Tacky Tech

Shari and I drove down this morning for the Tech game. We got to our seats literally seconds before kick off and were greatly displeased to find two Tech fans sitting right behind us. Tech fans in general are annoying enough but the guy in this duo literally ran his mouth about how fab Tech was and how they were going to beat us the way they beat OU and on and on and on. This guy blabbed so much that one of the UT alumni that sits behind us got up and moved his seat. The Tech fan had the nerve to ask the UT guy why he was moving and the UT guy admitted it was because of the loud-mouthed Tech fan. It was only minutes into the game and Shari and I were already totally annoyed.

We some how made it to half time, keeping all our snide comments to ourselves...amazing I know. Then we returned to our seats after half time and the girl Tech fan had just gotten a snow cone. A snow cone that was quickly melting and unbeknownst to us dripping on Shari's Tod's bag. I heard a big plop of snow cone hit the concrete and I looked back to see the remnants slowly sliding down Shari's bag. When I told her she had snow cone on her bag she said in a very loud voice, "What are you 5? Why don't you try to keep your snow cone and your DSW riding boots off my $1500 purse?" And for good measure she added, "I know it cost a whole $5 so I'm sure you want to savor it." Given that she went to Tech, I think she was too stupid to know we were talking about her or maybe she was too drunk, regardless she was a Tacky Tech fan to say the least.

Tutu on OU

Aunt Shari made Maison just about the best thing ever...a UT colored tutu to wear for the Texas OU game. It is so fab I would have her make one for me if I wouldn't look ridiculous.

Sitting in a pile of orange and white fluff...

Tutu in action....

Did you really think a tutu would make me sit still??

Editor's Note: Please excuse the clashing hot pink crocs. Maison is going through a phase were she will only leave the house if said crocs are on her feet....sigh.

It's that time of year...

I know most of my friends are excited for this time of year because it means their kids are headed back to school. Back to school is the not why we get excited for this time of year and it has nothing to do with the fact that we don't have a school age child. This time of year means one thing and one thing only. GET YOUR HORNS UP!!!!

- Every family member in burnt orange - CHECK

- Car filled with gas - CHECK

- Cooler full of beer, chardonnay, and ice - CHECK

- Maison handed over to Nooey - CHECK

- Austin bound - CHECK

P.S. Adam says "chomp, chomp"...whatever that means ;o)

We Suck!

Even though Texas sucks this year and Maison has been sick now for 6 weeks, we decided we would go to Austin for the OSU game. Maison seemed to be doing better so we thought it would be ok to leave her for a night with my parents. We got to Austin, picked up Kari, and were heading to the stadium when we got a call from our pediatrician (yes, on Saturday!) telling us that Maison had relapsed and was testing positive for c-diff again. We were somewhat perplexed because she had seemed to be doing better. After talking to my mom, she assured us we should stay in Austin, enjoy the game, and come home tomorrow morning as we had planned.

Enjoy the game??? That's a little difficult when your team plays like stir fried azz. Yes, we lost to OSU 16-33. How do you beat Nebraska in Nebraska and then lose to Iowa St and Baylor AT HOME? I didn't think that was possible. Needless to say, it wasn't worth the trip to lose again at home and to find out Maison is still not well...what are we going to do? This poor child has suffered enough!

So un-FAIR

Yesterday we went to the Texas/OU game at the State Fair. The fair is known for it's strange fried foods...this year's "highlights" were fried beer, fried margaritas, and fried butter (OMG...I feel sick just thinking about it). I was not brave enough to try any of these delights but Adam did try the fried beer and reported back that it was disgusting. Considering it was fried Guinness I could have told you it would be disgusting so no surprises here.

The game totally sucked. Texas played like poo and lost the game on penalties. Overall it was one of the sorriest fair experiences ever. Here is the recap:

Negatives:

1. We lost the game

2. None of the food was good except the sweet potato tornado (think curly sweet potato chips)

Positives:

1. A math deficient cashier gave me my payment tickets as change; as in I paid with 20 tickets for 2 beers that cost 16 tickets. Instead of giving me back 4 tickets she gave me back 16. I told her she was wrong and she just shrugged. Ok...thanks for the $1 beers.

