Sis's Big News

On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to be here when my sis got the big news that she was accepted by Americorp and would be "shipping out" to South Carolina on July 11 for 10 months of volunteering and community development. Now, many of you are no doubt scratching your head's and asking "Wait, a minute here, I thought you said she was going to Sweden in August?" Liar!" Well, originally her plan for this coming year was to join Americorp but they had no funding and were going to have to start in January leaving her with a semester of more boring old classes here in SD. So, knowing that she wanted to something a little more that just take classes here I strong-armed her into applying for a study-abroad position and she was subsequently accepted to Sweden. However, yesterday we learned that Americorp has tentative funding (cross your fingers that the funding doesn't get cut) and that she was accepted into the program. Therefore, since Americorp actually grants you money for school after you have completed the program and Sweden costs twice as much as a regular semester here, the decision to ditch Sweden and shop for work gloves was kind of a no-brainer. I am so excited for her (ok a little bummed I won't be spending Thanksgiving in Sweden but just a little:). This is going to be a fantastic experience for her. Congrats sisterino!!

The rest of the vacation

Last Thursday's gratuitous, pampering fest was one of many great days here in SD. Friday I spent with my sister. We played tourist in the kitschy town of Keystone, buying taffy, personalized cowgirl belts (well sis did) and having our photo taken dressed as wild, gun-toting, fearsome cowgirls (in big, toothy grins). My favorite part was definitely dressing up my least favorite part was looking at all my bad pictures. Sepia makes me look like I have a moustache. Anyway, we took a ton of pictures and had so much fun browsing around the shops. We then had lunch in RC's only Indian restaurant, which was mild but very tasty and affordable. After lunch she had to go to work and I hung out around home watching cable; a treat for me because we don't have cable at home. My parents are always so nice when I come here and indulge my Animal Planet obsession. However, this time I found a new obsession: the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic. Somehow I lucked into the Dog Whisperer marathon and watched at least 1/2 dozen episodes over my stay here. CornyT will be happy because now I won't make him put it on the net flicks queue. Anyway, needless to say I am a Cesar Milan fan now and am sold on the calm, assertive method of handling your dog.
Mom and I spent the evening at an uncle's house chatting, playing with their adorable ferret Josie and watching my 12 year-old cousin ride a unicycle. This kid is crazy; he can hopp and ramp on a unicycle. I asked them if they had reached their insurance deductible yet this year.
Saturday we had a picnic at a nearby lake with family and Sunday we hiked Harney peak. Harney is the highest peak in the Black Hills area at 7000 feet. Obviously, at 7000 feet it wasn't a very hard hike but my legs were still a little sore the next day. Afterwards we hiked around breath-taking Sylvan lake and watched people repel up the rock faces. We got home at about 6 and spent the rest of the night vegged-out in front of the TV: i.e. Dog Whisperer and remodeling shows. Monday we had a proper Memorial Day celebration with a big BBQ here at Mom and Dad's with LOTS of family and LOTS of grilled burgers and dogs. Followed by another evening of vegging out and chatting. So all in all it has been a relaxing yet busy vacation and I am sad it is coming to an end.

Girl's Day Out

For some reason, I awoke at an ungodly hour on this, my last day of vacation. Maybe subconsciously I am trying to prolong this last day of relaxation. Anyway, I thought I should use this time constructively and catch up on the last week of blogging. A week ago, I arrived here in SD and spent the day with my Mom. We bought flowers, planted them and then visited my Grandparents. Such a nice day was followed by the long awaited spa day with my cousin. It is rare when you plan a day and it goes off without a hitch but this girl's day out with my cuz did it exactly that. Nothing got in the way; no unexpected emergencies to ruin our perfect little retreat. We started with coffee and chatting at a local cafe, then moved on to the local beauty school for a pedicure. For that one person who reads this blog and does not live in SD, I highly recommend finding a beauty school near you and getting your pedicures there. They are at least half the price of a regular spa and it is harder to mess a pedicure up then say a haircut. I had a fantastic student who gave the best leg massages do mine. Oh how I love pedicures. After the pedicure we had lunch at a local hotel. A dark little, almost cavernous eatery were I imagined all kinds of lunch time trysts have occurred. We gosipped about family and munched on clubs...mmm bacon. After lunch we had a little time to kill, so we browsed around down-town shops where I bought the cutest pair of bejeweled flip-flops for over 70% off. Like an old friend of mine used to say, "'70% off' is my favorite phrase!" After the shopping coupe, we headed to the Spa for the high-light of the day: an hour-long massage. If our day were a rock show, this massage would have been the headlining act! Ah it was amazing. She did this amazing face rub with her fore arms that was just so, so nice. I wish I could have another one right now. Like any good climatic event there must be a dénouement and ours was heading over for the very early happy hour at our favorite bar for a glass of wine/beer and lots of water. Yeah drinking after a massage isn't as fun as it sounds neither one of us actually finished our drinks. We felt too dehydrated and believe it or not beat. Relaxing is exhausting work.
As if this day was not great enough, I came home to my Mom making my very favorite meal in the world (vermicelli and rice) followed by a homemade rhubarb pie! How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful family. As I write this I am so bummed I will be heading back home in just a couple of hours.

