holiday party bus

this year we held our 3rd annual holiday party bus...lots of christmas lights, funny times with karaoke, and lots of good friends made for a really fun night on saturday.  i'm so happy that you could all join us, what a great time!!  i didn't get a lot of pics, but hope to add some good ones as they are sent to me by all of you...

christmas!

jay and i had a wonderful christmas - time spent in tulsa at my brother's house with my family and time this weekend in fort worth with jay's.  it was a great time, lots of games, eating and even a two-hour flag football game with my brothers, dad, nephews, and lots of friends!  i didn't get a lot of pics, but some really cute ones i thought i would share.

caroline, the youngest of the seven, got a "style station" for christmas.  she wanted to style all of our hair, but really, really loves jay...and wanted to style his most.  hilarious...

woof, woof!

dallas is in the works for a new dog park, and it sounds like it is going to be nothing short of greatness! the name of the park is "unleashed," it will be in east dallas.

Next February, the Acrees are scheduled to open Unleashed, a 50,000-square-foot indoor dog park on Interstate 30 near Ferguson Road in East Dallas. Unleashed will sit on 6.5 acres that includes more than two acres of wooded land that will be developed with trails, benches and a picnic area for an added outdoor dog park.

In addition to an indoor, climate-controlled open-play area with agility equipment, Unleashed will offer doggy day care, grooming, bathing, pet supply sales and a cafe.

see the full article here, in the dallas business journal.

i know two pups that will definitely be making regular trips to unleashed. i'll speak for nomran and mckenzie and say that we can't wait! ;)

congrats, sammy!!!

oklahoma's all-star QB won the heisman tonight!  congrats to you, sam bradford, and BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!!!!!  you deserve it, enjoy every moment!

YAY - the death of the cancer stick is upon us!

finally, the citizens of dallas are catching up to the rest of america. dallas is currently the largest major city in the U.S. without a smoking ban. bring it on, i say!! the rest of us don't want to inhale that filthy garbage, you can take it outside, smokers! oh, and stay 15 feet away from the door, please, while you are at it...

After months of consideration and debate, the Dallas City Council is poised to ban smoking in bars, billiard halls and most areas within 15 feet of a business entrance.

read the entire article here - 'city council poised to approve smoking ban'

i will say when i read "poised" to ban smoking i was a little disappointed. jay had sent me the article and i wrote back, "poised? i don't want poised, i want DONE!"

can you tell i am just a teeny bit excited about this?!?

***update - as of 3:30pm today, the dallas morning news is reporting it is official! the smoking ban passed!!! holy moly i am happy!

i should live in vegas...

or so my dad said after i told him this - if you will, look back to a post i made over a year ago, where i proclaimed that i predicted oklahoma versus florida to be playing in miami for the title this year. pretty amazing, huh? it must be that sixth sense i have...i swear, i live in a state of deja vu on a daily basis. or maybe it's my obsession with all things college football, i'm not sure...

anyway, we watched with great anticipation the bcs selection show yesterday evening. as sure as we felt about the outcome, after this crazy year, i just wanted to hear it live. moments later, we both got calls from our dads, who were equally, if not more excited (is that possible?). it's so much fun having a family (or set of families in jay's and my case) that can enjoy all this energy and excitement over the sooners together. jay and i were talking about memories of the mid-80's and bowls of oranges scattered amongst ours and our family friends homes. it's all very familiar feeling...and it feels very good! funny to think back then i still lived in tulsa, jay lived in fort worth, and sam bradford hadn't even been BORN yet!! ha! needless to say, loving the sooners is a family tradition that jay and i plan to carry on for years to come. now, i need to go to the grocery store and pick up that bowl of oranges...

go sooners! bradford for the heisman!

3-PEAT!!

congrats to the sooners for their third consecutive big 12 title!! we are making plans for miami and so excited!!

i will be watching the below intro video on repeat for the next month until the game...granted, it's better on the gigantic screen at owen field, but wow, it's even motivational on youtube!!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

beat florida!

BCS and the sweet, sweet sooners

in order to "answer" the facebook messages, dirty looks, and many emails...yes, i too think the bcs is crazy. in the scenario that has played out for the big 12 south, there was no way that anyone was going to be happy. a three-way tie sucks no matter how you get around it. i think i mentioned a while back how much i love the book, bowls, polls, and tattered souls, a book by one of my favorite writers, stewart mandel. if you feel confused at this point, i highly recommend it. i think if anything, it helped calm me down the years that i felt OU was the one getting screwed.

of course i am happy. and of course i can argue my case for why we deserve it. and of course if the shoe was on the other foot, i'd be ticked off, too. there is just no good way to solve it. and now the pressure is ON the sooners. do i think they can do this? yes. does that matter? no. it's college football. the reasons we love it are some of the same reasons we hate it.

