All Things AP

Miss me yet? Come and find me at my new home!!

2008-12-16T22:29:00.003-06:00

Wonder why I haven't posted in a while?? I'm at a new home!

Don't forget to add my NEW BLOG to your RSS Readers, Blog Rolls, Bookmarks, Favorites, Christmas Card List, etc...

Come check out what's happening at All Things Annemarie!!!

See you there! :)

ANNOUNCEMENT :: All Things Annemarie ::

2008-12-12T01:42:00.005-06:00

Some of you might have noticed a little something new on the recent slideshows...I just couldn't help getting started with my new designs before they were complete. A few of you might have already taken a sneak peek...

.....BUT......

......it's HERE!!

My NEW site, designed completely with ShowIt Sites, and my NEW blog!!!

I've been trying to figure out something new, different, fun...something that would be "me", and that I would love, to redo my site and blog with for a while now. I decided on the yellow with the white polka dots quite a bit ago, but it took me some time to get it to where it is now. It's nothing too fancy, but I like it. It makes me happy, and I hope you like it too.

So....without further ado....

I formally invite ALL of you, to head on over to my new site and blog!!! Let me know what you think!!!

All Things Annemarie WEBSITE
All Things Annemarie BLOG

I'll be in the process of updating links and such so that everything still works with my old blog going forward, so if something isn't working, bear with me for a bit....it'll work eventually!

Also, don't forget to update your Google Readers, and RSS feeds with the new links!! I love all my blog readers, and want to be sure you know where to find me from now on!!!

I also have to post a super huge special THANK YOU to my wonderful, fantastic, ridiculously good looking (hee hee), boyfriend, Brett. Without his help, this probably would have still been a dream, and never have made it to fruition!

The Parker Family Story

2008-12-11T21:02:00.004-06:00

When Kris first emailed me, I knew that I'd met her before through the Castros, but I couldn't quite put the face with the name. I pulled up to their house yesterday and when Kris answered the door, I said, "OH! I know you!!!", and was so excited.

She and Mark, along with their 2 and half year old adorable twins, Sutton and Emerson, were such a joy!!! And talk about some awesome outfits...the Parkers are a snazzy bunch! :) We braved the unexpected, chilly, Austin weather and explored the wonderful green belt right behind their home. It was perfect, and had a lot of places for all of us to see. The kids were such troopers and we had a great time together!

Kris, it was so great to visit with you and Mark again. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and that you enjoy your story!!! I had so much fun telling it!

For more of this yummy family, watch the slideshow.

The Wildenhaus [Mini] Family Story

2008-12-10T22:49:00.003-06:00

For anyone that reads this blog, you recognize my hysterical, thoughtful, funny, sweet, beautiful, friend, Kara. She, Terry and the girls, Ava and Gracie, stopped by for a super quick family story session on Sunday afternoon. One mission - get something that could be used for their Christmas card.

Well....I accepted the mission, and we completed it! Kara did something so cute and creative for their card.....BUT.....I won't post now, as she already put them in the mail, and anyone lucky enough to be her friend, will be getting it soon...so I won't spoil the awesomeness of the JOY-filled surprise. Hee hee! :)

I did get a few other snapshots that I loved, and so I had to share. I love all of you crazy Wildenhaus gang!!

We all age like the finest of wines....

2008-12-10T08:35:00.003-06:00

Kara's 25th (insert cough here) birthday was Sunday, so we gathered, in true lady form, and did a little celebrating last night in her honor. Din din at ZTejas with the ladies for some yummy food, fruity beverages, and as always whenever Kara is involved, lots of laughs!

I can't believe that I am beating her to the punch with posting the pics. She got some super eerie ones with the Christmas tree that was in there.....one of them Toni's head dissappeared! Creepy!!

Of course I had to get my fav, the group self portrait.

Hope your year is wonderful, Karaloo! Love you!!!

The Phelan Family Story

2008-12-09T02:31:00.003-06:00

What a fun Sunday afternoon I spent with the Phelan Family, Liz, Jon and Gracie, as well as cousins Katie, Dean, Ian and Lauren. The best part was trying to get all the kids to look somewhere in my direction all at the same time.....well, the beauty of it was that since I was the one with the camera, that part was left up to the rest of the adults to do the trick.

I truly wish I'd had a second camera with me to capture what was going on behind me. Imagine, if you will, 4 grown adults, ALL hooping and hollering at one time, to get these kiddos' attention. It worked, and the kids were having a great time!

All the cousins....as well as Baby Girl #2 on the way for Liz and Jon, due in March....all did a fantastic job!

Liz, thank you for the opportunity to spend time with, and capture, your family's story. I hope you love it!

To see more of this precious family, watch the slideshow.

blogger.allthingsannemarie.com

Yes...I still have a life!! :)

2008-12-08T23:00:00.003-06:00

So, it seems that all I've posted lately is the story sessions that I've been enjoying so much....but, in the meantime, I've been doing a few other things too! I thought that I'd update over the last week or so in one nice long post. :)

Ok....try to keep up! :)

Back on the 24th of November....Brett came into Austin, but you already knew that, because you saw his handsome mug on the pics from our Top Notch outing. At this point, I already forgot if we did anything on Tuesday night...which is why I started this blog in the first place, so I could keep up with myself and remember in a few years what I did!

Anyways, we drove to Houston for the holiday on Wednesday late afternoon, and had dinner at Mi Luna in Rice Village with my parents. I always love that place, and load up on LOTS of garlic!! This time was no different. It was everyone else's first time, and I don't think that it disappointed. Brett and I stopped by to introduce Brett to Erika, and Taylor too, after dinner for a bit.

On Thanksgiving morning, Erika and her family came over to join the festivities. I got to do something that I'd wanted to for a while, and have a little photoshoot with my other sister, Erika. It was the perfect day for the shoot, as we scoped out and decided on grabbing a few shots at the shopping area across from my parents house. The parking garage would not have been empty on any other day of the year...but we lucked out, and got some fun shots!

We chowed down on all the yummy grub that my Mom, with the help of the kids, prepared for us. Note: smushed up cranberry sauce is NOT the same as when it comes straight out of the can in the jelly form. For everyone out there that might be tempted to do some smushing....don't, it's perfect as it is. :) The adults tired out the kids, or it might have been vice versa, after lunch with some fun in the cul-de-sac.

That night, Brett, my Mom and I played a myriad of games.....Scrabble, Yatzhee, some other word game, 24 and Progressive Gin. Almost all of them my Mom dominated, but Brett did prevail in the game 24. Phew....you do not want him to lose when playing games. [Hee hee....]

All day on Friday we spent at the Renaissance Festival with my parents, and Erika, Terry and the kids. We made our way through the King's Maze.

Were kindly executed.....I promise it didn't hurt!!!

Brett and Erika showed off their archery skills....

Brett and I got all hopped up on sugar....

Terry won a kiss from Erika.....the girls did the bungee thing....Erika and Aedin knocked each other around a bit....and everyone got ice cream in the end.

Taylor and Rob came to meet us for pizza at Fuzzy's that night, and a game of Cranium at the house afterwards. Brett and I redeemed ourselves from our miserable performance in Austin last month and ended up winning! :) Woohoo!

Saturday morning we went to visit Corey and her family for some pictures, and lunch. I always love to spend time with the Mermis family....Jake and Delaney are growing up so fast!! Um, please stop that! In the afternoon, we met up with the Peschel family for their story session. I was SO incredibly thankful, once again, to have Brett with me...he's GREAT with the kids, and it is really awesome to have him there with me for the shoots. Thank you again honey! :)

We enjoyed Sunday morning at Lake Hills, and then met up with Danielle and her family. Brett was awesome for this shoot too! Kids LOVE him!! :)

On Monday afternoon, I had a blast with Tara and Paul for their shoot, and then, bright and early on Tuesday morning, Laura and I had to travel to Annapolis for a 2 day work meeting. We both, stupidly, stayed up WAY too late on Monday night, but couldn't sleep on the plane as we had a little bit of work to do before we got there. We went out with all the Practice Managers for a revolving dinner that night....some oysters, clam chowder, and all the best that the town has to offer.

We spent Thursday night with Renae and Jebby...Friday night we dined with Toni at Chuy's.....and Saturday night we had yummy sushi!

I had another family story session yesterday after church, and then came back to spend the remainder of my day with Brett before he headed back home. I dropped him off at the airport this morning at 6am for him to head back home to Santa Barbara. The time here in Austin with Brett here was amazing....it felt like he wasn't ever not here, but then also not here long enough.

I have 10 days until I leave for the holiday break to go visit him, his family and friends in CA and NV....and I can't wait! So much to do in the time before I go.....more family sessions, a few girl Christmas nights, and at some point, I need to get in some Christmas shopping!!

A Love Story :: Tara and Paul

2008-12-08T21:25:00.004-06:00

When I heard that Paul had popped the big question.......I think the first words out of my mouth after "Congrats! I'm so happy for the two of you!!" were "So, when are we taking pictures?". Everytime I've seen Tara since then, I've told her how excited I was to get her in front of my camera. I mean, I knew she was hot....but WOW, she totally surprised me.....Tara 100% rocked this photo shoot! Paul did great too....can't forget to give the men props or they wouldn't ever agree to taking any pictures ever again! Their baby, Izzy, did wonderful as well!

These two, I mean, three, were so much fun! We started out at Gueros on South Congress, and then just proceeded to walk about 3 blocks down the back alley right behind the restaurant. We stumbled across some pretty awesome spots....and not only does their story rock...it's got a little bit of sass. The only thing that they love more than Izzy, is each other....and that was obvious.

I am thrilled for you, Tara and Paul, and thank you again for making this shoot such a blast! Hope you enjoy your love story!

For more rocking images of these two, check the slideshow!

The Mermis Family Story

2008-12-08T02:14:00.004-06:00

I've been friends with the Mermis family before they were the sweet family that they are today. I remember sitting in Physics class in high school listening to Joshua go on about how awesome the Dave Letterman show was. Corey and I spent many a nights out, in, and about Austin when we met after college while working our first jobs. I was fortunate to introduce the two of them more than a few years back now, and as they say, "the rest is history". It's been my pleasure being friends with these two along the years, being part of their nuptials, seeing Corey become a wonderful Mom to Jake and Delaney, and so much more...it's all so special!

I love you all, and I had the best time, as usual, spending time with you in Houston after Thanksgiving. Your family is an amazing one, and I hope that I did telling your story justice! :)

To see more of the Mermis Family story, watch the slideshow.

The Hill Family Story

2008-12-06T19:19:00.004-06:00

I've known Danielle for quite some time now....we sat next to each other at work way back in the dark ages. I've had the pleasure of celebrating lots of events with this fun girl - her bachelorette party, wedding, and then the birth of a long waited little girl - Alyssa, last year on her own birthday....not to mention some awesome good old fashioned girl nights too!

Last Sunday, I had the wonderful opportunity to capture their family story! Since Alyssa is going to be ONE on the 9th, we took a few birthday shots in her cute little outfit, and then had some fun with the whole family. This girl definitely has her Daddy wrapped around her finger....well, I think that both of these "All American Girls" do!

Thanks, Danielle, for letting me tell your story!! You, Grant and Alyssa are such a joy!! :)

To see more of this family's story, watch the slideshow.

The Peschel Family Story

2008-12-04T16:12:00.005-06:00

Jill, Jeff's older sister, and Barkley were in town a few weeks back for Jeff and Renae's Baptism. After seeing a few of the recent family stories I'd captured, she asked if I would be able to come spend some time with them over Thanksgiving while I was in Houston to tell their story. We worked it out, and made it happen. I'm so thankful that we did.

Gracie and Caden were adorable! As soon as I met Gracie, she grabbed my hand and said "You're my friend.". Awww, yes, so cute!! We had a great time running around the yard at Grandma's. The kids picked flowers for Mom and Dad, and we were lucky enough to bring the new red couch outside to see what fun we could drum up with it!

Brett came with me too, and took over chasing the kids around the yard while I stole away Mom and Dad for some fun pics of just them. Thank you, Brett!! You're a huge help, and I appreciate it.....very much!! :)

It was awesome to get to see you, Jill, and your family, over the holiday break!! Your story is a beautiful one, and I hope you enjoy it!

To see more from the afternoon, watch the slideshow.

The Heer Family Story

2008-12-03T23:09:00.006-06:00

I went to meet Vickie, Perry and their sweet family at their fabulous home in Liberty Hill before the holiday. After I arrived, I spent a few minutes walking around their property, and got giddy - it was a beautiful lot, with lots of fun spots for some awesome shots.

All of the Heer family were so entertaining - Kailee definitely rules this group though - how can she not with that infectious smile? Her Mom and Dad, Stephanie and Jay, were so cute with her. Uncle Mitch was a total hoot; with his side grins that were too natural, I think that he must pose for pictures in his spare time. Vickie's Mom joined us too to join to fill out the family tree - all of them were so much fun!

I had a wonderful time with all of you. Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving together, and that you love the images your story has to tell.

To see more of the Heer family, watch the slideshow.

Mac and Me

2008-11-30T23:09:00.002-06:00

So....I did it! I joined the Mac family tonight. I've been hemming and hawing about getting a Mac for a while now, and finally bit the bullet. I originally walked into the Apple store thinking that I was going to get a MacBook Pro, but ended up with a shiny new 24" iMac - woohoo!!

I wasn't upsold, since I wanted everything that he told me about....but I ended up getting the best of the best, so this thing should last me a good 12 months.....kidding!! It better last me a LOT longer than that.....but I'm a very proud, and happy, owner.

I already had my own private personal Apple mentor (Brett) show me the ropes, get me all setup with the best tools and gadgets, teach me the keyboard shortcuts, and I'm ready to have a bonfire in honor of my old Vostro. Hee hee!!

I think that Brett was more proud to get this moment captured on film than I was....but I gladly smiled for the photo opportunity.

So....if anyone wants to get me anything for Christmas, I have a few software titles to add to my new collection if you're curious. :) I'll start my list tomorrow.

A Few Local Hotspots

2008-11-25T22:51:00.003-06:00

Brett is back in Austin visiting for the upcoming holiday....so, today, we met Laura, Ava, and Aunt Beth for lunch at a local favorite, Top Notch. The owner recently passed away, and the restaurant closed for a short time because it was feared that the secret recipe went with him....but a short time afterwards, it was announced that Top Notch would reopen. Thank goodness for all...I hadn't ever been there either!

It was so packed that we had to wait for cars that were trying to exit the parking lot, and go around the ones that were desperately trying to find spots in the grass. It was worth the wait, in line inside too.....yummy stuff!

I took Brett to another local favorite spot for dinner....and a movie. We met Toni and Scott at Alamo Drafthouse to see 007 Quantum of Solace tonight. The opening scene almost had too much action to pay attention to, but we made it through, and all gave it thumbs up!

Flying Again

2008-11-23T20:55:00.007-06:00

I love to fly! Not on planes, although I don't much mind that either....I'm talking about flying through the air with the greatest of ease....TRAPEZE!!

I went twice in the Spring. About a week ago, I learned from Danielle, that the trapeze folks were back at The Crossings in Austin!!! She and I made plans, almost immediately, to go once more while they were still here. One of her buddies, Mike, joined us too.

This time we had a full class....9 people were excited to fly!! 4 of the folks in our class were in town visiting Grandma....4 kids all under 14, and they were awesome. The littlest one was soooo stinking cute....and talk about flying?!?! When you only weigh about 60 pounds...yeah, you REALLY fly! They were all great, and made it such a different, and fun, experience this time. Also joining for their first flights were Jim and Phil.

Danielle and I each got about 6 flies.....yippee!! I tried another new "trick" this time. I didn't much enjoy the split last time, so this go round I opted for a Straddle Wick. This was MUCH easier, and not so bad on my back.

After 4 practice rounds, we got to try the catches - woohoo!! That is really the most fun - heehee! Every single person in our class nailed the catch....twice!!

It's such an awesome experience, and just makes your whole body smile. I'm sure it'll make our bodies all a little sore tomorrow....but it's all worth it!

Check out the video....hit play below. :)

Ava's Birthday Story

2008-11-22T21:27:00.004-06:00

"Ba-by an-i-mals" and "Doo-dle-bug" have been Ava's responses to the question, "Ava, who is coming to your party?", all week. It's even cuter when said in her adorable little 2 year old voice.

Laura, along with help from friends and family, threw an amazing party to celebrate Ava's 2nd birthday. The backyard was full of excitement, lots of running kids, a few animals, a clown with face paints and balloons, lots of laughter, and so much more.

Happy birthday Miss Ava!!! :)

Check out all the action in the slideshow.

Give me a T! Give me an A! Give me a Y! .......

2008-11-21T09:18:00.008-06:00

My youngest sister, Taylor, is almost half way through her 5th year of teaching 6th, 7th AND 8th grade Math at Fort Settlement Middle School in Sugar Land, TX. For the last 3 years, she's been nominated by her peers for Teacher of the Year (wow!).

She's a fantastic teacher and loves what she does...although, she's also a very humble person who just loves doing her job for what it is, and isn't very comfortable "tooting her own horn". Each year there is an interview process for determining who will receive the title, and that part has always kind of freaked her out (understandably so....who ever likes interviews??).

