In and Out

I recently read an article in some magazine or another (I think it was Glamour) about what's "In and Out." At first glance I was afraid that the glass of champagne on the "Out" side of the page was telling me that champagne was losing it's fizz. Instead it was referring to "Bottle Service." I leap for joy at this.


Now when in Rome (Vegas, NYC, and the like) I can appreciate a good bottle service, but for the most part they make me crazy. From what I understand Dallas is infested with bottle service in bars and clubs everywhere you turn. Austin has even popped up with a few places offering bottle service. Bottle service has no place in Austin, Texas. Like I said the only places I can talk myself into it being "a good deal" is in Vegas and New York (and believe me I've talked myself into it my fair share of times), but on your average night in Austin???? Ridiculous.


But the article below offers hope. According to this little clip my dear foe Bottle Service is just plain OUT! And if you look closely you'll even find that Chicago has outlawed it. Thank you Chi Town.


I say cheers to what I hope is the end to this price gauging madness...well except for in Vegas where I'll take my overpriced bottle of Goose with my cordoned off VIP booth and personal bouncer - - - like I said...when in Rome!

Winners and Losers

I thought last night's Academy Awards was one of the best in years. It seemed to move more quickly, and frankly...I wasn't bored out of my mind. The speeches were kept brief. Thank goodness the President of the Academy chose to sit this one out. And Hugh Jackman nailed it. More on that later. Of course, the awards are only part of the pomp and circumstance and it is the attire that seems to cause the most water cooler conversation the next morning. Here are my thoughts.

Best Dressed:
Taraji P Henson - Loved the hair! Loved the necklace! Loved the dress! Flawless!!!!



Hugh Jackman - another classic Hollywood. This man was meant to wear a tux. Loved the three piece tux with a vest....just classic!

Best Dressed Couple:

Brad and Angelina - Classic tux, classic black dress, a pop of color with the jewels. Fabulous!

Worst Dressed:

Beyonce - I just hated her dress. I thought it looked like bad curtains made into a dress, a la Sound of Music.

Philip Seymour Hoffman - A knit cap, really?!?! Just terrible.

Mickey Rourke - No explanation necessary. He just never gets easier to look at.

Sarah Jessica Parker - I am usually a fan of hers, but this was too much and her boobs were just way too...well out there.

So that's my take on the evening's couture. But my favorite part, and this will come as no shock to you, was the musical montage performance led by the evening's host, Hugh Jackman. Fabulous. I wanted to dust off my top hat and cane (ok they don't have dust on them due to frequent usage) and join in. I was just thrilled to hear Hugh say that "the musical is back." Granted I never thought it was gone....but I'll take it none the less. In case you missed the fun, here is the musical montage number and in my opinion the highlight of the show:

So...what did you think?

And The Winner Is...

In honor of this Sunday's Academy Awards I was drawn to this quiz on my favorite quiz website....entitled What Would You Win An Oscar For?

Shockingly (insert sarcastic tone) I "won" for Best Actor/Actress. It actually is a little shocking since I do like to be behind the camera so much, but when I read the description it summed me up pretty darn well.

Best Actor/Actress

You are confident and talented.

When it's time for you to shine, you step up.

You have a strong personality.

You love attention, and you can command

an audience of any size.

You tend to be a bit obsessive.

You're the perfect person to immerse yourself in a big role.

You're both empathetic and expressive.

You understand and communicate well.

Wanna know which award you'd take home? Click here to take the quiz and let me know if I have any stiff competition.

Channeling Mötley Crüe

I'm in full on recovery mode. This weekend was jam packed with fun times and late nights. Leave it to us Austinites to do it up big....any excuse for a party will do and no occasion necessary to Ego's.

It all began Friday night with the much anticipated (9 months that is) "Off The Wagon" party in honor of Elizabeth, Christy and Mary Miles...all of whom had babies over the past 8 weeks. In celebration of their "release from prison" as Lizzie so eloquently put it, we gathered to toast them back into society...similar to a debutante ball, but yet not really at all. The night was loaded with fun...here are just a few of the key ingredients:

cupcakes, brownies, and fondue
jello spoons (intended to be heart gigglers)

nicknames

teddy's get to know you game (I'm still debating about sharing the answers to this one)

alter egos
late night dancing
late night game of clue (spoken in hick, french, and italian)

Click here for more pics from Off The Wagon.

After sleeping late and filling up on yummy El Patio for lunch we napped and prepared for round 2. Saturday night's plan was to grab a casual dinner far, far away from any potential Valentiney places and then head over to Ego's...the only true place to celebrate such a holiday. I got in four songs that night...Queen of Hearts, Karma Chameleon, All The Small Things, and Do Ra Mi. Other in the group chose classic like Gangsta's Paradise, Waterfalls, and more.

After the Ego's session a few of the hard core crew had the brilliant idea of getting a room at Austin Karaoke (an after hours, rent a private room, byob, karaoke place). The late night idea of Austin Karaoke always seems like a brilliant one....that is until they kick you out in the wee hours of the morning. But it was all in good fun, and since we only hit AK about once a quarter I think we'll survive.

