Old Friends, New Friends

Maison had a playdate this afternoon with James who lives one street over on Seltzer. James is the son of a friend, Laura, who I have known since I was 8 years old. We went to elementary, middle, high school, and UT together. When we were kids, Shari and I would go over to Laura's house on Vicksburg to play tether ball. Her parents moved from Vicksburg to Seltzer years ago and about 3 months ago Laura and her husband bought the house right across the street from her parents. Now they live one street over from us. What are the chances that someone you have been friends with for almost 30 years would move one street away and have a child almost the same age as Maison? Laura is one of my oldest friends and now James is one of Maison's newest...

Ellington Haus ~ Bavarian Birthday

Today is my Dad's 66th birthday and we celebrated last night Bavarian style. What does Bavarian style include other than the obvious German food, beer, and Black Forest Cake?

Authentic Oktoberfest costumed hostess:

Customed made Ellington Haus t-shirts:

Happy birthday, G'Daddy!

Happy 21 months ~ Things you Learn

Things you learn from having a 21 month old:

1. Pigtails are messy within 2 seconds of putting them up

2. "Posing" for a picture entails sticking out your tongue

3. Standing still only happens when eating crackers

4. Smiling for the camera is not going to happen

Happy Birthday, Maison...3 more months until 2 years!

In Honor of...

In honor of Price William's and Princess Kate's recent stateside visit, Maison wore her favorite hat, her box hat.

I really like how the clear color goes with everything and how it works well when marching...

It stays perfectly in place while dancing...

And even works well when trying to hide from the paparazzi!

Welcome to the US, Will and Kate!!!

Do you want a piece of me?

I'm Mrs. 'You want a piece of me?'

Tryin' and pissin' me off

Well get in line with the paparazzi

Who's flippin' me off

Hopin' I'll resort to some havoc

And end up settlin' in court

Now are you sure you want a piece of me? (you want a piece of me)

I'm Mrs. 'Most likely to get on the TV for strippin' on the streets'

When getting the groceries, no, for real..

Are you kidding me?

No wonder there's panic in this industry

I mean please...

Do you want a piece of me?

Last night my besties and I went to the Britney concert. Jan had the brilliant idea for us to dress up as different Britneys.

Apparently, imitating Britney is about as paparazzi inducing as being the real Britney as 83 (yes, EIGHTY THREE we counted) people took our picture at the concert. Even the Dallas Observer got in on the act by including us in their "costumed fans" slide show!

So I guess you DO want a piece of me, and Shari, and Jan, and Kelly, and Adrienne....

Moving on up...we hope!

After 30 years in this house and 2 years of major remodeling, we decided to put 3600 Cross Bend officially on the market. As I left to meet my friends for dinner tonight I saw the For Sale sign in the front yard for the first time. I started crying. I couldn't help it.

I have mixed emotions for sure. Sad to potentially leave a house I spent the majority of my life in, grew up in, had Maison in, a house I LOVE....but I am excited about the opportunity to move off this busy street so we will have a place to play outside.

So here's to Moving on up to the East side to be near Camp Gooey!

Hot Project

This morning I ran the Too Hot to Handle 15k. It was a solo project this year because Kelly was injured and Jan wasn't arriving for the Britney concert until tomorrow. Running 9.3 miles by yourself is very long and boring even with Britney and Justin Timberlake as entertainment. I certainly missed my besties on this one!

My race report is pretty non-eventful...

- Left house at 6:25am.

- Parked and in port-a-potty line by 7:00am

- Out of potty line and at starting line at 7:25am

- Race started promptly at 7:30am

- Ran for 1:36

- Saw Adam and Maison right before finish shortly after 9am

The mid-80 degree forecast was a little too good to be true. 86 degrees was announced as the starting temp and it was 93 per weatherchannel.com when I finished. Even though it was hot it was nothing compared to last year!

Lovin the mid-80s

I'm all set for the Too Hot to Handle 15k. Forecast in the mid-80s!! Last year it was 85 when we left the house and 98 when we finished. Let's hope the mid-80s forecast is true...

Crackers, Cards, and Cittys

Shari and I celebrated our 27th b-day today and it was all about crackers for Maison and gift cards for us.

Apparently Shari will be cleaning house at the pre-select for the Nordstrom's Anniversary sale and I'll have a nice go at Neiman's!

And can you possibly have an Ellington twin b-day without Hello Kitty being involved? How about the cutest HK PJs?

Happy B-day S&M!

Bizzy Bee

Major Run of Bad Luck!

To continue the apparent bad luck train we are on....

Adam was in a 4 car pile up on the Tollway on his way home from work. And it was his fault. And the person that rear-ended him drove off. So both sides of the truck are damaged plus the two other cars in front of him. I feel our insurance costs rising as I type this...

Our current best car is the Toyota Corolla rental I'm driving due to the Expedition accident on Sunday (see Exploder Indeed!). And how was your day?