Trip to the big D

This weekend was our friend's couple's wedding shower in Dallas as one of the many celebrations surrounding their wedding this summer. To celebrate the happy event they are having approximately three showers, one wedding ceremony in California, one wedding reception in Florida (a month later), and another reception in Dallas in December:). Whew wedding chaos. I don't envy all the planning and the negotiations they have to make. Anyway, we unfortunately won't be able to make the ceremony in CA but we are going to the Florida one and I was very excited to see them both in Dallas this weekend. Luckily, I was able to go with a close mutual friend of ours whose mother lives in Dallas- in a fabulous, rennovated old house I might add. So, my drive and my accomodations were covered. CornyT, unfortunately, was not able to make it because he has a tight deadline on his story-collection. He missed a great time though. We started the night off with yummy mexican food and great conversation, then we moved off for a few drinks at a local bar and finished the night in my friend's back yard overlooking a picturesque lake sipping great wine and playing fetch with the best golden retriever puppy ever. Oh little Della, she was so sweet. Now I am more than ever sold on gettiing a golden retriever. In fact, I am really glad that I spent time with her because it made me realize I really do enjoy being with dogs and I am not just infatuated with their cuteness. I really crave their company. The cat is just not satisfying my snuggling with a furry creature needs.



The last highlight of the trip was a quaint store outside of WACO called the Style Station. Picture a run-down 1940's era filling station meets a 2nd hand clothing store. It was definitely every hipster's dream; All the snappy shirts, cowboy boots, retro dresses, Pan Am bags, and custom clothes a cool Austinite could ask for. Oh and all for reasonable prices, I might add. None of that inflated to 50 billion dollars because it is "cool" crap. The only draw back for me at least that everything was about two sizes too big. Oh well it's probably good- could I really pull off a snappy shirt converted into a skirt along with a Pan Am bag? No, no I am too much of a nerd through and through. Well excuse me now Star Trek is on. :)

Trip to the Vetty Vet

Now I just can't understand why Livia runs away from me all the time and tries to take a chunk out of my face when I want to snuggle. It isn't like I don't know how to show her a good time or treat her well. In fact, just the morning I woke up with her bright and early (ugh 7 on a Saturday), fed her full of kibble and then stuffed her in a box and jammed her in the front seat of my car with all it's loud noises and jostling motion. And I know she just loved it because who wouldn't love getting so nervous they pee and then being slid around in your own urine for a good 15 minutes. Good times. Then just to prove to her that I was a loving and caring owner, I took her out of the box and let some other humans shove thermometers up her butt and poke her with needles not once but yes, three times. I mean geez, what did you do this morning? I bet you didn't have as much fun as Livia.
Poor kitty. She's healthy though and hopefull won't get kitty AIDS or rabies.

