U2 3-D

sooo excited!

http://www.u23dmovie.com/

a tribute: the loon

ah, the loon. if you have ever been to dallas and requested a good burger, dive bar, neighborhood hangout, or friendly establishment, most likely you have been led through the familiar swinging door into the greatness that is the loon.

in the spirit of, well, jay, i decided to do some research on my favorite dallas haunt and was interested to learn that it has a long history in our fine town. the spot was originally called "joe miller's" until the silver fox (cliff gonzales) took over fifteen years ago. cliff and his cousins started primo's down the street, and i assume it was the timing of the death of the owner at joe miller's and the opening of primo's that led him to start the loon.

all of those happenings were before my time, but when i moved to dallas in 2000, the loon was rarely crowded and faced an empty plot of land that is now the west village. there was never a line outside, it REAKED of smoke (pre-smoke zapper era), and there was always an open table (and that was before they doubled in size!).

last week there was a fire near the loon and many ramblings that she might have fallen victim to the flames. i must say, i ran to her aid. well, actually i jogged by there that evening, but still - so many fun memories, i had to make sure she was okay. of course, she was fine, still standing proud with her small green awning, inviting us all with open arms.

or as jay would say, "the loon wins."

update on the hills

i guess i've given up on pretending like i don't care about the hills, because here i am, posting about the lives of LC and the girls again. according to perez, the folks at teen vogue have fired whitney and LC!!!

that's IT!  i'm going right now to cancel my teen vogue subscription.  ; )

stretching myself a bit

so i'm not a big new year's resolution type - in fact, normally i kind of get ticked off at all those people. you know who i am talking about, the ones that clutter up your jogging areas, gyms, salad lines at eatzi's...and then disappear a few days/weeks later. but this year i have decided to take one on, become one of them, i guess. the only difference is, i already love to exercise and i already clutter up the line at eatzi's. but i decided that starting in on this, the 30th year of my life, i might want to incorporate some "new-ness" to my routine. not that i will stop running or any of that, don't get me wrong (besides, norman would be pissed!). i just want add something to the routine.

my first selection was pilates, but i could not find a studio that i liked (actually mary and i are doing this together, so i should say we could not find one we like). i started asking around and had more than one person recommed a particular yoga studio near me that i should try. well, i went for round one last night of "power yoga" at the new place, and i can already tell you, my body needed it! it was definitely a challenge, to say the least. i'm a bit sore today, but feel great and slept like a baby last night.

so i feel good, it's the 10th and i am still excited about my resolution. i guess the regulars at the yoga place probably think i am one of those people, but i hope to prove them wrong, especially knowing how i totally feel their pain on this topic. ; )

they say you can measure your dedication to resolutions by how excited you still are on valentine's day. i've also read that it takes somewhere between 21 and 90 (big range, i realize) days to form a habit, so i figure a month and half is a good place to gauge how it's going. i'll keep ya posted...but so far, i'm loving it!

peggy-anne-mckay

i have been sick the last few days. funny to me how throughout the holidays i didn't feel too good, yet powered on, soaking up every day off work and holiday festivity i could.

ah yes, then new year's day rolls around and the fun is beginning to dwindle...i spent the first day of this great year at a doc-in-a-box holding my ear and screaming. i suddenly came down with an ear and upper respitory infection (read: my body refuses to be sick in fun, but when it's time to rest or go back to work, shuts completely down). i've decided that much like little peggy-anne-mckay from shel silverstein's book of our childhood, i seriously start to feel better once fun approaches. all week i've been dragging and suddenly i feel so much better with friday being here, having saturday on the horizon.

I Cannot Go To School Today!
by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry.
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox.

And there's one more - that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue,
It might be the instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke.
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in.

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My toes are cold, my toes are numb,

I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,

I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,

There's a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is ...
What? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is .............. Saturday?