Well, from what I've gathered, this year, they did something a little different, and also added an essay portion to the process. Well, evidently, Taylor's love for her job, her students, and what she does each and every day, hit home with the people making the decision.

Please join me in congratulating Taylor for being named "Teacher of the Year"!!! We're all so proud of her!!!

We Will Sing at La Zona Rosa

2008-11-18T22:01:00.005-06:00

I just got back from the most amazing night at La Zona Rosa. Lake Hills had a night of worship, We Will Sing, and I can't even put together words to explain how great it was. God definitely showed up tonight, and man, he is powerful and awesome. Man, I seriously wish I was a writer....well, not really, but I just wish that I had better words than awesome, great, and amazing to use to share with you all this evening.

I am so thankful that I am where I am, and for the events that in my life that got me here.

That's all. Anything else I might even try to say wouldn't even come close to how I'm feeling right now.

I'll invite my Austin friends to join me on Sunday at 11am for a new series from Mac. Holiday Homecoming.

The Michaud Family Story

2008-11-17T21:51:00.005-06:00

I spent some quality time on Sunday afternoon with the Tricia, Dan and Hudson. We hit up a couple spots with the whole family, and then we had let Dan excuse himself so we could get a little messy with Hudson. Mom wanted to get some pics for his upcoming 1st birthday, so we had some good times with his "smash cake". Trust us, Dad, it's a good thing you weren't there. I'm not going to lie, it got a little ugly with the icing. :)

Thank you Tricia! You and your family are wonderful, and I hope you love your story.

Be sure to check out the slideshow also!

Castro Family Story

2008-11-16T22:54:00.004-06:00

I was so excited to finally get to meet Tatum on Saturday afternoon (I can't believe she is 9 months old already), and see all of the Castro family again. These little guys were so great! Dylan with his hat, belt buckle, and boots....kills me - he's the cutest cowboy I've seen!! We had a great time exploring his ranch...Avery Ranch, that is. :)

Don't forget to check out the slideshow!

Keeping Austin Awesome

2008-11-15T23:35:00.001-06:00

Lora and Nita were in Austin for the afternoon and evening, showing Siobhan (all the way from Ireland) the pretty part of Texas. Ok, Houston folk, don't get all up in arms....those were Lora's words!! Anyways...she'll be staying in Houston for a week with Lora, so she'll get to more than experience it too during her stay. She can make her own decision on which is prettier. :)

I met the girls for a little yummy din din at South Congress Cafe after my two (awesome) photoshoots for the day. Yes, I know, it seems that is where I always end up eating downtown....hush, it's one of my favorites. While I looked over the menu for a good 10 minutes, I ended up ordering the same exact thing that I do every time. Well, we all ate it actually. We split crab cakes, 2 salads, and 2 servings of my favorite entree....the perfect way to dine with friends! Get to try a little bit of everything and not get too stuffed!

After dinner, I wanted to take the girls to the famous Austin postcard. We managed to get a parking spot in the perfect spot to balance the camera for a timer shot. :) When you can get a photo framed like that on your own, who needs a passerby to help?

We hit up a few spots on West 6th afterwards. The fine folks in Austin were definitely "keeping it weird" during many parts of the evening......but that provided much entertainment for some great laughs with the girls!

The Miller Family Story

2008-11-15T17:56:00.002-06:00

The first thing that popped into my head when the Miller family got out of their car this morning was "Wow, this family has style!". I loved their black and red outfit coordination. Today was our first snap of chilly weather in Austin, and they were dressed the part!

The kids, twins, Heather and Dylan, were not only scrumptiously adorable....they were such a blast and up for anything!! I think that they definitely did some smile practicing before coming to meet me this morning - they were pros. Dylan said that Heather got her smile from her grandma, but I think that they both must have gotten it from Dad. He was grinning the whole time too.

Thank you, Virginia, for the fantastic time this morning with your family. I hope you enjoy your story.

Be sure to check out the slideshow too!

Mighty Fine Wednesday Night

2008-11-12T20:20:00.004-06:00

Tonight I got my grub on at Mighty Fine with Laura and Ava. We had hamburgers, fries and vanilla shakes - yummm!!!

Afterwards, I did my best trying to find a replacement for my favorite pair of shoes. I realized this afternoon that they might be on their way to retirement. I couldn't find my size in them anywhere online today, so thought that we'd give DSW a try. I even have 2 $10 coupons! How disappointing that I couldn't find anything....and even couldn't find anything else that caught my eye. Guess I'll just save my $$ for the 16-35mm lens instead. :)

Anyone want to trade me $15 for my $20 to DSW?? Hey - you gotta try, right?

I'm now sitting here in my computer chair, Molly purring so loud in my lap....awww.....it is a mighty fine night indeed.

Special Moment for Jeff and Renae

2008-11-11T20:53:00.004-06:00

I was honored to be invited to witness Jeff and Renae's Baptism on Sunday along with family, friends, and many members of Lake Hills Church.

I put together a slideshow too.

The Trybala Family Story

2008-11-08T22:28:00.003-06:00

I had SUCH an awesome time with the Trybala Family on Saturday!!! I don't know how Brandee does it - the girls pooped me out - but I was having the best time trying to keep up with them all afternoon.

Demi the best big sister to Brooklyn and Kennedy.....Eric was a natural in front of the camera...and Brandee, yeah, she's HOT and a SUPER mom!

I had a great time with you all! Hope you enjoy how I've told your story! :)

Be sure to check out the slideshow too!

2 Pairs of Shoes for $5!!!

2008-11-08T10:36:00.000-06:00

When was the last time you found such a great deal on shoes?!? I just bought 8 pairs for $20 and it feels GREAT! :)

If you love shoes as much as I do, and want to share that love, here's a great way to help. I stumbled across this page this morning, and felt compelled to share.

You can donate $5 to buy 2 pairs of shoes here:
http://www.50000shoes.com/

Learn more about this organization here:
http://www.soles4souls.org/

11 - 7

2008-11-07T23:59:00.002-06:00

Wow. Today is my 32nd birthday. I sure don't feel like I'm supposed to be 32! Happy birthday to me. :)

I started to think today about all of the things that I've done in the last 365 days. I remember thinking on my birthday last year that this one was going to be a great year. Well, it definitely was......full of life, laughs, friends, love, and so much more. It's a good thing that I started blogging, or I don't think that I would have been able to keep track of it all.

In the last year, I ...

... traveled. A LOT. A few trips to mention - Costa Rica, Copper Mountain, San Diego, Chicago, Park City, LA, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Orlando, Weston/Ft Lauderdale/Miami, Minneapolis, DC, Denver, NYC, Herndon, Boston, and Martha's Vineyard. Some were for work, some for pleasure, but either way - that's a LOT of places to go in one year. If only I'd been able to consolidate and get miles on just one airline!!

... starting taking my passion for photography seriously. When my original holiday travel plans last year didn't pan out, I decided to use that money and get myself a digital SLR. Since then, I've taken thousands of pictures, have continued to invest in my photography with lenses and an upgraded camera, and, dare I say, started an actual photography "business". While it's small scale right now, it's a huge step in the right direction.....the direction that I want to go. It's all so thrilling and exciting to me, and I'm so glad that in the last year I've taken steps to pursuing a real dream of mine.

... I flew. Twice! For some reason, I'd always wanted to do Trapeze, and I got to do it this year. It was as awesome as I thought it would be. I just heard that they are back. I just might have to go again before they leave at the end of this month. :) What new adventure will I do this year? Richard Petty Driving Experience....maybe? Let's hope so!

... became a Christian. This is by far the biggest change in my life over the last year, and the most important to me. It's really what got me thinking about all that has happened to me in 12 months, but thought that I should mention a few other things too....you know, because I kind of like lists....and I have a hard problem being short winded on my blog. I've opened my heart to God, and it's been an amazing journey. I love what I'm learning, feeling, and experiencing each and every day - life is so much more fulfilled, peaceful and happy. I won't go into too much more...but I thought that I'd also give a shout out to my church, Lake Hills Downtown - it's the best place to be on any Sunday at 11am at Austin Music Hall - hope to see you there! :)

... I met Brett. My cheeks have been getting a workout from all the smiling....maybe that'll keep the wrinkles away a little longer - ha! :)

As if I didn't have enough fun celebrating last night, I joined a few of my girlfriends - old and young - for lunch at Chuy's today.

Toni, Scott and I went to see Body of Lies tonight to tie off the birthday celebration for the day!

It's been a great year, and I'm even more excited to see what is in store for me this coming year. Thanks to EVERYONE for the wonderful birthday wishes, and celebrating with me - you ALL made me feel so special today. Thank you!!! :)

Ziti, Brownies and Taboo - the perfect Thursday Night!

2008-11-06T22:54:00.000-06:00

Renae and Melissa slaved away in my kitchen tonight and cooked us all up a wonderful meal - they wouldn't let me cook my own birthday dinner. :)

I am SO getting Melissa's baked ziti recipe and will be cooking this soon.....it was incredibly good. There was a little bit leftover too, so I get to enjoy it over the weekend too! I'm usually not one to enjoy and eat leftovers, but this was so good, that I'm very excited about having this in my fridge!

Couldn't resist posting a cute picture of the only boy to join us tonight - Caleb is such a joy!!!

Laura made ooey-gooey brownies for dessert.....and they did not disappoint - at all!! We had vanilla bean and coffee ice cream too! Yup....YUMMM!!!!!

I am an incredibly lucky and blessed woman to have so many great, wonderful, supportive, awesome, smart, beautiful, funny, thoughtful, giving, loving women in my life. I am thankful that a few of the ones that live close to me in Austin were able to come spend tonight with me to celebrate my birthday.

After dinner, a few of us entertained ourselves in a round of Taboo.

Thank you so much to ALL of my girlfriends, near and far, for being part of my life and blessing me each day with your friendships. Love you all!!

Welcome to the club, 50mm 1.4. Glad you're here!

2008-11-06T18:18:00.004-06:00

I have a rather long list of goodies that I have my eye on right now.....and instead of running out and buying all of them, I'm being patient. So.....the 50mm 1.4, a MacBook Pro, 16-35mm 2.8, a vertical grip for the 5D, a flash....are just a few of things on my evergrowing list. I had shared this with my parents, and so they decided to donate to the cause for my birthday this year. Thank you Mom and Dad!! :)

I placed my order and my first birthday present arrived this afternoon. Introducing the newest resident of my ShootSac - Miss 50!!!

Jebby.....my favorite Rocker!!!

2008-11-05T19:17:00.003-06:00

Michael Kelly Guitars is an endorser of Jeff's band, Deejer....which means that he, Dave and JR all were given promo guitars to rock out with when they play their gigs! He was on the hook to get some photos of him with the new instrument. It's a good thing that people that know how to play guitars know how to hold guitars, because I had NO clue how to tell him what to do for these shots. Good thing Jeff is a natural.....here they are!

Rock on Jeff, rock on.

This one is now Renae's desktop background.....such a proud wife! :)

Mel, Mexican Grub, and since it's Election Day.....some mention of that too! :)

2008-11-04T23:53:00.000-06:00

I voted this morning. I was kind of bummed that I waited until the actual day, and didn't take advantage of the early voting, but I think it worked out to my advantage - the whole process only took me 15 minutes from start to finish - what a breeze!! I had to ask for my sticker because the ones sitting out ready for voters to take were out....I'm glad I did. I wore it proudly all day...until it fell off, that is. :)

So, Melissa is in town for 2 weeks for work training from Minnesota. Anyone who follows this blog might know by now that means that there will be a girl's night of stuffing our faces with some Mexican food at Jardin Corona. This time was no different.

We ate, gabbed, watched the election results on the big screen behind us, and had a fantastic night, as usual, with great friends. So thankful to have such wonderful people in my life!!!

Sunday Funday....full of FUN!

2008-11-02T21:47:00.001-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! :)

645am
Taylor & I get ready for Race for the Cure.

720am
Pick up Mom at hotel.

830am
Runners are already coming around the bend towards the finish line, where we are patiently waiting for the walkers to start. These guys ran the 5K (3 miles) in about 15 minutes...it was amazing!!

845am
We finally cross the starting line.

850am, 857am, 903am, 912am, etc
Taylor and I are jogging to keep up with Mom....who is darting in and out of all the people in front of her. We have no idea the method to her madness and are surely walking double the 5K due to all the zigging and zagging.

915am
Mom says "Let's run the last part over the bridge". We get to the start of the South 1st bridge, I say to Taylor "Ok, let's run!". We run all the way to the finish line.

918am
Taylor and I cross the finish line, can't see Mom behind us. Turns out she meant for us to start running at the other side of the bridge, to cross the finish line in a jog. Oops. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

1010am
Arrive back home. Shower, get ready.

1035am
Mom and I leave for church. I can't believe that we got out of the house in 25 minutes - wow!!! Service was amazing as usual.

1245pm
Mom, Taylor and Dad get on the road back to Katy. I go over to Toni's for our little get together.....oooh....yummmm for Cinnamon Cider smelling wax. Hee hee.

535pm
I head over to Renae's to hang out with her and Melissa (yay - she's in town for 2 whole weeks for training!). It was just like old times, and we hung out, while Renae slaved away and cooked us a super yummy pasta dinner, and gabbed away like the girly girls that we are. I loved every minute of it, and can't wait to hang out with them a few more times this week. :)

What an absolutely wonderfully exhausting Sunday!

A Sister Story......Taylor

2008-11-01T23:39:00.006-05:00

Introducing, my youngest sister.....Taylor.

Be sure to check out the Slideshow too!!!

Around Austin

2008-11-01T19:40:00.002-05:00

Day 1 of Austin fun for me, Taylor and my Mom. While Dad was hanging out with Marque as he was all hoisted up for everyone to look at his guts and see if there was anything that needed fixing, (Marque is my Dad's only "son", his precious motor car, the 1953 Bentley - he was in for a technical meet with all of the other Rolls Royce and Bentley owners), the 3 of us were busy doing all sorts of things.

Morning activities included hair, makeup, and the first part of Taylor's photo shoot "Sister Story" session.

We ate lunch at Maudie's, and then we went to walk around downtown on South Congress. We stopped in to say hi to Dad and Marque, dropped my mom off at the hotel, and finished up the 2nd half of Taylor's pictures in the late afternoon.

Taylor and I watched a movie (I fell asleep through half of it because I was pooped from the day), and then we worked on the pictures.

It was a great day with family!

Who's been sleeping in my bed???

2008-10-31T23:50:00.003-05:00

My parents came into town tonight for a car meeting, and Taylor decided to come along, and stay with me for the evening. She and I cooked some yummy dinner, shared some fun stories, and then got ourselves prepared for tomorrow's shoot. :)

When we were ready to get to bed.....there was someone else there taking up space. Meet Casper Jones. It's his first time to Austin, he comes to us all the way from Sugar Land.

Good thing he doesn't take up a lot of space.....and yeah, he's pretty adorable.

Sweet dreams all! :)

Welcome back y'all!!

2008-10-30T22:19:00.003-05:00

Oh, it's good to be home. Today was NUTS!!! I mean, crazy!!!!

I got up at 620am in my San Jose hotel room to catch the shuttle to the airport. Nancy Sinatra in the hotel lobby at 645am was a little bit too much, but I made it. After I arrived at my gate, I worked up until the very minute I got on the plane. Worked almost the entire flight. I ended up having 3 seats to myself, so at least that part was nice.

Landed at 210pm CDT. Before I even got off the plane, I had to log back on, get on WiFi to email the file I'd been working on during my flight, before my 230pm conference call.

The battery on my laptop had all but died, so I ran to baggage claim, and plugged it in while waiting for my bag. When Renae drove up to get me, I was plugged back in out front of the airport, already deep into the conference call.

I didn't get to say anything much more than 'hi' to her on my ride home. She was so awesome to carry my (still) 46 pound suitcase up my stairs for me while I was still on my call. Molly was SOOOOO excited to see me that I had to apologize for her meowing on my call.

Almost 2 hours later, the call wrapped up and I was able to unwind a bit....back at home...in Austin.

I was fortunate to be able to see Renae again, and meet up with her and Tricia for some sushi at Mikado tonight for some much needed catching up tonight at Mikado. It was, as always, great girl time, and some really good sushi.

Tricia always has fabulous shoes....so that is the reason for the fun shoe shot. No, Renae and I didn't plan the gray outfits or shoes for the evening. :)

I'm glad to be home. I'm not sure how much sleep I'll get tonight with Molly meowing, but at some point I'll unpack and get settled back into the swing of things in Texas.

My mom and youngest sister will be here tomorrow for the weekend, and I am super excited!! Got lots of fun things planned for the next few days - be sure to check back! :)

P.S. Tara - if you're reading, and you think about it before I get the chance....call me! I am in dire need of a haircut!! :)

One small step for (wo)man......

2008-10-29T11:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning was a first for me….I made the coffee that was supplied in my hotel room. It was actually quite simple, and I felt a small (very small) sense of accomplishment for taking this leap. It wasn't Starbucks...but it had caffeine, and that was the point. I then proceeded to drink 3 more cups during the day of training, none of those which I had to brew myself.

