Fat Bastard

As we were driving to school on Monday morning, Sloan chirped up from the back seat after 5 minutes of silence. "Mom, can I ask you something?" "Of course," I responded. Innocent with tons of exuberance, Sloan shot out, "What does fat bastard mean?" My eyes opened up, lips parted and under my breath came a half laugh, half gasp. What 9 year old says fat bastard and where in the hell did she hear the phrase? In all of 5 seconds I thought of the cleverly named microbrew, a chubby son without a father and finally the unforgettable character in Austin Powers. Duh, Mom! Sloan recently revisited the Austin Powers trilogy with her friends Olivia, Esteban and Isaac and felt obliged to ask a question she had never before considered. Of course I gave my daughter an honest answer to her question, less the fat. So let's just say she appreciates the humor of Mike Myers, but won't be offending any fat bastards.

Surrender to Big Head Todd, Brownies, Mango Margaritas, Waterfights & Bob Schneider at the Lake

What a great weekend! Big Head Todd & the Monsters were in town this past Friday night, so I took my friend Lynda to see them live at Stubbs as a thank you for entertaining my daughter while I was out of town. I've been a BHT fan since the early 90's and believe it or not, this is the first time I've seen them up close and personal! No more discs!

What an absolutely memorable and breathtaking show. I think what struck me most was the sincere joy and natural talent of the lead singer and main man, Todd Park Mohr. He's obviously belted out these same tunes (Resignation Superman, Bittersweet, All the Love you Need, Please Don't Tell Her) and strummed on the same guitars for 20 years, but the joy never left his face. Although "Monsters" is a group, clearly Mr. Mohr's Big Head demands all the attention.

With great excitement, the gang will be in Texas again, just South of Austin in New Braunfels on July 12th. They'll be hangin' at the Whitewater Ampitheatre, which is a really cool venue. I'll be out of town, dammit, but should you feel the need for some of the best live music, go!

http://www.whitewaterrocks.com/

To download their new album "All the Love You Need" for free, visit their site and click on "Music".

http://www.bigheadtodd.com/


Saturday morning I awoke early to birds chirping and a delicious looking blue sky. Perfect for the little 9 year old Brownies. I hurriedly showered, poured my coffee and drove 10 minutes north to join Sloan for her bridging ceremony. Bridging ceremony meaning a passage of sorts from 4 years of Browniehood into the more mature Junior Girl Scout. (I think this is actually when I begged my Mom to quit) But not Sloan.


Later that evening I joined my friend Sarah for a low-key dinner celebration. There were six of us who convened at Z Tejas on W. 6th Street and broke the noise barrier with our chatting and singing. My ears are still ringing. Sarah picked the place not only because it was her 28th birthday, but because she had a lingering $50.00 gift certificate (which in the end we didn't let her use). Most of us had fish, but of course, mine was the best! I ordered this unbelievably tasty salmon topped with a sweet miso glaze that I could literally eat day in and out. Yum. Oh and if you're wondering about the best mango margarita in town...this is where you surrender to a few.


To wrap up the weekend Sloan and I headed out to Lakeway Resort & Spa on Lake Travis for the Live at the Lake summer series. (Completely kid friendly, btw) The kick off featured our favorite, the one and only Mr. Bob Schneider. We arrived just on time by way of a complimentary shuttle (parking was lame!) where a group of high school girls nabbed Sloan and took her under their wing for the 5 minute ride. I heard one of the 17 year olds ask

Sloan how old she was. When Sloan responded, they told her that 9 was the greatest year of single digits. The 9 year old was in heaven!

The weather was fantastic, nearly 100 degrees with sun kissed skies, a slight breeze off the pristine water and a ton of happy people in a variety of skimpy bathing suits. The four tiered pool was packed with dancing, hoots and all in view of Bob Schneider belting out "Metal and Steel", "Big Blue Sea", "Tarantula" and "Captain Kirk", among other favorites. At one point a massive waterfight broke out and Bob's response was, "you realize that 50% of this water has pee in it, right?!" A great weekend in Austin that I hope to repeat very soon.



http://www.bobschneidermusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bobschneider

Seven weeks ago in Seattle? Who's counting.

