Things To Be Thankful For.

Holiday travel, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
1. Load the car with luggage and 2 big hairy, shedding dogs.
2. Drive north on 75 into Oklahoma through the armpit of America... literally.
3. Go 65mph, 55mph, 45mph, 35mph, 45mph, 55mph, 65mph over and over again until you reach your destination. Claremore, OK.
4. Stay 4 days
5. Repeat in the reverse order.

It is a damn good thing I love my family so much. I am not kidding, I married into the best family that has ever graced this earth.

Holidays with the gang is nothing shy of overwhelming in the best possible way. Take this Thanksgiving for example, there will be 10 adults, 6 dogs, 3 children, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a partridge in a pear tree. The bedrooms will be full and the living room floor will be occupied every night. 5 o' clock comes really early when you stay up late making farting noises into the wee hours with your loving husband, sister-in-law and cousin. Yes, we are adults, but there is nothing funnier at holidays than making farting noises all night until we get told to quiet down (which happens every year). When 5 o'clock does arrive, it does so with a bang. Deeya (Grandma)heads into the kitchen and as my husband affectionately says, "builds a house". She literally opens every cabinet at least once, opens each drawer and closes it twice and must load and unload the dishwasher at least 3 times. We try to pretend to sleep for a bit longer until all the dogs of the house are released from the pent up sleeping quarters, then it is over. Hello 7am.

Next is shower time. I have successfully made a deal with my mother-in-law to wake me up before everyone else so I can get in and get out before the onslaught of showers to follow. This especially comes in handy Christmas morning so I don't look like complete garbage for pictures. So 10 people use 2 showers. I feel bad for the sucker that is last in line. I am sure the hot water runs out at about 6 or 7.

Food. This is always the most amazing part of every trip. The caliber of food that comes out of Deeya's kitchen from all the ladies in the house would scare the socks off Bobby Flay. I challenge you to a Thanksgiving Throwdown! I have never in my entire life had better cheesecake than my Aunt's. And she actually had the nerve to ask if anyone wanted it this year... ummmm, yeah!

Entertainment. There is no better entertainment than the babies of the house. Not so much babies anymore, the entertainment value is still there. Not a single holiday goes by without breaking out the dance music and having a full on dance off in the living room by the little ones. They are the most adorable kids in the world. I just can't get enough of them! With last year's introduction of Guitar Hero though, there is some serious competition for center stage. No one will ever beat me on drums. I repeat, no one. I am the master.

So even with all the crazy that ensues during the holidays and the moments you can't get a word in edgewise, there is not a single place I would rather be. And for that, I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Brushes with Fame

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am the biggest nerd when it comes to celebrities. I get insanely excited by the prospect of seeing celebrities. In this quest for celebrity sightings, I have seen my fair share of quasi celebrities. I guess I shall start with the lesser people and work my way up.



Bob Huggins (former University of Cincinnati Basketball Coach: Back when the Bearcats had a basketball team worth more than the lint in my pocket, there was Bob Huggins, head basketball coach. We ran into him a Party Source, a liquor store in Newport, Kentucky. I just kept saying, "Oh my God, there is Bob Huggins." One time he even turned around was a like, lady... I am only a coach. Pretty funny that we ran into him a liquor store considering his very public DUI was the reason he is the former head coach. Damn you Nancy Zimpher.





Michelle Aguilar (Biggest Loser Winner Last Season): Nearly got kicked out of the Dallas Bridal Show for attempting to take pictures of her with my Blackberry. I claimed that I was just texting... they bought it. I did get to talk to her. That was pretty sweet.





Terrell Owens (Former Cowboy turned Bill): I saw him at the Northpark Apple store. I had absolutely no idea who he was. All I knew was that there was a gigantic black man with giant diamond earrings. I leaned over to Abe and asked if he was a football player or something and he informed me that it was TO. I suddenly got real excited. Abe and I tried to go up to him and were shut down by his short fat body guard. Fail.