Book Club and other reads IV

At last nights book club we had what I think might have been the biggest turn out in our little club's two and half year history: 8 people. And I have to say the old adage, "the more the merrier" really applies in this instance. We all sat under our hostess, Donna's carport in a big circle, munched on yummy finger food like deviled eggs, green olive spread, and bean quesadillas, (while the mosquitos munched on us)and chatted endlessly about the three Brendan O'Carrol books we read. Honestly, I think this is the most we have actually talked about a book in months. I was also pleased that I actually brought a new addition to the book club myself. Typically, my friend C does a great job of populating our group with her wonderful real estate clients but this time I was able to contribute to the group by coaxing my neighbor to join us. I think she enjoyed herself. At least, I hope she did. There are two other women in our area that are in the book club so we all car pooled together and I tried really hard not to talk too much about the book until we actually got to the meeting. The opinion about the books were kind of split amongst the members. Some people really loved them and like me some people really hated them. To be fair, I thought the second book was better than first but they still both annoyed me. The first one, The Mammy, was entirely too contrived, poorly written, and sentimental. Anything bad that might happen to this family is quickly resolved by something sweet and fairly implausible occurring just in time. Please don't think I am one of those people who just likes sad, miserable stories, I appreciate a nice happy ending on occasion. But that happy ending must be earned and believable. Needless to say, I can not recommend these books. That being said they may be fine books for young children. They are very simple to read and the message is wholesome and hopeful.
The upside to the sappy Irish books were they were such fast reads I was able to squeeze in a book I actually wanted to read this month. When we think of technology and all benefits it can bring us we must also consider the moral dillemas and responsibilities they also introduce. In fact, there have always been rumors that Einstein had many more ideas even greater than the theory of relativity and the thinking that led to the bomb , such as cloning. However, after Nagasaki and Hiroshima he refused to share those ideas because he felt human-kind wasn't ready for them. Now I am sure this is an apocryphal story but the book I just finished, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro presents us with a world were cloning was developed and used for the eradication of disease. I won't go into the details because that does give away some of the beauty of the book and I think this is a book worth reading. However, I don't want to be misleading you will not be horrified with some appalling, sci-fi reality and big mysteries at the end. In fact, this book never mentions the details of the science and I think it only mentions the clone word once. What the author is more interested is more subtle questions about coping with loss, forming bonds and well essentially what does it mean to be human. If you choose to read this book I recommend reading this review
after because it beautifully explores what this book is about a lot better than I can. I have also been listening to the Teaching Company's lecture on the Great Ideas of Psychology. Fascinating stuff- oh I am such a nerd.
For next month's book club we are reading Collapse by Jared Diamond. Apparently this book explores why some civilizations through history collapsed while others thrived and apparently theorizes on the signs of a culture near collapse. I think we should get a good turn out for this book because it is an interesting topic and Jared Diamond is really popular right now. This will be my second Diamond book in one year. Luckily, I am getting on CD; it is like 50 billion pages long.
Happy Reading

One Week till Girl's Day

As I sit here, taking a quick break from power points and business processes it just occurred to me that in only one week I will be breathing in the sweet, perfumed air of my favorite spa instead of this canned, cubicle air that I swear is making my eyes, itchy and runny. I feel like a rheumy, old cat with cataracts. Oh how I have been looking forward to next week. I am also feeling SO distracted and a little cranky. I really need some time to just regroup and have my feet and shoulders rubbed. AHHHH. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about my WHOLE trip up to good ole' SD but I am really looking forward to the time I will spend with my two favorite gals. You know who you are. So I just keep telling myself I will be a much better, focussed, friendly person after next week.

Man of your dreams for only $30

The alternate title for this post could be "What you can get me for Christmas:)"
Ok it is official my blog is one of those pathetic collections of "hey look what I found on the web". I just can't resist though. There are so many funny and cute things on the web worth sharing. One definitely being this charming cake pan available at a French cookware site. My favorite thing about this pan is that his undone top jean button- nice touch. This would be fabulous for bridal showers or hell for bookclubs, or christmas or just cause. If you want an extra laugh read the description- "Get out your man of your dreams of your furnace and invite your friends to nibble!" Would you like a nibble ladies?

Nell Newman is my new hero

This past Christmas, CornyT and I spent a week at his brother and sister-in-law's place in the San Francisco area. While we were there we could not help notice how their kitchen was dominated by organic products. Almost everything you could shove into your kisser was prefaced with that panacea organic. Recently, I thought I would investigate this whole organic nonsense and determine for myself if there was more to this than a fancy marketing trick to manipulate the middle-class. Plus for some strange reason I have become obsessed with getting the freshest, best tasting foods I can get my hands on so I have been interested if organic is different from traditionally grown products. In this quest to understand what constitutes an Organic product and if the organic label is really more than just a status symbol stamped on my food, I discovered Nell Newman. Nell Newman is so sensible. Not only is she the scion of Hollywood power couple, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwarde, she is also an established animal conservationist and scientist and just a practical, down-to-earth gal. Her book Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life is a sensible guide to living responsibly in the modern world. She never suggests that you drastically change your life and be some kind of annoying, self-righteous tree-hugger chastising your friends for using styro-foam. Her book is chock full of simple, practical ways to be a little more conservative with our resources.
So, all that being said it is still hard to know if Organic is really organic - no pesticides, veg fed beef, - or just a marketing ploy because there is a lot of money to be made on manipulating consumers buying habits. This site can help make some sense of the various organic labels. Also, Walmart has decided there may be something to this organic thing (that something being a way to make more money, of course) so we may see more and more organic labels on our food. This will of course make it harder and harder to determine if this food is really worth the extra price. Anyway, after reading Ms. Newman's fantastic book and all the websites I can crunch in a lunch hour or while watching movies with CornyT on the couch, I still am not buying much organic food from the supermarket. What we are doing now is visiting our local farmer's market every Saturday and for not much more than grocery store prices buying the most delicious strawberries, garlic, pork and lots of other yummy things. There is nothing like a strawberry picked two hours before you plop it in your mouth. YUM YUM!