2. Kelly had a super awesome route that avoided most traffic to/from the fair

Hindsight, I should have sold our tickets BEFORE we lost to UCLA and enjoyed the game at home. At least their would have been better food and I could have mourned my Longhorns second loss of the season in the privacy of my own home...

Shari and Kelly racing down the slide:

Very Short Horn Trip

Yesterday we headed to Austin to go to the UT game. We left around 10:30 after Maison's swim class so we didn't get to Austin until about 30 min before game time. The game was horrible...we...lost...to...U - C - L- A.....uuurrrrggghhh. Are you kidding me? How does a top five team lose to an unranked team...at...home??? Needless to say we spent most of the 2nd half in the Champions club.

It was a lot sunnier than we thought it would be and Shari and I both forgot our sunglasses. I borrowed Adam's and Shari had to deal with the cat glasses from Kelly's kid's happy meal ;oP

We left right after the game so we were literally only in Austin about 4 hours as we had to rush back so that we would be there Sunday morning when Maison woke up. With everything we have going on this fall we won't going to another game until mid-Nov but after a loss like that we are in no hurry to go back...

Short Horn trip

Yesterday Shari, Adam, and I went to Austin to see the UT home opener. We had planned to leave for Austin around noon after we took Maison to swim class and dropped her off at Camp Gooey (G'daddy and Nooey's) but by the time we got her set up and I got her down for her nap we didn't leave until after 12:30. Traffic was awful and what normally is a quick 10 min trip to pick up Kari took more like an hour. We didn't even get to her house until 5:00 and the game started at 6:00.

The game was non-eventful, UT played ok, and came away with the win. We went straight to Kari's after the game and we all were so tired we went right to bed. We were up and gone by 7:00 the next morning. Nothing like a quick 14 hr trip to Austin...

Watchin our 'horns:

Where is our McCoy?

Adam, Shari, Kelly and I went to Pasadena to go see the Longhorns play Alabama in the BCS National Championship game.  It was extremely hard for Adam and I to decide whether or not we were going to go to this game even when we thought there was a good chance it would be Texas vs Florida.  Maison would only be 10 weeks old on the day that we left.  She is still so little I really didn't want to leave her.  I knew my parents would take exceptionally good care of her but no one can care for you like your mommy and I didn't want to disrupt her schedule when she had been doing so good at sleeping through the night...she was going on a month of sleeping 9+ hrs a night.  So we decided the potential of UT vs UF was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we decided to go...ordered our tickets, made hotel reservations and booked airline tickets.  Then we played like crap in the Big 12 championship game and Florida was out of the National Championship picture so we started having 2nd thoughts again.  Was it going to be worth leaving Maison to see UT get their butts kicked by BAMA?  I think not but it was too late to back out so off we went to Pasadena on Wednesday...

Thursday morning we started the day with a good base breakfast* at Tallyrand outside of Burbank.  It was awesome!  Good food, good alcoholic coffee drinks, and very polite waitstaff and customers.  Several people made comments about our UT garb and who they thought would win the game.  The owner of the restaurant sent us a stack of pancakes because he wanted us to try their speciality...how nice is that?

After breakfast we headed to the Rose Bowl.  Traffic was pretty bad and the exit that was given in the Rose Bowl guideline handbook was blocked by cops.  How f'ed up is that?  As we approached the exit the cop drove away so Adam decided to go ahead an exit and we had literally no traffic all the rest of the way to the Rose Bowl.  We easily got into the parking lot. 

We had gotten tickets to the Texas Exes Alumni tailgate that started at 1:00.  After stopping to say hi to Dan Mier and running into Kerrie Davis we didn't arrive until almost 2:00.  The line was horrific.  It was a mass of people trying to funnel into the tailgate.  We waited a good 15-20 min before getting in.  Once in we waited in line for the port-a-potty, waited in the beer line, waited in the food line and then left at 3:30.  The food was completely gone by the time we got there so I had 2 $25 beers and 2 $25 cookies for my $100 entry fee...not exactly a good use of our time or money when we had a trunk full of beer and snacks.

