"YOU GET A CAR, YOU GET A CAR, YOU GET A CAR!!!"

The date is set and I am SO excited!! Miss O (my sister...) finally found out this morning that we get our tickets to see Oprah on March 12th!! Girl's trip 2009 is officially SET!

For those that didn't hear my shouts of excitement back in January, Kristen gave mom her dream come true for her 50th birthday and we get to come along...we're going to see the Big O! Mom, Nana, Kristen and I will be taking a trip to see Miss Oprah and go to a taping of the show. Ohhhhhh how I hope it's her favorite things....but I'll settle for Clooney or Pitt or Julia or Reese and Jake! (With my luck it will be Internet predators or the salmonella outbreak...both of which I'm sure would be fascinating...not to be misconstrued as ungratefulness...No sir! No complaints here.)

I wonder what she looks like in person?? I wonder if I'll pack my new digital camera and Williams-Sonoma mixing bowls or if I'll just ship all of my awarded goodies together? I wonder if Oprah and I will run into each other in the hall and get to talking and laughing and become instant buddies, and then she'll ask us to stay and have dinner and giggles with her and Gayle? I wonder what I'm gonna WEAR????

Queen O

Traveling buddies...

Birthday Boy...

So Saturday was Jake's birthday. Who is Jake, you ask? Jake is my mom and dad's dog. He turned one. Mom threw him a party. You just threw up a bit in your mouth.

Yes, Jake turned one and he did so in style. Rookie was over for the evening because Dave and I hosted dinner club. Little did we know Rookie was going to a party complete with candles, balloons, party hats and party favors! You see, our dogs are part of the family. I love Rookie, Maggie and Jake more than I could explain to you. They are precious and sweet and always happy to see you...it's just an unconditional love that they have. I did give Rookie a dog biscuit with a candle in it for his birthday, but we've never really stooped to the level of throwing them parties.....I guess there is a first time for everything! Really, it needs no more explanation....here is the photographic proof.

The birthday boy with his party hat, Maggie with her tiara and Rookie with his "Happy Birthday" sign. Look closely and you will see the moon pie with the "1" candle, the stuffed animal party favors, their dog biscuits and the balloons that my DAD blew up for the occasion!! That's the great part because we can't just commit my mom. Dad has to go too!

Jake reveling in the joy of "his" day. I hope you can see that his party hat says "Birthday Boy". Ay-Yi-Yi!!

mean people suck.

My mom is going to hate the title of this post. She hates the "S" word and she doesn't like little girls with "potty mouths", but when you hear this story you'll know it had to be said.

I've had a long, hard week at work. This is not a "woe is me" moment, it's fine, it's not always this way and it will all be over soon. But there have been late nights worked this week and a lot of lost sleep as I sit in bed thinking of all of my to-do's, and my mind races and my heart beats fast. The last few days at work have been super productive and I actually left work yesterday at a normal time and went on a nice date with my fabulous hubby. I came home, got ready for bed, thanked the Lord for a truly great day and I was fast asleep. Not one little vision of conference danced in my head. Insert mean people.

At 3:32am my cell phone starts to ring. I jump up from my intoxicating sleep, glance at the clock, realize what time it is, run to grab the phone and just as I pick it up....nothing. It was my sister. My sister lives in NYC, so it's 4:32am there. Instantly, I channel my mother saying, "Nothing good ever happens after midnight!" and a twinge of fear enters my gut. No big deal, I call her right back. *Ringing*. *Voicemail*. I don't want voicemail. I want you to pick-up. You JUST called me and it's 4:30 in the morning. What else are you doing?? So I wait a couple of minutes and I dial her back. Nothing. I shoot a text saying, "R U ok? Give me a quick call since I'm a bit worried." About 10 minutes later I get a text. It reads, "...". Are you freaking kidding me?? Sheer panic rises. I hope you don't think I'm overreacting here.

My sister and her roommates (one of which is my sister-in-law...it will become vitally important later) went out last night to celebrate Alyssa's (the other roomie) birthday. I knew they were going out, I knew they were with a group and I knew they were taking cabs. I started to wonder if she wanted to go home and no one else did and if she set out on her own and.....and then I'm getting blank phone calls and text messages that say, "....". So I make the executive decision to call Kate (SIL) at what is now 4:ooam (5am in NYC). Kate answers the phone and is asleep. I ask her if Kristen is home. "Yes, why?" Praise the Lord. Honestly, and immediately, I praised the Lord. I was about to go start looking on Fox News. I explained to Kate the cell phone situation and she immediately started the, "You have got to be kidding me!!" No, I certainly was NOT kidding at 4:00am in the middle of my REM cycle.

