Bob at the Nutty Brown

Brandy and Steffi went with us to see Bob last night at the Nutty Brown. Earlier in the day we had helped Brandy's Mom pack up her house because she is moving later this week. Bob played a greatest hits show with lots of his good older stuff mixed in with his really good newer stuff. There were families in the audience so he cleaned up the lyrics to a PG level. Well, mostly. The R stuff he just sang really fast so you couldn't understand the words unless you knew them. He played "Mud House" "Bombonanza" "(the song about the large spider who not shall be named)" "Deep Blue Sea" and "Forty Dogs (Romeo and Juliette)" - those alone would have made for a great show. I will buy some Frunk certificates and download the show later this week. If you don't know what that means you need to go to more Bob shows.

Harmony Kelly, the bass player, had on a short jeans skirt, western boots and these great net things on her legs. The men could not get enough of this sight!

My house is one of the dozen or so homes in a neighborhood "open house" today from 2-4. I need ALL OF YOU to think positive thoughts so someone buys the house soon!

Earlier today I made Steffi and Abby some "finals week" goodie bags to help keep them motivated through the next ten days or so. They have 3 days of class this week, 2 study days and then finals start next Saturday through Friday May 9th. Good luck girls! Can't wait for you both to be up here in Austin next fall!!

Not a blogilicious week obviously

Mike complained last night that I hadn't blogged in awhile. Well, it was more of an observation than a real complaint. It is hard to blog during the week, you know work gets in the way of my busy social activity schedule and sometimes there is just nothing blog-worthy going on. And besides that I thought to myself "We live together now so what could you possibly learn from my blog that I didn't already share with you?" Then last night he had a dream that I was doing things and not telling him. When I heard that, I realized several things. One, I'd better blog on a regular basis even if there is really nothing new! Two, we need to get Mike set up on Facebook and Twitter. I have been playing around with these social networking toys and he can't see all of the important and very witty things I post and read about others unless he has accounts. LOL.

So, world - get ready for Mike to join the big social networking party this weekend! Watch for him to write on all of your walls and tweet about going to see Bob Schneider on Saturday!

Here are some random pictures of creatures we saw in the bird sanctuary at Galley Bay. I don't remember sharing many of these with you. Happy 1 month anniversary to us today, too!

I like this one because you can see the bird's mirror-image in the water.This is one of my favorite critters. It is a mongoose. He is cutely ugly.

I am so useful!

I am very blogful today. I should have waited for a lull in my week, but I just couldn't resist sharing this with you asap.

Many moons ago I treated myself to a new showerhead. It is luxurious. It is a showerhead that once you have experienced it, nothing else will do.

Mike's house has a plethora of shower heads, 4 in fact, 2 on each side of the shower. But even when they are all on, the experience falls short of the one at my house. Mike knew he had to convert - and fast - or I might move out or something (just kidding!). So he purchased a new Waterpik showerhead just like mine. Who knew Waterpik made devices that weren't just for cleaning teeth?! Danny was going to come by today to install it. I was so excited!! But then the lock-out thing happened and something came up with Danny too, so I was feeling disappointed.

Did I dare try to install it myself???

YES!! I dared!!!

And voila....

(Don't panic Mike, it works and doesn't even drip in the back. And I put all of your tools back exactly where I found them. Really. I think they are close at least.)

I think I could write a book!

Still working on the title, but the book is all about our experiences in trying to sell two houses. Mike's house in particular seems to attract people who leave lights on and lock doors. See this sign?

It is there for a reason. However either no one else sees the sign or this house is only seen by illiterates. Part of the problem is that I do not have a key to Mike's house. Actually HE does not have a key to his own house. That is a problem too, but we won't mention that. We are people who live with garage door openers. Who needs a real key these days?! Come on, we are not the only ones who would be stranded outside the house in a power outage - I know you are out there! The only known key to this house is in the lockbox outside accessible only by realtors. Lucky for us our agent is smarter than we are and she had an extra key made for herself in case something happened to the one in the lockbox!! I phoned the agent and she had just arrived back in town - like the very moment I called her - and she met me down the road and handed me the copied key. She was even smart enough to have it with her! I drove immediately to Breeds and had 2 extra keys made. One for me
and one to hide outside. I come from a family of good key hiders. :)

On to other subjects. I have been staying at Mike's house in the evenings. We are all getting along just fine. And without Mike home, there is plenty of room for all of us on the sofa.