So off to the stadium we went...Adam and I were with Dan, Paul, and their friends.  Shari and Kelly were still at the tailgate with Shelley and Lynne.  When Adam and I got to the stadium the Men's bathroom line was longer than the Women's so Adam told me to go ahead to our seats without him.  It was the biggest mess of people you have ever seen in your life.  I'm not exactly good in crowds and I'm way worse when I'm by myself and no one is there to talk me out of panic attack but I forged ahead anyway.  I got in line for our tunnel and was doing ok for the first 10 min or so and then I was in the middle of a very large group of people and I realized there was no way out.  I couldn't go forward because they were blocking the entrance until the tunnel was clear.  I couldn't go right, left or backwards because I was about 50 people deep in all directions.  I started to panic...eyes tearing, short breathing, saying 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god" really fast 10,000 times, panic.  The guy next too me asked if I was ok...as if there was a need to question.  I told him I wasn't exactly fond of crowds and he informed me we were still a good 30 yds from the entrance. ...ggrrrreeeaaat.  I started to put my hands out in front of me so as the crowd closed in I could control the space in front of me and the guy next to me helped me maintain a little lateral space.  I was doing ok until this Indian couple stepped right into said created space.  What is it with these people (yes, I said 'these people') and their violation of personal space???  Did they think I carved our a little nook for their convenience...NO, this is the good ole U.S. of A.  We don't enter other people's personal space unless there is a sporting event on the line and even in those circumstances if there is a girl about to go psycho bitch crazy you don't enter that available space.  Please take note for future reference!  So somehow by the grace of God I got to my seat unharmed.  

I got to our seats and no one was there 30 min before kick off.  I started to worry when it was 5 min until kickoff and still no Adam, Kelly, or Shari.  Where on earth could they be?  Shari makes me look like I'm good in crowds.  I started to worry she had a panic attack and was in the 1st aid area.  Finally, Adam showed up.  He said the crowd was horrific and he got into a flow of people and said if he didn't keep walking he would have been trampled.  He was thrilled that I went ahead of him because he said there was no way I would have made it had I been in the crowd he was in.  Right as they started the coin toss Shari and Kelly showed up completely flustered.  Apparently they had gotten in the wrong tunnel, waited 30 min only to be told you must go in the tunnel printed on your ticket so they had to leave that tunnel and start over in the correct tunnel and got in the biggest mess ever.  They said the crowd pushed through the security that was trying to hold the crowd until the tunnel cleared.  Kelly had to hold Shari up to prevent her from being trampled.  People were pushing and shoving and somewhat of a riot broke out.  Shari started crying, she closed her eyes, and Kelly carried her through the crowd.  Can you say FREAKING RIDICULOUS???  Can the BCS please take notice that this stadium is completely outdated and needs to be bull-dozed and start over?  It is over 100 years old and not built to withstand the size of today's people with their "I'm above waiting my turn" attitudes.  It is ridiculous to have only 26 entrances for 100,000 people...that's close to 4000 people per entrance all who want to enter at relatively the same time.

So the game started and ended within the first 5 min.  Poor Colt McCoy received a game ending injury after only 5 plays and we played a NC game with a true freshman quarterback.  Everything was going UT's way, we had all the momentum and then McCoy went down.  The defense played amazing and Gilbert, true freshman quarterback, played good given the circumstances.  He only played 20 some odd downs the entire season and then was thrown into the NC game with no preparation.  Amazing a 18-19 year old kid could keep his composure under such pressure.  I agree that Alabama won fair and square but even for Bama fans it was bittersweet.  Like us they came to see the 'real' Longhorns play a competitive game not a high school quarterback.  