Kate explains that Kristen lost her phone and they had called it numerous times and the "person" that now has her phone had been answering and hanging up. I am marked "Sister" in Kristen's phone as that is what I'm lovingly called, and I guess he thought he would play a really crappy Friday the 13th joke on little ol', unsuspecting, gullible, overreacting me. How rude!! Honestly!! Who on earth does that?? Especially when cell phones are our lively hood and I would have sat there all night wondering and worrying had I not had Kate to call and bother from her sleep.

Bottom line, God is good and everyone is safe. And to the mean person who has my sister's phone...get a life! Don't do that to people! It is totally cruel. Oh, and on a side note, I began to wonder if he had done the same to my mom and dad since they are marked, "mom and dad" in her cell. I knew if he had, mom would totally need a straight jacket and a vodka tonic. So I gently texed messages my brother and my mom and dad and informed them that Kristen was, in fact, at home, in bed and safe. And some mean man has her phone and wants to play sick jokes. Mission accomplished, but no sleep regained. :( Oh well, there's always tonight!

* PS...Happy Valentine's day!! I had a great date with my hubby last night and he bought me some GORGEOUS tulips! I'll share later. XOXO

Karma Chameleon...

I love Texas. I love that it's February 12th and the high today is 78. It makes me excited for summer and ready for the lake. My sister is a lay-out freak. She comes by it honestly because my mom and Nana like to bake in the sun as well. My Nana is queen bee. Homegirl slathers on that Hawaiian Tropic DARK tanning oil, gets herself a cup of ice water, props herself and those hot-pink fingernails up on her raft that sits up so her hair doesn't get wet, and she's good for a few hours.

My family loves the water. Growing up, both of our sets of grandparents had pools. We were water rats and we loved it. I distinctly remember swimming at my Nana and papa's house practically daily. We would swim and swim and swim and we would get out of the pool and be STARVING! Nana would always have a freshly cut cantaloupe waiting for us and a Styrofoam cup of milk. Ah memories. I was always at a disadvantage though. You see, my dad and my sister are literally twins. They have dark hair, green eyes and freaking olive skin. they are so lucky! My mom and brother have very similar coloring with brown hair (ahem...excuse me, brown hair for Taylor...mom's a natural blond....) and they tan very easily. Then there's me. what the heck people? Red hair, blue eyes, fair skin and freckles. I'm like Vanilla Ice....Turn off the lights, and I'll glow! The family joke is that I don't look like anyone in my family. I came from the Milkman...

I could never hang with the rest of the family and not much has changed. They can sit and bask in the sun for hours upon hours just getting to be bronze goddesses. This past summer we went to Vegas for a week and my entire family would lay by the pool and Dave and I would hang out for about 1 hour and then go shower and go walk the strip until they were done. We can't hang! I know you're all going to tell me the sun is bad for you and protect your skin and blah blah blah. You haven't met my family and you're clearly not from Texas!

This is my lot in life. I am going to be fair skinned and hardly tan at all and what little tan I do get will not come easily. So what do I go and do? A great dissatisfaction to my future children. I went and married someone who is actually more pale than me. Ha! My sister and I like to joke that I will be "that mom" at the pool with kids in hats and t-shirts. They will be the slippery babies that are slathered in 80 proof sunscreen and can still only be outside for 20 minutes. My sister and I laughed about this for 20 minutes the other night and as she so lovingly stated, "They will practically be see-through they will be so pale."

Ah....little chameleon babies....

Day one of our honeymoon in Mexico...and I had been tanning for the wedding!

Day 3....Shoot, I'm a bronze goddess in this pic

This is my family after the before mentioned day of fun in the sun! They put the pale kids on the end. You can hardly even see my dad's face he's so dark. I'm proud of Dave and I in this picture though. We're sportin' some serious pigment!

This was mid-June Last year after a day of laying out with my friends and a day on the golf course for Dave. We are SO tan! (Or maybe so pink...) There may be hope for our little karma chameleons yet!

That's what she said...