Mike's a winner!

A few months ago Mike was nominated for a CIO leadership award. The nomination form is quite extensive and detailed. It describes Mike's leadership style and his and his teams' many accomplishments. The conference where the winners would be announced was just this past week. Mike never heard anything back about the award so he figured he didn't win and while he did plan to attend the conference he really wasn't excited about going. The conference was in Phoenix and the highlights of the week he was expecting were seeing his kids Stephen and Katie, who live there, and his good friends Dave and Amy.

Even though spouses of the nominees were invited to the awards dinner he discouraged me from going, and I didn't push it either since he was so sure he wouldn't win. That was too bad, because I really would have liked to be there for him - winner or not. Next time something like this comes up, I will go even if he protests. Look at this happy face! (Or was that because of the wine??) I should have been there to see him beaming in person.

Dave attended as his "significant other." And our good friend Renee attended the lengthy dinner and award ceremony and took these photographs. I cannot thank you enough, Renee!!!

The awards, honoring CIOs whose innovative responses to business needs demonstrated outstanding leadership in global IT management, went to a diverse range of companies this year. Here is a list of the winners (Mike is in good company!!):

Barry Carter, CIO and SVP Shared Services, Alliance Data
Mike Clifford, VP and CIO, Whole Foods Market, Inc.
LaVerne Council, Corporate VP and CIO, Johnson and Johnson
George Davis, SVP and CIO, The Hershey Company
Louie Ehrlich, Chevron CIO and President, ITC
Virginia Guthrie, CIO, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
John Hinshaw, VP and CIO, The Boeing Company
Judy Lemke, EVP and CIO, Schneider National, Inc.
Al Tarasiuk, CIO, Central Intelligence Agency
Kevin Summers, Corporate VP and Global CIO, Whirlpool Corporation

Congrats Mike. I am so proud of you!!!

The Saxon

Lonelyland (with Bob Schneider) played at the Saxon Pub last night. Bob always banters with his band members during the show and last night the banter was about how the Saxon Pub wanted to change to be just "The Saxon." Kind of like how Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC. Henceforth the Saxon Pub will be known as the Saxon.

Bob is sporting a new short hair cut. He is getting a lot of air time on the radio with his new song "40 Dogs (like Romeo and Juliet)" And he recently received a lot of recognition at the Austin Music Awards. He was going to release his own CD - Tarantula (remember the show we saw in December where the DVD was recorded?) and I just heard yesterday that now it will be released later but under a real record label. Maybe this will be his big break! I like this picture because you can see someone holding up their phone taking the same of him that I took.

Happy Easter!

It was a perfectly beautiful Easter day. It was supposed to be rainy and stormy, but all of that happened before 9 a.m. and from there on we have had wall-to-wall blue skies and warm sun. Perfect for an Easter egg hunt! Before we did the hunt, we did the normal Easter stuff that we do.... I "helped" the kids find the baskets that the bunny left, telling them if they were hot or cold as they searched the house. We have lived here so long that there are not many new hiding places that the bunny can leave their baskets so they mostly do not need my assistance. I would estimate that it took each of them about 10 seconds to find their basket. But it is fun (for me). After a quick sugar fix, we all went to church. Leslie came over around 12:30 for Easter lunch. I made lamb chops with rosemary and goat cheese, butter potatoes, asparagus and a salad for lunch. Everything was yummy and Steffi scored the leftovers to share with her roommate for dinner.

After lunch we had the egg hunt.

There were eggs hiding in the waterfall to the pond

on Duncan's truck

in the light fixtures

in the rockery

in the hammock

LOL! Most years we find an egg or two that we missed in July, usually with the candy in tact but melted.

Mike has gone back to his home to pack for his trips this week. The kids have both gone their separate ways and I have done most of the clean up from the day and have a load of laundry going. I love days like this!

Happy Easter!!

more Bruce!

