Did you know?

I was recently made privy to a handy little secret. Did you know that the gas tank icon on your dashboard harbors a little secret? Well (on newer car models) there is a little arrow on either side of the gas pump icon indicating which side of the car the gas tank is on. Brilliant! Very handy when you are driving unfamiliar cars. Just couldn't resist passing on this little bit of handy knowledge. Happy gas guzzling.

Weekend Warrior

What a weekend!!! It was a packed with loads of activities and is therefore the reason today's entry is so robust.

It all started Thursday night with our monthly girls night of Sushi & Champagne. Sara hosted this month's in her darling new house, which is incidentially just a few blocks away from me. We also chose to dine on pizza this month since we have a few pregnant "members" and sushi just really hasn't been satisfying our hunger as of late. It was probably one of the more tame evenings and ended at a respective hour for a change. Thanks for hosting Sara! Click here to see more pics from July's Sushi & Champagne.


Friday afternoon my brother and sister-in-law headed down to Austin for the night before heading to San Antonio for a wedding on Saturday night. Rusty hit the clubs with Majors, while Carly played around town in Austin. We met up with the boys for a fun dinner at Maudie's. After dinner we parted ways and I went downtown to meet up with the Dive Bar Night crew and they went back to the Majors for some late night fun. It's a shame neither one of them have a blog, so you'll have to just ask them about the rave they decided to crash. Too funny.


Saturday night it was off to the Nutty Brown Cafe for the Randy Rogers concert. I'm sure you are all painfully aware of just how much I love Randy Rogers. I just can't get enough of him and his music. So, anytime you want to check him out, I'd happily attend a show with any of you. None of the group....Mike and Renee, Wendy, Katie, Ashley, and I....had ever been out to Nutty Brown, which is about 20 minutes west of Austin. We were all pleasantly surprised by our experience. Upon arrival we opted to upgrade our standing room only tickets for a "VIP" table....worth every penny. From there we enjoyed a yummy dinner, lots of ice cold beer, and some darn good country music. I was in hog heaven. Special thanks to Mike....our fearless designated driver for hauling us girls around for the night. Click here for more pics from Randy Rogers.


After Randy Rogers, we decided to head downtown to let the fun continue. There we met up with lots of friends....guys who had played in Links and Drinks, guys from the kickball tournament, etc, etc. Our group dispersed a bit and ended up at Ego's for some Karaoke with Ted, Joe, Ryan, and Kyle. What an adorable creepy little place that is. By the time we got to Ego's, we were too late to get in on any good karaoke action, so we took matters into our own hands and hit Austin Karaoke for some late night singing (and we picked up Ash along the way).

From past blog entries, I'm sure you can gather that (1) I love Austin Karaoke and (2) we clearly have zero fun while there. You know, there are pros and cons about a place that stays open until 4am. The pro....it's open when everything else is closing down. The cons...it's a time warp and you actually end up staying until 4am. Fun at the time, but not so fun the next day. I guess that's why we only make an appearance a few times a year.


So, we got our room and proceeded to belt out tunes like Every Rose Has It's Thorn, Twist and Shout, Daydream Believer, and the like. It was all fun and games until a woman who I can only refer to as "Black Velvet" infiltrated my camp. It was her birthday and evidentially her friends had ditched her, so she proceeded to hang in our room where she grossly exceeded her welcome. Thanks goes to Ryan for giving her the final boot. Click here for more pics from Austin Karaoke.

meet "Black Velvet"

Yesterday, after sleeping in, I hit the pool with Ash for some sun and a cold plunge and ended the weekend by seeing The Dark Knight....which I loved.

All in all a great weekend. I got in quite a bit of activities and got to catch up with lots of friends. Back to the rat race today, but am thrilled about my short week.....leave for Montana on Thursday. It sure is tough being me!

We appreciate your feedback

I've threatened to post today's entry for some time, but things have just gone too far. After a good blog post, I love getting the emails from my faithful readers. Such nice feedback, such great comments. If only you people would actually post them on the blog as is supposed to be done. Don't you understand that the more comments you have the more popular you look. It's like Facebook friends....the more, the better (although I'll never beat Lizzie...grrr).