For more pics from Vday at Ego's and Austin Karaoke be sure to click here.

So that's the weekend in review. We are all in rest and recovery mode down here...you know gearing up for next weekend. Until then...

Celebrating Greta's Birthday....sans Greta

Last night a few of us got together to have a belated celebration of Greta's birthday. Only problem was that Greta got sick and couldn't actually make it. Our plans were to go to Uchi and not even Greta being sick could talk us out of going. So Ash, Lizzie, Sara, Amanda, and I enjoyed a killer dinner filled with Shag Rolls and Prosecco.

Greta was never far from our thoughts though....we toasted her often and even took pictures spelling out her name (blame it on that prosecco).

"G" - interpreted by Elizabeth

"R" - interpreted by Ashley

"E" - interpreted by Sara

"T" - interpreted by Amanda

"A" - interpreted by me

Other events of note were Lizzie's sudden interest in grabbing the wait staff's bottoms and the "red shirt" guy at the table next to us was caught red handed making fun of my laugh.

After dinner we hit West 6th for a few more cocktails. Great night, but we'll just have to do again when Greta can actually attend.

Click here for more pics from our girls night out.

Light This Shit Up

I read a great blog post from Fly Fish Chick that I couldn't resist sharing. I'm going through the same funk as she is...so it hits the nail right on the head. So...enjoy.

By the way...if you aren't reading her blog, you should be...it's a great one.

Let’s Light This Shit Up

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I want my point back!

Saturday at the ranch was game night. I contend that Ryan and I were cheated out of a point. Read on.

The game: Scattagories
The teams: Hogan/Terry, Ted/Ash, Winn/Sara, and Ryan/Leigh
The letter: "L"
The category: Sandwich
Our Answer: "Lasagna Sandwich"
The ruling: thumbs down

As it turns out there is in fact such a sandwich. As a matter of fact when Googled - there are 1,520 results for "lasagna sandwich"...many of which are from valid sources like the Food Network and Cooks.com. And y'all thought we were making it up!

I think I can speak for Ryan when I say....we want our point back!!!

Mascul Out

I'd like to thank Elizabeth's nutty brother Andrew for sharing today's video with me. Too good not to share. And since you know who it's from...watch at your own risk.

Free To Party

THE BACKGROUND
This past weekend, our pal from college (well not so my college as Ashley's college) came to Austin for a visit. This particular weekend should have been spent in Montana with our other friends from (their) college, but the Montana house suffered a burst pipe and with it our travel plans. But we are not ones to let rain on our parade, so we rescheduled the Montana trip for early April and Alicia decided to take that time to come down to Austin for a visit.

SAFE IN AUSTIN
In true Leigh and Ashley style, we had a planned itinerary for the weekend. In true Alicia style, her flight was late and sent those plans awry also. Since lans for an Uchi dinner Wednesday night were foiled due to the late flight, so we settled for a bottle of wine and called it an early night.

MARGARITAS AND MEX

For some time now, Ash and I have been putting the full court press on Lish to move on down to Texas....and Thursday, I'm proud to announce, Alicia had an interview for a job here in Austin. Everything went great, except for the fact that they don't actually have a position available until the fall. But, you never know...and we are hopeful. So after a long day of interviewing we decided to show Alicia a Thursday night on the town in Austin with margaritas and Mexican food at Vivo and a little karaoke session at Ego's. The perfect recipe for a fun-filled night. Click here for all the pics from our Thursday night at Vivo and Ego's.


HILL COUNTRY OR BUST


Friday we slept in, packed our bags, and hit the road for Hidden Valley Ranch in the Texas hill country. If you can't be in Montana Amini style, the next best thing is to "rough it" in the hill country Amini style....so rough it we did. At the last minute, we rustled up some friends for a weekend at the ranch. We arrived in shifts....(1) Leigh, Ash, Alicia...(2) Hogan and Ted....(3) Sara and Winn....and (4) Ryan, who initially had stated an 80% chance of actually joining us. Great group. Let me better introduce the players and the teams:

TEAM BLACK JEEP:

First meet Ash...our host. The responsible one. Tour guide. That Cowboy Casserole. That late night hand in the air dance. That killer elk chili. Those twice baked potatoes. That Rusty Trombone drawing. That's our girl....the hostess with the mostess.

Next meet Winn...Mr. "mmm" (or however the heck you spell that sound). The serenader treated us to a special birthday performance with some late night guitar strumming which was the ice cream on the cake. Great at morning after apologies and porch side yoga. Favorite beans are gorgonzola beans.

Now onto Ryan....Mr. 80%. Last to arrive, but most celebrated arrival. More excited than a kid on Christmas Eve...waiting for the next morning and all those Hidden Valley Ranch gifts that awaited him. The pouncer. The bird chaser. That stylin jacket. Loves a good lasagna sandwich.