Jessica Simpson: Spotted at Logan's Sports Bar in Addison. She was adorable. I was told that Tony Romo was there with her, although I did not see him. Since this was pre-breakup, she was a knockout. We were only allowed so close to where they were, but I was so excited that I am sure that I went over my texting limit with my cousin that night.



Owen Wilson: One of the perks of working for a company with very eccentric owners, is the random people they know. Owen was at work while our founder was in an last-minute meeting. The big guy had his niece/my friend walk him around the building. I just happened to be walking down the hall when I saw my friend with someone that I didn't recognize. She waved and said hi, as did he. They kept walking. It was not until a split second after they passed that I figured out who that was. I was uber excited about that one. Other celebs that have been at work: Giorgio Armani and Phillipe Starck. This brings us to the most recent.




Shirin Askari (Project Runway Finalist): So she may not be the top of the list, but she is for the day. I heard a few weeks back that she was freelancing for us after her stint on Project Runway. I saw her the other day and assumed that was the closest I would get to her. Well, out of the blue today I get an email from, guess who?! Now, granted it was about some stupid question that she needed help with... but she asked me. She knows my name. I quickly and thoroughly answered her question assuming that would be the last communication. Boy was I wrong. I got 5 emails from her. She is very nice. Plus I am pretty sure she is wearing a Starck watch in this picture. That makes her double cool

With the creation of Twitter, it makes my celeb stalking much easier. Although I get sad when they usually don't respond, it is nothing compared to the happiness I feel when they do.



Thank you Rey Maualuga. You are now my favorite Celeb ever.



I am kind of a big deal now.

I gave in.

So I gave in. I am not the biggest fashionista in the world. I would love to see trends and be able to pull them off. I have a friend that could wear a garbage bag and rock it. I would put it on and immediately feel the need to put it over my head instead. What happens most often, is I tend to make fun of the trends because I know that I could never pull it off. The only problem with this marvelous plan, is that I like most (read: some) of the trends. I "hated" the boots over the jeans look, I "hated" the skinny jeans... Oh man am I eating my words now. In the past month, I have not only given in to one of those trends, I have given in to both. I say that one is a direct result of the other.

I started the boots over the jeans look with these beauties. Fossil's Kate Boot (insert shameless plug here)



Next I added these from Target. Have a mentioned that I also "hated" flat boots. Sigh.



So there are some excuses as to why my sudden acclimation to trends. One, Fossil had the killer boots on sale! Next, who can pass up $30 boots from Target?
Enter trend #2 - Trying to comfortably cram boot cut jeans under them would cause my toes to turn blue not to mention the fact that this look made me rock the Hillary Clinton cankles. What is the solution of this problem one might ask? Buy skinny jeans. Now if I had just left it at that, we would be golden. Skinny jeans only under boots... But I am pretty sure that I am going to wear those skinny jeans out sans boots.

God help me. What's next?

Happy as a Yard Dog?

Dogs are lucky. I wish I could live one day seeing life through their eyes. They wake up, jump up and down on the bed until you are awake, make a sad face when you leave and sleep all day. The happiest time of their day is when they hear the car door slam outside and footsteps leading up to the door. The utter joy that explodes out of them can completely change your day. One minute you have had the crappiest day of your life, are ready to quit your job, and ready to drive into oncoming traffic - the next, you are being loved so much in one solid minute that you can completely forget the rest. I guess, the more that I think about it, they may just need to go to the bathroom.

The stupid one pretty much spends his life waiting for you to talk to him. He lays in the middle of the living room floor and stares at you. As soon as you look in his direction and say anything, he is up on his feet running to you, licking your face and nuzzling you - all because you talked to him. One of the highlights of his night. I say one, because it happens all night long.