No seriously, I request, no I plead with you all to post your comments on my blog. And today's entry will show you exactly how to do it, so no excuses kids.

First, click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post that you'd like to comment on.

On the next screen type your comments. Below the comments section you can sign in...either with your name, your google login (everyone with a gmail account has one), etc. I even have it set to accept Anonymous comments - - - if you promise to sign your name at the bottom of your comments.

So not rocket science, right?!?! Comment away....puh-leeeeeze!

Dog Days of Summer

I realize I'm starting to beat a dead horse here, but I must bitch about summer yet again. But rather then rant in today's entry I thought I'd share some interesting facts.

Note - - - while these facts will be new to most of us, they will be elementary for Jenn, Ash, Patrick, and the like - - - some of us actually fell asleep in astronomy class - - - and yes, we did have our own Planetarium in our high school, which I've recently learned is a rarity. Hey, they don't call it "the bubble" for nothing.

So on the lesson at hand. I recently read that there are actually 40 "dog days of summer" and we are smack in the middle of them.

Where did the "dog days" get that name you ask?! Well look no further than the constellation Canis Major. They are specifically named after Sirius, the Dog Star, which shines its brightest from July 3rd to August 11th....which are technically the true "dog days of summer." During this time the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the star was responsible for the heat and thus blamed it for a myriad of problems....sickness, drought, and the like.

Today we refer to the "dog days" as those miserably long, hot days when there seems to be no end in sight. In my book the "dog days" are August and September. September wears me out....its that month, when you think it should be getting cooler....(you know that season fall, well us Texans don't actually have a fall)...but it doesn't actually get cooler until October and sometimes even November. I can remember many a Halloween where I was roasting.

Oh no, I have digressed into another rant...well it seems no matter how hard I try not to complain about my long time foe, summer, I cannot hold back.

Happy melting.

Top 5

Remember that Friends episode where the "Top 5" was invented, or at least made mainstream? I'll set the scene....

Chandler: Well, we have a deal where we each get to pick five different celebrities that we can sleep with, and the other one can't get mad.

Ross: Ah, the heart of every healthy relationship: Honesty, respect, and sex with celebrities.

Monica: So, Chandler... who's on your list?

Chandler: Uh, Kim Basinger, Cindy Crawford, Halle Berry, Yasmine Bleeth, and, ah, Jessica Rabbit.

Rachel: Now, you do realize that she's a cartoon... and way out of your league?

Chandler: I know, I know, I just always wondered if I could get her eyes to pop out of her head.

Rachel: Oh, I don't know. I guess... Chris O'Donnel, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Daniel Day Lewis, Sting, and Parker Stevenson.

Ross: And... Isabella Rossillini.

Chandler: Oho! Very hot, very sexy. But, uh, ya know, she's too international, ya know. She's never gonna be around.

Rachel: So?

Chandler: So, you gotta play the odds: Pick somebody who's gonna be in the country, like, all the time.

Rachel: Yeah, 'cause that's why you won't get Isabella Rossillini--geography.

For year's my girlfriend's and I would make our "Top 5" lists. I was never one to laminate (there's that fear of commitment again) and my list changed often. I even invented a "hip replacement"....someone that you are into right now...maybe they have a new album or a new movie and I'm into them right now, but would never really add them to the permanent list.



I've gone through the likes of Nick Carter (in my Backstreet Boy days), Antonio Sabato, Jr (in my meat head days), Tim McGraw, Tom Cruise (yes, I'll admit it), and some other usual suspects. I have had a couple of constants though....Matthew McConaughey is a staple and Clooney will always be king. I'm a freak over Taylor Kitsch (when Friday Night Lights is on)Leo creeps in and off the list with regularity as do Matt and Ben. Right now I'm also into James McAvoy and David Beckham (who wouldn't be). I've never really been a big Brad fan or into Johnny Depp, but do digg on some Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, and Paul Bettany. (kind of on a Brit kick, huh?).