The day of training couldn’t have gone any better, so I was very thankful for that. We had an evening event at Brigantine, although, I retired relatively early, as I had about 4 hours of work waiting for me upon my return. It was after 11pm before I knew it, and I did my best to get some sleep before my 420am alarm (yikes!).

So, this morning, I made the coffee again…..and I think that I’ll be doing this from now on (EDITED to ADD: I just checked into my hotel in San Jose, and I won't be making the coffee in this room tomorrow morning....it's the old fashioned kind, and not the super easy pod type). My only issue is that there was not nearly enough creamer or sugar for me to turn what would look like a normal cup of coffee into the sugary delight that I enjoy!

Taking the train to the "Real SoCal"

2008-10-27T22:24:00.003-05:00

I left Santa Barbara today (boo!), and boarded a train to Solana Beach (San Diego/Del Mar) for the start of a few days of work office visits. After learning from the train conductor that the only coach seats were upstairs, I lugged my 50 pound suitcase up the narrow staircase, and settled in for a little over 5 hour trip. I’ve mentioned it before, but traveling on a train is really the way to go. Most of the time you can get a seat without having someone right next to you, and you have access to a plug so you’re not limited to the 3 hour battery laptop life, there’s no line for the bathroom, and you get lots of leg room. :)

I got to the Solana Beach station right on time, and Vanessa was there waiting to pick me up. I recently reconnected with Vanessa via Facebook. She and I were roommates for a year while we both worked at Dell, about 7 years ago (whoa, times really has flown the last decade!!!). After working in IT in Austin for a long time, and not finding any sense of happiness in that industry, she made the decision to go back to grad school, and moved out to San Diego about 3 months ago. Go Vanessa!!! When I learned that I’d have an evening there before my training, I immediately contacted her (and Eric) to see if they would be interested in meeting me for dinner. Eric is a friend from my college days at A&M, with whom I reconnected about a year ago when Lora and I were in San Diego to audition for The Amazing Race.

We had plans to meet up at the Solana Beach location of Pizza Port, a local pizza dive. It was the perfect treat! The pizza was great – we let Eric choose what to get since it was his birthday (Happy Birthday Eric!). Pesto Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and good old fashioned Meat Medley were tasty choices.

It was great to be able to spend some time with old friends while I was here for work. Up early tomorrow for a LONG day of work!!

P.S. I was told that SB isn't really SoCal, it's more MidCal....and that San Diego is the "Real SoCal". :)

"Glorious"

2008-10-26T22:12:00.001-05:00

Sunday started out with us driving down the 101, when I looked out the window and thought "What a glorious day!". I then said it outloud, I just couldn't keep the thought inside. I wasn't even sure that I'd used that word before, but it just came to me.....and it was true. It was a beautiful Sunday, the windows were down, the weather was great, and I was on my way to Reality Carpenteria with Brett.

I've heard Britt's messages before online, and had been looking forward to seeing him in person. After we found what seemed to be the last two available seats in the place, I was in amazement. I don't think he took more than about 5 breaths the entire time, but whoa, his message was awesome. I loved every bit of it, and it was so interesting. We learned what a quattuordecillionth was, and why that was important. I won't go into it, but if you're interested....check out the notes here.

After, we were starved....so we walked down the street into the main town of Carp, and chose to eat at The Spot - a local, hamburger dive - and it definitely.....hit the spot. Well, mine did anyways. Brett's choice (double cheeseburger with chili) was the messiest thing I had ever seen, but he was the one that had to eat it, and he enjoyed every bite.

We drove back towards SB, and walked over to the pier and checked out some of the street vendors along the way. I got a good giggle out of thinking that it was this same exact spot, almost 7 months ago, that we visited the first time I'd been in SB.

At some point in the afternoon, when I was packing up my stuff, I realized that I didn't have my camera! DOH!! I had left it at DJ's house (thank goodness I knew where it was), so we stopped by to get that and say hello. Bobby and Lindsey Earle were there hanging out with Paul, filming for their new site. For anyone that is interested in having a professional edit film footage, be sure to check out Paul's new venture: Photographer's Reel. Not only is Paul a stand up guy, he does such a great job on his films!!!

The sun was going down right as we were leaving, so we had to grab a shot. :) Yeah, that's DJ's view. There are some trees that block the actual sun setting, so it's not the perfect view....but you can still see the effects of the sun saying goodnight......I mean, I'd be OK with that every night.

We stopped by VONS on the way back home and grabbed all the makings for some tacos for dinner. Kyle, DJ, Allie, and Paul all joined us, and we ate and ate until we couldn't eat any more......and then we all chatted until it seems our throats ran dry. A perfect way to spend my last night in SB. I'm bummed to be leaving tomorrow, it's been so wonderful being here in CA, and NV, with Brett. Luckily, he'll be coming to see me again soon in Texas.

Butterfly Beach and Bruce Willis

2008-10-25T23:32:00.000-05:00

I made us a bunch of sandwiches, Brett grabbed some blankets, we stopped for chips and drinks, and had ourselves a little picnic at Butterfly Beach.

When we pulled up, it looked to be overcast, but once we got out of the truck, it was warm. Scratch that, it was hot. Hot enough that everyone else on the beach had towels and bathing suits with them. I couldn't believe that it is almost November and it's still warm enough to get a tan here in CA. :)

Tonight we watched Die Hard 4, or 7, or whatever the most recent one was, and I loved it. Even though most of the time, I'm thinking "Seriously?? That could never happen, I still do love a good old fashioned action flick.

Progressive Eating around Santa Barbara in honor of Kyle's Day of Birth

2008-10-24T23:18:00.002-05:00

For Kyle's birthday, we had a progressive dinner around Santa Barbara. First course was Chips, Salsa, Guacamole and Nachos at Palapa.

A group shot.....all 10 of us. :) David, Ashlee, Scott, Nate, Kyle, Bethany, Garth, Brett, Jen and yours truly.

Second course, our main dinner was at Natural Cafe.

Last stop was for dessert at McConnell's, and I think that this course might have been my favorite. It took me a while to decide, however, once I saw that they had Cappuccino Chocolate Chip, the decision was super easy!!

Brett is going to hate that I posted this picture....but look at how good my ice cream cone looks.....I kind of want another one right now. Is that bad???

We headed back to Jen and Garth's and there were 6 of us brave enough to play a round of Battle of the Sexes. It was me, Ashlee and Bethany versus Brett, Scott, and Kyle. If you haven't played this game before, it's one where the boys get girl centered questions to answer ("What is a spring form pan used for?") and the girls get the boy questions ("How many players are on an active NBA roster?").

Both teams did rather well, however, the boys A. took a lot longer to come to the conclusion that they didn't know the answers, B. were pissy when the girls got questions that they thought were "easy", and C. are a bunch of cheaters. At the point in the game where it looked like the girls were going to take the win, Kyle had a little trick up his sleeve.

We were up for a question that a girl was supposed to know (since we were on the other side of the board now to where the girls actually get to guess girl questions), and it was "What is the exact diameter measurement of a quark?".

HUH???

Not only was this a hard question, but how in the world was this to be categorized as a question that was girl biased. Especially when the other ones had been centered around very sexist women things, like cooking, sewing, cleaning, baking, etc.

Well, at this point, Kirsten had stopped by, and she at least knew what a 'quark' was, but we didn't get it right - obviously. :)

The game went to sudden death, and after 2 rounds of tie breakers, the girls took the winning spot. It was only then that Kyle fessed up to the bogus question. He'd totally made it up! Way to go for being creative, at least.

I think that Kyle thoroughly enjoyed his day! Good times!!!

It's all about Kyle today - Morning Version

2008-10-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Kyle's birthday! His first request for the day was to enjoy his free breakfast at Summerland Beach Cafe, so Brett came to get me at 7am to go meet him. Another sunrise viewing for me....whoa, it's so beautiful. This picture just doesn't do it justice....at all!!

When we got there, Kyle had already been waiting long enough to build an Eiffel Tower of coffee creamers. We all ate some serious breakfast - check out how much food came with my choice - French Toast, Eggs, Bacon and Sausage - geez!!!

Yeah, Brett took this picture....he totally missed himself in it, but it was too early to even work up enough energy to do a retake. :)

More fun to come tonight for the rest of Kyle's birthday! :)

Working through the week...it's going by too fast!!!

2008-10-23T22:25:00.001-05:00

Tuesday morning was kind of neat. Working from the living area of the apartment at DJ's, through the side balcony door, you can see a bit of the sun coming up over Santa Barbara. I think I could get used to that....well, not so much the getting up before the sun does every day, but the sunrise was pretty beautiful!

We both had a pretty long work day, and went to home group on Tuesday night. I made my famous Chicken Fiesta and we enjoyed that while hanging out a bit with Kyle and Bethany at the house after.

Wednesday was again work. Sorry I don't have much more to report, but unfortunately, it's not a vacation while I'm out here...it's been pretty normal. Working, cooking dinner, hanging out, etc. I'm really enjoying it, and I think it'll be a shock when I go back home and am in a different environment. If only I could get Molly and my friends out here too, then I'd probably never go back to Austin. :)

Thursday night I made a yummy salmon dinner for me, Brett, Kirsten and Kyle. I thought I might have gone overboard on all the food - salmon, veggies, mashed potatoes and pasta - but we all turned out to be pretty good eaters, and we didn't really end up with that much leftover.

With our stuffed bellies, Bethany and Scott came to join us, and we all watched The Office. I have watched a few episodes since being here, for the first time, and boy, is that a weird show?? I can see how people are pretty fanatical about it though.....that awkward funny...it's good.

Sometimes you just gotta have Arby's!

2008-10-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

It's back to the grind, same as every Monday morning. Today started out when I got a phone call at 525am, which put my morning, afternoon, and early evening in a bit of a tizzy. We did manage to get away for a nice lunch break at Egg Works. It was soooo yummmmy!

We got back, got all packed up, and as we were about to walk out the door, I had to take another work call, so the folks at the house got to overhear a pretty heated work phone call. Nice. :) Oh, what a day.

After that was mostly taken care of, Brett and I said our goodbyes to everyone, and headed back to LA. Around 8, we were getting a little hungry. The town that we pulled into wasn't showing anything too appeasing for dining options, but all of the sudden, Arby's popped into my head. Google Maps to the rescue....and sometimes, driving a few miles out of the way, is totally worth it. We both chowed down on a large Roast Beef, complete with Arby's sauce, and I treated myself to a Jamocha shake!! A few more hours and we rolled into Santa Barbara, got me all settled at DJ's and said goodnight!

Ice Cream, Tennis Balls, and Taboo

2008-10-19T22:58:00.000-05:00

Awwww.....another Sunday. We went with the entire family to church this morning, with a special treat...Autumn sang. Despite her doing a fantastic job, I'm in awe of how comfortable she looked on stage. I just couldn't do it - too scary!!!

The whole gang ate at Jason's deli for lunch - yummm, free ice cream! Brent and Valerie, long time friends of Brett and Autumn, joined us too, Ethan and Preston in tow as well. We all retired to the house afterward to hang out and chill for a bit. Brett, Betty (Brett's mom) and I finished up the Scrabble game that we'd started the night before. When we left the table, Brett was up by 3 points. He took a peek at my letters, and after seeing that I had all sorts of points in my hand, wasn't anxious to return to the game. He even tried to tell us that "if you walk away from the table, the game is over"....whatever. So, we played out the game, and while Betty went out first, we had to surrender our letters to her, and Brett ended up winning by TWO points. It was a good thing though, actually, because if he hadn't, we probably wouldn't ever hear the end of it. :)

We took the kids to the park to play, while Brett and I stole away Loralyn for a little while for some "formal" pictures. I won't be sharing any of those right now, Autumn wants to keep them as a surprise, but I will tell you that we had a great time, and she's so stinking adorable, that the pictures turned out great.

After we had chased her around the park and were certain that we'd gotten a few keepers, Ethan and Preston were there, and it was too hard not to grab a couple super cute shots of them too! Here are my favs!

We had found a tennis ball at the park, and Brett was putting his old pitching skills to use. The kids were in awe of how high the ball would go up....watching his every move. Yeah, Brett didn't enjoy this one bit. :)

After the park, we came back to the house, ate some sandwiches, and watched the kids have a good ole time with each other. One of the world series games was on, so we had to keep up what was going on with that, all the while, the kids were taking turns 'riding horsie' on the adults legs.

When everyone else had taken off, Brett and I started up a game of Taboo. His parents came in and joined us, and a serious undertaking of laughs ensued. One that kept us laughing for a while....

Clue: You might read when you can't do this.
Guess: SPELL!!
Answer: (was trying to get the word SLEEP out of that for the answer) Insomnia

Yeah, it was that kind of night. :)

Night in Vegas with the French!

2008-10-18T23:21:00.001-05:00

For Autumn's birthday, we had a fun night out on the town planned for all the adults!

We started out with dinner at the French Steakhouse, Mon Ami Gabi, in the Paris hotel. Each one of us enjoyed our salads and steaks. We even had the kind folks bring Autumn a little birthday treat. :)

A short drive over to The Wynn and we were all set to go for La Reve (French for 'the dream'). We were in amazement as soon as we walked in. The theater is a large circle, with a pool of water in the middle. It was setting ready for the show to start with a bed sitting in the middle - guess that was the true meaning of a water bed! :)

When we got the tickets, we were told that rows A and B were in the "Splash Zone". Our seats were in row C. We didn't manage to get splashed, but I think that we had great seats to see all the action.

Boy, oh boy, was the show simply fantastical. It was full of dancing, aerobatics, music, strange creatures and so much more. I can't remember the number of times I poked Brett with an exclamatory sigh! If you are in Vegas, and looking for a show...I highly recommend this one.

P.S. Wow, it's amazing how much different pictures look when taken with my Point & Shoot, and iPhone, versus my real camera. :)

Go Karts! Woohoo!

2008-10-18T14:32:00.001-05:00

During one our many phone conversations, I'd mentioned to Brett that one of the things that I want to do someday is to drive a race car! It was then that Brett told me about his dad's go kart. So, imagine how excited I got when I learned that we were going to be driving the go kart this morning!!!

Brett and his Dad loaded up the go kart (#21 to boot - what a great number - it's odd and a multiple of 7 - yes, I know.....), and the group of us headed out to College of Southern Nevada, where Bruce works, and set up a track in the back empty parking lot.

We all took turns riding. It was my first time in a go kart, so I was cautious at first, but after a few turns, I was loving it!! My second drive I got a little more daring, and after watching Brittany (Brett's niece, she's hoping to be sponsored at some point) and her techniques, I went a little faster, and even spun out around some of the corners.

Proof that Brett and Loralyn are from the same family....what is up with the tongues? :)

The whole gang. What an awesome way to spend a Saturday morning!!

Friday in Vegas - Part Two

2008-10-17T23:45:00.003-05:00

After the day was over, Brett and I took Loralyn out to the backyard at the Bollman's house to play a bit. Well, Loralyn was playing, we were playing with Loralyn, and we were playing with the camera. She's just too much fun....and this was definitely a "chase me" afternoon.

We chased her, picked her up, spun her around, threw her....we did pretty much anything that we could with her...and she was laughing and smiling the whole time.

At one point, Brett was spinning Loralyn....and it reminded me of a post that I'd seen over a year ago on Photojojo. I just re-read it, and we nailed these shots with a slightly different technique (if only someone had thought to take a picture of us taking these shots....now that would be a funny picture!), but the results were awesome. I think that these are my favorites!! :)

Back to some more goofing around. :)

And then.......Brett's Dad remembered a little something special that was in the shed - his scooter. He brought it out, dusted it off, filled up the gas tank, and more great photo opps ensued!! (P.S. The Bollmans are adding onto their house....so that is why it looks like we are in a construction zone.)

Autumn wasn't around when we were doing this....not sure she would have approved! But look at how much fun Loralyn is having?!?! I promise Bruce wasn't going that fast!

Loralyn with two of her biggest fans!

So, remember how I told you that Brett has a personalized license plate? Well....shoot....it runs in the family. Check this out.

BAMRCL is my favorite. It's Brittany's....it has two meanings. First is "Be a Miracle"....and the second is all of the initials in her family...Brittany, Autumn, Morgan, Rob, Chelsea, Logan/Loralyn. Isn't that SO cool? (Or am I just a big dork and I'm alone in loving this!). There is even one more that isn't pictured....ROBSGRL. :) If I had to get myself one, I'm not sure what I'd get. Any suggestions?

One last image. Autumn said that she has a similar picture from when she was little with her Uncle Brad. Too cute. Seriously, Brett loves this little girl like no other.

We wrapped up the day with a night of yummy spaghetti dinner and just hanging out, relaxing and a bit of TV. We all had a few laughs at Jeff Dunham's expense, and then both Brett and I did a little late night work while enjoying The Eagles concert on DVD with Bruce.

Friday in Vegas - Part One

2008-10-17T13:40:00.002-05:00

First things first......HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rob! :)

Friday morning calls, in Vegas, still come as early as they did in California. So, I was up early this morning working, but got to experience a little treat during my lunch break.

