I haven’t blogged in a week!!
I am so sorry – I have been meaning to get in here but between work, extracurricular activities and not feeling well because of allergies, I’ve been neglectful.
I won’t do a full recap but I will say Kenny & I had an absolutely lovely time at Wicked this past weekend. A year and a half after buying tickets I finally got to see the play!! See, I bought the tickets back in Fall 2005 as a Christmas present for Kenny not realizing the show date was for 2007, not 2006! Fortunately, I did not lose the tickets over all that time either. LOL. Anyway, wonderful set, great costumes and the two lead actresses who played Glinda and Elphaba were wonderful! It was well worth the wait.
In addition to Wicked, I had a great time listening to orange is in (my friend Jeff plays bass), spent Saturday down in The Montrose and the Museum District with a friend, even managed a few shots Downtown (see below) for the brief time the sun came out on an otherwise overcast day.
Another weekend is upon us and at least tomorrow it is only a half day (our offices close at noon) and Saturday is another Yale Street Arts Market for Fresh Photography – and we’ll be there despite the rainy forecast! Maybe we’ll see you there?
Girls’ movie night, errands, live music, art festival…
Friday night: Made it in after a long drive home and spent the evening at home with my girlfriends Kathy (in from Dallas – had not seen her since last fall!) and Christine. Ordered pizza, watched a movie and relaxed.
Saturday: I had a list of quick errands to run around town so Kenny joined me. We had lunch at Kim Son (yummy fried tofu – what have I been missing!?) then started going through my to-do list.
Saturday night: Ran home for a quick rest then headed out to Miller Outdoor Theatre for an evening of live salsa music. They had a dance area but I decided to sit back and listen this time around. Kenny was a sweetheart and came out with me. We had a nice night and ended it with a late dinner at Biba’s.
Sunday: Met up with our friends and their newborn baby to check out the Bayou City Art Festival over at Memorial Park. It was the first major outing for the baby and he did well despite the unseasonal muggy heat. Kenny bought me a wonderful hand-made brie baker and a set of matching red glass earrings & pendant.
Sunday night: We were tired from the heat so we went home for a nap. I left Kenny napping and went to our annual homeowners’ association meeting (we manage itself, it’s a small gated community). Those are always interesting! Afterward we watched the season finale of Battlestar Galactica but am pretty pissed off that I have to wait till 2008 for the next season?!!
And that brings up back to Monday and another work week… how was your weekend??
Who knew soap was so scratchy?
I heard this on NPR the other day and wanted to post it… Click on the link for a short 1 1/2 minute sound clip comparing the “sound” of two soaps on skin:
Wrapping things up in Louisiana
The business trip has been good so far. Wrapping things up this morning so I can get out of here by 2 PM, hopefully sooner so I can get on the road. I of course have my camera and at the end of the day yesterday since there was still a couple of hours of sunlight I studied the map (one of those simplified brochure maps) and headed toward the Red River and followed it into town. I took a few wildflower shots along the river and then found myself in Downtown Shreveport. I had fun down there and despite having worn uncomfortable shoes I still managed to walk around over an hour. The area is relatively clean and there are some nice architectural elements and alleys. I will be posting them up on Flickr over the next few days. Below are a couple to give you a preview…
Spring is here!
Blue skies, theatre, spring cleaning…
I had a wonderful weekend! It was a nice combination of going out & having fun on Saturday and staying home and getting some spring cleaning done that was long overdue.
Friday night: I had plans to go out but they fell through so instead I took a much-needed nap when I got home when went with Kenny to hang out at a friend’s house.
Saturday: I am helping organize a photo event and we had our first meeting. It was very productive and nice to meet the other team members. Afterward I met Kenny for lunch at Cafe Artiste then headed down to Buffalo Bayou at the edge Downtown for some photos. The day was stunning, the blue skies had fluffy white clouds and the temperature stayed cool enough.
Saturday night: Kenny and I had tickets to the Alley Theatre‘s production of “Hitchcock Blonde“. Afterward we had a late dinner at Houston’s and thoroughly enjoyed our prime rib and string French fries dinner (these are our favorite fries in the whole city, we always order extra). We had a wonderful evening!
