isn't there a song about fall in nyc?

weekend in nyc was a blast. started my next 30 years with a run in central park on a glorious day. i felt very alive. in the moment, i appreciated the amazing blessing to be in the city, running into the next stage of my life with my beloved by my side. the weather was perfect. i would have preferred some fall leaves, but mid-60s and sunny is hard to beat. a number of things were crossed off the list for the weekend, including hotdogs, a mini-spree at H&M, a dipped mister softee cone, a romantic birthday dinner at the authentic, sweet 'la vela' and seeing a show. we saw a matinee of beauty and the beast. the set was amazing and i think i loved it just as much as all the 6 year olds in the audience. also had our star sighting of the weekend, rosie o'donnell with family, there. e. came in to surprise me on saturday night. we went out for a sorrel, hen of the woods and buttontop mushroom feast at the tasting room in the east village. drinks at the soho grand (a great place for "a drink") etc. here we are drinking "bud heavy" in the sheep's meadow. hint for thirsty travelers: look for the men with the plastic bins on a luggage cart.

we rode out to karen and scott's wedding in sue's hot car with sue and her austrian tileman. got to see pics of their new house in the hamptons. the tile was amazing. who knew nj was beautiful? lots of trees and quiet streets were a surprising sight to me. the wedding itself was gorgeous. the priest made the service very personal- gathering audience participation, including a shout-out to mike. here is a picture of them dancing during the reception. don't they look happy?












I like to see what people's tables look like at their weddings. I am weird, I know. Aren't these flowers just gorgeous for a fall wedding? Karen made the table numbers and placecards, too. Martha would be proud.












AC: Trust

Come on over! My sistas and my brothas

I was up til 11:30 last night catching the last episode of last season's Greys Anatomy. I want to state for the record that I haven't been this excited about a show in years. If you know me, you know that I rarely stay up past 10, so this is a testament to my addiction, indeed. Thanks to my mom and sis owning Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, I've been able to fill up my 5-7pm and lunch hours watching episode after episode in sequence. It is SO damn good. I love how the characters have evolved as the show progresses. It is so well cast and SO well-written. The people actually seem real to me and that is rare in TV these days. I can be crying one moment and laughing the next. The last time I remember hysterically crying in front of the TV was when Dylan on 90210's girlfriend got killed in a car wreck and they showed her wedding dress in the corner of the room. Last night, during the final episode, I cried about 8 times and was still crying folding laundry 15 minutes later. Obviously Mike was in bed or he would have laughed at me.... and I would have laughed at myself.

If you are like me and a late adapter... I'd pretty much take the day off of work today and rent seasons 1 and 2 and spend all day on your comfortable settee getting caught up. You won't regret it. The new season premieres tonight on ABC and I cannot wait to see what happens next. We will be on a plane, but it is Jetblue, so I am hoping to catch some DirectTV action. If not, the DVR will do.

AC: Freedom

my next 30 years

well, i am truly in hurry up and wait mode here at work. we have an office move and an acquisition next week, so I am scrambling to send out notification to customers and vendors, scrambling to put together a newspaper ad (yeah!), scrambling to get my newsletters done, etc., but I am waiting on pieces from other people. sooo, here i am.

ACL fest was a blast. did a lot of partying and got to live the good life for a bit in the "VIP Oasis." Yes, we had free Titos vodka drinks, hors de oevre happy hour with some chefs from Austin's best restaurants, meals and A/C'd bathrooms. Show highlights for me were: Matisyahu, John Mayer, Van Morrison, Tom Petty and KT Turnstall. Flaming Lips were awesome. They had aliens, santas and bubbles on stage. Really fun to see if you ever get the chance. I cut my hand and knee up pretty bad walking home Saturday night, but it didn't keep me from partying. The heat of the days and longevity of the festival setting really made me feel like I am getting too old for this stuff, though. Maybe next year I'll only do 1 or 2 days. Anyway, if you want to fit in at ACL, if you're a girl, you should wear a flowy dress or an empire waist shirt, big hoop earrings, some beads and a scarf or headband. If you're a guy, you should wear a t-shirt with a funny saying on it and cargo shorts. Just an observation....

So, my 30th birthday is in 2 days. Mike and I leave for NYC tomorrow night. Can't wait. Gonna start my day with a run in Central Park, a diner breakfast, then H&M, a Greys Papaya hot dog, illegal mojitos in the park, a dinner at a cute italian restaurant and a show of some sort. Anyone seen anything good lately?