G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

happy 2008!

happy new year from the kids

we brought in the new year with friends and took in all the "big D nye" events in victory plaza.  we went VIP to the stars game (courtesy of dan), saw "petty theft" (tom petty cover band) at the house of blues, and watched fireworks on the plaza.  we had a great time with the whole crew and are looking forward to another fantastic year.  happy new year to all of my friends out there, make it great!  

watching fireworks - the countdown moment

we liked the bowling pin at the stars game

judd and jay

at petty theft

holiday party bus 2008

so i'm moving as fast as i can here, geez.  i've already had some requests for pics from the big night last night...patience, people, patience.  ; )

we had a great group last night for the party bus (for you attendees - you guys were good at party-bus-ing, my friends). the crew toured the park cities for some holiday lights, hit a couple of dallas hot-spots, watched jay "dance" (if you can call it that) and even with having to witness the former, still had a great time. ; )  we have done this a couple of other times, but this will definitely become a part of our holiday traditions going forward...join in on the good times bus next year if you missed this trip!  some pics below, click here for more.

jay, "trickdancing"

i'm not sure why, but it was fun!

all about the a-towners

nice danny, nice.

championship

sometimes it is fun being a girl in an all-boy office.  however, this week may just take the cake.  i will go ahead and give myself props...

i am in two fantasy football leagues.  last week, team superkaty clenched the playoffs and won my spot in the championship.  in both leagues!  at this point i am not sure that i even care if i win, i have just SO enjoyed wearing down the all the guys by beating them to get here.

that said a victory sure would be nice!!!!  everyone who wants the chick to win cheer for adrian peterson and the fav-re this week.  let's hope that adrian will put up another 47 fantasy points like he did a few weeks ago.  ; )  

baby addison

my good friends wes and rachel just had a little baby girl, addison. so first off, i'd like to say congratulations to them both!

little addison is having some medical problems and i am writing to ask you all to pray for her (and her family) as she works her way through these early struggles. you can stay updated here on her blog!

pranks make me giggle

hilarious - you only have to watch the first 30 seconds to get a good laugh.

walk score

while reading the paper (dallasnews.com) yesterday morning i found a link to take my "walk score." intrigued, i clicked on the site. since then i have been doing some thinking, and apparently my neighborhood's walk score has a big impact on my happiness as it relates to where i live so i thought i would share.

in recent years i have lived in several different neighborhoods. uptown and the m-streets, both of which have very high scores of 89 (uptown) and 82 (m-streets) were my favorites. the best parts of these neighborhoods are their proximity to "everything" and the fact that i can walk to do most anything.

walkscore.com even has a sidebar that allows you to see the scores of famous sites, like the apartment building where they lived on "friends" or the brady bunch house. enjoy!

i'm a nerd, i know.

katy trail update

dallas runners, rejoice! finally, (according to the friends of katy trail blog) the lights are actually in progress to be installed on the katy trail. this means that even with the dreaded pitch-black evenings of the winter upon us, we will soon be able to again jog after 6pm on the trail. in all reality the lights will not all be installed until we are freed from the bitter angst of early-evening darkness, but at least part of the trail will be lit up. maybe we can run sprints back and forth under the first few lights that are installed...

Lights coming soon

The pre-construction meeting for the Lighting contract took place Thursday morning at the office of Victory Park. Good news the contractor will officially begin work on lighting installation on Jan. 2, 2008 and expects to be done by the beginning of May

a different kind of final four

i have been participating in what is essentially an online opinion poll on si.com. it's interesting to watch, and even if it is essentially meaningless, i'm still happy to see OU in the final four. according to the poll, we beat boston college in the first round with 83% of the vote and were victorious again in the second round, over georgia with 53% of the vote. you can click here to vote in the "final four" round yourself, Oklahoma vs Ohio State and Florida vs USC.

i don't know how i feel about the prospect of the bcs vs. a playoff, because i can definitely see there are advantages to both (as well as disadvantages, especially in regard to losing the bcs as it relates to some of the "powerhouse" programs).

on our trip to vegas i read stewart mandel's book, bowls, polls and tattered souls. it is an interesting read for the college football fan. he provides some good insight into both possibilities, the playoff and the bcs. as much as i know that the bcs probably favors a school like oklahoma, a playoff system would be a blast to watch. i still haven't made my mind up on this whole thing yet, but i guess that doesn't really matter, as it's not my decision to make in the first place.

oh well. i'll just keep voting in my little fake online poll and wait for our bowl game in january.