My weekend started off in fabulous fashion when I pulled into my driveway on Friday around 5:00pm and noticed my neighbor all spiffed up in his suit and tie. Dave gave him a whistle and was teasing him about his fancy attire when his 2 1/2 year old darling daughter walked out in her very pretty, very fancy dress, hose and patent leather shoes! Man they looked sharp! We were quickly informed that it was the "Father-Daughter Dance" at her pre-school on Friday night. Annie then proceeded to tell me that she got her nails painted, she got her toenails painted, and they had reservations at the local Italian food restaurant. My heart literally melted right there. Then, my friend Sara came outside with the camera and their other darling daughter who is 6 months old. I got to hold her while Sara took pictures of Annie and her daddy before their big date. I was so glad I got to witness the whole event. He got her a little corsage and it was so precious seeing him put it on her. She looked like such a little princess. That basically set the tone for my entire night and I was happy.

Next up was Saturday morning. Dave and I set out to run errands and do all the stuff we can never do during the week....So, we were hungry and Dave chose Round Rock Donuts for breakfast. Tony Horton is rolling over on his Yoga mat right now....so we pulled up and it was literally a bee hive. It was like being at Six Flags with winding lines and "Estimated ordering time" but without the Pink Things. :( We were standing in line outside when this totally goofy guy in his mid 30's, with severe ADHD, walked outside with his girlfriend who had stepped straight out of a Hollister catalogue. They were laughing and had out their camera and were being very loud and boisterous when the guy pulled the biggest donut I have EVER seen out of a box. He was holding it up and they were taking pictures and everyone outside was watching them and laughing.

A picture of the unnecessary item for authenticity...

The guy starts biting into it and this big, diva-type woman comes walking up. I promise on my life the following conversation happened...

Diva: "OH.MY.GOOOOODNESS!! That is CA-RAY-ZY! I didn't know they made 'em that big!!"

ADD Boy: "That's what she said!"

Tiffany and Dave and the rest of the donut shop crowd: laughing/uncomfortable because of the man's obvious pride in his hilarity

Diva: No clue what just happened.

It was pretty dang funny and I proceeded to call my brother immediately because: A) it was TOTALLY something he would say and B) the guy reminded me of his roommate.

Moving on to yesterday...mom has been getting into walking lately and really walking at least 2 miles each day. There is a reason and I will explain more later, but she asked me to come over so we could go for a longer walk so she could see how she felt afterwards. We were hoping to walk between 4 and 5 miles. I showed up around 3:00pm, she was ready to go, so we said bye to dad, I grabbed my cell phone and off we were into the land of Oz. I'm not sure I've seen the wind blow as hard as it was blowing yesterday, but I definitely know I have never tried to walk in anything like that! We hadn't even gotten out of the garage and mom got this huge grin across her face and bent down and said, "look!!" She pulled a $20 dollar bill out of her sock. She said, "I thought we would walk to Chili's and treat ourselves with a Molten Chocolate cake! We can call Dad and have him come get us!" Again, Tony was rolling over on his Yoga mat and in disbelief that I would chase a good, brisk walk with warm, gooey, chocolate goodness topped off with a scoop of ice cream and hot fudge. But you better believe it buddy, because we did it!

The route was kind of crazy and mom started fading around mile 3.5, but she pressed on toward the goal that she might receive the prize. We got to Chili's, mom's legs had a heartbeat and we were so proud of ourselves. I literally laughed out loud at our ridiculousness. We called my dad to tell him of our whereabouts and I'm not even going to say he was shocked, because if you know us, you should know that this would not be a shocking activity/adventure when my mom's involved. He did let out a good laugh and then threaten that he would not come pick us up and we would have to work off our Molten by walking back. That's just cruelty! Dad and Dave showed up like the true knights in shining armour that they are, and not a moment too soon because we were a buck short! :) We ended up making dinner out of it and splitting a sandwich too. Thanks guys! Oh, and we DID take a picture at Chili's with my cell phone to document the event, but I couldn't figure out how to upload the picture...boo! He did retrace our route on the way home and it was 5.5 miles! Go us!!

Here's to another week....

Fabulous Find Friday!

Ooo baby baby-b-baby-baby! Now that you have all just channeled Salt-N-Peppa and your super cool junior high years, let's talk baby! It seems like baby fever is a truly contagious disease. We all either have children, know people with children, know people with a child in their belly or worst case scenario, if none of these fit you...you have at one point seen a child in a public place. :) I can't imagine the joy of finding out you're prego and then all of the "stuff" that follows. There are grandparents to tell, names to pick out, car seats to buy, little mittens with monkeys on them to put on their hands so they don't scratch their face, and above all else, THE NURSERY! I'm sure the thought, "MY CHILD needs to have the cutest nursery ever!" enters your mind. You know, when I was little, back in the day, I think parents slapped a coat of yellow paint on the walls, bought a Snoopy pillow and called it a day. I'm not sure the thought ever crossed V-Rog and Big Daddy's mind to deck the halls with toile and scrolling sayings above the bed. I was born 2 decades too early. Maybe I need to go on Oprah with deep seeded issues starting with a non-toiled nursery.....wait, never mind, I'm over it. But your little bundle of joy will not be the same unless they have a super adorable nursery!