So here's my visa commercial summary:

BCS National Championship ticket - $275

Flight to LAX - $640

Hotel in Pasadena - $250 per night

McCoy not playing in the NC - PRICELESS as in no one would pay a penny to see that

* Good base breakfast is a heavy carby greasy breakfast you need to consume if you will have a lengthy day of drinking.

Big 12 Champs...if you can call it that

On Dec. 5 we went to the Big 12 championship game at Cowboys stadium to see Texas play Nebraska.  We really had no business going to a football game when Maison was only a few weeks old but since it was in Dallas and at the new Cowboys stadium we thought it would be a nice opportunity to get out and to get to see the stadium without having to suffer through a Cowboys game (not a fan!).  

Unfortunately the SEC Championship was the same day in the afternoon and Florida was playing Alabama.  These two games would determine who would play for the BCS National Championship and we were hoping it would turn out to be Florida and Texas since we were almost positive we would get tickets to that game.  Of course Adam wanted to be somewhere when the SEC game came on and I wanted to be with Maison as long as possible before dropping her off at my mom's.  So Adam rode to Arlington with Kari, Lee, and Dan and I waited to go with Shari and my dad.

I have such a hard time judging how long it will take me to get out of the house with Maison when she is staying anywhere for over an hour.  It takes forever to determine everything she will need while I'm away...so needless to say I was super late getting to my parents house to pick up Shari and my dad.  My dad offered to drive which was great since I couldn't imagine dealing with game traffic after the chaos of taking Maison and somehow he got us there in record time.  We were in Cowboys parking 45 min after we left Parker.  We were supposed to swing by and pick up Adam and Dan at Chili's where they were watching the SEC game, but we somehow got in line for Cowboys parking and didn't want to circle the stadium to try to pick them up.

It was so completely freezing cold when we got there we just decided to go into the first gate we came to.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Shari and I breezed through the women's security line but then had to wait on Dad to clear the men's line for like 20 min.  Once we got inside the stadium no one knew how to tell us to get to our seats and everyone we asked told us something different.  You couldn't walk in a complete circle on the level we were on so we kept having to go up and down stairs like 10 times.  It was completely annoying!  By the time we got to our seats the teams were running out and we weren't exactly impressed with the $4 billion "Jerry World".  Adam walked from Chili's, changed from his Florida shirt to his Texas shirt, walked in the CORRECT gate and made it in time for kickoff.  Are you kidding me?  It's that hard to maneuver inside the stadium if you don't go in the gate listed on your ticket?

The game completely sucked.  UT played like stir fried ass and we had absolutely no business winning the game.  For those that didn't watch...when the clock showed 0:00 UT was LOSING but apparently when McCoy threw the ball out of bounds there were a few seconds left on the clock.  Nebraska had thought they had won the game and ran out on the field celebrating only to be told there was a few seconds left.  The poor UT kicker had to make a field goal for Texas to win...uh no presure.  If I was a Nebraska fan I would be livid.  There were bad calls throughout the entire game on both sides but it was so close for them to almost pull off a major upset.  UT ended up winning 13-12 and were named Big 12 Champions and Florida ended up losing to Alabama...so will be arriving in Pasadena as two Longhorn fans and since UF lost we won't be contemplating divorce over a football game!

Gators, Dogs, Cowboys, Cows...and Skeletons!

Halloween was quite eventful for a 10 day old...

We started the afternoon with the Florida vs Georgia game which was immediately followed by the Texas vs Oklahoma State game.  2 football games combined with my entire family, trick or treaters, and Charlie was a little too much stimulation for little Maison.  

To make matters worse we changed her 'outfit' about every 4 hours throughout the day to try to accommodate all the halloween costumes she received.  There were so many she started wearing them about 3 days before Halloween and wore some of the larger ones to the park after Halloween (see next post regarding the "Pram Parade").  On actual Halloween night she was a skeleton including a white skull hat. 

Here is the fam watching the Texas game and celebrating Halloween with our little spooky skeleton!

   

Where did September go?

After an extremely busy summer I thought I would be much better about keeping our blog up to date but with the house remodeling still on going and me being in the 9th month of my pregnancy unfortunately I haven't gotten much better. It turns out that September was just as busy as the summer...

