Family Vacation = Success

Thanksgiving was great this year. My parents made the trek to Austin and stayed with us for 4 days. It was so awesome to spend time with them, especially since they stayed at my house instead of a hotel this year.

We didn't fight at all, and I was actually really sad to see them go. I wish they would move to Austin so I could see them more!

Some highlights:

• Eating at Chuy's and actually not having to wait
• Watching my dad work at Spec's, and woo the store manager with his mad sales skills
• Thanksgiving tradition: Turkey Trot + Threadgills (Candied Yams = Yum!!) + Cowboys
• Lots of crossword puzzles
• 4 games of scrabble (I kicked butt. Sorry, Dad!)
• Breakfast at Magnolia and at Galaxy Cafe
• Going to the gym Friday morning and being the second person there out of 4 total.
• Watching our dogs react to Sweetie Pie, my parents miniature toy poodle
• Visiting Terry & Pat, and my mom buying us a cool metal bird we've been wanting
• Organizing all of our CDs & playing with our Ipod Shuffles
• Giving a bunch of my clothes to my mom, who now fits in them. She is looking very hip!
• Not fighting. No tension. No unease. Just happy to have my parents around.

This was my Dad at specs. He's the Riedel distributer, and was checking out the display.

I love Scrabble!!

Sweetie Pie in her new sweater my mom bought on Friday.

What's better than migas and french toast at Galaxy?

It's Your Own Dumb-Asphalt You're Broke

I couldn't sleep last night. So at 2:30am, I decided to check out the Woot shirt of the day. By 2:30am, this was already sold out. Seriously, that is insane. But normal. (Which is why I checked it at 2:30am.)

Oh well, it's awesome & I want to share:

They charged you how much? For a cup of coffee? Let me see that. Whoa, and the cup is freezing cold to boot. Boy, did you get taken for a—OK, well here’s your problem, right here. You’ve got whipped cream in here. And ice! I mean actual ice cubes! What are these, sprinkles or something? It smells kind of… cinnamony. There’s, like… what, fudge or something at the bottom? If you ordered coffee, you should take this right back; they gave you a sundae that someone spilled coffee into.

This shirt was designed by: shirt.wooter shmeedles—a congenital tightwad, sure, but our congenital tightwad.

Wear this shirt: to the senior center, or the barber shop, or wherever you cranky cheapskates hang out.

Don’t wear this shirt: to a certain ubiquitous coffee chain. Unless you’re just going to get an Odwalla juice; those are sooo good, and worth it.

This shirt tells the world: “I’ve not yet succumbed to Starbucks Fatigue Fatigue.”

We call this color: With A Daily Five-Dollar Drink Fix It’s Your Own Dumb-Asphalt You’re Broke.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why I don't eat turkey on Thanksgiving (or ever, for that matter)...

Turkey Trot

I ran the Thundercloud Turkey Trot 5 Miler this morning. I was pretty nervous about running since I've been feeling (and running) so slowly lately.

Last year: 5 miles - 44:44 - 8:57 pace.
This year: 5 miles - 41:14 - 8:15 pace.

Needless to say, I'm pretty darn happy. (I could have gone faster too, but I started pretty slow. My first mile was 9:30 - the rest were all sub 8's.) The course is somewhat hilly, and it felt very fun to pass so many people from miles 2-5. For the first time, I feel like all those leg presses I've been doing paid off up the hills.

It was really great to meet up with Leslie, Amy & Amy before the race and for the first mile. It was also great to see Glenda at the end - 3rd place in her age group - awesome!

Lastly, it was the BEST to run the last leg with my dad for the third year in a row. This year he broke one hour - walking!!!!! He is amazing & I am so proud of him. It was great to spend Thanksgiving morning doing what I love - spending time with friends and family and running!

Sleep + Art

Today was awesome. It was dark and gloomy outside this morning, so I opted to sleep in for bit. At 10:00am, when my phone went off, I finally got up... guess I needed the sleep.

Then I laid in bed for a while and just stared out the window. No running. (No guilt either, luckily.) Just laziness and calm. It was really nice.

The rest of the day was full of awesome art things. I mapped out a route of galleries and studios on the East Austin Studio Tour, starting with one of my favorite local artists - Jennifer Balkan. Not even one studio into the tour, and I'd already purchased an adorable little painting of a lost pig.

After touring some other places, we headed to the Austin Museum of Art for the new Roy Lichtenstein exhibit and a lecture by the collector. This guy was awesome - one of the best museum lectures I have ever heard. One thing that really spoke to me was when he said, "Art to me is like a mini vacation. Every time you look at it, it takes you away somewhere else. I need art in my space. I need art around me to live." I couldn't agree more. (That's why my house is filled with art and I don't take many vacations!) I HIGHLY recommend this exhibit - one of the best I feel the museum has had in a while.

After the lecture, we hit more studios and then headed to Terry & Pat's to see how he did at his home show. Met up with Tim & Rhonda for a bit which was a nice treat. Tonight I'll figure out the remaining places that I want to check out tomorrow. I'm overwhelmed with the amount of galleries and studios in East Austin - there are over 200 artists on this tour. Sometimes I just can't get over how cool Austin is.

Hopefully I will run tomorrow, and maybe hit the gym and swim. And then more art... I can't think of many better ways to spend the weekend.

(By the way, here is one of Terry's most recent paintings. I LOVED this painting, but someone else snatched it up. The little green bird with the orange head on the bottom rocks!!!)

A few pictures & an update...

Rather than post a long drawn out post of what I've been up to lately, I thought I'd post a few pictures and a quick update. I may get more motivated to update later, but for now... a few pics from my lovely Palm Treo:

The Golf Tournament - not a bad way to spend a Friday. It's work, but the fun kind of work. I coordinated my fourth company tournament for about 100 people. The Garage- we cleaned the garage last Saturday. At least, we cleaned enough out to make 2 full car trips to Goodwill, post 3 furniture pieces on Craig's List, and have an entire side yard full of trash. The result? We can now put our bikes in the garage versus in the living room.

The Elevator - You didn't think I'd stay away from Houston for long, now did you? Here is the infamous non-working elevator at my usual hotel. So yes, I obviously went back to Houston. It was fun to be back there, but I reconfirmed that Austin is where I want to stay. Moving forward, I'm hoping that I will mostly stick to Houston day trips. Still, it was really fun to see my Houston gang.

Generally speaking, this was a really great week. Minus a few hiccups, I really enjoyed myself. Work was pretty easy. I got to attend a ton of association events, which I love. I managed to run more than normal, I swam once, and I even got on my bike this afternoon to head to South Austin with Scot. I got to run with Robert yesterday. I went to the gym 5 days in a row! I had the most fun at Magnolia Cafe this morning that I've ever had. I finally got to have lunch with Meredith today. I visited Ostrich's office. I went on an art preview tour for E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) last night, went to Terry's preview party tonight, and I have a fun filled art weekend ahead of me. I've spent some true quality time connecting with people who are important to me, and it has been wonderful.

Next week my parents are coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I am very excited. I have a lot to be thankful for right now.

How Not to Eat a Grapefruit

I now know why grapefruit is considered a fruit that helps in losing weight.


First, it doesn't really even taste good.


Second, it takes forever to actually get any fruit from it. Work, work, work!!! Who the hell invented grapefruit spoons anyway -what a joke.

But, I gotta say... trying to eat grapefruit on a Friday morning (at Magnolia with Lulu) is one of the best ways a girl could ever start her day!

Terry's Home Show - This Saturday!!!

If any of you have been in my house, then you will instantly recognize Terry Powell's work. He's having his annual home show this Saturday! Details below...

Terrell Powell Fall Home Show

Saturday, November 17th

10AM - 6PM

2016 Brentwood Drive

Austin, TX 78757

Come on out! There will be tons of art in all price ranges - including some cool stuff for the holidays. If you don't want to buy anything, you can at least check out his collection - I'm very jealous. Or, if you can't come by, check out some of his stuff at www.curiousroom.com.

TMBG IS COMING!!!

I just got an email that said that They Might Be Giants is scheduling shows in Texas in March...

I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! Road Trip!!!

Are Mondays really this good?!!

It's funny how I don't dread Mondays. In fact, I oftentimes look forward to them. And so goes an awesome Monday today...

6:00am - arrive at Gold's Gym downtown for a nice upper body workout. Got a really cool indirect compliment, heard by one woman talking to her friend: "Did you see that at one point, there were only women in the free weight area? And they weren't wussy women, either - they were the real deal."

7:15am - breakfast at Kirby Lane. Yum!!! (I managed to resist the pumpkin pancakes today, but I am SURE I will be back for them soon.)

8:30am - start of an awesome day at work

11:30am - lunch with Leslie, Amy & Glenda at Banzai. Obviously it was great to see them & hang out. I felt like I hadn't seen any of them in weeks.

4:00pm - meet Scot @ the Veloway for a nice 21 mile ride. Great weather, great company, and my legs actually worked!

6:00pm - veggie stir fry for dinner and some downtime.

8:55pm - finish blogging, finish emailing, celebrate that I took my work inbox emails down from 46 to 7 (WOW!!!!) and head upstairs to work on the days crossword puzzle.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE BEING IN AUSTIN!!!!!!

(For the record, I resisted the urge to go to Houston tomorrow. My coworker is making the day trip.... and I almost joined him.... but I resisted.)

I like this picture...

WurstRide Metric Century

I am still unsure why I thought it would be a good idea to ride a metric century (63 miles) considering my recent lack of cycling. My last "long ride" was 49 miles on July 29th, and since then it's pretty much been short trips around the Veloway.

But I promised Kerry I would do it. And I promised Scot I would do it. And I have been bailing on both of them left and right lately, so I needed to actually do something I said I was going to. And what the hell, how hard can 63 miles be?! (For the record, I was promised "nice & easy" pacing!)We left the LCRA complex off Montopolis at 8:00am. Justin & I started out slow, while Kerry & Dionn took off. (Shock! Easy ride pace?! Whatever!) By the first reststop, I was thinking there was no way I could keep up with them for 50 more miles. So I met up with Scot and rode with him for a bit. Unfortunately his riding partner was holding us back, so I forged ahead and rode with Laura & Kris for a bit. (So awesome to see them, btw!) By the second water stop, I found my original group and decided to try and hold on for dear life with them. Thankfully, Kerry stayed with me and they didn't go too fast. We picked up Panther at the halfway point, and once again I just tried to hold on and keep them in eyesight.

I was so frustrated at my lack of cycling fitness. I was so strong just a few months ago, but not today. I'll get back to it, but it's going to take some work. I was so happy when we reached the finish and I could finally relax! However, I did have an amazing time with the group. It was so much fun to be back on a long ride again. And the weather was perfect too.

After the ride, we all hung out to enjoy free sausage and beer. (I "enjoyed" gatorade and a granola bar. Not the best vegetarian friendly finish!) As I talked to Panther about why I sucked so much on the bike, he wondered if I've still been hitting the gym. (Hell yes I am!) I told him yes, and bragged that I'm up to 310 on the leg press. This is when he wanted to see if I could press him, so I offered to try! Anyway, this was a really fun ride. I'm motivated to get training again.

AWESOME FRIDAY!!!!

Today was the best Friday ever.

First, I managed to finally drag my butt out of bed and go run this morning. 5 miles at 5:30am - perfect! Though I was supposed to meet Kerry, I ended up running alone. I love running with Kerry, but I was also glad to be able to run at an easier pace and relax with my Ipod. No stomach problems, either, which was a blessing.

Next, I went to work for just a moment- for those who may have seen a "secret" post that no longer exists on my blog - let's just say that everything is MUCH better at work as of this morning. (Also, for anyone curious, my marketing manager in Houston is doing splendidly, which is a huge relief to me.)

Then, I went to Cabellas (Yes, Cabellas!) for an AAFAME Board of Directors retreat. After years of working me like a dog (the president's words, mind you!) they voted me to be a board member. This is really cool, because not only do I represent the entire vendor membership of a 350+ member group, I don't actually have to do anything except show up. Today, I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends and just throw my input in every now and then - awesome!

Now, in regards to Cabellas... what a place for a liberal vegetarian! Some highlights:
1) Hot pink camo.
2) More dead stuffed animals than I ever would have cared to see. (After the initial shock, I was okay, honest.) Included in this list: deer, mountain lions, coyotes, zebra, lions, warthogs, grizzly bears, a giant moose, a polar bear, real lions, etc...
3) An aquarium with giant catfish. (Ewww - why would you eat that??)
4) A Barbie fishing pole. Yes, Barbie. I guess to go with the hot pink camo.
5) A stuffed otter. When I asked my friend Stac why anyone would shoot an otter, he replied "Because you can."
Anyway, after my board retreat - I took some "erin" time and went to one of my favorite places in Austin. It was the most perfect way to spend my afternoon. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Then, I met the group at Chuy's for happy hour for a bit. And then, we went to a show opening at Artspoken Gallery. One of our favorite artists, Amy Lindsey Joynt, was showing and (surprise) we bought a piece. It is so cool... I'll post a picture soon. The evening ended with falafel at Sarah's Market and now I have 3 crossword puzzles waiting for me in the que before I go to bed.

Tomorrow I am riding the metric century WurstRide. Thanks to Lulu & Scooter for holding my true to my word on this one... I'm nervous about 63 miles, but looking forward to being back on my bike for more than 20 mile increments.

Anyway, I am so happy to report that I am feeling much better about work lately.

And, not surprisingly, life too.

Grandma Couch

I LOVE CRAIG'S LIST!!! Someone is actually paying us $150 for the grandma couch. Scratch that - someone already PAID $150. She is picking it up sometime over the next few days.

R.I.P. Grandma Couch!!