How about Hogan....the birthday boy. Historian. Pictionary champion. Enjoys listening to Big Balls in Cowtown. He's as keen as an owl...always listening. Coo coo ca choo Mrs Robinson!

TEAM YELLOW JEEP

Now let's intro Alicia....aka Lish...aka Twizz...aka Terry...of which there are a couple of spelling variations....but I'm partial to Terry....just seems more "Terry"...if you know what I mean. She dons a killer flight suit, wears a mean pair of Ugs (even if they are mine), and can commandeer an iPod like no one I've ever seen.

Now say hello to Sara. Shootin Sare. With her killer cookies in one hand and a secret mixture cocktail in the other, she can sketch out a hemorrhoid like no body's business. Now that's talent.

On to Ted...aka Tedder...aka Teddy. My captain, oh captain (of the jeep that is). His speciality is changing from a pink polo, blue sweater, camel blazer wearing urbanite to a red wing wearing, snuff can pocketing, skeet shooting ranch man (well not really, but close enough).

And last but (certainly) not least....me. The sane one. The normal one. The one that brings us all back to center, keeps us in check, and always thinks before speaking. Except...not really any of those things. My gifts are jeep riding and generally kickin it at Antelope Ridge.


All the usual elements of a great weekend at the ranch were there. Jeep rides, bloody mary mornings, skeet shooting, games, fire pit sing-a-longs, Q&A, themey outfits, delicious grub, and perfect weather.

We only had one major hiccup....which I'll refer to only as "The Aoudad Incident" where some friendships were almost lost. And since the ranch is like Vegas and Fight Club we'll just leave it at that.


Sunday we went our separate ways...some to watch the Super Bowl, some to play racquetball (i still can't believe that), and some to Uchi (finally)....oh except Uchi wasn't open last night...but is supposedly open on Sundays. UGH! Just wasn't meant to be for Alicia on this trip. Deflated and defeated, we ended out long weekend with a couple of glasses of wine and some Italian fare at Vaspio...which turned out to be just fine (but no Shag Roll).

Alicia left this morning and I have official word she made it back to Richmond in one piece....albeit two hours late and sans luggage. Her travel woes continue.

To live vicariously through us...check out more pics from our fun at the ranch.

And for those fans of the infamous Leigh Leigh Land quote list I'll leave you with what what overheard this weekend from Vivo to Hidden Valley Ranch.

I'd like to think of myself as a popper. - Leigh
My vision was slurred. - Alicia
It's always just the two of us and I'm not gonna pull out my stick. - Leigh
Why should we take it up the ass just because we're not taking up the front. - Leigh
I don't want look at kids with Leukemia while I drink. - Alicia … I know, buzz kill. - Leigh
I pounced like I've never pounced before. - Leigh
Its not lubricated down my throat. - Leigh
You can't thrust? - Ted
I'm prepared to give him the cold shoulder. - Alicia
I'll spit in your face. - Greta
I can't imagine not putting anything in my mouth for the next minute. - Leigh
There's nothing I could say that would hurt you. - Leigh
That's the worst feeling the world. - Leigh ....what you can't perform. - Alicia ....no when your equipment is not working. - Leigh
I want to skeet some shoot. - Alicia
I want to tingle. - Ash
My hip usually hurts after a night of gyrating. - Leigh
You're drumsticks were limp. - Ted
I have no desire to see Ted's penis. - Hogan
I'll have you know I was a highly decorated cub scout. - Ted
She can commandeer an iPod likes no body's business. - Leigh
Ryan has slept in my bed entirely too often. - Ted
He slept on my nuts. - Ted
I like this new crowd you brought me....they've serviced all my needs. - Alicia
Is that like a warm bosom? - Ted
That's why they call me Patch Adams. - Ted
I always want more wood. - Alicia
I don't know what it means, but it just feels right. - Winn
Man did they drop. - Hogan
I like it tighter. - Ash
I like it rough. - Leigh .... Oh my ass. - Alicia … That's too rough. - Ted
That bird got lucky. - Ryan
Anything sounds great right now....except for a colonoscopy. - Winn
Anybody want any drugs or anything? - Leigh … I'm good. - Alicia
Dandy shootin! - Leigh
Can't catch a fish if your fly is not in the water. - Leigh
Yeah....I'll come over there and push a button. - Winn
I'm surprised I'm not in a coma. - Leigh
I'm a green beaner. - Leigh
The first time I met you, you were naked you were waist down. - Hogan
I think we're free to party. - Leigh
I'm on the brink of wetness. - Leigh
I can almost taste those balls in my mouth. - Leigh
Its worth sticking your finger in. - Sara
Begin. - Winn
You look like you just delivered a baby horse. - Ted
I had sex with a Ginger. - Hogan
The last time it happened it was 1999. - Ash
Leigh you have to talk. - Ryan
Chalk it. - Ryan
Why is there so much poo. - Leigh
We were in survival mode at that point. - Ryan
What is the matter with me....I don't smoke dope. - Leigh
All that gyrating is coming back to haunt me. - Leigh
That sucks trumpet butt. - Leigh