That's where Kim comes in! Kim is a friend of mine with a passion for babies and decorating. Her passion collided with her creativity and now we can all benefit from it! Kim creates one-of-a-kind, custom nursery canvases for you and your baby. She will talk with you and create your canvas based on your color scheme, a particular piece of inspiration like a stuffed animal or bedding pattern, your baby's initials, whatever tickles your fancy. And for those of us with no bundle of joy in our near future, we'll have the best gift ever at all those upcoming showers! Here are a few of her masterpieces!

Diva baby!

Surfer Dude

Granola baby (I kid! I live in Austin, I had to!)

Check her out! www.customnurseryart.blogspot.com

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.-- Anonymous"

Get out of my dreams and into my car...

March 4th, 1996 was a day that I longed for! That day meant freedom, fully enjoying off campus lunch, being the cool big sister to Taylor and Kristen and their 8 year old friends (I had high standards), cruising the "drag" while listening to Tupac, Salt-n-Peppa and TLC and having the ability to do what I wanted when I wanted. I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone, and everyone knew what everyone drove. I remember all the cool girls that got 2 door cameros, eagle talons, Mitsubishi eclipse, the firebird....whoo baby...it seemed like the prettier the girl the better the car! The boys loved them and the girls wanted to be them!

Well watch out Duncan High! T-Rog is turning 16! I got a 1987, 4 door, 187K Mile Nissan Maxima! You got that right...there was no stopping me. When everyone ran out to lunch and piled in cars it took my crew 1/2 the time because I had 4 doors instead of 2! Those firebirds with t-tops and 10 disk cd changers had nothing on me man. I had a tape deck and a portable cd player that did the trick. The only bad part was when I hit a bump or turned a corner. If the song just skipped it was business as usual, but starting all the way back over and re-singing every word to "Waterfalls" was just part of the game. We did what we had to do. The best was that the starter was going out. It was always a crap-shoot as to when the starter would strike. When I would try to turn my car on it would make the most excruciating sound of metal on metal you have ever heard. Embarrassing....heck ya it was! You try being 16 and not being able to start your car because it sounds like a machine shop. I thought my life was over and it was ridiculous and embarrassing, mom laughed hysterically and told me it was building character. (She was right by the way!) The other small "issue" with the Maxima is that she wouldn't hold oil. I literally had to refill the oil whenever I filled up with gas. I kept 5 bottles of oil in my trunk at all times and while the gas was pumping I would top her off. This seemed to crack my friends up. Let me tell you, a cheerleading outfit, a pledge jersey, pearls and heels...all perfectly acceptable outfits for popping the hood and gettin' a bit dirty! I did have it down to an art and hardly even got so much as dirt under my nails.

That is one FINE piece of machinery!

I drove the "Maxi-Pad" throughout high school and I took her to college. She was with me through Friday night football games, cruising Duncan with my friends, taking us for cokes at Dave's cave and finally, being a college girl sporting that Pi Phi sticker so well! Her time came and it became apparent that she was no longer safe to drive. Lucky me, the stars aligned and mom was ready to get a new car and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of a 1994 Dodge Intrepid.