Coming up with Top 5's is one of my favorite things to do - - - even though I can never commit. I even like to make up variations....Top 5 Over 50 (Redford, Brosnan, etc), Top 5 Black Guys (Denzel, Don Cheadle, Shamar Moore, etc). Oh the fun you can have with Top 5 lists.

Who's on your Top 5?

Missing the Knights of the Roundtable

It's been a long time since the Knights of the Roundtable have convened here in Austin. So, I thought I'd post a little nod to my fellow roundtablers. Here I share with you one of our mascots....the dolphin. Don't ask - - - you don't want to know.

Let the countdown begin

10 days and counting until I leave for Montana. I am sooooo excited. I cannot stop thinking about it. All I want to do is make grocery lists, looks at old pics, and dream about myself sitting on that porch over looking the Swan. I'm giddy just thinking about it. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Playing Possum

I spent the weekend in Dallas with my family. Friday night I got to have drinks with my two oldest pals, Jennifer and Elizabeth. What a treat. We were on the hunt for a good patio, so met after dinner for a couple of cocktails at Ozona.

Elizabeth, me, and Jennifer (pals since Hyer Elementary School)

As we waited for our table we noticed some girls shrieking and jumping up on their chairs. Of course, I jugged...thinking it was a product of being over served mixed with a dash of drama. I moved on.

So, we were seated on the edge of the patio on a nice elevated deck portion and enjoyed the conversation even more than the drinks. As we sipped and dished we soon discovered why "the obnoxious girls" were indeed being obnoxious.....an opossum trotted right in front of our table. Ewwwww. For the record....I am NOT a fan of the possum and have quite a bumpy past with these creepy little critters....but that's another story.Anyway, we were safe from the Ozona Opossum as we were on that elevated part of the deck. Thank goodness.

In telling the story I have found that there is much confusion in the world on just what kind an animal they really are, so I thought I'd share a few possum facts.

- Believe it or not, the possum is a marsupial. In fact, it is North America's only marsupial and is related to the kangaroo and the koala....not the rat or other rodents as most people suspect.- Possums have thumbs on their hind feet

- Possums have been around for 70 to 80 million years; this makes them one of the Earth's oldest surviving mammals.

- Possums eat just about anything....insects, snails, rats, pet food, people food, and more.

- Possums have a very short life span....on average two years.

- Possums are more resistant to rabies than any other mammal.

- Opossums were first observed in the North America in the state of Virginia by early English colonists, but can be found today in most of the US and portions of Canada and Mexico.

When I googled 'Opossum' this morning I was shocked to find just how many people are into these creepy little creatures. There are numerous websites devoted to the Opossum including...
- The National Opossum Society (yes, really)
- The Opossum Society of the United States (again, not kidding)
- Compassionate Action Institute (can't make it up)

If you ask me, these people don't have enough to do if they are "saving the opossum," but I guess...to each his own.

Power of positive thinking

This will come as no shock to you all, but I am really not a fan of summer. I think one of my favorite movie quotes sums up my sentiments very nicely. "Don't you understand, the white people are melting!?!?" It's sooooo freaking hot all the time. Since the first day of winter is not until December 21st, I figured I better try and think of something nice to say about summer. So, I racked my brains and here's what I came up with. Consider this a sort of "favorite things...summer edition"....and know that coming up with these was quite an effort on my part.

Fruit
One great thing about summer, is all the great fruit that's in season. I particularly partial to fresh cherries and yummy Texas peaches. I had a peach the other day that was so juicy and good that I just about had to take a bath after eating it. And watermelon. Does anything say summer like watermelon? I really can't think of another time that I even eat watermelon. Another fave summer fruit is the huckleberry. Certainly not native to Texas, but each August when I'm in Montana we love to pick up a bag of fresh huckleberries. We usually make fresh huckleberry daiquiri’s and other assorted yummies. Nothing is quite as refreshing on a super hot summer day as nibbling on (or sipping on) some delicious, seasonal, fresh fruit.


So, there's that.....what else???

