Friday, June 30, 2006


Mitchell is sitting on the arm of the chair Posted by Picasa

her favorite chair Posted by Picasa

Emma's at home

OK. I had a chance to look into the future last night. But first I have to back-track a little bit.

There is a very cool furniture store called Mitchell Gold Bob Williams. It advertises in all my design magazines. Google them to see all the yummy furniture. They just opened an Austin showroom, and there were ads in the paper, but for some reason, I got an invitation to their grand opening gala with valet parking, cocktails, and a chance to meet the founders. The invitation said "dress to be seen".

Meanwhile, for the last year or so, Emma has been wanting to be an interior designer, and for some reason she was familiar with the Mitchell Gold ads in my mags. So she was very hyped up about this opening. Not thinking she was ready for a cocktail party, we went to the "soft opening" of the store last week. Emma prepared herself by spending an hour on the computer, looking up and listing all her favorite pieces. After dressing up (for a Wednesday morning last week) Emma wowed the salespeople with her extensive knowledge of the merchandise. They gave her a free t-shirt and officially urged her to come to the Grand Opening Gala.

So, last night was the Gala, Emma was dressed to be seen. Black skirt, cobalt blue haltar top and trendy black string poncho, jewelry, etc.... There was valet parking, a red carpet, water bottles with the store logo, goodie bags (like at the oscars!), cocktails, a DJ, yummy food, lots of furniture, and lots of people there trying very hard to be seen. I thought since I'd know no one there, we'd make a circle around the store and leave. But two hours later we were still there. Emma was totally at ease. She worked the room, stopping to pose/sit on various pieces of furniture. I thought "uh-oh" she really likes parties. She chatted with people, since many stopped us to tell her she looked very pretty. She was asked often if she was a designer. I was pretty much ignored. She talked to me about furniture, parties and food.

On the way out, we accomplished our last goal. She got to meet Mitchell Gold himself. He was outside getting a breath of air. We walked up to him and Emma shook her hand. I mentioned she was a big fan, and how she did internet research, and showed him the list. He asked me if I was going to buy her what she wanted (approx. $10,000 worth of goodies), and then he asked if she was going to be a designer (yes) and then he told her she should be an intern for them when she gets older. On the way to the car, I explained what an intern is. She floated home, her plans for the future secure. And she told me she was never washing her hand again.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

miss Max

Max is enjoying week two of day camp. After last week turned out to be so fun for him, we were 8 on the waiting list to get into camp this week. I assumed that meant we would not get in, but on Monday afternoon, we got a call.

This camp is run by the LCRA which is our Colorado River Authority. They have beautiful land about 15 miles east of Austin. The camp is run by LCRA naturalists and professionals, not high school kids. They hike, play Indian games, make crafts, do rock climbing, swimming and river rafting. But the best part is that no less than 10 of the boys from Max's grade at school are all there together, including all his closest friends. He is in boy heaven. He comes home everyday, tired, happy, HUNGRY, and ready to fall asleep at 8pm.

Except last night, he didn't come home. He had his first sleepover! I was missing him all evening, and half expecting him to call for a pickup, but he made it. My baby is growing up! boo hoo.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Max's ears

Max has beautiful little brown ears that stick out just a little from his head. I have to say that it is very tempting to touch them, and they are very soft. Apparantly, the temptation is just too much for Joey, since he can't resist touching them. Max hates this. Hates it! So, frequently, I hear a shout "Stop IT Joey!" and I'm pretty sure what's up.

Anyway, for the upteenth time yesterday, I told Joey he was not allowed to touch Max's ears. Then I tried something new. I told Joey how to politely ask people if he could touch their ears, and then how to respond if they said "yes, please do!" or "no, I'd rather you don't fiddle with my ears." So please think about this in advance (especially Gramma and Grandad) because I'm pretty sure he will be asking you.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Boston, TX

Fun night. This Texas girl reports that an authentic New England Lobster Boil is not a place where my graceful table skills naturally shine. My friends host a big party each year. Really big, and it was all-you-can-eat-lobster. I got my first one, a great big one, and then I didn't know really where to start as far as eating it. I knew there was good eatin' in the tail so I ripped it off and was soon covered in gooey jelly stuff. It was dark outside so I wasn't too sure, but I'm thinking lobster eggs??? By the time I grabbed the second one, I went a different way, looking for the smallest lobster. Nice and clean inside.