My 20's have certainly been a time of growth. I wish I could say that I am more confident than I was at 20; I certainly have a lot more wisdom under my belt, but I am still working on self confidence and acceptance. When I was 20, I smoked cigarettes, didn't eat meat and was a good 10 lbs heavier than I am now. I am healthier than I have ever been both internally and externally. It's taken a lot of heartache, but I can safely say that I am pretty much right where I want to be. I am satisfied. What will happen in the next 10 years? I'd like to be more assertive, more learned, more thoughtful, more compassionate and more giving, to start...

&spend precious moments with the ones I hold dear, figure out just what I'm doin here, in my next 30 years....
AC: Courage

Celebrity sighting: Matthew McConaghey

I was about 2 feet away from Matthew McConaghey in the Heineken VIP area on Friday night at ACL. Unfortunately, I didn't have the damn camera, so I am borrowing this picture from the UT-OSU game to illustrate the fact that he currently looks like a homeless person. He did not look good. I have spent the past 4 years hoping to run into him somewhere in Austin. In Failure to Launch, his skin is golden and his teeth are brilliantly white. He is confident and the Texas accent is pretty cute. In truth, he is SHORT (5'7"?), had deep creases around his eyes like he'd been swabbing on the babyoil circa 1982 and has this awful scraggly beard that looks like God knows what could be nesting in there. He was talking to some young girl that looked foreign and was not paying attention at all to the fact that I was watching his every move and pretending to be cooling off by a mister fan. Very disappointing. I did get a free Heineken or two though.

Today is the day!

Today is the day... the day of Austin City Limits Fest!
I am leaving at 3... gonna see Gnarls Barkley at 4:30 with a VIP Pass around my neck. Our CEO isn't using them, so we get them for all weekend! I love my boss and am feeling very blessed. Is this reward for the sweatiness, grime, sticktoitiveness of the past 4 years I've attended ACL?

Inspired by hot chick A. Reilly, I have a "welcome basket" of snacks for our guests this weekend. Poppycock, Judson sour balls, mustard and onion pretzel nibblers, reeses, spicy nut mix, wasabi almonds, etc. I feel very Martha Stewart, but know we will appreciate the snacks come the 11pm hour after a day in the hot sun. We are also going to try to make mojitos using our illegal cuban rum from costa rica trip. Mmmm.

I wish Coldplay was coming again this year! Leaning towards John Mayer for tonight instead of Van. He has weird facial expressions when he plays, but man do I love Continuum. Maybe I'll just look away, baby, look away.

Update: I am making an offer today for my assistant position to the MOST enthusiastic person I interviewed. Really excited to make the call. Not excited, however, about the two other outstanding women I have to let down. I really wish I could hire all three. This is not about me "hiring a friend" rather a dedicated employee... and what's best for our group. Question of the day: can you be friends with someone when you are their boss?

AC: Openness

My buttons are bursting off my shirt

I am so proud of my spouse. He got promoted to Senior Manager at his company today. This is a huge accomplishment and something he's worked VERY hard for. Hooray! I can't think of a person who deserves it more. Great job, Michael!

Things I am loving right now

If I like the new Lionel Ritchie song, does that make me a dork?

I like the new John Mayer cd. Sounds a lot like Room for Squares, which holds a dear place in my heart. It reminds me of a good time in my life in NC... driving to Darlington, SC with Louie Lou...

The jelly belly bar at HEB is unreal. I have a "candy jar" at work now.
Grey's Anatomy Season 2 on DVD... and my guilty pleasure, Project Runway, tonight!
My new red polka dotted headband from Brass Plum. I love that red is back in for fall. Big fan of this color am I.

Amy's Ice Cream... who knew? I never understood why Austinites were so nutso about this place until I met my DH. Mexican vanilla with heath bar crushins is really the way to go.

Fall fall fall. I love the rain we've gotten lately. It's nice to have the earth cooled.

Really enjoying new Diana Gabaldon "Breath of Snow and Ashes" Pure escapism. Those crazy time-travelers....