We met Brett's sister, Autumn (HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you too!), and niece, Loralyn, at her music class. When we first got into the class, Loralyn was a little shy with her Uncle Brett watching her. But, after a while, she warmed up, and was thoroughly enjoying the songs, games, bubbles, and activities that all the little ones were doing. I brought along my camera, and managed to get a few cute shots. Boy, do these little guys move fast! :)

We walked across the street for a short bit after class to play on slides at the park. At this point, Loralyn had warmed up a bit to having us there, and it wasn't long before it was "Watch me Brett"...."Chase me Brett"....."Over here Brett". I don't think I've ever seen a grown man more excited by this than Brett, it's very much adorable how sweet he is on Loralyn. :)

All the running around worked up our appetites, and so we decided to grab some sandwiches at Schlotzsky's. Brett's Dad and Grandma (Gigi) came to meet us too. I've already enjoyed so much getting to know Brett's family!! It's just like being at home. :)

I thought I'd share something that I learned while at lunch. I was wearing my Austin shirt, and the person at the counter said "Ah, you're from Austin...you definitely know about Schlotzsky's". I guessed that he meant that there are locations in Texas too....BUT.....I just looked it up...and DID YOU KNOW that the restaurant actually was founded in Austin?? I had no idea! Very cool! :)

Got Bows???

2008-10-17T09:44:00.002-05:00

What mother of any girl can ever get her fill of hair bows??? I've learned, as many of my friends have daughters, that bows are a little girl's best friend. Especially when that little girl takes a while to get her hair. :) What says "Hey! I'm a girl!" more than a cute little pink ditty on a small cute bald head?

This morning I logged into Facebook and saw that my sister, Erika, had uploaded some new photos. Turns out that Candice, one of the first people that we met when we moved to Texas at the bus stop, has turned her hobby into a business - Sugar Snaps! I checked it out, and was compelled to share with all of you!

So, take a look - she has such a creative mind, I love the little animal themed ones - the ladybug is definitely my favorite!! I might remind you all that it's getting awfully close to the holidays....anyone need a red, green and white bow for their Christmas card pictures? :)

Sammichs, Road Trip, and Vegas

2008-10-16T23:18:00.000-05:00

Once again today, we avoided Chipotle...and got to eat some yummy sammichs in Santa Barbara. We were actually on our way to the deli at VONS but there was a line, so instead, we strolled around the corner to Panino. The menu was a tad overwhelming, so I decided to start out with #1, and next time I'll try the next one.

After a full day's work and then some, we packed up, and hit the road to Vegas. At one point we were on the road that goes to Lancaster, my birth place, but decided to stay on track and get all the way to Brett's parent's house instead. :)

We arrived to a chilly night a little after 11pm, said our hellos, and then goodnights not too long afterwards. I am really looking forward to a few days here with the Bollmans in Vegas.

Wednesday Habits in SB

2008-10-15T23:14:00.002-05:00

After this morning's calls, I rode with Kirsten over to Westmont campus, where I met Brett and we walked back towards his place. He's literally walking distance from campus.....like 4 minutes....and besides the pretty steep hill that we have to trek to get to his place, it wasn't that bad of a hike. :)

When it came time for lunch, I convinced Brett that we could eat Chipotle anywhere, and instead we got to go to a local joint instead, The Habit. Yum-my!!

We stopped by to say hello to DJ at his place this afternoon. Wow, what a view. It's beautiful to see all of SB from the living room windows. While looking out, I took this opportunity to have Brett try to explain to me where we were, where we'd been, show me where the roads were that I'd been on, etc. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the drive back to Brett's threw me for the loop again. This town is so confusing. It's probably a good thing that I don't have a car with me here.....I'd end up lost for sure!!!!

Let's see....nothing else too exciting to report, it's just like living life, being normal, but in a different state. So, we watched the debate, ordered some Chinese food for dinner, and then I got to sing along to RENT while Brett watched it for the first time. Afterwards, we sat down and were having a pretty great conversation.....that is, until I fell asleep. Ooops!! I guess this waking up early thing IS catching up to me. Or it might be that I haven't had any caffeine in the last few days. :)

Ok....night night.

Just another Tuesday

2008-10-14T22:30:00.001-05:00

Today was a pretty normal Tuesday. Crystal was in the kitchen, I sat in the living room. She provided the musical entertainment as we both worked all day.

I didn't take any pictures today, and I don't have anything that out of the ordinary to report (which is actually really great...other than missing Molly, living out of a suitcase and not having a car, it's not that different being here than it would be at home in Austin).

Tonight we went to Brett's homegroup, and it was awesome. I met some pretty amazing people, and although I was sitting in a room of 40 strangers, it didnt' feel like it at all. We discussed the message from Sunday (which Brett and I listened to before we went since we weren't in SB this Sunday), and it was so neat to be in a group setting, having everyone chime in their thoughts, perceptions, questions, etc. It was a great night, and I'm so glad that we get to attend next week too.

The last part of our evening, we rushed to the store and grabbed stuff to make dinner. Kyle and Bethany were waiting on us to watch House. First time I'd seen that show...man, that doctor is one grumpy dude.

Santa Barbara.....here I come!

2008-10-13T23:16:00.001-05:00

I kind of like getting up super early for work here in CA. Monday morning conference calls that are normally at 8am in Texas, come at 6am here.....which might seem like a bear, but I almost like it. Getting an early start on the day, working while it's quiet, able to get a lot of stuff done.....but that also means that the day ends early - so maybe that is the part that I really like. :)

We got all packed up, and hit the road to Santa Barbara around lunchtime. Driving along the 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, the PCH, to get here...wow, how cool. The water to the left side of the truck, we were zooming with the windows down, music up, the cool breeze (yes, I had on long sleeves and a jacket).....it was beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice.

After driving for a while, I had my head down because I was working (the WiFi card rocks), I looked up to see a new scene. We'd heard about some fires that were in LA, and it was apparent that the Santa Ana winds were blowing the remnants of the fires towards the ocean. It almost looked like a funnel and they were being dumped into the water. Pretty scary.

We arrived in Santa Barbara, and after getting a little bit more work done from Brett's house, went over and cooked Turkey Chili for dinner at the house I'm staying with Crystal. Kirsten was still out of town, so it was just the 3 of us. After dinner, we sat around on the couch and chilled for a bit.

After Brett left, Crystal and I put on Serendipity. I totally crashed out about 10 minutes into it, and woke up a little while later, and decided to just turn in. I have another call early tomorrow morning and while getting up at 6am might not be too difficult, staying up past 11pm is proving to be a challenge.

It's nice to be here, and I'm looking forward to the next few days in SB.

Sundays are for Rest

2008-10-12T23:43:00.001-05:00

Sunday is a time of rest, and we did just that today. No work, all enjoyment.....with friends and family.

Our day started out at Westside Christian, which is right around the corner from D&D's house. After a morning of worship and a thought provoking message, we made a quick stop at Ralph's to grab a few things for lunch.

I was smiling the whole time (and was thankful that everyone let me) while I made sandwiches for us to chow on while we hung out on the couch and watched some TV, listened to music, and played a little bit on the computer.

In the late afternoon, we took just another short trip around the corner to Dayna's parents for dinner. It was a whole crew of folks....both of her sisters were in town, her parents, the 4 of us.....we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the rest of the sunlight for the day together, Her dad, Kent, cooked up some awesome steak strips, potatoes, and salad with some amazing croutons (hee hee!!).

The evening ended with me and Dayna hanging out on the couch, good old fashioned girl talk, while the boys went to pick up Dave's car. We didn't even realize that they'd been gone so long, until they walked in. They made up some silly story about being gone so long because they had to change a flat tire, but it turns out they were just doing the same....well, good old fashioned boy talk, anyways....in the truck.

I've had such an amazing time with D&D here in Santa Monica. We've talked about then coming to Austin soon...and I sincerely hope that we can make that happen. If not as soon as we've been talking, then sometime soon thereafter. You guys are awesome, and I'm so glad that we got to hang out this weekend!!!

Best in LA

2008-10-11T23:11:00.002-05:00

Ah…..what a lovely Saturday in SoCal!!! Brett and I briefly stopped by Dayna and Dave’s school in the afternoon, they were running a function for the kids and their parents complete with a chili contest, those blow up jumpy things, and a dunking booth. I felt sorry for the student that was in the booth because it was chilly outside!!! It was absolutely a beautiful day, but just cold enough in the shade for me to need a jacket . I surely would have been shivering if I was the unlucky one to be chosen for the dunking!

We grabbed a sandwich with all intentions of having a little picnic on the “boardwalk” (only because I can’t figure out what else to call it) overlooking the beach, but the winds kept us inside the car to eat instead. We sat in the car, windows down, ate and watched the people walk and run by. We even caught a glimpse of an actor, he was tall, lanky, balding, I can still see his face in my head, but neither of us can figure out who it was!!! Even when he ran back by, we were drawing a blank. Google didn’t come through this time for me….are you as surprised as me that “bald older tall actor” didn’t come up with who I was looking for? :)

Since we were on the water’s edge, we knew that we’d have to grab a few pictures. One of the (many) reasons that I adore Brett is that he’s so much fun when taking pictures. People might not believe me when I say that most of the pictures we take are because he remembers to grab them. Yup, we are definitely a match.

D&D called to tell us that they were finished for the day, so we all jumped in one car and headed for a quick treat at Starbucks. The warm White Chocolate Mocha was the perfect late afternoon delight as we tossed around a few ideas for evening festivities.

We decided to start out at Bottle Rock, a wine bar in Santa Monica. We were very much entertained by Bernar, our French waiter, and pleased with our wine and cheese selections. Ever tried honey on cheese? Do it….yum-my!!

The cheeses didn’t quite fill us up, so it was back to the drawing board to figure out what to really fill our tummies with….then Dayna remembered about “the best burger in LA” at Father’s Office. After a quick phone call to see if there was a line (A line? For a restaurant? Well, it is LA…..), we ventured over towards that area….only to find that in the 5 minutes it took us to get there, a few others had made the same decision. BUT….it was worth the short wait. The burger was messily scrumptious!!! Definitely go try this if you’re ever in the area.

The last stop for the night was to get our bowl on! Brett had been talking trash all afternoon about how great of a bowler he was….so we just HAD to see this. It was a really fun night....Brett has the desire to try and redeem himself when we're in Vegas...I'll let you see for yourself how the scores ended up (go Dave and AP - hee hee!!!!).

The end of the evening ended us all up on the couch, finishing off the remains of the ice cream, Brett and Dave deep into a pretty deep discussion, Dayna and me falling asleep to the sweet sounds of their voices....awwww, yeah, that was totally dorky. :)

Definitely one of my best days in LA! :)

Hanging with D&D

2008-10-10T23:28:00.003-05:00

After Dayna came home from work, we decided that it was time to get outside and headed out for a walk. I am in love with the weather here. It was almost chilly enough in the shade to need a jacket, but instead we decided to get a little worked up and took some time to have fun on the playground.

Our walk landed us at Whole Foods, and we picked up a few things to cook dinner at home. Dayna and Dave cooked up some yummy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry. They insisted that Brett and I chill and relax while they slaved away in the kitchen - so we did just that.

We had the most wonderful night filled with stories of friendship, family, faith, and so much more. After sitting at the dinner table for a while, we pulled up the chair and couch in the living room, brought over the candles, grabbed 4 spoons and the tub of Reese's Ice Cream, and continued our conversations. Whoever said you don't need much to enjoy each other's company, was talking about a night like tonight. It was perfect.

I also must share that I'm a little bit in love with Brett and Dave's friendship. That might sound weird, but I challenge you to not feel the same way when around these two. It is so refreshing to see, and the joy and laughter surrounding them, well, it's just contagious.

But, I can't forget to mention Dayna - she's awesome, and it's been great getting to know her too. We learned that we are both the oldest of 3 girls, played the flute in high school, and enjoy some of the same authors. I'm so glad to be here, and am excited about spending more time this weekend with D&D!

Dorkville

2008-10-10T15:39:00.003-05:00

I am officially in Dorkville.....and I must admit, I am loving it.

Brett and I are sitting at the kitchen, table, working, typing away on our laptops. Now, Dave just got home from work, and he and Brett are sitting here comparing war wounds on their MacBook Pro laptops.

"No, man, I dropped mine from the top bunk and it landed on a hard floor."

"Oh NO....check out this, I have separation on the bottom near the DVD drive".

It's cracking me up, honestly, but I love it to death. I'm home.

This California Girl comes home......

2008-10-09T23:01:00.001-05:00

Bet some of you didn't know that I'm a California Girl. Yup, I was born in Lancaster.....about 60 miles north of LA. I've never really lived in CA, so the next 3 weeks will be some sort of a homecoming for me.

I flew from Austin to El Paso to LA tonight. I'll be here for the next 3 weeks, going between LA, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, San Diego and San Jose, before heading back home. I'll definitely be getting my use out of my new WiFi card as I will be working the entire time I'm here. (I tell you what, it was so nice to be at the airport and be connected and not have to be paying $10 for a 24 hour period....I'm such a big dork, I know it!)

I updated Twitter as soon as I landed last night "I can't even believe it. I'm here!!! ;)". When I checked it again 6 minutes later, I saw Brett's post: "Woo Hoo!!!". I got the giddiest smile on my face, and I'm sure that the other passengers waiting to deboard the plane were wondering what was making me smile so big. After getting through the terminal, I hopped down the stairs, because waiting on the escalator would have taken too long to get to the bottom, walked through the crowd and, at first, didn't see him. Then I turned the corner, and was able to get a good chuckle while I watched him looking for me for about 5 seconds, before he turned and saw me walking towards him. We haven't stopped smiling yet.

I was starved, and while the snack that Brett picked me up managed to tide me over for the drive out of the airport, we had to get something to eat. Well, we're in CA, so why not go for some In-N-Out?? The last time I was in LA, Lora and I had tried to find the one closest to the airport with no luck, so it'd been a while since my last experience.

I wasn't really paying attention when we were standing in line, so when it was time for me to order, I ended up doing it all wrong. Well, not wrong, but without the insider info of ordering it "animal style" or something like that....but, nonetheless, it was yummy....oh how I love that they pile on the onions there!! :)

We sat in the parking lot and chatted for a while. We had to catch each other up on what'd been happening in the last few days, since it was his idea to heighten our anticipation of seeing each other by not talking since Monday. I thought it was a silly plan, but I was challenged....and I'm not competitive at all (hee hee), so I accepted and managed to complete it too!

We made it to Dave and Dayna's, and they are so sweet to make it feel like home here - complete with Sour Patch Kids and M&Ms in candy dishes on the kitchen table, Entenmann's Cheese Filled Crumb Coffee Cake in the kitchen for breakfast, and the coffee pot set to start brewing at 530am. It's going to be a fun few days here at the O'Neil house! (Oh, and can I mention that it's the most perfect lovely weather here too - the kind where you wear a little jacket just because it's slightly chilly - I.LOVE.IT!!!)

So, I just thought I'd post quickly and let everyone know that I made it, and I'm going to do my best to keep this updated while I am here....instead of updating when I get back. :)

MOUSE SMALL!!!

2008-10-08T23:33:00.004-05:00

Every once in a while, we remember to get together for a good ole fashioned Girl's Night In. I was so happy to host our little get together tonight......salad, spaghetti, angel food cake, and girl time.

We ate, caught up, talked, laughed, and did what girls do (wouldn't all the men readers like to know), and had a fantastic time.

I took a quick break while everyone was finishing up eating, and grabbed a few quick shots of Kara. Isn't she gah-gush? :) We didn't get down and outside until well after 7pm, and so there wasn't much of it left, but I was trying to play a little with the remaining sunlight. I love how it bounces off her beautiful curls in this shot.

Of course, I had to get a group shot before it was Caleb's bedtime, and I think that we were all happy with this one. :) I love these girls, and am so glad that we got to spend some time together catching up. Honestly, is there anything better in life than quality girl time? Yeah, I didn't think so!

After Stacy, Lisa, and Caleb had to head home, the rest of us sat down to a grueling game of Taboo! It's been years since I've played this game, but I love it. We made two teams, and since Laura is the birthday girl (Friday), she got to play on both teams.

Some of the rounds, the teams rocked.....getting 7 clues guessed in the time allowed....and then some of the rounds, yeah, we weren't so great.

My favorite round, Renae was trying to get Kara and Laura to answer correctly the clue she had in front of her.

She gave the clues:
Rodent.............In a film..........Opposite of Large...........

Some of the answers that were SO close:
Rat.......Mouse....Small....Tiny.....Mickey.........Oh!! MOUSE SMALL!!!

I was doing the buzzing for this round, and about lost it when Kara blurted out "MOUSE SMALL" and just was so confident that this was the answer. This tirade went on for the entire time, and no one ever made the right guess.

Can you guess what the answer was?

STUART LITTLE!!!

The moms in the room said "OH!! Our kids would be saying "Duh!".