How about flip flops? Yeah, yeah. Flip flops are another great thing about summer. They are comfy, casual, and go with just about anything. Certainly living in Austin gives me a flip flop advantage, as it is practically a uniform around here. That reminds me.....I'm on the hunt for a cute pair of nude leather flops. Can't seem to find them anywhere. Let me know if you have a tip.


Already, that's two....hmmm.

Well, I can't forget the pool, the lake, and the beach. I am a total water weenie. (Too bad no one I know has a boat - - - hint, hint - - - you know who you are - - ha) . I absolutely heart being in, on, and near the water....but I'm partial to the "in" part. In fact, I consider myself quite gifted in the art of floating. Is that an art, you ask.....why yes. There are plenty of people who are good on a raft, noodle or the like....but I proudly declare that I am. Hey, I have to be good at something.



Ok, ok....on a roll now.

Oh, and summer vacations. I've had one already....to the Florida coast with the fam. And, am anxiously awaiting another....annual trip to Montana in August. Can't wait. I guess you never out grow that "school's out for summer" mentality. Seems like everyone I know is jet setting here, or road tripping there. And since everyone is in vacation mode - - - the summer attitude is prevalent. You know....that lazy summer day attitude. It's kinda nice.


So, there you have it....my reasons for living during these dog days of summer. Maybe there's something to this summer thing.....although I think I'll stay a cool weather girl forever.

What's a Texan to do???

First the tomato, now the jalapeno!?!?! I haven't been watching much news recently (blame it on the barrage of addicting shows on Bravo these days), so this may not exactly be breaking news to any of you, but it was to me.

As I settled into lunch at Zuzu's...one of my favorite mexican haunts, I was taken aback after my first bite....not because it was too spicy mind you - - - but because there was zero spice. I inquired at the counter and they said that the (raw) jalapeno has been added to the "do not eat" list due to the salmonella scare....along with the serrano and cilantro. So that pretty much rules out salsa....and anything else tex-mex. HOLY GUACAMOLE.

Blast From The Past

Last Thursday was a blast from the past.....as a crew of pals from college gathered together for a little fun and fraternization. Our pal Minh came into town for a wedding and the old gang from college (those of us who live here in Austin) got together for a fabulous dinner at Truluck's. Of course, in no time, we were back at it....as if we never missed a beat. It was great to see Minh, Bob and Rachel, and hang with my girls. Ccaw, ccaw!

Wendy, Minh, Aimee, Ryan
Rachel, Bob, and Leigh at Truluck's

Ice Ice Baby

I spent the 4th of July at Ashley's ranch with Ash and Sara. The group was small, but the fun was big! The highlight of the weekend was getting to try out the brand new ice machine at the ranch. The newly installed love of my life (ha) makes all the difference!


The importance of this ice machine and how it has changed my life cannot be overstated. We can fill our coolers as many times as we please, we can make mixed drinks with fresh ice, and we could even blend till our hearts content. No more desperate runs to the mercantile (yes, I love that word). No more desperate phone calls to the last car to arrive praying they could pick up several more bags of this frozen gold. No more lukewarm beer, no more drinks with 3 meager ice cubes...thanks to this bad boy that produces 400 pounds of ice everyday! Woo hoo. It certainly makes a difference in the summer, but I have a feeling those hunters will appreciate it just as much in the fall. Remember, it's the little things that really make me happy....oh and 400 pounds of ice.

Click here to see more pics from the weekend.

If The Shoe Fits

Why do they betray me? Who is betraying me, might you ask? Well, Neiman Marcus - - - the mothership! I got this email today and they may as well have been dangling a million dollars in front my face. Killing me. I need these shoes. Must have these shoes.

Oh yeah, back to reality and my pitiful little non-profit salary. Oh well, a girl can dream....and drool.

Eat More Grits

And that's exactly what I did last week on my family vacation to sunny Seaside, Florida. For the first time, the Edgar family (that's my fam) and the Evans family (that's my sister-in-law's fam) decided to take a summer vacation together. Let's take a minute to meet the players...