ACL Fest is this weekend. We'll have a houseful of family. Cheryl and Chris and Joe are staying at our place. Bloody Mary party Saturday. Hope you can make it! We have 2 premium passes for one night, not sure what night yet, but we'll get to live the good life for a bit... access to restrooms, food, parking and BACKSTAGE! I love AIG Insurance. Here is my plan for Friday so far:

4:30- Gnarls

5:30- Gomez

6:30- Los Lonely Boys (up in air)

7:30- Ray LaMontagne- have you heard this guy? i lurve the song "Three More Days" cross between Joe Cocker and Richie Havens

8:15 John Mayer..OR... 8:30 Van Morrison Conflicted... Think I might have to go Van. A life experience methinks.

Looking forward to seeing some other cool bands Sat. and Sun., too. BoDeans! Nada Surf! The Raconteurs! Willie! Massive Attack! Ween! Flaming Lips! Tom Petty! It's super cool that we can walk to the fest from our house. Can't wait to load up my folding chair loaded with secret raspberry vodka. I love supporting Alex's Lemonade, don'tcha know?

Next week is NYC.... only 9 days til I turn 30. Yikes!

AC: Communication

Remembrance

It is totally unbelievable to me that today is the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. How did 5 years go by so fast? Where were you on 9/11? I was 24 and my dad had just died on 9/6. We had the service on the 8th and on the morning of 9/11 my sister, mom and brother and I were supposed to fly from Austin to Chicago to drive to Notre Dame to scatter dad's ashes at his beloved school. My grandma had come down for the funeral and was supposed to fly back to Chicago on the 10th, so we got this wild hare to fly back with her instead and changed all our tickets to do so on the day before. To this day, I wonder if my dad had something to do with that.

The morning of the 11th, we woke up at my grandparents' old house and went to the Continental Bakery in Mt. Prospect (home of the best chocolate covered custard bismarcks ever). Musing on it, I think that was the last time I was at my grandparents house before they moved into assisted living. I guess that day would truly change my life and innocence forever in that regard, too. Such warm memories of that house.... When the first plane hit, I was at the bakery with my brother where they had the TV on. Like many, I thought it was an accident and couldn't believe it. We brought our doughnuts home and moved the TV into the dining room when the 2nd tower hit. We watched the coverage with Peter Jennings on ABC... spellbound... as the coverage continued; so much confusion. I never thought of terrorist attacks on our "homeland" those days... couldn't believe this was happening; such horrifying images of the people on the top floors waving hankies... haunts me to this day... then the crashes as they came down.... unbelievable.

Things were hectic in downtown Chicago and we would have to drive through to get to Indiana, so we waited until the next day to go the ND. My mom's friend Kathy drove us to South Bend. I don't remember much about the drive. We went to Notre Dame and lit candles at the grotto, and my dad's dear friend walked us to the site on the lake with a view of the golden dome where we had an informal scattering ceremony with some prayers. My dad's friends from Magid were able to rent us two cars from the South Bend airport. Mom, Lauren and Peter took one to drive to Austin. I took the other one and drove back to NC, all alone. I drove 17 hours and the weather was so clear, south through Illinois, past thoroughbred farms in Kentucky, over beautiful purple mountains in the VA and West Virginia, seeing flags and hearing patriotic songs and feeling overwhelmed by emotions more than anything, I guess. Once I got back to NC, they made me come into the station, which made me sort of upset. Yes, I had been gone for 5 weeks taking care of my dad, but it seemed a little callous that I really didn't have a chance to grieve and had to immediately get back to work on 9/11 coverage.

Serious prayers go out to the families and for our leaders and for our world today. I think we're all still a little heartbroken. I've been trying to avoid the media today.

AC: light

MB's Baking Disaster

Here is what Mike's cake looked like prior to me taking painstaking steps to make it look better (mission accomplished-see PP). Life lesson learned: do not drink red wine, watch tv and try to frost a cake too soon after it gets out of the oven. You have to wait until cake's completely cool to frost or else it melts the frosting and may in fact create a large crater-like cavern with the weight of the uncooled frosting.

You can see here I was trying so hard to be Martha Stewart. I wore an apron! And, never in my life have I used a cake stand! We laughed a lot about this cake...

Here's to Michael, He's a Horse's Arse....

Happy 40th birthday to Mr. MBRox! 40 years ago the world was gifted an amazing human being, Michael.... I love and adore this man... He is handsome, smart, thoughtful, kind, funny, holy, silly, fun, patient, trustworthy, reliable, caring, sensitive, affectionate, etc. I am blessed to know him and look forward to the next 60 years together!

P.S. We are going to Flemings for dinner. Yeah!