Surprise - Laura's team ended up winning......isn't that nice how we did that for the birthday girl? It was a close call, but overall a really fun night! :)

Afterward, Kara and Laura helped me whittle down my ridiculous packing to an acceptable level, and now I'm headed to bed.

Even though it's not as often as I'm sure we all would like, I am thankful for all of my girlfriends, and for the time that I get to spend with them tonight. Until next month......

Just like Oprah....let me share a few of my "Favorite Things"

2008-10-07T21:59:00.003-05:00

I started this post over a month ago, but I had so much going on that I wanted to save this for a slow time, when I didn’t have anything else going on to post about…..well, shocking to even myself…it’s been 3 days since my last post…so YAY…I get to post this now!

So, a few times every year Oprah has one of her “Favorite Things” episodes. You know the one. She tells the audience about her obsession with some new face cream that she loves, and then screams “And everyone gets one!!!!” – and then the audience goes absolutely bonkers!

Well, Laura has been invited to a “Favorite Things” party a few weeks back, and so we’d been talking about our own favorite things. Now, I don’t have the ability to type “And everyone gets it!” and deliver to all of you, but I wanted to go ahead and share some of the things I cannot live without!

MY CAMERA(S)

The only real question that you should ask when looking to get a new camera is “Which Canon should I get?”. I have owned 6 different Canon cameras, two of which I use right now, and they are by far the best made out there. There is so much that you can do with your point and shoot camera….that if you haven’t played around with all the buttons on there, then you are missing out!! I love when I can share these tricks with fellow Canon users, and inspire them to play!

Favorite tip for Moms – find the Continuous shooting feature on your point and shoot camera. This will allow you to take multiple pictures by keeping the shutter button down – making it that much easier to get that cute moment, since the kiddos tend to move a lot faster than the camera! This will work best if you’re in a well lit environment – it’s not as fast if you have the flash turned on.

If you run into me, and you are using a Canon – ask me to show you a few new tricks!

MY PHONE

Hi. My name is Annemarie and I am an iPhone addict. There isn’t much else to say about that….BUT…..you know me, of course I have a few things that I want to point out. I never thought that I’d want my phone to be anything other than just a phone….I have my camera to be a camera, my computer to be a computer….my phone should be a phone. Well, I thought that until I welcomed this little blessing into my life! I never used my iPod before, but I love that I have music at my fingertips wherever I am. Just this weekend I went grocery shopping while listening to music….it made the mundane task of shopping for shampoo, razors, toothpaste, etc…..actually enjoyable. The cool thing too, is that if you happen to get a phone call, you already have in your headphones, and you can easily answer.

With as much as I travel, I love to use the Weather feature to know the climate of the cities I’ll be visiting soon. I load my favorite pictures onto my phone, so at any time that I’m telling a story, and need to bring up a picture, it’s at my fingertips. I can access my Google Calendar at a moment’s notice….I can update and follow friends on Twitter without any hassle…..and OH, all the games – Scrabble, Morocco, Soduku, Pop Quiz – all incase I reach a new level of boredom. Oh…and Maps – I’ll never be lost again (HA!).

MICROSOFT IMAGE RESIZER FOR WINDOWS XP

How many of you have wondered what is going on with your network after your computer is running slow, only to realize that it’s due to an email that is trying to download. One of your friends or family members has just sent you some of their favorite pictures from the weekend…..straight from the computer…..which were straight from the camera….the full sized files! Don’t lie….you’ve all had this happen, and at one point, have all been on the sending end of this scenario too!!

I have the answer. It’s quick, it’s free and it’s simple. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx and download this tool to instantly resize your photos from 3+MB to email ready KBs in seconds.

Once it’s installed, after you’ve located the files in your folders, right click on your photos, choose Resize Picture, then pick either small, medium, or large. The program will put a resized duplicate in the same folder that is sized appropriately for emailing. No more 15MB emails to friends and family – woohoo!! Your recipients will be much happier!

You might also consider using this tool to resize your images for your blogs. There isn’t a real need to upload the entire size file, and they’ll load faster too for your readers!

GOOGLE and SOME of its GLORIOUSNESS…

Google Desktop

It’s Google…for your computer! Let’s say that you want to find that email that references your favorite recipe for King Ranch Chicken, but you can’t remember where you put it. Well, Google Desktop will index, and then search, all your files on your system. So, click Ctrl twice, put in your search criteria, and it’ll find the files, emails, etc, on your computer that match your request. Pretty cool!! This is great for work if you have a lot of folders in Outlook. It’ll find the email, and then give you the option to open that email in Outlook, or view all the messages that have the same subject line. Try it out – it’s a free download – gotta love Google!!

RSS Reader

If you read a lot of blogs, then you NEED this! It’s essentially an “Inbox” for all the blogs you read. Go to Google.com and choose Reader. You’ll pop in the website address for the ones that you stalk, I mean, read, and it’ll automatically tell you when there are new entries – so you don’t have to check the actual pages each and every day.

Blogger

Well, duh. But, I have to tell you, I love blogging. It’s almost therapeutic. I actually started this blog about a year and a half ago, but I only told like two people – Corey and Lora – and never knew what to write. When I decided to start it up again this year, I still wasn’t sure if I had anything that I’d find to talk about….but, once you start, you’ll probably not stop. It’s rather addicting, and hey, it’s a good way to keep up on your own life – or it is for me anyways. For those of you that have family and friends that live out of town, and are constantly wondering what you and the kids are up to these days – well, try it out. You might find it fun! To start a blog, go to www.blogger.com and get started today. Be sure to let me know so I can add you to my RSS Reader.

That’s all for now. I’m constantly finding new things that I love, and now can’t live without. I’m one of those people that tells everyone about the new tricks and gadgets that I find, so thought that I’d share with a broader audience.

I’d love to hear from you. Are these things that you find useful? What are some of your favorite things…..that Oprah might have overlooked?

BLEZT.

2008-10-03T18:17:00.004-05:00

Just like his license plate says.....BLEZT.....that's how I feel.

That is one of the first things that I noticed when I met Brett. Well, it was maybe one of the first 10 things. First it was how much his smile made me do the same, second was what a great hug that he gave, then, somewhere in the next 7 things, I noticed his license plate.

No, I'm not a weird stalker-ish type person, it's just something that I notice....blame my mother. She will blurt out some little ditty while sitting at a stop light, and when we say "Huh?". She'll say "Make My Day, March 1984.....MMD 384. The license plate in front of us". So, yes, I notice license plates....anyways, let's move on.

My day started out like any other Friday. 730am shower. 8am Friday conference call, and then more work. I worked from home, well, Laura's home, today, instead of the office. Nice thing about this job is that if I'm online and can answer my phone, then I can work from anywhere.

So, I must admit that I also often find it hard to concentrate all day long. With the internet being right at my fingertips and all.....and as I know what the internet holds (oh, all the blogs with pretty pictures)....I take short quick breaks and click on my Google Reader to see what it has for me from time to time. Not every minute.....but maybe once every couple hours?? :)

Well, late this afternoon, when we were wrapping up for the day, Laura, Andrew and I were all in the game room, the TV was on, we were chatting, and I clicked my reader and let it open in a new tab. It showed (3), and so I looked over to see what goodies were in store for me.

I saw a new post from Jasmine, and I so love her posts, for her words AND her photos, so I started to read it. I was on my work laptop, which has a small screen, so this is all I saw when I started to read.

I noticed that it was one of Jasmine's "Anytime" shoots, and that there was only one name there, and it was Brett, but didn't think anything of it. I started to read...and when I got to the part that said "When Brett asked if I could take pictures of him.....". I stopped and was like "?!!???! Surely it couldn't be my Brett. He didn't mention anything to me about a photoshoot".

I scrolled down.

And saw this.

And.......um.....my jaw dropped and I just stared at the screen.

I quickly sent Brett a text message that just said "Um...WHAT?!?!?!". Normally I would just call, but I wasn't ready to talk yet....I was still speechless. And sweaty....because.....seriously?!??!! Did you look at the pictures?? Yeah, I agree....he's beautiful. (Insert sappy sigh here).

I looked over at Laura and just said "Um, check Jasmine's blog please.....right now!", so she could see what had me so verklempt.

Not 5 minutes later my phone rings. It's Brett. He tells me about how on Sunday, after Shyla sent him a sneak preview from her phone of one of the pics she shot of me, he asked his buddy DJ to get a few shots of him, for me. Well, DJ remembered that Jasmine was coming to Santa Barbara that week, and said that she'd be perfect for it....so Brett started scheming and didn't let on at ALL to me about his plan.

So, back to the BLEZT, blessed, part. It's a new word to me. It's not one that I ever used before, or even felt that comfortable using, knowing what it really means....but, it is just how I feel lately in my life. My friends, my family, my passions, my happiness, my life....Brett. All of it brings me such joy and makes me smile each and every day.

Thank you to Jasmine for capturing Brett as I see him.....beautiful. I consider myself lucky enough to be someone that knows, however, that is only half as much as he is on the inside.

Ok....that's all for now. I have a "phone date" in 30 minutes and I still have to get ready! :) Hee hee...I know, we're pretty cute. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Traffic, Pepperoni and Cupcakes - A Great Austin Night!

2008-10-02T20:04:00.002-05:00

After work today, I decided to take a little trip down to South Congress for First Thursday. The traffic at 545pm in Austin isn't the most enjoyable, but it was pretty night and there was good music on the radio, so I didn't mind it too much. :)

After scoring one of the last parking spots in the garage behind Guero's, my first stop was across the street to get a yummy slice of pepperoni from Homeslice Pizza. I sat out front, enjoyed my dinner, and traffic/people watched all of the buzz on South Congress. The sun was shining with the ideal amount of warmth.....it was the perfect Austin evening.

I have been curious about these cupcakes for a while now, and thought to take the short walk down to get myself one. I got a Vanilla Dream from Hey Cupcake, and had to get some milk to go with it! It was the sweetest treat. :)

The main reason for my trip was to make a quick visit to Diane to get some more goodies. I just love her creations, and after finding out that she was in the same spot as last month, I jumped on the chance!

Time's running out....are you registered to VOTE?

2008-10-02T13:56:00.003-05:00

Are you registered to vote?
The deadline to register in order to vote in the November 4th election is OCTOBER 6, 2008.

Check to see if you're registered in Texas by clicking HERE.
Need to register still in the next 4 days? Click HERE.

I just watched this video, and thought it was pretty cool. It's nice to see celebrities using their fame for a good cause.

Get registered!!!

Downsizing and feeling good!!!

2008-10-02T12:16:00.006-05:00

My life used to be ruled by my television shows. I can remember Saturdays where I'd lay on the couch all day just getting caught up on what my DVR had recorded for me that week. Honestly, I had like 15 one hour shows that I couldn't live without watching.

When the writer's strike happened, it was actually a blessing in disguise for me. There weren't any shows on TV for me to watch....and so I found other things to do with my time. Well, since then, I have gotten real used to not watching it.

Since the shows have started back up, I have only managed to watch the first episode of Prison Break, and I found it horribly hard to sit still during that 2 hours, and concentrate on just the show alone. I got bored. What? Me - get bored with TV??? I mean, especially when it's Wentworth Miller??? Wow, I'm grown so much in the last year!! :)

So, since the shows started back up, my DVR has been diligently recording episodes of Prison Break, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, and whatever else has started up that I haven't noticed....but I can't find time to watch them. And I don't even miss it.

I called Time Warner yesterday to see what my options were if I got rid of my home phone line AND the ridiculous number of cable channels that I have, but don't use.

Old Monthly Charge $137
NEW Monthly Charge $67

WOOHOO!! I know it's pretty silly to be so excited about saving $70 a month....but honestly, it feels really good to do it. That adds up to almost $900 in a year. I dropped my DVR off this morning and I'm all set.

Well....almost all set. The girl at the TW location said that I also now have to bring in my cable modem (ugh, why didn't the person on the phone tell me that) and get it swapped out too. Anyways.......here's to living a more simple life.

What have you done lately to simply your life? Anything in your life that you can cut out that you aren't really using and spending carelessly? I'd love to hear about them - maybe give me some more ideas!!

The Women

2008-10-01T22:32:00.000-05:00

Not much to say, but we took a picture, so I have this need to post it. Kara and I went to see The Women tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse. I agree with her, the movie was just OK. I don't really have much else to say about it.

Kara seems to really have a problem with Meg Ryan's lips....but I loved her makeup in the movie!!

Ok, that's all! :)

Come over to the dark side!!!

2008-09-30T19:55:00.002-05:00

Tonight I had some impromptu YUMMY sushi (the best kind in my opinion) with Nae after work. We were talking about the weekend, which got me all inspired to try to test out some of the things that I tried to take in from watching Shyla.

Well, we got back to my place right as the sun was flaring, so we ran down to this little random field area in my condo-hood. We missed the sun, but I realized that this might be the exact spot that I've been looking for.

A few fun images of Nae from tonight! Notice anything new about her??? Yup, she's come over to the dark side once again! Glad to have her back in the brunette ranks! :)

Look at what Shyla did to me!!!

2008-09-29T16:30:00.002-05:00

So....here they are. I can't even believe that this is me in these pictures. Here are just a few of our favorites.

Shyla, you are wonderful, and I love you and what you do. You make people feel good just being around you.....and I am totally humbled at what you can do armed with your 5D! Thank you for a fantastic weekend. Come visit me in Texas soon.

Would love to hear what you all think. But also be sure to leave comments on Shyla's blog too!!! :)

Life IS Good!!!

2008-09-28T23:44:00.001-05:00

The rain started up again this morning around 6am....and it was still coming down pretty hard at 8am, when I had my alarm set to get up for the day. We had planned a little photoshoot for the morning before we left....but didn't expect it to be raining. So, I set the alarm for another hour, and when I got up at 9, it actually looked like it was clearing up a bit.

Well, the subject of the planned photoshoot.....was me. When I first met Shyla, I mentioned that I didn't know what it was like to be in FRONT of the camera....and she said "OH! I'll shoot you!". So, we were lucky to have this little chance, so we took it. We got my hair all done up, she did my makeup all pretty, and in a borrowed dress from Renae, Shyla's boots, we were on our way.

Shyla loves open fields, and we found a perfect one along the side of the road back towards town to stop. I was SOOOOOO AWKWARD....oh my goodness! Just made me appreciate SO much more how great everyone that I've shot has been....because, seriously, I was an idiot. After a few shots in the field, we got in the car and decided to get towards the ferry dock for the stand by line to get home.

We arrived at 1145am, and were the very last car allowed in the stand by line. When we asked them how long it would be until we left, he said that we had a least a few hours. We made a quick stop across the street to one of the shops, and came back at noon to be sure we wouldn't be holding up any lines if we had to move. Well....the noon boat left, but then another smaller one pulled up, and it was being loaded up too. The 1st stand by line was empty....the 2nd one was emptying....and then the cars in front of us started to move too. Would you believe it that we were the VERY last car, to back in, on the 1215 ferry!!! WOOHOO!!! So much for waiting a few hours....whew, we got so lucky.

Well, we hadn't really planned on leaving so early, we still had some shooting left to do....so, Shyla and I hopped out and finished up the shoot on the ferry. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't as weird and awkward on the boat, with all of the cars watching....well, it might have been Shyla's constant encouragement that the pics were actually looking good too. I didn't so much believe her until she showed me one or two, and then I was like "Hey, those aren't half bad....let's do this!" and we had a lot of fun going around the deck of the boat! Don't worry....I'll be showing them soon....but they'll deserve a post of their own because SHYLA is AMAZING and wonderful at what she does....so hang tight, you'll see them soon! :)

This was the view of when we were pulling out of the dock....seriously, so beautiful!

When we got back to the mainland, earlier than we expected, we headed over to Newbury Street in downtown Boston. What a perfectly New England area, I loved it. Especially the Life is Good store. Of course I had to get a little something from here too....such a fun place!!

Suzanne dropped us off, as she and a friend were headed to the NKOTB concert tonight. Shyla and I got some pizza, and settled in to review the day's shots. She had an advance copy of Ironman, so we hooked up the speakers to the computer, propped it up on the bookshelf, and relaxed as tying out the weekend.

Won't you stay on the Vineyard for the summer?

2008-09-27T23:08:00.000-05:00

So, the reason I am in Boston, and now, Edgartown, in Martha's Vineyard, is to second shoot a wedding with Shyla. When she mentioned this to me back when we saw each other in NYC, I knew that I had to jump on this opportunity!

Since we were fortunate enough to be able to have the car with us, we headed into Edgartown to find Espresso Love for some caffeine and a snack before going to meet up with the bride. Wow, did we hit the jackpot with this place....the coffee was superb, and my cinnamon raisin bagel with butter totally hit the spot.

It was a beautiful wedding. Eileen and Chris were totally adorable, so in love, and 100% laid back - the day was really about them, their family, and the celebration of the two of them being together. It was so amazing to see Shyla in action - she is really so amazing at what she does - and I even picked up a few tricks along the way that I'm so excited about! I can't wait to get back home and test them out in Austin!!!

There were 9 little flower girls, 2 ring bearers, and a few other kiddos, all part of the wedding. They really made the day that much more enjoyable....the images that Shyla got of these little darlings are awesome.