School's Out for Summer, School's out for EVER

Well, maybe not for ever, we'll see about that. But for now the grades are in and Tuesday and Thursday nights are now mine again. (Not to mention weekends and early mornings.) I am as excited as a bulldog on a skateboard:)!! Oh how I have been looking forward to writing this post. In fact, every time some kid told me they couldn't find their paper, or they had to leave class early because they had diarrhea the Grand Funk Rail Road song - Oops not GFRR it is actually an Alice Cooper song, thanks anonymous poster and sorry Alice- referred to in this title played in my head.

Although, I do have to admit the end is a little bitter sweet. I will miss talking and working with them. They genuinely were nice kids. Last time I taught it felt a little silly to refer to my students as kids because most of them were only a year or two younger than me and some were even older. Not this time though. No, this time I was a good 10 to 12 years older than them and I could legitimately call them young whipper-snappers and tell them lots of stories about the fabled "business world". Last time I just made guesses about what went on in the "real world" this time I could equip them with accurate and useful information Or at least I hope. In graduate school, I would give my teaching a C- or a D. This time around I think I get a B-. Pretty good improvement I think. They have asked me if I wanted to teach again next semester if a spot is available at night and if there is I guess I will do it again. I am glutton for punishment and I liked the extra money.

Oh and by the way just to clarify the diarrhea excuse is by no means an embellishment. I really had someone tell me that. Kids!

Save Us Wonder Woman

Well this week has been nothing but one frustration after another with adjusters, appraisers, and body shops. Help us Wonder Woman!

Proud to be a girl

Last week, my Big Brothers Big Sisters, little Sister (who I will call C) and I attended a girl talk seminar with a handfull of other "Big" and "Little" sisters at a local coffee shop. For those not ensconced in the Big Brothers Big Sisters culture, we grown ups are always referred to as "Bigs" and the kiddoes are always referred to as "Littles". Often at these functions you will hear an adult say "my little loves it when I take her to a pizza buffet." Anyway, the seminar was led by the Torch Light Society, a UT woman's organization and the goal was to foster empowerment and independence. I thought for sure C would be bored and think it was hokey. She hated the teen pregnancy awareness seminar we went to and they even served free food at that one. But much to my surprise she loved it. I did too for that matter. The seminar included discussions about why it was great to be a girl (great clothes, fun hairstyles, smarter than boys), things we can do now that we could not do 30 or 40 years ago, 10 things I like about myself and we analyzed ads for messages about body image. Anyway, we had a lot of fun exploring our girl-ness and I was so impressed that they were able to keep my 13 year old little's attention and teach her a little something while having fun.

We have had better weekends

This Saturday started off wonderfully. We got up early. I cleaned the kitchen, did some writing, and then we mowed and edged. So nice and productive. We felt so good about ourselves getting an early start we decided to run some errands and maybe treat ourselves to a movie. But OH NO that wasn't in the cards for us. We pop in the car, pull out of the garage, notice the porch light was left on stop and turn it off, check the mail and then start on our merry way and then BOOM- some cherry red PT Cruiser hits us on the side as we make a left turn one house down from ours. Oh I should clarify this PT cruiser was behind us. We can't figure out what he was doing and we were already in traffic- CornyT look before he pulled away from the curb. He claimed he just didn't see us but I don't understand we were in front of him. We are still confused. Anyway, poor CornyT, he felt so terrible even though I kept telling him it wasn't his fault. The cops didn't give anyone a ticket, which is kind of unfortunate because we now have to wait for the insurance companies to figure out who was at fault. The cops claimed it wasn't their job to determine who is at fault but I always thought that was exactly their job. Oh well what do I know? I also thought for some weird reason you were suppose to leave the cars in the place they were hit unless it was really obstructing traffic but I was soundly told by one of them that was in fact illegal. Well needless to say the rest of the day was kind of blown. We just stayed home, watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and ate strawberry shortcake. I wasn't such a fan of the movie but I loved the dessert. Hopefully it will all work out for CornyT in the end and the most important thing is everyone involved is OK.