Labor Day Weekend

The entire weekend was a blur. Saturday morning we drove to Austin with Shari and Robin to go to the 1st Texas game of the season against LA Monroe. We had decided that we would drive back to Dallas afterwards so that we could work on the house on Sunday. UT was blowing them out by halftime so we decided to leave at the end of the 3rd quarter. Everyone promised they would stay awake on the way home and they were all 3 asleep by the time we hit Waco. After dropping off Robin downtown and driving to my parents house in Parker (we were still staying there while our bedroom was remodeled) it was 1:30am. Needless to say I was exhausted after riding to Austin, tailgating, standing at a football game for 3 quarters and then driving 3 hrs back to Dallas.

Monday was labor day and my parents 41st anniversary so we went to their house for bbq after putting in a full day of house remodeling. My dad makes the best bbq...better than bbq places even in Texas...and he makes everything anyone requests. It was a great relaxing afternoon. Happy 41st M&D!

Tuesday was Adam and my 2nd anniversary. Adam surprised me with a breakfast of red velvet cupcakes and peanut butter cookies from a bakery near our house, The Greene Kitchen bakery www.thegreenekitchen.com, that we have been dying to try. They were fab! Some of the best ever! Adam took the day off and worked on the house with my dad and that night we went to dinner at Tre Amici. Great presents this year...Adam got a new kitchen and I apparently got a new master bathroom ;oP Happy Anniversary, Adam!

HK Paintings

Life is so unfair...it's not uncommon with twins for them to share several traits but to also have traits that are the complete opposite of each other. Well Shari seemed to get more than her fair share of the 'good traits'. She is a brilliant tax attorney/CPA/CFP and I can't figure out how to give a tip in a restaurant without having Adam 'check my work' AND she is a fabulous artist and I can't do anything more than a doodle. How did one person get all the analytical skills and all the creative ones? So unfair, I guess I got the crap left in the middle...stomp, stomp, pout, pout.

Anyway, I am reaping the benefits as Shari generously offered to paint Hello Kitty paintings for the nursery. We have loved HK since we were little girls and I wanted the nursery to include her without being complete HK overload so I thought a few paintings might be nice. We decided on a tropical/water theme for the paintings and Shari really outdid herself. Here they are before we sent them for framing...Swimming kitty, Hula kitty, Surfing kitty. Aren't they just perfect?

           

A Star is Born Baby Shower

On Sept 12, Jan, Kelly, Kari, Adrienne, and Shelley hosted a baby shower for me at Adrienne's house. The theme was 'A Star is Born' so Jan played Maria Menudos on the red carpet and interviewed all the guests as they arrived...it was hilarious! She really did miss her calling...she definitely needs to be an actress. Kelly and her sister, Kim, catered the event. Everything was delicious especially the chocolate chip scones. It was a fabulous day despite the rain - it was so great to see everyone!

It's Britney, Bitch!

Sept 18 was the Britney Spears concert in Dallas. Shari and I left right after work to go downtown in time to eat dinner before the concert started at 8pm. As you can imagine, the area around American Airline Center and Victory Park was a mess. We finally decided to go to Kenichi, a sushi restaurant, since it seemed to be the least crowded. Unfortunately it took forever and they had the most expensive water on earth. Some how I drank $30 worth of Fiji water that surpassed Shari's wine tab...excuse me, water costs more than wine? Anyway, we arrived at AAC at the perfect time...both openers (someone Debarge, and Jordan Sparks) had already concluded and Britney came on in minutes. We knew going in that this was pretty much a dance show/production type thing and not a 'real' concert since she lip syncs almost every song but we thought it was FAB! Britney is back in shape and arrived from the ceiling wearing a nude (yes, nude) leotard that had silver sequins carefully placed over her boobage and her privates. Due to the numerous lights and Shari's bad eye sight she thought she was in a full silver sequined leotard...that would be no. Miss Britney was shakin her bootie in the flesh, literally! She opened with Circus and went straight into Piece of Me. We had amazing seats (thanks Plat Amex, membership does have it's privileges...occasionally!) and couldn't have had a better time...ok, maybe if I wasn't 35 weeks preggy and could have partaken in the wine instead of the water. Or maybe if Britney had a 'hot mess' moment and screamed out "Merry Christmas" during the concert or said "What's up Washington" when she was in Dallas it would have been better because we would have witnessed a train wreck that for sure would be featured on Perez the next day...but no such moment happened. I guess Britney really has cleaned up her act.  Here is her grand nudie entrance:

They don't ask how pretty...Texas/Texas Tech

After a very late night at Britney we left the next morning to go to the Texas/Texas Tech game in Austin with Kelly. We had to leave early so that we could be in Austin by the time Florida kicked off against Tennessee. Of course we were running late and then Shari forgot her ticket and parking pass at her condo. We had to pick them up and take them to her office since she was driving separately due to having to work. We arrived at Kari's house with just enough time to get to Third Base where the Austin Gator Club watches games....it was packed city. There wasn't a seat in sight. We finally ended up at Joe's and watched the first 3 quarters of the Florida game before heading to the stadium to tailgate. Adam decided he was going to stay at the bar and watch until the end of the UF game and catch a cab to the stadium. I warned him against this since getting a cab on a game day and getting anywhere in the vicinity of the stadium would be a challenge. Adam showed up right before we left to go into the stadium because once he got a cab traffic was so bad he wasn't moving at all so he had to walk a few miles to stadium (hate to say I told you so).

The game was one of the ugliest I've seen. There were numerous turnovers, a bazillion penalties on both sides, and horrible calls by the refs. Colt McCoy had the flu and played like complete poo but despite all this somehow we won 34-24. The best I can say is 'It's a W, that's all that matters.'

We decided there was no way we could drive back to Dallas after the game so we stayed at Kari's. The next morning, Adam and I got up super early to drive back to Dallas. We stopped at Round Rock Donuts www.roundrockdonuts.com on our way out of town...and boy are they delicious! Adam had heard about them on Man vs Food on the Food Network and they definitely lived up to the hype and were worth waiting in the line out the door!

36 weeks and counting...

On Sept 24 we had our 36 week appointment with the doctor and received our first sonogram since 5 months. The baby was already 6 lb 13 oz and 19.6 inches! Apparently our little wiggle worm is not so little anymore.

I hit 38 weeks on Oct 7 and she's still hanging in there...maybe she is as opposed to all the construction dust as her mother and doesn't want to make her debut in an unclean environment? Or maybe she is just going to be fashionably late? It's definitely a race to the finish between the baby arriving and the house remodeling completing...it's still too early to tell who will come out ahead! Better place your wagers now!

College Football is a major commitment

As everyone knows, Adam and I are huge college football fans. We are booked every Saturday from the opening game on Labor Day weekend through the bowl games the first week in January. We go to Austin for almost every Texas home game and watch all other UT games and all Florida games. We even scheduled our activites when we were in Hawaii for our 1st anniversary around watching the games. Since UT and UF are such great teams, we also find ourselves watching other Big 12 and SEC games so that we can scout out the competition and make predictions on our bowl fate as the season unfolds. Bottom line is we devote A LOT of time from Sept-Jan to college football. So why does this matter when we are childless and have little else to do besides work and play soccer and basketball?

It matters because THIS is our guest bathroom and it has been almost exactly like this since the end of June when Reneau and Saneata visited for the 4th of July...the only difference being the shower pan is now fully removed and the debris has been disposed of.  

You can see the shower is ripped down to the studs, the floor down to the foundation, and the walls down to drywall. We have 3 football free weekends between now and when the bowl games start up that we could possibly work on the bathroom, but we have a little thing called Christmas to prepare for. Do you think Santa will bring me a renovated bathroom for Christmas? Or maybe a National Championship for Florida and a Fiesta Bowl win for Texas? How about the Heisman for Colt?