So, you're wondering about the rain??? Well, it held off almost ALL day. The ceremony and reception were rain free, which made a fantastic afternoon. The kids were able to run and play in the big open area behind the reception venue (some awesome images to come from that) all afternoon. Right when things were winding down, the 4 of us (me, Shyla, along with the bride and groom) went down to the water's edge for a quick portrait session. I drove the getaway car, and dropped them off....circling the hotel until they were ready. After a few circles, it started to DOWNPOUR - I mean, REALLY, come down!! When I came back around, I saw the 3 of them running, umbrellas in hand, to get back to the car. They were all soaked, but WOW, did Shyla really take advantage of the weather, and managed to get some images that they should cherish for a lifetime. :)

I managed to stay dry as I was driving....but here's a quick shot of what we looked like after getting back to the reception area.

After we left the wedding, it was still light outside, so we made our way into town, and had to make a pit stop at one of the many "The Black Dog" shops on the island. Evidently the "black dog" is an island mascot of sorts, so it was only fitting to get ourselves some souvenirs while we could.

I got a message on Facebook from a friend, Regina, who saw my updates saying that I was in MV, and she recommended that we check out Nancy's in Oak Bluffs for some grub. We managed to locate it without too much hassle, and stuffed ourselves silly for dinner. The seafood here was fantastic!!

We ventured a little bit more around the town, managed to find a candy shop where we picked up a few goodies, and then headed back to the hostel for the night.

While sorting through some of the days images, I remembered a certain Jackopierce song that mentioned "the vineyard", and luckily had it on my phone for us to listen. It was so cool to hear it in a whole new light: mentions of the ferry, Oak Bluffs, and other things that we now knew about personally. I can now see why they would want to "stay on the Vineyard for the summer" - what a beautiful place!!!

Rain, Rain and some more Rain in Boston

2008-09-26T23:16:00.001-05:00

I flew into Boston late last night for a weekend of learning and fun! Even though I landed an hour later than I was expected, and it was past midnight when I found them, Shyla and Suzanne were all smiles waiting for me when I found them.

After getting to Shyla's place, we quickly crashed as there was still a full day of work on Friday before we could get started on the weekend. Today, I was on my concalls bright and early, and worked from Shyla's living room.....she was kind enough to let me use her Mac Book Pro since I couldn't get my laptop connected. Man, oh man, do I want one of those.....but, one thing at a time, Annemarie!!!

It was raining from the minute I woke up until after work when Suzanne came to get us, and we were on our way to the ferry dock. Normally it wouldn't have taken as long, but it was about a little over 2 hours for us to get to where we needed to be in order to get over to Martha's Vineyard, due to the rain and traffic!

We made it to the parking area of the transit authority, and learned that there was still room for us to take the car with us on the ferry - SCORE!!! So, we got ourselves over to the loading area, and then took off to grab a bite to eat before taking off. It was STILL raining, and it didn't look like it'd be letting up any time soon! Oh well, we made the most of it, and were still smiling!

The ferry ride was an interesting one. We were in the bottom of the boat, and the cars were all rocking pretty bad. All the rain for the day made for some choppy waters. BUT....we made it to land, and then our adventure began to find the hostel.

Suzanne had stayed at the hostel last time she was in Martha's Vineyard, and so we opted to do this again. What a super neat little place! It was so quaint, cozy, and luckily, very clean! :) It wasn't a busy weekend, probably due to the crappy weather, so we ended up having a room all to ourselves. :) Woohoo!!

We turned in a little bit after midnight....excited for what Saturday had in store!!!

Ooooh......sandwiches!!!

2008-09-24T13:42:00.003-05:00

If there is one thing that I have in common with Joey from Friends, it's that my favorite food is sandwiches!!! I like all kinds of sandwiches....but mostly the ones that have lots of stuff on them. I am definitely not a bread and meat only kind of girl....throw it all on there - mayo, mustard, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, black olives, pickles, salt & pepper, oil & vinegar....got anything else you can put on there? Sure, add that too!! I love me some sandwiches!!

One of my favorite places for a good yummy sandwich is Tex-Andwiches. I remember noticing the teeny, rundown, building when I was at an eye doctor appointment about 7 years ago. After I saw the name, thought that maybe they had sandwiches there, and went to try it out.....and as they say.....the rest is history!

I've taken many people there, and they too have loved it! For a short time, we were without the yummy deliciousness because they were forced to shut down . The land they were on for something like 30+ years was bought by the city, and they had to close. But not to fret.....a few months later....they were back up and running in their new location!

I have the phone number memorized, 255-0294, but it's also saved in my phone. They get kind of busy sometimes, and it's nice to call ahead and put in my order. I've been eating there for so long that the owner knows me by name, and when I call, he says "Oh, I know you. See you in 5 minutes.".

Well, after dropping off a few things at the bank today, I needed a bite to eat, and I called upon my favorite sandwich place. When I went in to pick it up, there was a full fledge, like real, camera crew there...filming in the kitchen. I was all giddy and happy for them, and asked the owner what was going on. After giving me my lunch, he walked outside with me and told me that it was the Food Network. They were in town filming some stuff about Round Rock, they'd been to the new Salt Lick, Lone Star Bakery, and were advised to come over there for lunch. They got there, and decided to film it too!

I can't tell you how excited I am that this little gem has the chance to be featured on national TV! How COOL is that??!?! Well....now to think about it.....uh oh....what if they get too big and too busy and forget all about their favorite customer??

Nah, I would love it if everyone knew about this awesome little place. They've been running it for something like 30 years or so. So, next time you need a good sandwich fix - check em out! I always get the TexAndwich on French.....it's so good! :)

Don't forget to get your Tex-Andwiches Club card stamped. After 5 sandwiches, you get a free small one! I can't count the number of times that I've filled up those cards! :)

A Family Story - Ryan, Maggie and Kalynne!

2008-09-21T16:05:00.005-05:00

I met up with Ryan, Maggie and Kalynne at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown for a Family Story photo shoot! What a beautiful place - so much for us to see and explore. Would be the perfect spot to take a blanket and a good book, and spend the afternoon relaxing.....but that wasn't our plan for this day.

I had a blast covering as much of the park as Kalynne would show us! I did my best to keep up with her, as we had an adventure of our own!

Here are a few of my favorites, but be sure to catch the slideshow at the end to see all of the story!

I loved Kalynne's dancing....she was getting so into it! :)

The only almost mishap of the day was when this one goose took a special liking to Kalynne. Ryan had to pick her up to get him to not snap at her. Instead, he nipped at Ryan's jeans! Crazy goose!!

I LOVE this one....I think she looks like the little angel that she is!

Don't forget to watch the slideshow too!

Arredondo Family Shoot

2008-09-20T17:40:00.006-05:00

So...here's the post that it's taken me almost a week to finish. This week was pretty crazy at work, and so I didn't get to spend much time doing things that I love - like getting to work on the photos from the Arredondo Family Story photo shoot from last Sunday.

Laura sits right next to me at work, and had mentioned that she wasn't sleeping well because she wasn't sure how the pictures turned out. So she could catch some zzzzz's, I sent her some previews last week.....but here are the rest!

I had such a great time with Laura, Andrew, and especially Ava!! They were fantastic! I also included some of the fun shots that Brett got of me doing what I love! Be sure to watch the slideshow at the end too! :)

I'll be out of town for most of October, but am booking sessions for November and December. Please be sure to let me know if you want to have me capture your story! Click here to find out more about Photos by AP.

Be sure to watch the slideshow for all the photos!

Me....doing what I love! I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the photo! :)

My assistant for the day.....ok, everyone at once.... "Awwww......". Yes, I agree. Brett looks totally adorable and oh, so, studly hanging out with Ava. She absolutely adored him too!

Friday Night Fun with AP, ToniLoo and Gracie!!!

2008-09-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

Kara, Terry and Ava took off for a little weekend getaway.....there wasn't enough room in the car for Gracie, so Toni and I came over to hang out with her because she's just not tall enough to set the alarm at night. Just teasing on the car part....but Grace was going to stay home for this one, so we were babysitting the little angel.

Kara has this crazy idea in her head that Gracie is a little devilish child.......I have no idea what she's talking about.....especially after today.

She was ready to get up from her nap right after K, T and A left....and I walked into a smiling baby, ready to play.

We played out in the backyard for a bit, and then I decided to get us to the park instead. We played on the slide, and walked around for a while, and started to head back. I thought it would be good to take the other route back to the house - I was pretty sure I knew where I was going.

Well....oops!! I must have gotten turned around, because I didn't end up back on their street....but instead somewhere else in the neighborhood. Both of us were getting a little tired, so I whipped out my iPhone and it was (once again) Maps to the rescue!! I found where we were.....located K&T's house....and phew, we made our way back before we were both too pooped! It's been pretty nice here during the day, but it was definitely back up in the 90s this afternoon. Both of our cheeks were pretty pink after our unplanned walk!

When we got back home, I did as the instructions were posted - and opened the cabinet for Gracie to play. She had a grand ole time pulling out all the tupperware, as well as getting IN the cabinet herself. I had to grab my camera while she was playing - she was just too stinking cute!

She even helped me put them all away before we went back outside to dig a little more before dinner.

Toni came and joined us, and we made the yummy din din of Mac n Cheese with Hotdog! If Kara hadn't just cooked up some yummy Chicken Tetrazinni, we were probably going make triple of what she was eating - hers looked just as good!!

Kara made us a little goodie basket too - she's so thoughtful! :)

After dinner, it was time for some playing....and the Noggin network. We learned how to do the 'Yeti Stomp' from the Backyardigans! I don't think that I'll be able to get that song out of my head, but I must say, that out of all the different kiddo shows out there - I actually enjoyed this one. Those little guys are adorable, and their tunes aren't half bad! "Stomp, stomp, stomp.....doing the Yeti Stomp - YETI YETI YETI!!!!".

After putting Gracie to bed, we got a call from Kara, and assured her that her little girl was doing great!! She was half in shock, but happy to know that, and was going to get some good sleep tonight knowing so! Toni and I did our best to keep our eyes open to watch The Bucket List, but we didn't even make it half way through before we both turned in for the evening.

It'll be an early morning, waking up with the kiddo.....but I bet it makes it that much easier for Kara and Terry to do it on a daily basis, to be reminded how lucky they are to have two perfect little girls with smiling faces when they do!

A Little Tuesday Evening Treat.....and sushi!

2008-09-16T20:57:00.003-05:00

Today was crazy busy from start to finish.....lots of stuff to get done, which included a lot of phone calls at work, I'm surprised that I still have a voice!!

But....tonight was a special treat. When I was a freshman in the dorms at A&M, I lived at the end of a very long hall on the 4th floor of Mosher. At the other end of this hall lived a group of fantastic girls that I spent many, many, hours with that year. Some at appropriate hours, and some at the wee hours of the morning in the study carrels....not doing so much studying, but having great girl chat conversations.....when we definitely should have been sleeping. We nicknamed ourselves the "Budro Buddies". We made a lot of awesome memories that year.....including a memorable trip to Del Rio for New Year's Eve - sleepwalk much Annemarie??? Good times! I lost touch with the buddies after moving out of the dorm that year, but the rest of them all stuck together, and are still friends today.

We were put back in touch with each other about 7 years ago, when I sat next to Tricia at work. We were looking through her wedding album, and I saw Karen (who turned out to be her sister) in the pictures! Such a small world! Karen and I figured out that it's been almost 5 years since we'd seen each other last, when a few of us got together for a dinner over the holiday break in Houston.

She and her hubby are displaced from Houston, staying with Tricia, due to having no power at their house, and so we decided it would be perfect to grab a bite and catch up.

We ate the most fabulous sushi (I really do heart Kenobi) and gabbed the whole time. Turns out that Karen is a photog lover too, even though she has a Nikon!!! We chatted about that for a while, reminisced about some college stories, and caught up on current times in our lives.

When I got home, I didn't have to look hard to find the scrapbook that I made from my freshman year in college....wow, hard to believe that it was 14 years ago. Looking at these pictures, it seems like it was just yesterday. Crazy!

A snapshot from memory lane.

And tonight! :)

It's always great to catch up with old friends and see how we've all grown up, and where we are now. It was fantastic to spend some time with you, Karen! Let's not have it be another 5 years before we do it again! :)

Seriously? What is a Cold Front???

2008-09-15T21:47:00.000-05:00

I'm no meteorologist...so I can't explain what happened in the crazy world of weather that resulted in making today as beautiful as it was, but WHOA, was it a nice surprise this morning to walk outside and have it be chilly!

Yes, chilly.....in Austin. Texas. Crazy, I know!!!

I've been reading and hearing about friends, that live in places where it's less stinking hot than Texas, mention having to get out coats (yes, Melissa, I'm referring to you), but thought that we were still a long ways away from getting any relief from the heat.

Well, bring out the long sleeves.....at least for me....it's COLD up in Austin! :) Woohoo!!!

It was a great day, but with a bittersweet ending. I took Brett to the airport this evening to head back home to Santa Barbara. He's been away for a LONG time, so I'm sure that the fine residents of SB are missing him dearly. Hope Kyle has some balloons and streamers ready for your "Welcome Home" party!

When I got home, it was still feeling great outside, so I plopped down on the chair closest to the windows, opened up the balcony door, enjoyed my dinner of coffee and cheese filled crumb cake, and curled up with a good book. :) Going to read more now.....night night everyone!

I promise that we did more than just eat today! :)

2008-09-14T21:49:00.002-05:00

I am still in shock at the amount of damage that Hurricane Ike did in Houston. Luckily, my parents and sisters all have their power restored, and didn't suffer too much mishap, but it's unbelievable to me how wind and rain can be that destructive. I hope that everyone that was affected is OK, and will let me know what I can do to help.

I read this morning on Mac's blog that they were accepting donations for people affected by the storm, so I pulled out a few of my games and had them all ready to take with me. After Renae and Jeff picked us up, and we were already on the way to the new downtown location of LHC, I realized that I'd left the bag in my house! DOH! I could have kicked myself! It was week 2 of having the remote service at the Austin Music Hall, and it was really awesome. I love the band, the music and Mac is a great person to listen to and watch. I love how he starts out with a story that we can all relate to, and then brings it into what message he's chosen for the day.

Afterwards, we were all starved, which was a great opportunity to introduce Brett to another Austin favorite - Maudie's! One word - YUMMMMM!! Yes, it deserves that many "M"s. :)

The afternoon fun was fulfilled with a family story photo shoot with the Arredondo family (some teaser images to come soon!). I also owe a HUGE thank you to Brett for being my right arm as well as a fantastic babysitter to Ava while I got some pics of Mom and Dad. He also managed to get a few fun shots of me "in action" that I'll share once I've processed the pics. Good times!

On the drive back to their house from the park, we passed by the newly opened Round Rock location of the Salt Lick, and HAD to make a U-turn to stop for some BBQ. It's a totally different BBQ experience in comparison to Rudy's, so I didn't feel bad for having another BBQ stop on this Austin trip for Brett. :)

Our 1.5 hour expected wait, turned out to only be 35 minutes...but that was plenty of time to get a few cute photos...and this adorable video, of Miss Ava. Guess kiddos love that little blue birdie as much as adults! :)

We stuffed our faces....once again....and finished off the day with very full bellies, and smiles on our faces.

Humdingers, Gnilleps, Cameos and Lexicons!!!

2008-09-13T23:24:00.003-05:00

We were supposed to be in Houston this weekend, but due to the storm threats, we decided to stay put in Austin instead. We'll make it to H-town next time. :)

So, we had a pretty lazy afternoon, but then we decided to get out and run around a bit. I was happy to hear that the girls were going to be home, so Brett and I made a quick trip to say hello to Stacy, Lisa and Caleb. Poor Caleb wasn't feeling well, so he was taking a little nap, but we scored and were able to hang out for a bit with a bunch of the girls as they were having a Guitar Hero gathering in place of watching the UT game. I hadn't seen a lot of them in quite a while, so it was awesome to be able to say HI!

Brett and I had talked about it the night before, so I made a few calls to arrange an impromptu "Game Night" gathering at my place for the evening. After a stop at the grocery store to get some goodies....we whipped up some veggies with dip, cheese/sausage/crackers, and a pickle/olive selection together. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I might have gone a little overboard on the snacks for only 6 people. :) But seriously people - I love snacks like that. I could eat cucumbers and red bell peppers with ranch dip every night! Yummm!!!

Kara, Terry, Toni and Scott came over to play. After recomposing ourselves due to Terry's side-splitting humor while snacking, we decided on Cranium for our game of choice. I was surprised that no one else had played it before (so I secretly though....heh heh....got this one in the bag). We teamed up as couples, and we were off for some friendly competition!

My first clue to get Brett to guess was to "Cameo" (act like, mimicking speech and actions, but not saying names or places) Kenneth Starr. Ummmm.....yeah.......right! I tried to get him to guess Bill Clinton to even get close to where I would be going and that didn't really work out that well.