Fred...my dad
aka Fredgar, Big Fred, Derf, Grandaddy, Big Cobra, Freddie, The Seed


Suzanne...my mom
aka Suzie, Mama Suze


Me
aka Leigh Leigh, LG


Rusty...my little brother
aka Little Russ, Russell, Russman, Scraggs, Ruckle


Carly...my sister-in-law
aka Carls


Perry...my niece
aka Wink, Cuddles, Baby Girl


Jim....Carly's dad
aka Big Daddy, Yimmy, Big Jim, Bubba


Lisa...Carly's mom
aka Mona


Jessie....Carly's sister

aka Poodle, Puddles

It all started Friday, June 20th...my mom's bday. The Evans Family (Mona, Jimmy, and Jessie) hit the road from Dallas as my parents headed south to Austin to pick me up for the drive to Florida. After two days on the road, we arrived in Seaside, Florida Saturday evening where we settled into our house for the week. The gang was complete when Rusty, Carly, and Little Perry (aka "the skaters") flew into town early Saturday morning and it was off to the beach.

We spent the trip relaxing on the beach, laying out by the pool, walking around the darling towns of Seaside and Rosemary Beach, shopping, and eating on delicious food.


Our house was actually in Seacrest, Florida - - - which is nestled in the middle of County Road 30A in between Destin and Panama City. Along the 18 miles of beaches are several adorable little towns....Grayton Beach, Watercolor, Seaside, and Rosemary Beach....each with their own style and unique, charming atmosphere. I have really never seen anything quite like it. It was really a little "Pleasantville" where nothing bad seems to happen, where the beautiful people are, where everyone is tanned and blonde and dolled up in their best Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines. The town of Seaside is actually where the filmed The Truman Show. My favorite was actually Rosemary Beach and we are already looking into options for renting a place there next year.

Downtown Seaside

Rosemary Beach

The restaurants were fabulous and the fresh seafood was delicious. Some of my faves were:
the Mojito at Bud & Alley's,
the scallop ceviche and Pasionfruit Sangria at Criolla's

the Grouper and Grits at Great Southern Cafe (my fave)
the fried shrimp and the iced tea at The Seagrove Village Market Cafe
and the fried oyster salad at Cafe Thirty A.

Some other highlights included...

Big Jim getting fried the first day in the sun and then having to where socks and tennis shoes on the beach and in the ocean for the rest of the trip. Classic.

Big Fred almost dying after a hot day on the golf course. Here he is cooling off.


Cute Perry Girl sporting her new signature move...the monkey face...which indicated she is crashing and must be put to bed. Too cute.


Mona the sun goddess having her chair moved a couple of inches by her cabana boys....Bubba and Bubba.


Perry in her "Little Miss Sunshine" glasses


Poor Rusty and Carly getting up every morning at 5:22am and going on the worlds longest walks thanks to their little darling Perry girl.


And last but not least I did actually jot down a few quotes from the trip. Here's a bit of what was overheard in Florida.
"I've never roughed it." - Mona......."Didn't you go on a Carnival cruise?" -Rusty
"Its the best shirt I own right now honey." -Jimmy
"I'm makin friends with this." -Mona
"I think I'm gonna start drinking." -Suzanne
"I don't do physical activity." -Leigh
"I think I'm gonna be a stripper because I like being naked." -Suzanne
"This group talks about poop more than anyone I know." -Leigh
"I thought Brady's big head about did you in." -Suzanne

"He looks great in shorts." - Fred
"Its like Jared" -Jimmy
"Do you think I'm gonna make Leigh Leigh's blog?" -Jimmy
"I used to take showers with black people." -Jimmy
"Its a good thing you have a Bubba." -Suzanne
"It just occurred to me that I stared this whole thing.....it was my seed." -Fred
"I'd just like to take a sip of something and not gag." -Suzanne
"You can't fart on que." -Jimmy
"I can't go public." -Suzanne
"There's nothing I haven't seen." -Jimmy
"I mean that kids gonna assassinate Barack Obama." -Jimmy

Thanks for a great trip everyone!!! Can't wait for the next one. Click here to see the rest of my pics from The Edgar/Evans Big Chill.