One thing's for sure, I could pick The Beast/Black Beauty out in a crowd because I can guarantee you no other 19th year old was cruising around College Station in a boat. You know, this was kind of my time to know what it felt like to be one of those girls driving a camero. Not because I had a super cool Camero, but because I too had to slow down to 5 mph to take a dip in the road. The Intrepid was a low rider and she didn't appreciate bottoming out. The best was that she, along with the Maxima, had about 180K miles. She had been driven hard and she was almost at the end of her rope. My friends always offered to drive so they wouldn't have to been seen in my car, but occasionally Black Beauty could be see making her rounds down Hollimon or cruising University. Her downfall was the transmission. It was a gradual ailment, but one that proved fatal. We would laugh when the car literally jolted you when it hit about 40 miles an hour. I was afraid I would get sued for whip-lash before long. It was the end of spring semester junior year and I packed up the beast and headed for Round Rock. I drove 45mph the ENTIRE 3 hours (Usually an hour and 45 minute trip) because my car wouldn't switch into 5th gear. It was brutal. Totally brutal. When I hit town, I took the back roads because I knew it wasn't safe to get on I-35. I got about 3 miles from my house and I started hitting stop signs....you have GOT to be kidding me. I stopped at the first one and my car literally was in a cloud of smoke and would hardly go through the intersection. Have any of you ever run out of gas and right there at the end you can feel your car lunging and stopping...Bradley could tell us a thing or 2 about that....but that is what my car was doing. She was saying NO! A cop pulled up behind me, of course! I was motioning for him to come up to my window because I could NOT stop that car. If I did, we were not getting it going again. I explained my predicament and that I was literally 2 miles from home at this point. He gave me the green light and told me I didn't have to stop at anymore stop signs and he would escort me home....y'all, I have never been more mortified in my life! (Well, maybe when I did back handsprings into the Gatorade buckets senior year at the varsity football game...) I putted home in a full-on cloud of smoke thinking the car was officially on fire, with police escort, and that was the final trip for the intrepid. She went down in a blaze of glory! The best part was that mom was literally standing in the driveway LAUGHING....mom, not the time. Too fresh.

Black Beauty

You see, now, years later, these stories are funny. I realize that it doesn't matter what you drive as long as you get there. I appreciate my parents for giving me a car instead of me having to buy my own. It might not have been the coolest car in town (ok, it was NOT the coolest car in town) but it worked and character building it did! I can safely say, my kids will not be getting new cars either and there is no whining they can do because they can't top me. Hopefully a few of you had some great times in the Maxima and the Intrepid! There you have it America....what was your first car?

PS....I do have to admit that both of these dazzling cars had sunroofs....There was a bit of glamour...

PPS...Neither of these are actually photos of MY car, because I would have to go through photos at my parent's house to find some. The digital camera was a clutch invention. But this is exactly what both of my cars looked like so you get the idea.

Just call me Tony!

I found YOU a dog! Oh my gosh, you're so lucky! That's right, if you're reading this, please, please consider adopting Anthony. You could totally change his name. I literally avoid PetSmart and Petco on the weekends, but there was no escaping on Saturday. I made the irreversible decision to run to Hobby Lobby on Saturday completely neglecting the important fact that it is located right by Petco. I had barely turned the corner and I saw the cages and the sweet little faces desperately needing a home. So, like any gluten for punishment I parked my car and headed over to check out the dogs up for adoption. There were tons of precious puppies. I couldn't believe it. I usually don't see a full liter of puppies at the adoption centers...anyway, they were causing quite a stir! Everyone wanted to see the puppies and adopt the puppies and were in love with the puppies! That's when I noticed Anthony....

I want to stop right here and interject this....please don't get me wrong....I hope every one of those puppies were adopted! They need loving homes too, but sweet Anthony was totally lost in the shuffle. I went over to his pen that he was being kept in and he was just sitting, being the good boy that he is. He is so sweet, never made a peep and was just watching what was going on. My heart broke. Ask my mom, I sobbed in her living room (I might have a problem). It literally broke my heart that scads of people were swarming around the puppies. Holding them, petting them, loving them and taking them home. No one was over loving Anthony and making a fuss over him. I wanted him so badly and let me tell you (and my husband because I know he is reading this...) I was a centimeter away from signing those adoption papers, paying my re-homing fee and bringing Tony home. He and Rookie would have gotten along swell! But when I called my husband, he explained how this is not the time for us and a new family member. We will be gone all Spring making trips to New Orleans to see my brother. We take Rookie to my parents and drop him off and we just can't expect them to keep TWO dogs. They already have 2 themselves. So, this is where I hope and pray that one of you is looking for a precious boy to complete your family! He is 5 years old, neutered, sweet, quiet, a little bit shy right now. The foster parent rescued him from Bastrop animal shelter and said he has already come out of his shell a lot more, but he is not a hyperactive dog. He is pretty small, about 20 lbs. I have taken pictures! He looks like a beagle mostly, but he has some other stuff mixed in. If you are interested, please call Mac McGregor at 512-739-9877 or mac@cncrescue.org . The website is http://www.cncrescue.org/. I can't wait to hear Anthony's success story!

Look at this precious face!!

Here he is watching people walk up to all the other dogs...This is a good picture to show his size.

Sweet as can be....

Now, finally, the reason I went to Hobby Lobby...I did a little art project on my wall at home....what do you think??

Have a great week!