UMM....Sign me up for one of these please!

A freaking ADORABLE Asian toddler singing The Lord's Prayer that is... You will smile the whole time. Guaranteed! She is so CUTE!!

We're Normal...

This is what my family constantly says to one another. Not because we actually believe it, just because we try to make ourselves believe it. :) Truth is, we have a lot of fun. We might be slightly off, get into each other's business and eat ham instead of turkey at Thanksgiving, but we sure do laugh a lot!

Now, before you all FREAK out that I just admitted that we don't do turkey, take 3 deep breaths and count to 10. We have chicken and dressing...it's still a type of bird! Don't count us out, we do the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, pies, etc etc. We're pretty legit on everything else except the turkey. Dave about died the first Thanksgiving when we sat down to the table and he didn't see the turkey....oops! I guess I omitted that information because it didn't seem weird to me.

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time with family though! I always look forward to it. One of our pre-Thanksgiving traditions is going to eat Mexican food when everyone gets into town. We are a queso and enchilada loving family. We know we won't see anything but dressing and giblet gravy for 3 days, so we hit the sauce (hot sauce that is!) and begin the holiday fan-fare. Another family tradition is bowling. We always bowl on Thanksgiving night. Nothing else is open and we have watched football and eaten all day. We need to get out before we go stir crazy!! What better way to get a little family friendly competition going but to hit the local lanes?? We also throw up nana's Christmas lights at halftime of the Cowboy's game. Literally, Taylor, Dave, Dad and papa (as the supervisor) head outside as the teams head to the locker room and garland and lights go flying into place. By kickoff of the second half Nana and Papa's house is ready for carolers!

I can't wait for Taylor and Kristen to hit town! I miss them both so much and look forward to the holidays! I hope you and your family have a fabulous turkey day!!

Fabulous Find Friday!

The holidays are here! We know because Macy's is playing Christmas music, Hobby Lobby has 900 trees up, and you have received invitations or "save the dates" for about 12 Christmas parties. It's all fun and games until you have nothing to wear! I have received a couple of e-mails asking for a few "Holiday Party outfit options" and I am happy to oblige! I have chosen a few things that I find adorable and I have tried to hit several price points. When you have many entrances to make it can get costly! Good thing my friends throw casual parties. :)

Let's get down to business!

This dress is so cute and classy! Very feminine.

This cute little number is from the GAP and you know it was love at first sight for me with those ruffles! (But please don't stand like this at your party!!)

This dress is so fun and can be worn again and again!

Classy and elegant, this dress would be perfect for any Christmas party and it could double as the perfect little number for your Christmas Eve service at church

This is the perfect outfit for your office party. I love the tuxedo look! I'm not crazy about the shoe pairing, but I know they're in....

So cute and so red! This dress is Jackie O meets Angelina Jolie...sexy and sophisticated! No worries...if black is your signature color, it comes in black too!

I.LOVE.THIS.DRESS. This is the type of dress that "that girl" would have the guts to wear and I would think all night about how adorable she looks in it! You could be THAT GIRL!

I can't wait to hear about what you choose for your parties. Be sure and send your fancy party pics my way!

Dear lady in line in front of me at Hobby Lobby....

You are a craft lover and have dreams of crafting glory! I know this because you were buying 8,000 little things to complete your crafting adventure. I've never seen so many pine cone pics, ribbon, little butterfly sticker thingies, yarn, paint pens, scrapbook paper, glue guns, ornaments, and the necessary components of any holiday masterpiece in one cart before! In your defense, everything looked strangely familiar to the upcoming end-of-year holiday outside of those butterfly sticker thingies. What, may I ask, were those for??

I'm so glad you are crafty but I am not thrilled that you were right in front of me in line. You turned and looked at me, I smiled, you smiled, you noticed that I had ONE THING in my hand, you turned and continued putting your little pic things one-at-a-time onto the counter. I could have paid and been gone like lightening before you got all your butterflies out of your basket. There is no "10-items-or-less" express lane at Hobby Lobby. In fact, at any given time there are only 2 checkers all under the age of 16. So survey the area and let homegirl with one measly picture frame move on about her day. But I'm not bitter. Nope. I only wish I could see the fruits of your labor with those butterfly thingies.

Until we met again....
T-Rog

Happy Birthday Teeny!