Kara and Terry, and Toni and Scott, both did really great! Back to me and Brett - yeah, well, we didn't really fare so well. :) We got a few tough breaks, some bad rolls, mixed in with some right answers, but before we knew it, the other teams were in the final circle and we weren't even 1/4 of the way through the board. DOH!! Oh well....despite us both being self proclaimed pretty competitive spirits, we had a great time losing together. :)

Molly even came out to say hello after a while.....and even more shocking, she let Toni hold her long enough for us to take a few pics until we got one that we were all happy with!

There's a Rudy's Rookie in Austin!!

2008-09-12T22:37:00.008-05:00

My favorite Californian, Brett, is back in Austin for a few days, visiting his favorite Texan (yes, I took liberties at that statement....) before heading home to Santa Barbara....so I've been trying to be sure that he experiences a few more "local" things while he's here.

Today, for lunch, we picked up Toni, and went over to have some yummy BBQ at Rudy's. Since it was Brett's first time there, we tattled, and were sure to let the folks at the counter know this. "Have you all been to Rudy's before?". Toni and I had....plenty of times...but Brett? Hee hee - "He hasn't!!".

"WE'VE GOT A ROOKIE HERE!!"

After it was announced to the entire restaurant, Brett was treated to a few samples. He liked them all - so we decided to get a little bit of each...and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. I'd say it was a successful trip!! :)

We decided to get out for a bit, and go see a movie. We caught Righteous Kill. It was a great flick, and even better with our illegally snuck in Candy Corn. :) Shhh....don't tell. I think that our punishment was eating the whole bag......ugh, rot gut!!!

On the drive home from the theater, we were witness to the most glorious sunset!! As soon as we pulled into the driveway, and the car was off, we ran upstairs to get the camera, and then back outside to watch up close, and of course, grab a few pics to document the evening.

Work Meetings Full of Presentations, Golf Putting and Silly Flower Girls

2008-09-09T23:01:00.003-05:00

Today was the second full day of our manager's meeting in North Carolina. Over the last two nights, Laura and I haven't been getting much sleep in anticipation for giving our presentations to the full room of attendees today. We stayed up way too late on Sunday night putting them together, some time on Monday night perfecting them, and then applying a few finishing touches just this morning - nothing like waiting until the last minute!!!

When we walked into the room that was setup for our meetings today....I was a little worried. Well, not worried, but....well, not sure what I was. I wasn't too nervous about presenting, but the room was a little bit intimidating to say the least.

The morning went by as fast as it could....and then came the fateful hour when it was time for us to start. I was set to go first, but luckily, one of the other practice managers had to get to a lunch meeting, so my spot was swapped with his - phew!!!

Laura went in the first half of the group, and she did awesome. With as nervous as she was, I wasn't sure what to expect - but she killed it!! I went last....and it went a lot better than I expected. We only had 15 minutes to get it all complete, and while I talk fast, there was a lot that I wanted to get in front of this group while I had the opportunity.

The evening activity before dinner was a putting competition. There were about 13 teams of 2 - Laura and I teamed up and did our best to not do too poor of a job representing Texas. Well, on the 15 hole putting course, we ended up at +12. So, we have no future in golf - but we sure did have a good time!! We even won the last place prize at the start of dinner. :)

Dinner was yummy, I cleaned every plate that they brought in front of me, and it was great to get to spend some time getting to know the management team on a smaller scale group. Henson even showed us a trick that he'd learned during his 14 years as a bartender, and pulled a cork out of an empty bottle of wine. Laura tried to emulate the trick...it might take more than a few tries to master this one!

No, Annemarie can't come out and play......

2008-09-08T10:40:00.002-05:00

We made it to Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill - or wherever in NC we are, last night, and got settled into the (very nice) Washington Duke Inn. I've been told that we are right on Duke campus somewhere. Not that I'd know that if I hadn't been told, because we really won't get to see much of the beautiful scenery while we are here, so we might as well be in Bastrop for all that it matters.

Anyways.....last night, we had a small reception with all of the meeting attendees, and it was good to see, re-meet, and catch up with everyone since our first gathering, my first week of this job. Laura and I turned in early because we had some work to do. Well, we had plenty of time to get our presentations in order before we left Austin, but we waited....and waited....until the (almost) last minute.

So, we started to work on them around 10pm last night, and finally went to bed at almost 3am. I KNOW - crazy talk, but we wanted to get them done. Cheers to Procrastination!! Ugh. 6am wakeup call came REALLY early this morning.

I went over for the morning kickoff messaging from our CEO, and then had to leave because it's being sponsored by a competitor, and they didn't want us in there - hey, no problems here! So, I'm back in my room, working, about to go meet the other rejected folks for lunch....but I can't help wish that I was outside instead of working.

So, no, I can't come out to play today, but thanks for asking. I REALLY wish I could. Check out the beautiful view from my room!

Oh what a Sunday.....

2008-09-07T09:31:00.004-05:00

I can think of at least a few things that I would rather be doing this early on a Sunday.

1. Sleeping
2. Laura would like to be playing with Ava
3. According to LA, I would be updating my Facebook or taking photos
4. Heading to church with Renae & Jeff
5. Sleeping, even with Molly meowing and headbutting me because she wants attention

But.....no! I'm not doing any of those things because instead, I'm sitting at Gate 15 with Laura and KB in Austin, waiting to board our first plane of the day, to Dallas.

After that, we head to Raleigh, NC. It is going to a VERY packed few days of meetings, meetings and more meetings. They might feed us and let us get up to use the bathrooms every once in a while.....but overall, it might pretty much suck. :)

Don't we look thrilled to be here??

First Thursday!!

2008-09-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've hit up First Thursda y.....so I was happy when Renae mentioned it. She and I met up with Tricia and Tara for a little dinner at Guero's Taco Bar, and then wandered South Congress for some outdoor vendor shopping.

I have to take a minute to mention one of my new favorite finds. Diane, of Tasty Jewelry, had a booth setup right near the restaurant, showcasing her jewelry and these adorable bauble magnets. I loved all of her original mod artwork, and all of the colors to choose from! I kind of got overwhelmed with all the choices, and so I went a little overboard! I love them!

So, check out her site, or look for her stuff at another favorite on South Congress, Parts & Labour. This is a spot that sells all things designed and made by local Austin artists - so cool!!

Caleb!!!

2008-09-03T22:04:00.002-05:00

I had the pleasure of getting to hang out with Caleb, again, on Labor Day. Stacy & Lisa called me on Saturday to see what I was doing this weekend. I was hoping that they were asking because they wanted some updated pictures of their precious baby. I was thrilled that they did! :)

He is the cutest baby, and has changed SO much since the last time we took pictures - just 3 months ago. I can't believe that he's just a few days shy of 8 months. I was there the day he was born, and have been lucky to be part of this little guy's life since then. Love this baby....check out one of the many reasons why!!!

Be sure to check out the slideshow for all the images.

I ...

2008-09-02T22:53:00.000-05:00

I saw this on several people's blogs, and since I didn't have anything else to blog today (I'm still editing the pictures from my Monday shoot....), I thought I'd take a few minutes to think about this.

I AM … watching the clock.
I WANT… things to get better for someone that I care about very much.
I HAVE … the worst eating habits. Dinner tonight? Microwave mac and cheese with vanilla bean ice cream.
I KEEP … picking at my face - ewwww.....gross, I know, but I can't help it. Ugh, I wish it would clear up soon!!!
I WISH I COULD … fly anywhere for free at anytime!
I HATE … the ants in my house!
I FEAR … failure.
I HEAR … Molly meowing for attention (I love it).
I DON’T THINK … that I drink enough water, or exercise enough (yeah, not at all is definitely not enough).
I REGRET … not trying sushi when I was younger - better late than never though! :)
I LOVE … my family, my friends, people, animals, YOU!
I AM NOT … afraid to learn and try new things.
I DANCE … like I'm on SoulTrain!
I SING … as much as I can without annoying others.
I NEVER … pay bills late.
I RARELY … read books anymore, and I wish I made the time.
I CRY WHEN I WATCH …the musical actors and actresses come out for their bows at the end of performances.
I AM NOT ALWAYS … up on what's going on in the news. I JUST found out yesterday that Mccain's running mate, Palin, was a woman. Yes, I know, I'll do better to come out from under the rock I live from time to time.
I HATE THAT … not all of my friends live in the same town as me.
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … a lot of things, but I'm doing something about that. How's that for confusing? :)
I NEED… to continue to learn, grow and practice my photography!
I SHOULD … go to bed, but it'll be hours before I do that. :)

Austin BatFest 2008

2008-08-31T15:57:00.005-05:00

It seems that Austin's unofficial mascot is the bat. Rumor has it that Austin houses the world's largest urban bat colony, and so it's only proper to celebrate the little creatures with a festival! I went to BatFest 2008 with Renae and Tara this afternoon, and OH BOY, it is hot as EVER in Austin right now!!! But, I strapped on my ShootSac, complete with my new lens, and headed out for a new Austin adventure.

There were all sorts of vendors showcasing their goodies along the South Congress Bridge....of course there were plenty of bat themed trinkets!

One of the main reasons for going was to enjoy and support Renae's hubby's band - Deejer. They were starting off the afternoon entertainment at the KLBJ stage. They rocked out, and I had a great time getting some images of the guys - JR, Dave, Jeff, Chris and Gary.

I loved all the trinkets that the vendors had out in the booths. I managed to only buy one thing - whew!

The Gentlemen's Social Club played next on the stage. I couldn't leave without grabbing a few more shots.

Be sure to check out the slideshow to view all the images from today. It will pop up the gallery view at the end.

Sure, we'll brunch at the White House....why not?

2008-08-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

I think that this was the earliest that we'd had to get up the whole trip....but it was for a great reason. Kenny had arranged us to have a tour of the East Wing of the White House this morning. His friend, Tina, pulled some strings (thank you!!!) to make this happen at almost a moment's notice for our group.

We met up with everyone else who had arrived that morning from Boston, and went through the house. We weren't allowed to bring our cameras with us, so the poor quality of what we did capture is due to us not being able to NOT take any pictures....so we resorted to the iPhones - hey, better than nothing, right? :)

None of us dared to try to snap anything while we were IN the White House for fear of our lives....but after we left the building, since it was raining pretty hard, we hung around under the awning for a bit to see if it would subside. Well, Kenny was super sneaky.....told Brett to dip the umbrella back a bit, and he got one of DJ, Allie, me and Brett right outside. It's kind of amusing, because you can't really tell where we are since the umbrella is in the way....BUT, if you look close, you can see a little bit of the house.....yes, the white one....in the background. :)

The rain wasn't stopping, so Allie, Brett and I crowded under the one shared umbrella, while the rest of the crew got a little drenched on our walk to brunch. We dined at Old Ebbitt Grill, a spot that Tina told us a lot of government officials eat at quite frequently. I almost finished all my yummy french toast, had more than a few cups of coffee, and dried off a bit while enjoying the company of amazing people.

I sadly said my goodbyes to everyone.....until the next time we meet, that is.....and headed to the airport to come back home. It's been an amazing week and a half, and it's going to be SOOOO tough to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Luckily it's one day of work, and then 3 more off for the long holiday - I'm definitely going to need them!

See you next time NYC......off to DC!!!

2008-08-27T22:30:00.004-05:00

What a glorious morning! This was the view from Virginia's window at 630am this morning. Yeah, I could get used to this....too bad it's our last day in NYC.

With one last afternoon in NY, we decided to take a trip out to the Brooklyn Bridge. I just can't get over how nice the weather is here. If we had walked half what we did here in TX, we would have certainly keeled over by now. It was a perfect day to take a stroll to the top of the bridge, and back down.

I hadn't taken any JUMP pics in NY. I was too shy to ask any of the many other people on the bridge to try to get one of both of us, so Brett got this one of me. It's a little silly to be doing the jump by yourself, but it was worth it. Add NY JUMP to my collection! :)

We finally stopped at the pizza place at the subway stop at our last exit, and quickly scarfed down some slices before getting our bags and hopping a taxi to the Amtrak station.

Special THANK YOU to Virginia for allowing us to invade her life and crowd her living room for more than a few days!! You are a gracious hostess, and hopefully you'll come visit TX or CA soon to let us repay your hospitality!!

So, I have to say that the train is definitely the way to travel. We only had to get there about 30 minutes early, which ended up being way earlier than really need be, and had so much room on the trip. We took it from Penn Plaza all the way to Union Station in DC. Each row was nice and roomy, AND had plugs. So, we finished up the movie we started on the plane to NY, and watched another one too. What a way to go - I loved it and will for sure want to do this again soon!

We made it safe and sound to DC and checked into the fabulous, 5 star, St Regis Hotel for the evening (thank goodness for Starwood points!). The place was as nice as you would expect a 5 star hotel to be. I even was compelled to call Corey to tell her about it - she LOVES fancy hotels! I didn't get any pics, but that was probably because we were both starving, and quickly after dropping off our stuff, we took the bellhop's recommendation and dined at Georgia Brown's. It was true Fine Southern Cuisine - my meal even came with collard greens - it was all delish - and we were stuffed afterwards!

Early night.....exciting last day of my trip tomorrow! :)

Let's go Yankees!!!

2008-08-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

We were successful in getting my passport this morning at my company's NYC building....so I took that right up to the security counter for my entrance into the office for the day. I had decided since I was there in NY, that I'd save one day of vacation and work today. I had a few calls, did a training session, and then called it a day to meet up with Brett in the early afternoon. Knowing that he was enjoying Battery Park, and lunch with some friends that were on their honeymoon in NY didn't really keep me in the mood to be all couped up in the office for too much longer!

We walked around the city a little bit more, before heading back to Virginia's place to get ready for the fun part of our day. We had tickets to the Yankees vs Red Sox game at Yankee stadium that night. Even more fun was that we were going to be meeting up, and sitting with, Laura and Andrew, who were in NY vacationing at the same time.

We headed out there on a very crowded subway......seems that was where everyone was headed tonight - don't blame them though. There are only 15 more games in this stadium before it's being retired for the new one - and hey, it's a classic rivalry game - bound to be an interesting night!! We walked around outside the stadium for a while....and had ourselves an infamous 'dirty water dog'. I'd heard this term, but wasn't sure what it meant....so I asked the folks standing in line behind us. Turns out that it is reference to the fact that the vendors don't change out the water that they cook the hotdogs in all season......ewww....dirty, indeed!

LA and Andrew were waiting for us when we got to our seats - which turned out to be pretty great. I can't exactly tell you where we were....I guess a little off from where 1st base would be, but we could see almost the entire field.....and it was a gorgeous night.

I'm no sportscaster, so you can read the play by play on ESPN, but the Yankees ended up losing, 7 to 3. The fans were amusing to say the least.....especially this one character that sat right in front of us. At one point Laura was crying she was laughing so hard.

After the game, we waited to get onto an even more crowded subway, and went with LA and Andrew back towards Times Square to get a view of it at night, all lit up. It is definitely a big tourist spot, but the lights are pretty amazing! We had to grab a few more shots for the evening, and then said goodnight!!

US Open and Free to Succeed Tour in NYC

2008-08-25T23:39:00.001-05:00

We had a yummy crepe lunch early afternoon at Grand Central Station, and then took the 42nd bus out to the US Open. When Brett first mentioned that he wanted to go to this, I was all for it....but I really had no clue what it was. I knew it was tennis, but that's about all. Luckily it's a pretty easy game to pick up on as a spectator, and it was actually quite entertaining - I had a great time all day!

We started out watching a match between two girls, where Brett shared his method for deciding which person to root for - whoever is cuter, of course! :) I was glad to know that this method worked for the men as well when we moved over to catch Wawrinka beat (the much cuter, and who I was rooting for) Bolelli. The highlight of our day was being able to see #1 seat, Nadal, play Phau. Phau kept up pretty good to make it an interesting and intense game, but ended up losing in the end.

It was a lot of fun, and of course, now I really want to play some tennis. I bet that I'd be terrible at it, but I still want to try. Anyone have an extra racket I can borrow? Want to volley? :)

The evening took us out to Chinatown.....where we met us with the Free to Succeed Tour. Right when we got to the Sheraton, we saw Shyla and I couldn't have been happier to see her!! We went for a Pinkberry run.....one of her latest obsessions.....and then headed back to the bus to for some good old fashioned girl talk while the rest of the folks finished up the show.

After the show was over, we all enjoyed some real Chinatown Chinese food on the bus. I'm so glad that I got to see everyone again, and meet a few new friends too, while the tour stopped in NY.

Another wonderfully non planned day in NYC!

2008-08-24T23:50:00.001-05:00

Wow, what a lazy start to a Sunday! Well, I guess it wasn't that lazy....we spent a good part of the morning figuring out how to get me my passport from Austin so I would be able to identify myself when it'd be needed. Thank goodness for Toni - she's an absolute lifesaver!! Turns out that the FedEx that would be able to "hold for pickup" is in the same building as my NY office....so bingo! :) Problem solved!

In sticking with our non-plan, we didn't have that much planned for the day, however, Virginia had told us about the Circle Line Tours that left from Chelsea Pier.....she even had saved us up some coupons from the local paper, so we headed towards the water to catch the tour. Well, it was our one goof on the public transport, and we ended up losing about 10 minutes when we hopped off a 15 bus to only get back on the next one, after realizing we were on the correct one from the start. Long story short...we got there too late for the tour we had originally intended, and the next one sold out two people in front of us in line while we were waiting to buy those tickets. Oh well, we went with the flow, and decided to walk back towards the city on 45th street and see what we came upon.