What a party.

One day's harvest of cherry tomatos. David once told me he wasn't the kind of guy who would buy me cut flowers, but he would always grow me tomatoes, and he always has. Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 19, 2006


Kathy Andy Julie Posted by Picasa

more dominoes Posted by Picasa

the two that look the most similar Posted by Picasa

the two biggest Posted by Picasa

picture time Posted by Picasa

a common sight Posted by Picasa

dolphin Max Posted by Picasa

biggest boy cousin, littlest girl cousin Posted by Picasa

In the shark's mouth Posted by Picasa

Dominoes on the deck Posted by Picasa

The three babies Posted by Picasa

beach week

We just returned from a wonderful beach week vacation. Still haven't done all the laundry and unpacking, but, you know... The photos sort of tell the story. But the one thing we didn't get recorded visually was our last lunch of the trip.

I was determined that we would eat lunch at an old style diner/cafe along the little highway we were on. We blew through a couple of towns with town squares that seemed like they would come through, but all we saw were Subway, Wendy's, Dairy Queen. We got to Kenedy Texas and David spotted a cafe sign, but it was a Mexican Cafe and not right, then just a few feet further down the road, Barth's Cafe. Perfect! Loaded with cars on the outside, loaded with its original 50's decor on the inside. Even the music was right out of a time warp!

We walked in and past the salad bar with iceberg lettuce (shreaded), two kinds of dressing - ranch and thousand island, carrot and raisin salad, hominy!, black eyed pea salad, chocolate pudding, and not too many veggies to our table in the non-smoking section in the back. The waitress brought us warm, homemade bread and those little packages of butter. The kids got burgers and homemade rings, David and I split a chicken fried steak. We asked what kinds of deserts they sold, and she rattled off about 10 kinds of pie and apologized that they were out of coconut creme.

There was a big group in a banquet space near our table. A high school reunion, turns out they all graduated in the early 40's. I'm sure Barth's looked very familiar to them, and I wondered how many of them stuck close to Kenedy their whole lives anyway.

The beach trip was such a nice treat, Thanks Gramma and Grandad (Mom and Dad to me)

Saturday, June 10, 2006


oh yeah Posted by Picasa

LU- CHA! LU-CHA!

Last night, the night before leaving town, the night after a long, draining week, and a packed busy day, I donned my Mexican Wrestling mask and went here! Does David have the coolest office or what?? Yes! he does, they got us these unbelievable tickets for free!

We went to the Alamo Travelling Roadshow for the hottest event in town-- a special advance screening of Jack Black's new movie Nacho Libre. We love Jack Black, it was directed by the guy who did Napoleon Dynomite (which we loved), the tickets were free (how did David's office ever get 11 of them??), Rodney even treated us to dinner and drinks, there were real Mexican Luchadors having wrestling matches before the movie, there were MIDGET MEXICAN WRESTLERS, then the movie itself! Whew!

We were in the commemorative photo of all attendees wearing Lucha Libre masks which will be posted soon on the Alamo site. I'll link as soon as I see it. LU-CHA!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Summer Easy Living

It was supposed to get a little easier, huh? So far it has been a busy summer for me. The morning routine is easier now that the kids sleep a little later, and I don't have to make lunches, or gather homework, or rush anyone out the door to school. BUT.... I started a new job. I do computer research 4 hours a day here from home. And man it is kicking my butt.

The first day I just wanted to quit. Almost in tears from the frustration, I wrote a resignation email to the girl I'm working for. But in it, I offerred to work until she could replace me. On about day 6 or 7, I was starting to get an idea about how to do this job, and now it is a typical "I don't love the work, but I can do it job". It would be perfect if the kids were in school. If you can consider "I don't love it" jobs to be perfect. It is a high pay, work at home kind of job, that would be perfectly timed to kids in school. That's more like it.

Anyway, I get up early every day (6:30 or earlier) so I can phone the UK. Some days I can hardly understand their wacky accents, but yesterday, I got a very helpful sales rep, who patiently answered my questions, who I UNDERSTOOD, and who I eventually envisioned as really cute, just wanting to help me from around the world. I called a friend who reminded me he was probably more of the tech nerd type with English teeth. So I googled the name and came up with a frumpy older balding man who was the town council man of Derbyshiresham or somewhere. After shooting the picture over to my friend, she told me I should have used yahoo's search engine, she found something much more accurate: