Slacky slacksalot

So I've been a bit swamped since coming back from Thanksgiving break. I tell you...I really pay for time off around here. Things are super busy at work and I am knee deep in my Junior League placement right now. So, in an effort to apease Murtle....I thought I'd do a quick entry today. Saw this cute cartoon in the latest Glamour magazine and thought I'd share.

My Favorite Things

Yesterday's Oprah was everyone's favorite show....her "My Favorite Things" show. It got me thinking about some of my favorite things. So, I thought I'd share some with you. Now, I don't antipate an onslaught of sales on these items like what happens after an Oprah endorsement, but I thought I'd gaves these favs of mine a shout out and see what happens.

Veuve Clicquot Rose - Of course I had to start with champagne...which quite possibly could by my very favorite thing. But...how can I have a favorite champagne you ask? Well, I do happen to love just about any (but not all...no thank you on the Andre) champagne, but I do have my own personal fav. I am a big fan of the regular old (if you can even call it that) Veuve Clicquot, but only seem to buy the Rose on those extra special occasions - - - ok your random Thursday. But, the Veuve Clicquot Rose is fabulous....the perfect amount of pink bubbly fun! Cheers!


Shag Rolls - Sadly I do not have a picture of these scrumptious little numbers (only a picture of Uchi), but I have to say that a picture could not do them justice. The Shag Roll at Uchi is by far my favorite suchi roll ever. They are the perfect little bits of heaven. I'm not even sure what is exactly in them....and at this point in our relationship, I'm not sure I care....but I do know they have salmon in them and they are toasted and then topped with a japanese mayo. I like to start and end my meal at Uchi with a Shag Roll. And, if you are joining me for dinner....get your own!!!


Table Topics - If you know anything about me, you know that I love "get to know me games.' And yes, by me...I mean me. Ha. No really, I love question/get to know people games. That's why these Table Topics cards are my favorite. We played them several years ago over Thanksgiving Dinner and they caused quite a stir. They are great little conversation starters and there is an appropraitely themed box for every occasion.


Tweezerman Point Tweezers - Don't leave home without them! I mean, is there any better place to pluck those stray eyebrow hairs than in the bright sunlight of your car at a stoplight. And, there is no better tool to grab even the finest little hair than the Tweezerman Point Tweezers. They aren't the cheapest tweezers you'll find, but the best part about them is that they have free tweezer sharpening for life. I have two pairs....so when I send one off for sharpening I always have an emergency back up pair at my fingertips.


Netflix - I heart Netflix. I used to wonder about how cool it really could be. I know that you pick movies and put them into a que, but what if I was in the mood for something else when a certain movie came? Well, I have been a proud member of Netflix for several months now and I have to say....I love it. I am the membership category that allows 3 movies out at one time. I love that there are no late fees and I love that all I have to do is return them in the postage included envelope they provide me. They do just about everything for you except come over and pop it into your DVD player. I find myself renting movies I might not have rented before and you can also rent tv shows/seasons that you've missed. If you aren't a member already, be sure and try out their free trial.


BaByliss Carrera Pro - No, it's not a Porshe....it's a hairdyer and it just happend to be the best one I've ever used. I used to go through hair dryers ever couple of months...burning them up from overuse....that's what happens when you have a head of hair like mine. But, now that I found the BabByliss Carrera Pro I can go what seems like forever w/o having to replace it. It also dries my hair in half the time of any other dryer I've used. Again, not the cheapest hairdryer of the lot, but I promise you won't be disappointed with the BabByliss Carrera Pro.



Sonic Impact i-Fusion - That sounds way more fancy than it is. Actually these are my favorite portable iPod speakers. I bought my set more than a year and a half ago and I do credit myself for their success. Ash, MC, Mooring, Alicia, Lizzy, and more all have purchased these fabulous portable speakers. They are super durable....I've taken my everywhere for the last year and a half. They are small and light weight. And, they have great sound. I love being about to take my iPod everywhere with me. It completes me!

Well folks, in an effort to keep this blog entry from being the longest in history....I think I'll leave at that. I have had so much with this entry that I think I'll make it a recurring entry. So stay tuned to Leigh Leigh Land for more of my favorite things.

First Dance

Jack's 5th Bday

Ashley and I with the bday boy

On Saturday, I went to San Antonio for Jack's 5th bday. My little buddy had a gaggle of friends over to celebrate the occasion. The party was complete with bounce house, magician, and pinata.

Mackinzie and Campbell

Jack is my little buddy who I met over a year ago while we were both vacationing in Montana. We instantly bonded when, one day at lunch, he asked me to "smell my bref". How could I resist. I love getting to see Jack (and the rest of his family) whenever I can. My favorite moment was walking up to the party and seeing him get so excited to see me. Now, you might think it's somewhat pathetic that the highlight of my day is being greeted by a 5 year old, but hey....it's the little things and I'll take what I can get. It seems that Jack's brother Luke, on the other hand, could care less about my arrival. I'll convert him to be a Leigh Leigh fan one of these days.

Big brother Luke

It was great to see Jack, Luke and their parents, Shannon and Craig. Leave it to Shannon to pull out all the stops for Jack's bday celebration. I have to admit that the beers for the adults was the cherry on top. It was so great to see all the San Antonio kiddos and their parents. Check out the rest of my pics from Jack's party.

Happy B-day Jack!

Wendy's Thanksgiving Bash

Wendy and Reid with their turkeys

Friday night, Wendy hosted a group of us for a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner. We had two delicious turkeys....one oven roasted by Wendy and the other fried by Reid. Everyone pitched in on all the trimmings as well....Ted made mac and cheese, Mary Miles "made" stuffing, Wendy (with the help of Vince) made mashed potatoes, the Bells "made" pies, and I made squash casserole. Everything was delicious!

Tedder makes mac and cheese

For the first half of the evening we pretended to be civilized and sophisticated, but our fun factor began to shoot up later in the evening. After dinner, the guys enjoyed a game of washers (ugh) and the rest of gathered round the fire pit.

the girls around the fire pit

After dessert we gathered round the table for some games. Typically this is where our evenings take a turn for the worse....and Friday night was no exception. Intimate secrets were revealed, grown men sat in each others laps, and a late night dance party commenced.

Vince enjoying the view from Chandler's lap

Thanks to the question game, we got to these bottom of some of these burning questions...
...who actually practices Vince Vaughn lines (duh),
...who has peed in their pants (another obvious answer),
...who manscapes,
...who doesn't know how to spell underwear,
...who likes this song
...and more.

Thanks for another great party, Wendy. This too Thanksgiving dinner to a whole new level. Check out the rest of my pics from the evening.

Girls Night Out

This week the Junior League of Austin is putting on its annual 'A Christmas Affair' holiday bazaar. After volunteering Wednesday night at the black tie preview party, I got to kick up my own heels last night at Girls Night Out. Girls Night Out is a private party within ACA and is clearly for girls only. This year's theme was Rock The Casbah. It was my first time for the event and I had a great time.

Sara, me, and Ashley

We gathered a group together (Ash, Sara, Wendy, Wendy, Leigh, Tina, Renee, and me) and hit the stores and the bar.....did you expect anything less. They had an 80s cover band at the party (LC Rocks) who Rocked the Casbah. It was a sight to see....the band is complete with 80s rock band hair, leather pants, hooched out groupies, smoke machine, and a fan that blew their hair around. What a sight. They were so much fun...although I have to admit it's kind of funny to see a dance floor packed with girls only. I was a good girl and didn't buy a thing at the market and just did my fair share of dining, drinking, and dancing. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Leigh and Wendy

Social Networking Butterfly

I thought of myself as pretty well connected until I recently entered the world of social networking. I recently created a Facebook account for my job....to further promote our mission and to create link juice for Mobile Loaves & Fishes. I had no idea what I was in for.

I was surprised at how, almost instantly, I had made many "new" friends. Actually, everyone who is now one of my Facebook "friends" I do know in some shape or form. But, it is these blast from the past friend requests and the friend of a friend of a friend request that got me thinking. As Ashley and I passed each other in the waiting room of our esthetician’s office of pain last week, she showed me the following article from Time Magazine that seemed to share my very thoughts. Thought you all might enjoy this piece too...

You Are Not My Friend by Joel Stein

In the pre-internet days, neither of us would have even thought of calling each other friends. We'd have called ourselves friends of friends who met once and yet, for some reason, kept sending each other grammatically challenged, inappropriately flirty letters with photos of ourselves attached. Police might have gotten involved.

But now we're definitively friends, having taken a public vow of friendship on friend-based websites, wearing metaphorical friendship bracelets on the earnest Facebook, the punky MySpace, the careerist LinkedIn and the suddenly very Asian Friendster. As if that wasn't enough friendship for you, some of you have also asked me to be friends on the nerdy Twitter, the dorky-élitist Doostang and the Eurotrashy hi5. You message me and comment about me and write on my walls and dedicate songs to me and invite me to join groups. More than once you have taken it upon yourself to poke me.

This is hard to say to a friend, but our relationship is starting to take up too much of my time. It's weird that I know more about you than I do about actual friends I hang out with in person--whom I propose we distinguish by calling "non-metafriends." In fact, I know more about you than I know about myself. I have no idea what my favorite movie or song or TV show is. Last I checked, they all involved Muppets.

Also, you're a bit aggressive in our friendship. Would a non-metafriend call me up and say, "Hey! Guess what? I have a bunch of new pictures of me"? Or tell me he'd colored in a map of all the places he'd ever been? Or inform me, as Michael Hirschorn did in his Facebook status update, that he "is not making decisions; he's making surprises"? It's as if I suddenly met a new group of people who were all in the special classes.

The horror is, I can't opt out. Just as I can't stop making money or my non-metafriends will have more stuff than I do, I can't stop running up my tally of MySpace friends or I'll look like a loser. Just as money made wealth quantifiable, social networks have provided a metric for popularity. We all, oddly, slot in at a specific ranking somewhere below Dane Cook.

I'm sure social networks serve many important functions that improve our lives, like reconnecting us with old friends and finding out if people we used to date are still good-looking. And social networks all have messaging functions, which would be an excellent way to send information if no one had invented e-mail.

But really, these sites aren't about connecting and reconnecting. They're a platform for self-branding. Old people are always worrying that our blogging and personal websites and MySpace profiles are taking away our privacy, but they clearly don't understand the word privacy. We're not sharing things we don't want other people to know. We're showing you our best posed, retouched photos. We're listing the Pynchon books we want you to think we've read all the way through. We're allowing other people to write whatever they want about us on our walls, unless we don't like it, in which case we just erase it. If we had that much privacy in real life, the bathrooms at that Minnesota airport would be empty.

And like the abrasively direct ads for tinctures and cleaning products at the beginning of the advertising age, our self-branding is none too subtle. We are a blunt lot, in our bikinis and our demands that our friends go right now to check out our blog postings. We've gone 40 years back, to sales tactics predating irony, self-deprecation and actual modesty. We are, as a social network, all so awesome that we will soon not be able to type the number 1, because we will have worn out the exclamation point that shares its key.

Until we can build some kind of social network where we can present our true, flawed selves--perhaps some genius can invent something that takes place in a house over dinner with wine--I say we strip down our online communities to just the important parts. With enough venture funding--by which I mean the volunteer services of a dude who knows how to build a website--I hope to launch TrueSocialStatus.com on which users are allowed to submit only their name, their occupation, a photo, the square footage of their home and a list of any celebrities they happen to know. Then other people can vote, on a scale of 1 to 100, on how awesome they are. At the end of the year, the ones with the most points are made homecoming king and queen, which, if I remember correctly, should immediately send their scores plummeting. If nothing else, it should finally rid us of Tila Tequila.

6th Annual Mock Thanksgiving

This weekend we celebrated our 6th Annual Mock Thanksgiving at Ashley's Ranch in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Each fall friends gather for some fun, food, and fellowship just before Thanksgiving. The weekend is packed with hunting, fishing, jeep rides, skeet shooting, Ashley's great cooking, chillin' by the fire pit and more.

Ashley and I left Austin about 4:30 Thursday afternoon and headed toward Fredericksburg to meet up with Brett, Wally, and Misty. After a quick trip to HEB we joined them at Hondo's for a quick bite before heading to the ranch. We made it to Hidden Valley Ranch by 9pm and we were oh so glad to have some extra helpers to help unload the suburban. Wally and Brett made a nice fire as we waited around for the rest of the crew. Charlotte, Kirk, Keri, MC, and Ben rolled in about midnight after leaving Fort Worth at about 7. We all settled in quickly and assumed our usual positions. But, things did progress quickly and it seems that Keri and Char had been ruffied by their Ruffino vino. Hmmmm.


The Friday morning sun brought us a few aches and pains, but Ash was quickly there with her cure all breakfast....oh and one or two bloody mary's can't hurt either. That afternoon we packed up the jeeps and headed out to Antelope Ridge for some skeet shooting and lunch. Most of us spent the next few hours drinking beer, shooting skeet, eating chili, and enjoying the beautiful day...while a few of the crew crashed on the couch in an attempt to recover from being ruffied. Our resident pregnant person was quite the trooper as she supervised our day drinking....of course, she is our day drinking mentor. The hunters took to their blinds by 4 that afternoon and the rest of us headed back the the Lodge for a little refreshing (cocktails, naps, showers). Ash came back that night having shot a pig with her bow, but she couldn't track the sucker through the hills and brush. Friday night we enjoyed a great dinner and we once again assumed our positions around the fire. Friday night somehow went south for our dear friend Kirk. Somehow the kid got overserved and headed in to hit the hay at a decent hour. Turns out hitting the hay wasn't the only thing he hit....after jumping on the bed (yes, that's what I said), Kirk fell and hit his head on the window of the 4th floor and broke the glass. Classic. After waking Nurse Misty to ensure that Kirk was in fact normal (or as normal as he could actually be), we put him safely to bed.


Saturday was another beautiful day in the hill country. After the hunters had returned we enjoyed some of Ashley's famous breakfast casserole. After breakfast we packed the jeeps and divided the group....the girls set out for a jeep cruise and some pistolry and the boys hit the pond for some fishing. We all met up again at Antelope Ridge for a late lunch and some more skeet shooting. The hunters again took to the blinds late that afternoon and the rest of us headed back to the Lodge to prepare our annual Mock Thanksgiving dinner...complete with turkey and all the trimmings. While preparing dinner we were thrilled to see that Ben had shot himself a nice 12 point buck and Brett had shot himself a sick ass piggie. After many ohhhhs and ahhhs Ben (with the help of Crazy Uncle Wally) "field" dressed the buck while the girls (and Kirk) finished dinner.

As usual, we "dressed" for dinner, and that night we gave thanks for great friends and our many blessings over a wonderful dinner prepared by our favorite chef....Ash! After dinner we played Wally's favorite get to know you game and recapped our weekend of fun.


So sad for Sunday to roll around. :( We packed (ok, I supervised) the cars and cleaned up the house before we all said our goodbyes and we hit the road. Mock Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. Thanks to Ashley for having us, cooking for us, and planning a great weekend.

Here are a few of our quotes from the weekend:
I'm a little concerned about how this is all gonna come together. – Wally
I was like swamp ass all the way to Granbury. – Wally
I forgot I'm a guy for a minute. – Kirk
She shouldn't have been so fertile. – Ben
I think you should go to Brazil….I can remember that better. – Kirk
She just chunked it up in there. - Kirk
He loves the balls out of me. – Wally
Do you know how hard it is to manage the iPod, hold my drink, and hold your pistol? – Leigh
I checked out the workbench. – Wally
I would have rode off into the sunset with that pink bitch. – Kirk
I just visualize a big wad of gay. – Misty
What are we gonna do with a kid? – (pregnant) MC
Wasn’t that phase 1? – Leigh
I think I got ruffied. – Char
Ker….what’s going on with your sideburns? – Wally
That’s one crafty little sucker. – Kirk
I like the wife I have. – Wally
I’m sorry…I have to say…you look like crap right now. – Ash
It’s all sprees all the time. – Kirk
They’re Reeboks….oh but they say Addidas. – Kirk
It's not in the wallet...it's just in the fold. - Ben
I’m sensitive to matters of the heart and I don’t cheat at parlor games. – Wally (I know I didn’t get that one exactly right Wally)
Good point. – Kirk
What….hmmm? - Kirk

Other things I've learned from this weekend...
You might not want to take fashion advise from the October 2006 In Style.
Kirk is the most likely to fall through a window.
MC is a champ.
You can't beat Chuy's crack.
You can get ruffied from one bottle of wine.
Eating jelly bellies in excess can cause the shakes.
Kirk never changes.
Just because you have the biggest beef jerky, doesn't mean you have the tastiest beef jerky.
Pigs smell like crap.
Bobby and Bobby Ray rule!
That black buck is a crafty little sucker... but he is on borrowed time.
You might now want to take a full cocktail when trying to track down a dead pig.
Keri is the most likely to poll dance (or at least Wally hopes so).
Pellet ice rules!

Brett may sell a billion dollars worth of yard bird.
The Ranch is a judge free zone!
What happens at the ranch never ever stays at the ranch.

Check out the rest of my pics from the weekend.

Pet of the Month

My parent's dog has the distinct honor of being this month's Pet of the Month at Doggy Day Care. The following write up was posted on the Vet's website.

Meet Waylon: Rutherford Veterinary Hospital's Pet of the Month

Waylon is a 6 year old devious Weimaraner who loves to come to our doggie daycare in the big dog year. As a regular at the daycare, Waylon likes to think of himself as the top dog of the yard and makes sure to thoroughly inspect each new visitor before he allows them to play. Waylon isn't much of a swimmer, but he does enjoy standing in benches and wooden obstacles.

Waylon is also our resident James Bond. A very intelligent dog (as we have come to find out), Waylon has devised a way to open latches on gates and fences, prompting us here at Rutherford to step up our security for the daycare yard. However, Waylon's most amusing antic is his desire to spy on all the activities taking place in the treatment area of the hospital. He is able to do this by standing on his back legs, putting his front legs on the fence, and peering directly into the hospital! We love when he does this because he is so cute and interactive.

We here at Rutherford enjoy Waylon, his doggie kisses, and his sweet, goofy nature.

A different direction

Today's post is different than my usual posts, but my dad forwarded me an email with this prayer and I loved it so much that wanted to share....

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares. Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together .

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

25 Years of Thriller

Red leather jackets....that unmistakable glove....the moonwalk...all things that arouse a feeling a great nostalgia. This morning on the Today Show I saw that Michael Jackson is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Thriller. TWENTY FIVE YEARS?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me!!! As if turning 32 last week wasn't troublesome enough, but to realize that the Thriller album you grew up listening to is actually 25 years old is enough to send me straight to a therapy session. While MJ has certainly taken a turn for the worse over the past two and half decades, I do very much still love just about every song on the Thriller album. Click here to see the Today Show story from this morning ....but prepare to feel as old as I did.

Back from the Big Easy

I am recovering after a wonderful weekend in the Big Easy with my mom. We had a great time eating and shopping our way through the Quarter. We packed in quite a bit into just a couple of days....cruised the Quarter, took a carriage ride, people watched in Jackson Square, ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde, antiqued on Royal, watched the LSU/Bama game at Old Absinthe House, boozed on Bourbon, shopped till we dropped, and ate till we couldn't eat another bit. We spent our last day sleeping in (after pleasantly remembering that we had one more hour to wallow) and cruising the Quarter. The weather in New Orleans was fabulous and I couldn't have asked for a better 32nd bday. Check out all of our pics from the weekend.

Bday on Bourbon

Last night, my mom and I celebrated my 32nd birthday on Bourbon Street. We had a fabulous dinner at Galatoire's. It was my first time to eat there and it certainly lived up to its reputation. I started this gluutonous meal with Shrimp Rémoulade and a cup of Turtle soup. For my main dish I included in Filet Béarnaise with crab meat and caulifower au gratin. Delicious! Throw in a nice glass or two champgane with dessert and you have the perfect bday dinner.

After dinner we ventured out the front door into the bustling streets of Bourbon. We walked the streets for a bit, but ended up back at On Trois - the Ritz bar for a late night drink. The bar was in full swing complete with a great band....and you know I have love a good lobby bar! Off to Magazine Street today.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Laissez les bons temps rouler! What could be better than celebrating your 32nd bday with your mama in the Big Easy. I arrived (after a bit of a flight situation this morning) in NOLA about 1:30 this afternoon to meet my mom who had flown in from Dallas. We jetted over to the Ritz where we are pampering ourselves for the weekend. Of course, the Ritz rolled out the red carpet for us and they added a few special welcoming touches for our arrival. Oh how I love accoutrements and the sound of "my pleasure Miss Edgar."


After downing a shrimp po boy and a bloody mary at Chartes House Cafe we punched the sidewalks and did a bit of preliminary shopping. Off to Galatoire's tonight for dinner. More from NOLA later.

Cheers

Last night, Ashley and Elizabeth coordinated a happy hour in honor of my bday (which is today). It was such a fun evening. We started out with about 15 or so pals for happy hour on the patio at Fino. They have a great patio and Thursday nights just happen to be half price bubbly....what a treat. So, we all induldged in glass after glass of wine and champagne and assorted tapas. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with me. And to Wendy for sending over the special bottle of champagne in her absence.

After Fino, we headed downtown for more snacks and drinks at Key Bar....which didn't last too long and then we were off to 6th Street to dance at 311. I love 311 - - - but whenever we go we are typically the oldest attendees by...oh about 10 years. Yikes. But, we made the best of it and danced til the wee hours. I even performed Proud Mary with the band.

But, sometimes good things go aray and as it turns out my being up so late the night before I was to leave town paidits price. I woke up late this morning and missed my 8:45 flight to NOLA. Thanks to trusty Southwest Airlines though, I was on another flight in no time. More from the Big Easy later.