miracle dallas

beginning this evening and running through the 30th of december, dallas-ites and their visitors can enjoy a festival-o-fun at victory park. outdoor ice skating, treats and drinks, and holiday films?!? count me in. best of all, it benefits a good cause!

check out http://www.miracledallas.com/ for more details.

viva las vegas

we took a trip this weekend with a group of good friends to las vegas. i am not a gambler, however, i consider myself a well-educated college football fan. well, at least educated enough to put money on a few games. the sports book is definitely my niche. 3-out-of-4 ain't bad. i collected my earnings this morning before we left.

first off, congrats to our boys for being the first big 12 team to win back-to-back big 12 conference titles! as to the bcs and the NC game - i won't get into OU getting ripped off, because every team in america has their own argument in this this regard (as it relates to the bcs). i'm very happy we won the big 12 again and consider it a privilege to play west virginia, which is a great team...however, i do feel for mizzou. their only two losses this year were to OU, which is the #3 team in the country (according to the polls). they beat kansas and illinois, who both got bcs bids. sorry guys-of-mizzou, i agree, you were completely ripped off. just know as OU fans, we feel the same way. good luck ohio state - no one wants to play a home game against lsu.

a few fun pics from our trip...

i predict OU v florida next year in miami

columbia boys

cuties at pure

i'm just sayin, i am the queen of the sports book

reunion of the pups and mom

tales of jackie o and sir abthernabther

frontburner, one of the few sites i check with daily frequency, has recently added a list of blogs to their line-up. of course, these blogs are well-written, anonymous and ever-so-interesting, much unlike this blog.

yesterday, i found one blog that is only about a month old, but has absolutely captured my attention. it's called so dallas and it is so hilarious.

be sure to read the first entry, on "jackie's" purpose of starting the blog. genius.

another blog that has quickly captured my fancy (which are words that alibaster himself would surely use) is
from the desk of alibaster k. abthernabther.

alibaster plays the role of "world renowned entrepreneur, best selling author, yacht racer, hot air balloon enthusiast, culture connoisseur, bon vivant, pleasure seeker, taste maker and opinion taster." and shares his feelings via
well-written, clever letters to those whom he chooses to share his thoughts with.

his writing reminds me a lot of gordon keith, of whom apparently alibaster counts as a friend (as do i). kudos to you, alibaster, keep up the informative writing and hot-air balloon riding. i love the 'stache.

bedlam

we made the trek this weekend for last home game of the season, the OU vs. osu game, also known as"bedlam."  after hearing all year about a hyped-up okie state offense, we were definitely a little bit apprehensive about this ever-important game.  but the boys took care of business (big-time!), and it's on to next week...the big 12 championship in san antonio.  

go sooners!!!!

season tix?

looks like i won't be getting my premium seat package at the new cowboys stadium after all. holy crap those things are expensive. $50,000 just to get the right to buy the actual $340 ticket, dang! i guess it's corporate seats or bust for me.

i gotta go.

i'm starting the lobby here at work to ensure the bank buys in...

oops

props to you, kevin colvin, on a hilarious costume. however, next time you might just want to take the day off. this is a great story. i bet we all know people that have made the same type of mistake. it just probably didn't end up on cnn.

you know, being in banking myself, i might hire a guy based on having this good of a sense of humor. but lying about it? why? the fairy costume is so cute. ; )

i pray my fifteen minutes of fame involve something a little less embarrasing. dang, you gotta feel for the guy. i don't envy the call he is getting about now from his parents...sitting at work, browsing cnn, only to find a picture of their son dressed in a fairy costume, holding a busch light (who drinks that stuff?!). do you think when he called to tell them about his great new internship in banking they thought it would end up like this? i think i might have some questions. you?

dang it that costume is funny. jay? halloween next year? HA!!

woot!! go OU

my friend, sweet, sweet mary, joined us for the OU game this weekend.  we had such a good time and a LOT of laughs.  OU is now #3 in the nation and we are hoping that things keep going our way.  we attended another coaches' party last night and stoops is definitely in good spirits, which is always a good sign.  after all, he's a man, he's 40!!!  

i know the joke is old to some, but not to me, apparently.

mary and katy...boomer sooner-ing!!!