so if any of you care to hear it, i will share my two cents for the best way to solve this whole mess. first, the ncaa needs to either eliminate or require conference championships for all conferences (and if notre dame ever gets good again, they would have to play an extra game if others did - someone, anyone...). and in the event of conference championships, i believe that the top two rated teams should play for the championship, regardless of "north" or "south" divisions (ie, in this case, OU would play the longhorns again for the big 12 title, not mizzou).

second, i think a full-out playoff would just end badly, lots of kids getting hurt, etc.  what would work best after the conference champions were decided would be a plus one scenario, with two games between the teams ranked 1-4, then a final national championship game.  

thoughts?  

there is no way to sort this out and make it 100 percent fair.  but i will say, of the three-way tie, OU did have a very strong case for coming out on top, regardless of how it was decided.  we had the only big-game win on the road.  we beat more ranked teams than any other (#11 tcu, #13 cincinatti, #7 texas tech, #14 oklahoma state) and beat them all soundly.  it's a biased argument, but it's all i have - i am not a computer nor am i a voter, so it's more of a "i'm just sayin" kinda thing.  at this point, i think the most qualified team is going to the big 12 championship. whatever happens up in kc, one of the two best teams in the big 12 will go to the national championship.

we will see how it all shakes out.  friends that are longhorn fans, i agree.  you got the short end of the stick on this one.  but no matter how you slice it, tech fans have an argument, too. they now have to sit and watch after beating a texas team that is now ranked above them and poised to go to a bcs bowl (strangely familiar, huh?). what do they have to look forward to after their excellent season? not much. however, as my ut friend said this morning, "all we had to do was win out and we lost..."  obviously this argument could be made for any of the teams, so in the end, it came down to who had the best entire season.  we all lost one game, and we all should have won out - so really, none of us can say that we deserve it over another.  now i just hope and pray we can go out there, despite our injured players and all the chaos surrounding this week - and take care of business this weekend. let's go OU - represent the big 12 as it should be - the powerhouse conference of the year!!

hopefully at some point the coaches and players will have a voice and all this can be put together a little more fairly - but hey, at least it's better than it used to be...when there was no national title game at all!!   

BOOMER SOONER!!!  

the dallas economy

i reached the end of the internet today in regard to BCS/bowl game projections and sooner-football-talk. so, i decided to read up on something relevant to my actual job. to my own disbelief, i actually found some really interesting information.

for those of you that have read the blog for a while, you may remember a post i put up about my "walk score," which is a measure of the walkability of your community. apparently that very thing is becoming more relevant in the current economy. and apparently jay and i aren't the only folks who felt the 'burbs weren't for us (yay for the m-streets!). it seems that in dire straights, it's predicted that the suburbs would actually become the ghettos, and downtown areas would be the most vibrant areas...maybe this downturn will actually make our downtown dallas blossom to it's full potential. well, that and the giant park over woodall rogers...

read up on it! and read up some more!!

BOOMER SOONER!!!!  finally, order has been restored to the football world.  we had a reaaaaaally fun day in norman yesterday.  the stadium was electric and stoops and each and every one of those boys trotted out on the field and played like champions.  there is still a lot of football left, so for now, i'm just enjoying a BIG win and a spot at #2 in the nation.  it's all yours for the taking, boys - now go and get it!!!

after we recovered a fumble, offense coming on for another TD!

lined up and ready for action

BOOMER SOONER!!!!

our friend had found a really funny OU hat, i deemed it a "thug hat" - i had to get a pic in it...

corby, exasperated, explaining things to a confused tech fan...  ; )

nyc weekend

we had such a great time this weekend on the birthday trip to manhattan. we had the fun of having time to catch up with a lot of our good friends - jay's college friends and my girlfriends from home. we did a little sightseeing, a little shopping, and a lot of eating! we stayed at the alex hotel, which was excellent - and big bonus for me, had a really nice (complementary!) gym that had fresh fruit and water out all day long. love it!


the first night we went to morimoto, a sushi place started by the iron chef. jay's college buddies, dave and brendan live in soho and had scooped it out - it was EXCELLENT!!! i would highly recommend it.later that evening we went to 1 oak, a club started by one of jay's other college friends, scott. what a cool place - i've never seen so many people out and about so late on a wednesday.
; )


thursday we did some of the traditional nyc stuff, checked out the progress at ground zero (which was honestly not much) : ( and payed our respects. we also went down to wall street at 4pm. this is of course as it was closing and surprise, they ended the day on a high - we must be a good luck charm. that night we met up with my friend shonnie and then jay's friends for dinner at a brand new tapas place in soho, boqueria ( it just opened last week and was good!)