There were some neat walls on the walk back towards town, so we snapped a few photos. As much as I LOVE to be behind the camera....I get so awkward when I'm in FRONT of them!! Eeek!! But, I'd heard Brett mention more than a time or two how much he loves red brick walls, so I thought that it was nice of me to sit there and try not to look like a total dork for a photo opp.

We took off walking some more, and stumbled across Bryant Park. We grabbed a sandwich and a salad, and had ourselves a little picnic while watching some folks from La Boule play a few games of pétanque, which is a neat game with balls. It was a beautiful day, so we stayed for a while and just chilled out on the lawn.

Next stop was Top of the Rock, which is the about 70 stories up at the Rockefeller Center.....with the most breathtaking views of the entire city. We decided to head up there at night so we could watch the sunset from the top. It was beautiful. There were so many people there......all trying to get the money shot - I think we got a few good ones ourselves.

I'd be making it up if I tried to remember all of the different subway lines we took to get back to Virginia's each night.....but I'm pretty sure that the last one we take is the L. It spits us out right at 14th and 1st, and then we head up to 20th to Avenue C......but tonight, we decided to test out Brett's sense of direction, and go through Stuy Town Oval to her building. I was delighted to find that we came across a little section that had swings, and it was still open. I love to swing, and I can't remember the last time that I got to....so I did! Wheee!!!

When we got back to her place, Virginia hadn't eaten yet either, so we took the chance to try out the place at the end of the street that we'd passed by quite a few times already - Hane Sushi. It was all super yummy, and the best way to end yet another fantastic day!!

The Squirrel Whisperer in NYC

2008-08-23T23:07:00.001-05:00

Hang tight...this is going to be a long one. :)

So, this trip was a little different for me. Most of the times on my trips, I get up early, go and do as many things as I possibly can in the hours that you're supposed to be awake....go to bed late, and then do it all over again the next day. You can sleep when you get home. But, this time, I happily decided to do things Brett's way. We had talked before about a few things that we thought we'd like to do while in the city, but hadn't firmed up any solid plans.

After taking our time getting ready on Saturday, we headed out a little after 11am to grab a bite to eat. Virginia, besides being a great hostess, filled us in on the "local" things to do so we wouldn't stick out like tourists in the most toured city in the world (I have no idea if that's true, I made it up, but gotta believe that it's probably somewhat valid).

First stop - Ess-a-Bagel. We knew we were in for a treat when we walked to the back of at least a 10 person line. Luck for us that there was a little bit of a wait though, since we needed that long to figure out what we wanted to eat. I decided on a buttered Everything Bagel, while Brett ordered his with egg salad. We walked across the street to a spot in the other section of Stuy Town to enjoy our delights!

This is where I discovered an unknown talent of mine! Turns out that I am a Squirrel Whisperer. My bagel was huge, so I decided to share it with some furry friends. I started to make some clicking noises, and to my surprise, Terrance (yes, I named him) came right up to me. He took the food right out of my hand. Another buddy of his, I believe that this one was named Bert, came over to get some goodies too...and then Stout, the black squirrel, came to join us as well - it was a total squirrel party! I wasn't sure that my abilities were that special, until Brett tried to give them some, and they wanted nothing to do with him. So, I guess if I ever get to a point where I have nothing else to do in life, I can always use my skills to get a job hand feeding small rodents. The whole time I was there, I was saying how much Toni would be freaking out by all of this - she is terrified of these animals!!!

We then headed off towards The Met. I need to point out that I did nothing to help get us where we were going, at any time, besides swiping my Metro Card when it was time....and even Brett held on to that for me. He has the most amazing sense of direction, which I was very thankful for. Because I didn't have to, I still don't fully understand how to read those maps. So, anyways....we ventured over to wherever it was that we went to The Met for a few hours of fantastic art. My favorite parts were the American Wing with all the old, grand, furniture....the colors were so bold, mostly golden yellow and the deep red, with the richly detailed dark wood around the edges - loved it..........and this one crazy exhibit that was made entirely out of mylar tape. We spent a good 3 and a half hours walking almost every room in there. I only got pooped a little bit, but it was definitely worth the trip.

The Met is right near Central Park, so we walked over there, with a pretzel and icee popsicle thing for some additional energy, and watched some locals shoot hoops for a while. Meg, Brett's cousin, came to say hello to us on her day out and around the city doing some shopping, and we made plans to meet up a little bit later for dinner. Brett and I walked around some more, saw the view from the Reservoir, stumbled across Bridle Path, and then took some time to sit down near one of the jungle gyms for some R&R before meeting Meg for dinner.

Dinner was right in Meg's neighborhood at one of her favorite spots - Pio Pio - a Peruvian chicken restaurant. We ate a LOT of food....and all of it was so yummy. I especially liked the spicy green sauce while Meg couldn't get enough of the plantains. TCBY was right next to Meg's stoop entrance, so we got some of that too.....amazingly enough there was still a little bit of room in our stomachs! :)

You tired of reading about our day yet?? It's only mostly over....it's about 7pm when we bid adieu to Meg, and we took some new buses and subways back to Virginia's place. After a quick change, we decided to grab a cab to our nighttime activity. The cab picked us up at 20th between Avenue C and 1st street.....and dropped us off at 26th and 8th Avenue. How do I remember these things so well, you ask? Well, that's because I had to repeat them almost immediately after getting out of the cab to 3-1-1, otherwise known as the NY Taxi and Limousine Commission. So, as I was getting out of the cab, I heard something fall out of my purse, thought that I got it all, but as soon as cab 2T82 pulled away.....I realized that I hadn't gotten everything. My ID case...complete with my ID, American Express AND Debit Card was still sitting on the backseat of that taxi.

!!!!!

Yeah, well, what can you do. We called, told them all the details....and then decided that since there wasn't anything else we could do, went on to enjoy our plans. We had gotten tickets to the 9pm improv show at Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. We made it in just in time to find the last 3 seats together...and settled in for some hearty laughs. These guys were hysterical, and it honestly baffles me how they really do the whole improv thing....at one point they were all just sitting around, not saying anything, but they all knew what was going on, and when the first person spoke, it all went on smooth from there. Definitely took my mind off the mishap that just took place.

The show didn't last nearly long enough....when it was over, we walked across to wait for the right bus to take back to Virginia's place. Brett could hardly pay attention to anything that was being said because he was watching every taxi that went by......looking for 2T82. It was quite comical, but I was a little nervous that he'd see it and take off running after it. Since we were right outside a movie theater, I decided that we should go see a flick before the night was over to get his mind off the incident. :)

We laughed some more, my 2nd viewing of Pineapple Express, and then headed home after a really long day in and around the city. Even with nothing 'planned', we definitely experienced part of NY that I hadn't before, and enjoyed every bit of it!

New York City....here we come....

2008-08-22T23:50:00.001-05:00

Woohoo!! :) Brett and I, finally, made it to NYC! It was an interesting day.....of course I'll share.

230pm
We are getting ready to head to the airport for our 429pm, United, First Class, flight to DC when we get a phone call. "This is United. Your flight is now leaving at 5pm".

3pm
"This is United. Your flight is now leaving at 620pm". Uh oh....with this delay, we would miss our connection to LGA that night, so Brett got on the phone with the airline. We got the option to hop on a 440pm flight to LGA via Dallas on American. Um, ok, sold. Let's go!

345pm
At the airport. !!! Kiosk check in at American not working.....get into the line that is moving at the pace of a snail. Yikes....watching the clock....bags must be checked by 30 minutes before departure. Oh good...plane now leaving at 450pm. We get to the desk at 415pm.

Patty: "I'm sorry, it's too late to check your bag for this flight."
AP: "Don't we have 30 minutes before to check bags?"
Patty: "Yes. Your flight leaves at 440pm, it's 415pm now."
AP: "But our flight is delayed until 450pm...can we still get it on? Please!!!"
Patty: "Oh! You're right! Yup....got the bags tagged. Do you have your original tickets from United?"

Oops!! We had no idea that we still had to check in at United before we could get our boarding passes for this flight......so, Brett ran over to that counter, and was able to sneak in and get us all straightened out. Phew.

We made it through security in just a few minutes....had enough time to get a snack, and our flight finally made it out of Austin a little bit after 5. It seemed like the longest flight ever to Dallas. When we arrived there, we went straight to the gate, and the gate attendant was the only person there....waiting for us....."Mr Bollman, Miss Price....we've been waiting for you.....". !!! We went straight to our seats, they closed the door, and we were off to NYC! Woohoo!!!

1105pm
Landed in NY. Baggage claim. No bag for Brett. !!! Um....not good. Luckily, there was another flight arriving from Dallas in about 30 minutes, and someone at American miraculously thought to get his bag on that one. Unfortunately for our arranged driver, he had to wait around with us for about an hour, but we got into our nice black Escalade, and made our way to Virginia's apartment in Manhattan.

1245am
We get to Virginia's and we are ALL starved....so we head out, get our Metro Cards for the week, and grab some grub at one of her favorite all night Ukrainian diners in the East Village. Good food and great conversations at Veselka before getting some much needed rest for the weekend.

Thunder storms, chicken fiesta and a little Scrabble!!!

2008-08-21T23:51:00.001-05:00

Both Brett and I were doing a great job getting some work done today....well, that is, until it started to rain. Turns out that we both love a good thunderstorm, and so we ended up opening the door to my porch...and sat on the floor, to watch, listen and feel the nice breeze from the rain.

While we were sitting there, Brett thought that it'd be a good idea for us to start a Scrabble game. Most of my friends know that this is something that I love to do....but not a lot of them enjoy the game as much as I.....so I jumped on the opportunity for a little fun.

We didn't get to finish....but I think that Brett was up by 3 points when we put it aside. Can you believe that I just posted that, Mom? I am confident that if we had been able to continue the game, I would have ended up totally spanking him.....but my competitive side was put to rest since I had to get to packing! :) Next time.....next time.

I made my infamous Chicken Fiesta for dinner. It's so easy to make....set it, and forget it.....once again, it did not disappoint. :)

I am all packed for my trip to NY tomorrow.....I think that's the most prepared I've been in a long time for a trip - woohoo!

ToniLoo turns........

2008-08-21T15:46:00.003-05:00

....yeah, right. She'd kick my butt..... :)

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to TONI,
Happy birthday to you!!!

Since you wouldn't let us sing to you at Chuy's for lunch, there is my tune for you. Happy birthday to one of my dearest friends. Hope you have a great dinner with your dad and Scott! :)

Love you!

Busy, busy, Wednesday......

2008-08-20T22:21:00.002-05:00

......here are a few things that I did today!

1. I interviewed someone! Don't laugh too hard! So weird, I KNOW!! Well, I guess it was kind of an interview. I think that I've made some headway at work (woohoo) on getting the higher ups to see what we need to do in order to do what they want to do (all of which really isn't that exciting)...and so I had to call someone today, and ask them a bunch of questions to see if they would be a good fit for the hole that we have in the company. Luckily, he was the perfect fit, and I really hope that it all works out. It will make my job a little bit easier, and hopefully more bearable.

2. I bought a real lens. I've had my eyes on getting something for a while.....but since it's a pretty serious investment, I was a little hesitant. But, I finally sold the laptop that I won at my work sales conference earlier this year, and so I made the decision to use that money to buy a lens. So, I'm now the proud owner of a new, shiny, Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS. Again....I KNOW!! This is some serious glass. I'm honestly a little intimidated by it, but I'm also SOOO excited to actually use it real soon! I'm going to have to start doing some exercises too, because that little stinker is REAL heavy.....but I couldn't keep from smiling about my new toy!!!

3. I didn't order something different at South Congress Cafe. This is my favorite restaurant in Austin, and it's in my favorite part of Austin, so of course this was where I took Brett for dinner. Of course, I got the same thing that I always get....despite Brett's attempts at getting me to try something new. I just love the Angel Hair Pasta there....and I just can't try something new and risk getting something that isn't as delicious!! Brett's crab enchiladas were SO spicy.....but oh so tasty too - good stuff.

4. Walked. A LOT. After strolling a little bit around South Congress post dinner, I remembered about the neat Austin sign that was a few blocks away, and knew that Brett would get a kick out of it....since it's his middle name and all. After getting a few shots, and at least one that we were both happy with, we took back off down 1st street. I had no idea how long that street was, or where we were going to be able to take a right to get back to South Congress. Well, it ended up being quite a bit, and we made it to the South Congress Bridge around the time that the infamous bats were to make their appearance. They were a little later than expected, but was worth the wait. Brett even got a special treat from one of the bats.....good thing he had his eyes closed when the bat decided to make his drop. :) [Because I'm a big dork....I just calculated the distance that we walked on Google Maps, and it was a little over 2 miles that we trekked!]

That's all folks.....what a long, and great day! I should get to packing soon for our trip....guess that is maybe what I'll do tomorrow night. :)

Austin has another Austin in it now!

2008-08-19T23:20:00.002-05:00

Tonight is the first of a string of more than a few days that I'll be spending with Brett (Brett Austin, that is) - that's a LOT of quality time with AP - I hope he's up for it! :)

I'm super excited that he is back in Texas, and that we'll be going to NYC at the end of the week for some fun. After a small break from the tour, and spending some time at home in Santa Barbara, he had plans to visit NYC before meeting back up with the Freedom Tour gang in DC. His original plans included his best friend, Dave.....but since Dave is a teacher, and school was starting up soon, he wasn’t able to go. I was thrilled that Brett asked if I wanted to be his replacement travel buddy. He didn't get to spend any real time in Austin when he made a whirlwind trip through Texas at the end of last month…he made a great decision, and decided to come back and spend a few days here before we take off for NY! :)

So, I just have to mention that I am pretty sure that Brett is partly crazy, because one of the first things he commented on after walking out of the Austin airport was how nice the weather was here. Tonight it was muggy and humid. I am not sure what's wrong with him, because he just left, sunny, beautiful, perfect weather, Santa Barbara....and this weather is nothing but nice.

Since the weather wasn't that great, and the sun was already down for the night when we left, I made an executive decision, and headed back to my place, where I cooked up some blandly flavored Chicken Pesto Pasta for dinner, and afterwards we sat around and enjoyed the Olympics. Have I mentioned before how much I like to cook dinner? I don't ever do it when it's just me, so I subject my friends to my cooking when I get the chance. :) Anyways, I've caught quite a bit of the games over the last week or so, however, it's all been with just Molly. She definitely has her favorites, but I must say that it's so much more fun to watch with someone that can talk - when you can talk to someone, rather than the TV....it's really just that much more healthy. :)

Finally!!!

2008-08-17T16:15:00.000-05:00

I finally saw The Dark Knight today. I didn't have squat planned for today, other than cleaning, and I wasn't going to let seeing this movie pass another day.

I loved it! It lived up to everything that anyone had said about the movie - it was spectacular.

So, if you're like me, and were behind on the Batman wagon, get on it and go see this film! You won't be sorry!

Living the Dream.....

2008-08-16T23:45:00.001-05:00

Tonight I was lucky to be asked to second shoot another wedding with Dave. This is my second time to shoot a wedding, my first time was with Dave, Sean AND Ben back in April. I'm so thankful that I met these guys....and the timing was perfect. I'd have to say that if Dave hadn't come to talk to me at Renae's wedding when he did....I'd still be playing around with my point and shoot camera. I truly believe in everything happens for a reason, and I'm glad that it did.

The wedding tonight was at The Oasis.....what a beautiful venue. It was a Jewish ceremony, so there were some special bits to it that I wasn't that used to. I'd only been to one Jewish wedding before and I just remember that one being one of the most fun weddings ever, but I definitely didn't get to see "behind the scenes", which is really neat.

The ceremony started before the actual one in front of all the guests, in the back room where Maureen and her attendants got ready. Maureen and Kirby had to sign the ketuvah first, and this was done in front of two witnesses, and a small gathering of close family. It was a very meaningful act, and I felt honored to be part of it....well, there to capture some photos anyways! We were cramped into a small room, both Dave and I doing our best to capture some great moments for their story. Here are a few that I was able to get.

And here is how I got them. Dave snapped a few pics of me "in action". I got a few comments from the guests too, on my ability to climb up on the kitchen counter in my heels. If only they knew how many times I've actually done this! Heels won't stop me from climbing anywhere! :)

After the signing, everyone headed towards where the rest of the guests were anxiously awaiting the bride and groom's appearance. The ceremony under the chuppah, with the sun setting over Lake Travis in the background, was beautiful, fun, and full of spirit.

The wedding, guests, and party afterward were all a great time. Thank you to Dave for inviting me to join you tonight. I can't wait to see the rest of the images from the evening.

Oh...here are a few more that Dave caught, and sent to me, from the last wedding and last night. I think I might actually look like a real photographer! :) Hee hee!!

EDITED TO ADD: Dave put up his post about the wedding, with more of the images. Check it out!