If you've been keeping up with the blog, you'll know that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. Say it aint so! But really, if you've read my posting from 2 weeks ago, you'll know that we were in Seattle about 7 weeks ago. So why aren't there any Seattle photos up? Because yours truly is a self proclaimed procrastinator.

Our travels began with a layover in Dallas where we did homework, listened to music, took pictures of each other and counted how many people we saw eating McDonalds. Blech! Sloan had recently watched "Super Size Me" and decided that eating a Happy Meal may cause death. Fine with me.

Upon our arrival, Mt. Rainier of Washington State fame was spotted. Some oogle at Rainier from downtown Seattle, others wake up from a nap on the plane flying from Dallas to Seattle and snap a picture. My Nikon D40 took a great shot. Wait, I mean I took a great shot.

Once in Seattle we taxied downtown to check into our quaint, boutique hotel, The Alexis. After jumping on our hotel room bed and taking a hot tub in the king sized jacuzzi, we put on our walking shoes and peeked into various stores on 1st Ave. We topped the night off by ordering mac and cheese, pb&j & fries from room service!?

One of our main motivations for this trip North was to surprise our great friends, The Laird's. The Laird's consisting of Dave & Carla (Mom & Dad), Ashley & Josh (the Kids) and Ellie (the Dog). For those of you who do not know the story, Sloan and I met The Laird's in Austin during the summer of 2004. It was an August morning, cool by Austin standards and we were all gearing up for the first day of soccer practice. Soccer practice for our 5 year old daughters, not the adult version. As any halfway sane and indulgent parent would know, you show up to an early morning soccer practice with a hot mug of coffee. Clearly, I was the only sane and indulgent parent with coffee in hand...until I caught site of The Laird's. They had coffee too and were just about as sane as me! It didn't take long to strike up a conversation and realize that not only had Dave agreed to coach the kids, but he and Carla were from Seattle! Imagine my shock, as it's a rarity to find Northerners down in these here Southern parts. (Did I just write that?) So fast forward...we all became fantastic friends, built a lot of memories and then BOOM, the Laird's relocated back to their home state.

Orchestrating a surprise and then executing it is so much fun! This one will go into the memory books as one of the best. I had to spill the beans to Dave & Carla, but we were successful at keeping our visit from the kids. When an unknowing Ashley rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Sloan & I sitting at the table, she was speechless! For the first and perhaps only time in her life Ashley couldn't find or say the words to express her excitement. Josh just kind of sat back in his sweet way and took it all in. As tears welled up in our eyes, Ashley dropped to the floor and let out a blood curdling scream. She realized she'd been "had!" It took perhaps another second then the hugs & mauling began.

After settling in, Edmonds Beach was our destination for exploring, rock throwing & beachcombing. The smells of salt water and crisp air and sounds of our kids laughing replaced any notion of it being a typical cloudy and cool day in Seattle.

Sloan and I left the Laird's for a bit and went out to see some friends on Bainbridge Island. We took our rental car on the ferry, saw the night sky from Puget Sound and even met a couple of Chinchillas! Bainbridge, tucked apart from the city, was peaceful and serene. A treat.

The rest of the trip was memorable and relaxing! Funny how Seattle is always like that. We also mixed in a quick birthday party, the Seattle Aquarium, Pike's Market and other sights. In the interest of time and actually posting, here are a few more photos. Cheers! Go to Seattle already!

Julia's and the Drag Show

On a recent March visit to the University District in Seattle, Washington, my daughter and I had the pleasure of visiting my dear old friend, Joe (who some of you may know). Catching up and finding breakfast were our two agenda items. Now I've known Joe for 17 years and it wasn't until this moment I realized Joe is even more indecisive than me (especially when it comes to food!) God knows how this guy can profess, account, invest and lawyer!? I'm sure he was attempting to make me feel better about my own decision making skills or lack there of, after driving up and down every street in the U- District.