friday jay had lunch with his friend, devin and then went up to visit his alma mater, columbia. i went to see my friend, shonnie - got to visit her office, her cute apartment, meet her roomie, and go to central park. so fun! we met up with our friend leighanne later on at a tex-mex place for margies, then joined a big group of jay and his friends for a wonderful dinner.



saturday we watched some college football and did a little more sightseeing before heading back that evening to enjoy some family time with my parents on sunday.

whew! it was so much fun - but always good to be home and with our pups. it's also nice to live in a city where it's 75 degrees and sunny in the middle of november...

happy, happy engagement, mary and whit!!

the happy couple!

two of my favorite people got engaged this weekend, and i couldn't be happier for them. whit did a great job, took mary to napa and picked a beautiful spot for the proposal. oh, and a really, really gorgeous ring!

congrats, you two. i can't wait for all the fun that is in store for you both.  you guys are such a great couple.

below are some pics from last night. they flew in from san fran yesterday afternoon and meg and i threw together a little impromptu engagement party at jay's and my place. so fun!

kappa girl so young so fair, has given her heart away...(we are fake "passing candle" for those of you that don't know...yes, the silly-happy was kicking in)

post-party-dinner, louie's

the ladies

god bless america, we are so proud and praying for our new fearless leader. history has been made, and i am so excited!

amazing

i have known david and amy for many years, when they came to serve on staff where my dad is also a minister. they are a wonderful couple that has wanted children for so long. a few years ago they decided to pursue adoption, and many, many of us have been praying for them in this quest.

i've been following their recent journey to their little girl, ella, which has been a VERY long and difficult road. this week they have gone to africa to finally begin the process of bringing her home and lucky for the rest of us, have documented the trip on their blog. following these posts and realizing what they are experiencing as a new family has been so moving to me, i had to share a link to their site. if you have a moment and would like to read something that will inspire you and absolutely make your heart smile, here it is: aroundtheworldand2kids.wordpress.com.

our prayers are with you in your new journey. congrats to you all - ella, you are BEAUTIFUL!

confession...

so tomorrow is the presidential election. you know, the one that elects the president of the united states...the "most powerful leader" in the world. so why is it that i am online reading about bcs bowl predictions, every possible scenario of the bcs breakdown of the big 12 south, and reading random peoples' predictions of where my team will end up? i'll tell you why. because i am ridiculous. i am completely insane for college football...and this year is sooooooo exciting!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

p.s. just look at that picture of bradford...you think he wants to win?? i'd say YESSSSSSSSSS! keep it up, boys!

we had a big crew to norman this weekend for the game.  and to say OU played well would be a major understatement.  they displayed total dominance and our defense was amazing.  good times!

jay and i both early-voted this week downtown. unbelievably, the records building must be a great place to go (fyi, dallas folk) because we had zero wait! i am definitely ready for this election to be complete, because there are a lot of crazies out there that really think the world is coming to an end if their guy doesn't win - frankly, i am sick of hearing their crap! newsflash: i can guarantee you we will all be okay either way. that said, i still hope my guy wins...i am excited.

fun sidenote: for the first time ever, jay and i didn't cancel each other out!

now, everyone go be good little citizens and cast your ballot...

happy housewarming to us!

we were asked to put our cheesiest "happy housewarming" face on for this photo  ; )

we had about fifty of our dear friends show up for a very fun houseparty friday evening.  everyone enjoyed our new place and we had so much fun being able to play hosts again, we just love to entertain!  thanks to everyone for making our first "event" in our new home a fun one.  

all clean, before the guests arrived

college friends

cute pic of the boys

they were tasked with the best dancer, jay did NOT win!!  ; )

backyard kids

happy, happy birthday, hubby!

happy birthday, to my best friend, my husband, and the greatest doggy-daddy i know!!!

(i hope i didn't ruin it by putting up a picture of you in cabo - another trip to mexico is not your birthday surprise, but i thought i would try and make up for it - so i booked us a trip to nyc...pack your bags, we leave on november 12th - SURPRISE!!!.) 

 

we had a great weekend - friday night we relaxed and went with some friends to see "w." interesting flick. saturday we got up bright and early and headed for the mothership in norman. our sooners took care of business and we got to go watch the late games at the coaches party, which is always such a treat. sunday we declined watching the end of the cowboy game and took the pups to lee harvey's to enjoy the afternoon and let them romp around with other pups for a while - we counted this as mckenzie's b-day party...she had a few french fries as a special treat.
; )

lined up and ready for action

score!!

my buddy, matt mcmillan, coaching coordinator, at the party

jay with some of his ku friends that were in town for the game at the tailgate

mom with her b-day girl and norm