If you recall Sunday night we went to the Bruce concert in Austin. Great show. Liked it so much that we went to a "2nd annual" Bruce tribute at the Cactus Cafe at UT where various local singers perform their interpretation of a few Bruce songs. It was a lot of fun and the performances kept getting better and better - at least until we had to leave to go eat something before everything closed. Next year we're eating first and staying until the end. As if that wasn't enough Bruce for one week, Mike found a great deal on floor general admission tickets for the Houston show and was able to trade points for a hotel room downtown so we had no excuse not to go to the Bruce show in Houston last night. Another great show!! A little shorter than Austin's but Bruce played Cadillac Ranch and Saint in the City and all the regular ones from this year's tour. That picture above was my favorite from the shots I got last night. It is at the beginning of the show when they sang Outlaw Pete. I have to admit that song is growing on me.... There were no "camera police" meaning I could take as many pictures as I wanted. Just wish I had my fancy camera with a better zoom.

BRUUUUUCE!!!!

Went to the Bruce show in Austin last night. It was a blast. No time for many comments - just know it was a GREAT show. Here are a few pictures. We met friends at Scholz's Garden for some pre-show fun.

Clarence (who is now 70 years old!)

Weird guy in front of us who faced backward all night. He was so odd that someone called into the local radio about him this morning! I sent them the photo.

Our friend Renee took some of these photos from the right side of the stage. She took this one of us in the crowd. We are in the middle of the photo in front of the white doors. Mike has an orange shirt on. That is Missy in the white sleeves and Katie on the other side. I am between Missy and Mike but kind of blended in because I have a UT jacket on.

This was only the 3rd show on the tour and it seems like they are still figuring out the set list. Can't wait to see them again at the last US stop in NJ in May. :)

Here is the setlist from last night:

April 5, 2009 Austin, TexasFrank Erwin Center

Badlands

Outlaw Pete

My Lucky Day

Prove It All Night

Out In The Street

Working On A Dream

Seeds

Johnny 99

Youngstown

Working On The Highway

Sherry Darling

She's The One

Because The Night

Waiting On A Sunny Day

The Promised Land

The WrestlerKingdom Of Days

Radio Nowhere

Lonesome Day

The Rising

Born To Run

Hard Times

Jungleland

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

I'm A Rocker

Land Of Hope And Dreams

American Land

Glory Days

Happy 10th Birthday to Choco!

Today is our chocolate lab's birthday. She was born on April 2nd, 1999 which makes her 10! Wow. I still remember going to pick her out of the litter in Smithville, Texas. Her mother's name was Daybreak's Little Orphan Kay and her papa's name was Bozworth. I have her whole family tree going back to her great grand(dog)parents. There were a couple cute chocolate labs to choose from and we let the kids strongly influence which one we picked. I remember both of them carrying around the little 6 week old puppies before settling on ours. We went back two weeks later to pick up our own "Chocolate" now shortened to "Choco." From the breeder we went straight to Duncan's baseball game at Casis elementary. We were late, but everyone understood why and little Choco was exhausted from all the attention. Her eyes started out green and then turned a lovely golden brown. She was a really good puppy.

Choco loved to swim. When she was a puppy she would jump from the side of the pool onto the rafts with us! When she got too big (and her toenails too long) for the rafts she would just go in at the steps and swim around us.

By Christmas of her first year she looked full grown.
In 2001 she met a handsome dog named Bear and soon had her own puppies. Cabbie and Sangie are now happily living in California with Bill and MG.

Choco's favorite things include rawhide bones
and car rides!
and napping....zzzz

Happy birthday girl! You're still looking good!!

So Glad We Stayed Extra Days

I realized that my last blog showed a lot of rain and that is probably what everyone thinks about how our vacation ended. Not so!! We had the two most perfect weather and water days of the whole time. We swam and didn't get knocked down by waves. We snorkeled and saw fish and other sea life. We went out on a Hobie Cat. We sat in the sun and read. We swam some more. We had one more great sunset on our final night there. It was hard to say goodbye to paradise. For the first time we got up early on our last day and we were done with breakfast by 9 (usually we didn't even go to breakfast until 9:45) and out on the beach for a last hour of sun and swimming.

I spent time on the plane trip home organizing all the photos. We still have the drive from Dallas to Austin ahead of us but all day to get there. Once I am home an on a better internet connection I'll upload them to photobucket and send out the link.

Back to real life now....