After nearly an hour in transit, we were still undecided on our morning fare. Luckily we had it narrowed down to; 1. IHOP (yuk!) 2. Julia's and 3. Somewhere else. Joe said Julia's was funky and known for it's pancakes, eggs benedict and "atmosphere." Once the 9 yeard old realized the adults would outrule her hope of IHOP, she became intrigued with Joe's candid explanation of "atmosphere." It went something like this...

Breakfast and lunch by day, drag show performance venue at night. Now don't let that scare you because it certainly didn't scare the 9 year old! If anything, the term "drag show" was foreign, demanded curiousity and deserved a poignant question. "What is a drag show, Joe?" I looked amusingly at Joe and awaited his answer. A father of five, my guess was that his kids too had been to Julia's and asked the same inquisitive question. Nonchalantly Joe responded, "A drag show is when grown men dress up as women and promenade on a runway." Yes, my daughter looked at me with eyes that said, "what the heck?" I suddenly found it difficult to remove the smirk from my face.

Luckily, the hostess who was performing multiple tasks (serving and possibly cooking too?!) seated us. Any further explanation was unnecessary as the smells of sweet syrup and sight of other plated tables overtook our tummies. As a threesome we hungrily ordered pancakes, omelets and fruit. Then the "atmosphere" started to take shape. Our morning dining experience soon started to pop with these supervillian-like mannequin's dressed in boa's and gawdy jewels. To make their appearance even more entertaining, scarlet make-up and wigs insured our wide-eyes. At one point, the 9 year old grabbed my Nikon and assertively walked the scope of the floor to take pictures. She now tells me the lady with the black wig and purple feather boa "creeps her out!" Undoubtedly!

As if the creepy ladies weren't enough we explored the back of the restaraunt, anticipating we'd find some hidden secret in this offbeat place. Lurking about with our full stomachs, guess what we found!? Hidden not so discreetly behind a wall of bamboo paneling, Joe, the 9 year old and I discovered a runway! Yes. The type of runway that hosts only a drag show in the University District of Seattle, Washington. So thanks to Joe for satisfying our two agenda items and teaching my 9 year old that men too can walk a runway.

Shining Stars

I know, you're all anxiously awaiting a little dose of Sloan! Well, here she is. Let's talk dance. Sloan has been involved in a dance group called the "Shining Stars" for two years now. She's come a long way from that 4yr old who I'd question taking out in public because of the contstant bum shaking! :) She's now learned to fine tune all of that energy and dances with 30+ other girls - modern, jazz & hip-hop. Recently, they competed at the annual Leander Dance competition and placed well! Thankfully the director understands and motivates the self esteem and positive energy we want all our girls to ooze of. Even though the girls contest and perform, it appears that the Mother's in general are not psychotic, nor do they push their girls to that crazy edge of competitition! (even though it is a bit hurried prior to show time) As Sloan's Mom, I relish in the laid back, let's have fun attitude that the Shining Stars generates. I mean, come on...look at Sloan's smile. That says it all!

Feel free to check out the Shining Stars link: http://www.shiningstarsdance.com/Home.html

1st day of the blog

An Alaskan at heart, I currently reside, explore & breathe in Austin, Texas. About 4,000 miles from where I grew up, I'm now in Commercial Closing, have a gorgeous & kind hearted 9 year old daughter and continue to love life and explore all things. The South isn't really all that different from the North! (Well maybe a little) I still hike, mountain bike and camp although the frigid winters and skiing have been replaced with hot sun and lake adventures. Like many I've wanted to start a blog and now seems like the perfect time to share. My interests and modes of communication are varied, so I expect some surprises here. I may ramble, write about Meadow, Hannah, Kelli & our innocent discretions, share a poem or post some pictures of Sloan and our recent shananigans or travels. Truly ~ our lives are full and I can't wait to share!