing, filled with over sized love seats and couches, you can bring in your own alcohol and they hand out blankets etc. It’s like being in a huge living room.
We all spread out and curled up in our own seats for the show. I brought along red velvet cupcakes and valentines for the girls. (Hey...it’s my party and I'll bring cupcakes if I want too) The movie was funny and true in many ways. I could relate to it, and the cast was great. After the movie we headed to the lounge for some rather strong cocktails.

All I needed for a great birthday was a martini, a red velvet treat and time with some special people, new and old. Unfortunately it was a Sunday night, and we all had to get home at a decent hour.

Let the celebrating begin!

Growing up I was the only February birthday, but as an adult I'm one of many. My friend Heather has a Valentine’s Day birthday, and mine is the day before. We decided to celebrate early beacause I'll be gone Valentines weekend, and Heather shares her day with her twins, which are turning 1. So Saturday night The Shahans and the Heinrichs joined us for dinner at Capital Grille. The host thought perhaps Garth Brooks was stopping in under the pseudonym "Chris Gaines" and I think was a little disappointed to find it was only Chris, and that it is his real name. The food was delicious. Can one really go wrong with calamari, lobster mac and cheese, seared ahi tuna and crème brule? I think not.

They took great care of us by giving us roses, writing out our names in chocolate on the plate, and adding a candle. I thank them for not singing.

Once dinner was over we said goodbye to Rob & Allison, and the 4 of us headed to the Mavs game. Some friends generously gave us their tickets, and we had the most amazing seats. Chris and I were seated 3rd row, and Chris and Heather were 9th row. The Mavs actually won in overtime, and the game was very exciting.

It was a delicious evening with wonderful company. Thank you all for making the trek rom Forth Worth to celebrate!

SMU Crew

Chris went to grad school at SMU, and during that time we made some great friends. It’s rare that we all get to spend time together so we organized a dinner last weekend. It was fun to sit around the table and catch up. They are all such smart and kind people. We are very blessed to know them. None of us could believe that they graduated almost 3 years ago; the time is going by so quickly. We have seen people get married, start new jobs, and move to different cities etc. I promise we won’t wait as long for the next gathering. I didn’t take pictures of course, so here are all of them at graduation (sans spouses).

It’s Miller Time (almost)

This past weekend I went to a baby shower for my girlfriend Robin. Robin is having a baby boy, and his name will be Miller. The shower was a great time with the mommy to be, and friends as we enjoyed the beautiful weather and Courtney’s new house. The food was delicious, the decor adorable, and Robin was glowing. I had to get him some UT onsies so that he would fit in on game day with his parents this fall. Miller will be here before we know it, and everyone is anxious to meet him. Great job to the hostesses Mari, Courtney and Jen.