God put dogs on this earth to love you. I am sure that there is some actual scientific reason they actually exist, but to an owner, there is no other reason they walk this earth. They live and breath only to please us. They may have simple lives or eating, drinking, pooping, and sleeping, but it is a good life. One that is complete happiness.

Now don't get me wrong, they do have their moments. For example, we had a problem with the smart one. When he was about a year old we decided to get another pup. As soon as we got the stupid one, the smart one wasn't so thrilled. He actually walked up to us in the living room as we were holding the stupid one, looked us in the eye, and hiked his leg up and pissed on us out of pure jealousy. No joke. We tried so hard to be mad at him, but the deliberate nature of his action just put us in stitches. Even with the moments of unhappiness which are few and far between, they have to be the happiest creatures on earth.

I am not sure what made me write about dogs today. I guess it is just jealousy. Jealousy that there is no way that I could ever in my entire life be as happy as they are. To wake up everyday and only see the positive, get over the negative quickly, and never forget their loyalty and love for others.

We could all stand to be more like dogs. Except the butt-sniffing part. That could get really socially awkward.

Next Big Project

Home ownership has it's ups and it's downs.

Up - you own your own house.
Down - you have a mortgage that makes you vomit to pay each month.
Up - You can modify anything you want because you own your house.
Down - You can modify anything in your house because you own your house.

Throughout the 3 years that we have owned our house we done a lot of minor updates and projects. The biggest project thus far has been painting nearly every single room in the house. What did we learn from this? That we hate painting. A visceral hate. The kind of hate that leads to starting a fund for the next time we get the wild hare to paint again - to hire someone. Out of all the minor things we have done, we have never tackled a project like this. It is one of those ideas that we talk about a lot, but never actually do. Well, as I listen to the sound of the hammer... there is no turning back now. We are ripping out the laminate flooring in our entry way, hall, kitchen, and breakfast nook. We planned on staining the concrete until we save up for a more permanent solution unless we love it in which case we will leave it as is. There is one little problem - the builders did not plan on the house going sans laminate. There is spray paint all over the floor. Looks like we are painting it now.

So what made us decide to do this? Other than the fact that my husband is a designer and the thought of laminate floor makes his skin crawl, our dog Tucker (the big dumb lab) is like Bambi on ice... all the time. He is so unstable on laminate that he falls daily, won't eat if the food is the bowl is too far from carpet, and he has taken up the best trait ever, backing into every room. Our friends find it hilarious. It is like he is doing a trick, only he is just being Tucker. We are also very excited to have the tap dancing sounds of the dogs claws gone as well. Nothing better than claws on laminate at 4am to help you have a restful nights sleep!

We (I keep saying "we" even though I am on the couch watching Top Chef and he is doing all the work) have a 5 sq ft area up so far and have hopes that the rest of the 855 sq ft come up just as easy. Wishful thinking right?

Almost Everything Comes From Nothing

So I guess I face the same questions many new bloggers face... Does anyone really care enough about what I may say to even take the time to read this? I mean, what I may find incredibly exciting and interesting others may think is stupid. But I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure.

I don't really have that interesting of a life nor am I that witty. I mean I grew up in the Midwest... exciting right? I got married, moved to Dallas, and work an 8-5 in corporate communications. I know, hold on to your seats.

Now it is decision time. What shall I blog about? My guess is it will just be a day to day decision. Some days I will want to rant about the BCS bogus rankings (ahem Cincinnati Bearcats), the next day it could be about some great designs/recipes/movies I saw recently. I suspect that this blog will be about as random as they come. But, then again, I don't see as a bad thing. Everyone needs a little variety in their life. There is only so much celebrity gossip a person can take before they want something more refreshing. And let’s be honest, no one can out-gossip the dude on www.thesuperficial.com. I hope that this blog is something that everyone would want to read for entertainment on a rainy day - or sunny day for that matter.

Maybe I will surprise myself. Maybe I can be as clever out here in the blogging world as I am in my head... because let me tell you, it is amazing in here.