Sunday: Slept in then grabbed lunch and took Heidi to the groomers. We had no plans so we started to clean up the garage (before the heat hits). It had been several years (can’t even remember when) and despite the shelving we have in there, things had been dumped to the sides making it difficult to open the car doors, other items were scattered in various places and in general, space was not being used efficiently. We threw a bunch of stuff away, consolidated various storage bins and organized the shelves, made our garage sale pile grow, cleared the sides out, cleared Kenny’s work bench off and swept the floor. What a difference! Plus, we found a bunch of things we forgot we owned that are handy to have!
Since we were on a roll, Kenny also *finally* fixed the outdoor electrical outlets. It has been over three years since something (we think it was moisture) blew the outdoor outlet and several checks and even an electrician had been unable to figure out the problem. Kenny finally fixed it though after all this time (yay for his EE degree)! So I can once again put up lights at Christmas and I can finally install the outdoor pond that had been given to me 2 years ago. That is my goal for this spring so I had been nagging him more heavily this past month.
And the productivity does not end there! We also got out in the back yard and pruned our crepe myrtle tree. I do not agree with the “crepe murder” approach because I want mine to grow into a tree and it has done so beautifully but it still needed pruning so we finally did it this year for the first time (we planted it over 5 years ago). It took forever! Kenny was very meticulous. It is half as bushy as it used to be but I know it will grow back healthier this season. We had to be careful because it is already sprouting new growth.
It felt good to sit down and relax after a hard day’s work. And it was so satisfying too…
Respect for Ms. Beyoncé
I am not a Beyoncé devotee nor have I ever even listened to her music (I only recognized 2 of the songs) but I had a chance to attend her concert last night via a friend who is a Rodeo volunteer. I must say that she is a wonderful performer. Her dance moves are athletic and energetic (I was tired watched her), she looked stunning, she has a great body that is not stick-tin but curvaceous and what a voice. She also really engages the audience and seemed to have a great time out there last night singing to her hometown crowd.
I also like that she dresses sexy but elegantly instead of skanky and I really was impressed with her all women ensemble – the drummer, the back-up singers, the dancers, the trumpet and sax players, the guitarist & keyboardist. To say it simply, she knows how to rock the house…
Here is a review from a Houston Chronicle blog…
And a couple of pictures (click to see larger):
Salsa, Rodeo, Hanna & Emma…
I have been pretty good about staying home during the week but this week will be different! I have something planned almost every night! And the social calendar was already full as of last week…
Thursday: I had not been salsa dancing in a club in over a month so I headed out to Sky Bar Thursday night and met a friend. I hadn’t been there in ages so it was so nice to see familiar faces and have them happy to see me. I had a wonderful time dancing, there was so much energy and I really felt myself open up with my steps!
Friday: Stayed home & watched a rented movie. I needed to rest my feet from the long night before…
Saturday: We Went to the Houston Rodeo and spent the *whole* day there. We took a friend’s teenage daughter with us, Gelli, and did a little bit of everything including see Martina McBride and hit the carnival. I think the carnival was my favorite part because we did all the traditional carnie things… took pictures at a photo booth, ate funnel cake, rode a few rides that are always so much more fun than they look at first… And the weather was perfect! Poor Gelli ate too much cotton candy so she got sick at the end of the night but her mother says she is fully recovered and despite that had an awesome time with us.
Sunday: Slept in then headed to a friend’s to meet their new week-old baby (their first). Afterward headed to Hanna‘s where I took some fun shots of Emma (my favorite one is below) and had a great time talking and catching up with Hanna. We ended our visit with a sushi dinner.
It was a nice weekend even if my house and laundry got neglected and will continue to be neglected this week… *sigh*
R.I.P. Ray the Betta
I am sad to report that my long-time cubicle buddy, Ray the Betta, passed away over the weekend after a week-long illness. Ray was bought a year and a half ago while at my previous job and came over to the new job with no complaints. He was well-liked in my department and his office tank remains eerily empty this morning. I’ll miss you Ray, especially your funny way of hiding out in the file cabinet and peeking out at me. *sniff*
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