Did any of you have friends with a super cool grandmother? You know, one that had hot pink nails, a mustang convertible and neon shades of lipstick? Well, I was the lucky kid, because that describes my Nana! She was always SO cool and I would go with her to the nail shop and get to dip my hands in the paraffin wax while she got some shade of coral or hot pink painted on. Every Saturday she would get her hair done, so Thursday-Saturday (before hair) we could ride with the top down in her 1988 Mustang Convertible! To an 8 year old, this was the height of hip!! That same Thursday-Saturday time frame applied to going underwater in her swimming pool. When she knew she would be getting her hair done, we would have tea parties on the bottom of the pool and giggle and swim for hours! Nana would always cut up a cantaloupe for our snack by the pool.

Three Generations

I was, and AM so lucky to have her in my life. I never had to worry if a grandparent would show up for "grandparent's day" in grade school. Nana would always take off work to come sit next to me in the lunchroom, make me feel special, and get her little star name tag saying "Tiffany's Nana" in return. When I was in high school we moved to Duncan, Oklahoma. I was a cheerleader, so Friday night was my stage. Nana and papa would drive the 2.5-3 hours to watch me. They never wanted to miss our events. The same holds true for Taylor and Kristen. They never miss anything!

Nana and Papa at one of Taylor's many baseball games

We are such blessed kids to have them in our lives. I am so glad to be celebrating another year of my Nana! Happy birthday Teeny!! (She got the nickname teeny because we kept growing and I think she might be shrinking....she's our teeny tiny! Especially when she stands next to Taylor!!)

Nana with Taylor at Tulane

My favorite people

Girl's trip to Galveston for the week

Race for the Cure 2006- Nana walked the ENTIRE way!

Love you Nana!!

Where you been girl??

Where HAVEN'T I been is a better question! I was in Waco, TX, home of the Baylor Bears, on Thursday and Friday. Houston, TX, home of....**EDIT: smog, taffic, the Texans, the Astros and Rockets....on Saturday and part of Sunday, and Jarrell, TX, home of cows and such the rest of Sunday. It was a totally fun weekend, but I feel like I've traveled Texas!

I was in Waco for a conference for work and it was really fun. I only wish I had had time for some Christmas shopping at Spice! Alas, I did not. I might need to make a supplemental trip North on I-35 for that one. I got home Friday and did laundry and got ready for our trip to Houston to celebrate Mary Lee and Richard's wedding! We got up Saturday, ran some errands, then high-tailed it to H-Town.

Goin' to the chapel! Mary Lee was gorgeous! She looked so happy and everything was just as I thought "Mary Lee's wedding" would be. At the reception I had some good food, watched the crew set up for Madonna's concert on Sunday, ate an AMAZING piece of both white AND chocolate cake and called it a night!

Watching the crew put together the stage for the Material Girl

How cute is the groom's cake??

ML's cake...and it was just as good as it was gorgeous!!

I would be denying you if I failed to mention our sightings in the hotel lobby. When we got in from the wedding, we sat by the fire in the lobby and did a little bit of "people-watching". Um....it was awesome! It would have been too blatant for me to take pictures so you will have to settle for a mental picture. With Madge being in town for her concert on Sunday, you would not believe who came out of the wood works....2 ladies from New Orleans came and sat next to us and decided they were our best friends forever! They were CRAZY and probably mid 50's. They both had on jeans, knee boots over their jeans, and lots of perfume. You go girls! There were also some plus-sized ladies in minimal clothing. Nick and Dave were not as subtle as they thought they were when pointing them out!! In all, it was a great time!

Sunday, we returned to Austin, picked up mom, and headed to the ranch! Our SS class had a family day out at the Walter's ranch and it was so much fun! We toured the ranch on 4-wheelers, the kids went on a hay ride (not going to lie I was kind of bitter! I wanted to go on the hay ride, but decided I wouldn't run over a small child in my own selfish efforts), fished, had a bon-fire, made s'mores and drank hot apple cider. It was fabulous and made me completely appreciate the day. We had been going non-stop. Honestly, we have been going non-stop for weeks and weeks now. This was one more thing on the to-do list. We had committed to go to the party at the ranch and so we did. But once we got there, we really enjoyed ourselves and time moved slower.

What a handsome fisherman.

These guys were staring straight at me.

Mom and I were happy campers after our s'more!!

Dave and Jen roasting the 'mallow

Today, I start another busy week. Work is going to be CRAZY! But my challenge to myself is to enjoy it. Enjoy my week, enjoy my family, and love this Fall weather!!