Raised Right

Maison has not been feeling well the last couple of weeks so I took her to the doctor this morning. She has the same symptoms as before so we are back to poop test galore (such fun for Mommy!), doctor visits, phone calls with the GI specialist, etc. While we were in Dr. Wong's, or the Wongster as Adam calls her, waiting room a little girl was climbing on the chairs and standing up in them. Maison pointed at her and said, "Sit down!" I have had to tell Maison at least 100 times a day since she could walk to sit down on furniture, in the tub, in her crib, you name it. I was so proud when she told Isabella to sit down. As Clairee says in Steel Magnolias, "That's because you were raised right."

Happy 4th!

How is it possible that this is the best picture from the 4th? Apparently, I only partially made it into the Mommy and Me picture.

Happy 4th of July!

Exploder Indeed!

I was pulling into the parking garage at Watter's Creek when I got a call from Adam that there had been an accident with my car. He had just pulled into the same parking garage and as he was going up the ramp to the second level the back gate on the Expedition opened (on it's own while the car was in motion!) and hit a pillar on the top of the garage. Upon impact the entire back glass exploded and flew into the car while he and Maison were in the car!!! His first thought was they had been shot due to the loud noise and flying glass, but then he noticed the entire back gate was opened.

Good News: Maison and Adam are both ok...not a scratch on either of them. And we are more than thankful that this didn't happen yesterday when we were in the middle of nowhere with a car full of stuff in the 100+ degree heat.

Bad News: Due to the holiday weekend, Ford won't even look at my car until Tuesday.

Remember about 10 years ago when the Firestone tires were blowing up on Explorers and the media deemed them "Exploders"? What do you call an Expedition that comes with exploding glass? I don't know what you call it but I know what it and flying car glass look like...

On the Road Again ~ GS Vacay Day 8

We got up at 5am and were on the road by 6am just like we had planned. Maison was a perfect angel the entire 12 hour drive and we only had to stop once because no one wanted to eat or go to the bathroom and we just had to make the mandatory gas stop...

NOW THAT'S FUNNY!!!

Actually we left at 7:40am, Maison had a breakdown before we even hit Mobile, and we had to stop at Target and spend $50 on DVDs. One of the best $50 ever spent because it ensured we didn't have to hear Curious George the Movie or "mote" one more time. "Mote" is Maison's word for remote and it means I don't like what I'm watching so please change the channel. Thank goodness for the Nickelodeon multi-show DVDs and Max and Ruby...everyone was happy the rest of the trip.

We had a wonderful trip to Gulf Shores and even though it is in Alabama and not Florida we still left nothing but our footprints....

Maslows vs Original Oyster House ~ GS Vacay Day 7, Part 3

Since this was our last night in Gulf Shores we decided to eat dinner out. Adam is in charge of choosing all restaurants while on vacay because:

1. I don't care where we eat

2. I would rather blog, read, sleep, etc than try to research where is the best place to go

3. I don't want to hear his complaints when I pick something that sucks and the "We should have gone to xyz"

What is the sign that a restaurant is worth visiting? That it has been featured or will be featured on Food Network or Man v. Food. While researching restaurants Adam found this:

Yes, Original Oyster House in Gulf Shores, Alabama is going to be featured on Man v. Food on July 13 so where do you think we ended up eating dinner? Would there really be any other options after seeing this?

So was it worth the 1 1/2 hour wait? There was an entire boardwalk of stores to visit while you wait that sold Tyler candles, Vera Bradley bags, jewelry, SEC college gear, Retro tees, etc. After purchasing 2 candles, 3 necklaces, 3 bracelets, and a ride of the Bayou Alligator our table was ready.

We both had Mahi Down on Da Bayou which is Mahi covered in fried crawfish and a tasso cream sauce and it was delicious! Worth an 1 1/2 hour wait indeed!

Just for Noo ~ GS Vacay Day 7, part 2

Nooey has been without Maison since last Friday and she misses her terribly. So just for you, Noo...

Gettin Busy ~ GS Vacay Day 7

This is our last day in Gulf Shores and there is still so much to do before we leave...

1. Buy a confederate flag beach towel from Alvin's Island shop

2. Take my picture in the mouth of the shark that is the entrance to Souvenir City

3. Take my picture in front of the giant octopus at Souvenir land

4. Feed Sammy, the alligator, at Daylight Donuts that specifically says not to feed, though the first time we went there we saw him chopping on a bag of lays.

5. Buy a pre-blown up raft from any store on any corner because when it deflates I want to put my mouth where someone's hands and or mouth has previously been

6. Go to the "Little Zoo that Could" because if it could then I should...right?

7. Figure out what has been burning since Tuesday night. It certainly has produced a lot of smoke but no one seems to notice but us.

8. Play miniature golf

9. Ride the roller coaster at Waterwerks (that is not a typo)

10. Get yogurt at TCBY since all the ones in Dallas went out of biz about 20 years ago

And last but not least, take up smoking and drinking Budlight with lime before 10am. I don't have much time left for this one...so I better get started!