Wedding Crashers

This weekend we will have the privilege of watching Mary Lee and Richard tie the knot. They make a wonderful couple and I am really looking forward to celebrating with them as they make a lifelong commitment to one another. I've been thinking about what I will wear, who I will get to catch up with, who will take a cute picture of Dave and I so we can update our "couple" photos...you know, the usual thoughts before a "dress-up" event.

There was a time when we were wedding-goin' fools. It seemed like every third weekend there was a wedding. And every weekend in between there was a shower, couple's shower, bachelor/bachelorette party. Don't get me wrong, good times were had by all! We LOVED getting to see our friends on a very regular basis, but now we are on the slow-down. We haven't had any weddings yet this year, so it's time.

We have had some great times on each of our friends dime (or their wonderful father's! I can say that because you all partied on MY dad's dime too. We're even!!) and I have decided to share some of my favorite moments in wedding history. :)

Party pic at Clifton and Tess' wedding

This picture cracks me up! It is SO not Dave, but we were having fun. :)

Definitely one of my best memories!

The.Loj. Dancing with Daniel's tie.

Caught!! Mom. Upon news they had cut the cake at Meredith and Nick's wedding!

I wish this weren't so dark! Great friends after the Assunto's wedding.

The boys, kickin' at at Robyn and Cole's wedding.

Beat It.

There really is no explanation. We were taking pictures after Allison and Ryan's wedding and the boys got rowdy. Cole decided it would be a great idea to run and jump at James. James managed to turn and catch him mid-air. The next photo on my camera is of them both laying on the ground. Boys will be boys.

So here's to ML and Richard! We're looking forward to a great time!

"Jeremy: Rule #35: never commit to a relative unless you're absolutely positive they have a pulse.
John: Rule #15: give me an up-to-date family tree, that was your mistake. You just made me look like an idiot.
Jeremy: Rule #76: No excuses. Play like a champion!" ~ Wedding Crashers

UPDATES: Lucky Boots, Pet Costume Contest, Wurstfest, etc..

Well, Rookie is still an only dog. I know, it's kind of sad for me too. I got pretty attached to Lucky Boots in that 3 hours I knew him. I mean, we shared a near death experience, an office, a kolache...we bonded. But, I am happy to report that within 2 hours of me dropping him at the shelter, his family came to claim him. I hope they claimed him, hugged him, then bathed him, then flea treated him!! But that's just me.

In other news....we have a WINNER!! Thanks to all of you who voted....Rookie and Maggie are the big winners of the River 102.3 Pet Costume Contest. They will be enjoying a shopping spree to Pet Land here in the coming weeks. :) You can check out their winning pose here. That was last year's photo because the contest started a full week before Halloween this year. We couldn't show our cards that early! But now, I am happy to show you our 2008 photo shoot. He's a bad mammo-jamma!

My little pumpkin

We had a precious little girl come to the door dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I asked her if she wanted me to take off Rookie's pumpkin costume and she could take him with her as her Todo...She actually turned and asked her mom if it would be ok. I learned that children are VERY literal. :)

I digress...

This weekend we went to New Braunfels for Claudia's birthday, and we had a wonderful dinner to celebrate on Friday night. Saturday, we took full advantage of one of our favorite New Braunfels traditions....the Ten Day Salute to Sausage. Otherwise known as...Wusrtfest. Mom, Dad, and Cathy came to NB and we had a great time! I'm pretty sure the list of foods consumed includes, but not limited to: Sausage balls, pizza (mom...who gets pizza at Wurstfest, seriously?), Gumbo, Pork-chop on a stick, Potato pancakes, Sweet potato fries, fried pickles and funnel cakes....plural! All topped off by a ferris wheel ride. Good times.

The birthday girl (my mother-in-law, Claudia) and I on the ferris wheel

Cathy and mom with the Opa and Oma :) (Dave's parents)

It was so fun, and the Mendenhall's were wonderful hosts. OPA!

I can't make this stuff up....

Y'all, my life is crazy. And today I realized that sometimes I get myself into some of these crazy situations myself! It happens by snap decisions (but made with wonderful intentions!) and then I just get so caught up in it all. For example....today, I was on my way to work, dreaming of a kolache no less, and I was driving down South Congress Avenue (very busy street!) and I hear all this honking. Then, I realize there is a dog walking across the street...in the middle of traffic....and then he STOPS!!!!!! DON'T STOP!!!!!!!!! So the cars coming the opposite direction are hardly slowing and they are honking and this dog doesn't know what to do. I'm in panic mode! I turn my car to where it's blocking 1.5 lanes of traffic and I FLY out of the car begging this dog to come to me. He obliges and into my arms, and then into my car, he goes.

Ok, now what do I do?? Hi new friend! You were not in the most wonderful predicament 30 seconds ago. I am exactly one block from work, now beginning to sweat and I have a large dog in my passenger's seat. TGIF.

So I pull into work and begin looking at his tags. He had a vet tag, so thank goodness he doesn't have rabies. He also had a "lost tag" with an ID number. He did not have a personal tag with his name, owner's names, or a phone number. I'm still thinking the lost tag is better than nothing. So I call the lost number, get an answering machine....of course....and I leave his ID number and my contact info. Well buddy, you're going to work today! So into the office we go. He comes in, sits down, obeys commands, and then just lays down by my desk. But then....the scratching starts. Upon closer inspection, he has fleas!! And he has hot spots where he has scratched so hard....you can't stay at work with me. Of course. I am not an animal shelter girl. I avoid PetSmart at ALL costs on the weekends because I want to take all of the dogs home that need to be adopted. I am a dog LOVER. But his fleas can't stay at TASBO while waiting for the "lost people" to come pick him up.

So I called Town Lake Animal Shelter, gave them the WHOLE story, and they were so nice and told me to bring him over, that they would bathe him and treat him for the fleas and feed him. With the lost tag and the fact that he is so well mannered, I do think he is someones pet and hopefully someone is looking for him. It could be that he has been lost for a while and has gotten fleas from being out and about.

So, I load him back up into my car (I make that sound easy....he got away from me while trying to get him into the car and I chased him around the apartment complex that is near my office in a full on PANIC...I know he must have been so scared as to what was going on) and I take him to the TLAS. Upon arriving at the shelter, I break out into tears. Why does this always happen?? I was distraught over leaving him. Did I mention how sweet he was?? So they promised to try to locate his owners and if not... Rookie might have a big brother by Monday.....

Homeboy kickin' it at TASBO

So, my fabulous find for today is John Doe the Border Collie....we'll call him....Lucky Boots

November 4th, 2008

I get a little thrill out of voting ON election day. I'm not going to lie that I skipped early voting only because we moved at the beginning of September and had to acquire new voter's registration cards. When they came they were only valid beginning November 4th....had they been valid October 25th-ish...you can bet your bottom dollar I would have early voted, but alas, here we are and it's election day 2008.

I woke up early, brushed my teeth, put my makeup on, and picked out an outfit that would go well with my "I VOTED" sticker. The polling place is right around the corner from our house, so Dave and I got there around 6:45. We literally had perfect timing by about 30 seconds. No lie cars started pouring into the parking lot and the line was getting pretty long. Once the voting began at 7am it only took us about 10 minutes and we had cast our votes and were on our merry way. I feel very patriotic at the present and although the election seems all but decided, I have to feel that my vote counts! So, it is cast.

Dave swears he wrote in HIS name for president so it would show up on the voting roll, but I know he's too chicken. Can you even imagine it?? Rookie in the White House!

You also have to love the volunteer working the voting booth who brought a book.....did she think she would have down time? Be bored? Good luck with that! It's Election Day! Go vote! :)

Team Zsa Zsa 2008!

Wow! Our friends and family are AMAZING! Thank you 1,000 times, and it's still not enough, to those of you who came and walked, donated, prayed for us and have loved us. We had 49 1/2 (Baby Kate gets to be the 1/2) people walk!! I am in awe! We (YOU!) raised $1,500 on top of walking entry fees for the Susan G. Komen foundation. Thank you is never enough.

As most of you know, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in September of 2005 and had a long road to recovery with a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. We started Team Zsa Zsa in 2005 and this was our 4th year to walk. The thing is, we walk with the name Team Zsa Zsa in honor of mom, but there are so many others that we celebrate. I walked alongside my friends Lauren and Allison whose mothers have also battled BC and are survivors. I walked alongside my friend Meredith whose grandmother is a survivor. The list goes on and on and we celebrate all of the men and women who have battled this disease. Because we walk and because you donate and pray, I pray there will one day be a cure.

You'll notice in the pictures below that we had 2 very special surprise walkers....Taylor and Kristen SHOCKED mom and came into town to walk with us. It was so wonderful and fun to have them here. :)

The fam

Proudly walking for...

Awesome group pic at the Capitol

Peef girls! And our future peef Kate. This is going to the Arrow!

Pi Phi girls and their men

Mom and dad

Over 25,000 people walked in the Austin Susan G. Komen RFC!

My Cup Runneth Over...Thank you!