Beyonce at Burger King...

Pretty Miss Zion posted this on FB. I always run into Zion random places, it's very strange. But I've never seen her at Burger King.

Good Taste...

We've been anxiously awaiting Sandra Bullock's new cafe over the last few months! It's right down the street from our office and is full of charm, even doubling as a flower shop. I love the name and tagline:

Walton's Fancy & Staple
Perishable, Cherishable, Fetishable

Carl stopped in on their opening day and asked who did their branding, because it's impeccable, and one of the designers was there! She said that Sandra Bullock actually sat in on all the meetings and had sketches and swatches of everything she wanted. She obviously has an eye for good taste.














I'm a Facebook "fan" of our Austin Whole Foods and they posted a free event that we decided to attend. It was called the "Sonoma Stroll" and they invited wine makers from the Sonoma Valley in CA to set up and serve samples of their wares. We ran into our good friends, Eddie & Krista Blakley and their son, Lance, when we arrived, so we got to do the whole tour as a group! Then we dined on the rooftop while the sun set. Dreamy...

Nominee for Best Day Ever...

Last Friday, I somehow ended up having a day that shall go down in history! Ok, maybe not, but it was pretty badass.

I took my Donna Lee McBride out to her Bday lunch, where aside from me having vampire skin next to hers, we were presented with a squeeze bottle of butter at our table.
























Then we went to Matt McCloskey's CD Release Party - go download his record for free!! A couple hours into the shindig, Matt's wife decided that champagne was in order for such a momentous occasion, so he headed down to the gas station for a $6.99 bottle. That's how rock stars get girls pregnant.

Carl & I tried to position these CD's where they count, but mine ended up a little lopsided. I assure you what's underneath is NOT! :)
















We got a surprise booty call from Jim Frinzi later that night. He and his family were down at the Broken Spoke. Having never been to such a legendary and equally classy venue, we decided that sleep could be our bitch. When we got there, we paid the doorman who had the equivalent of two teeth, then headed over to their table, which was in a prime location - right next to the "sweat fan"!!!

Ralf, Jane, Me, Carl, Jim, Kiran along with Willie Nelson (seated):
















Butter, Cheap Champagne, and Sweat Fan = POTENTIAL BEST DAY EVER!!!

Lovely Ladies Night...

The Satellite Bistro didn't know what hit 'em last night when some luscious lasses in my life entered their dining district! These women are beautiful on the inside & out and I enjoyed having some girl time. :)

Funny Folk...

Carl & I went to the Funniest Person in Austin contest the other night! One of the 4 finalists who made it through to the next round was Ramin Nazir. He was flippin' hilarious. Almost as funny as the people who bombed. :)

One of my favorite jokes was when Ramin said something like, "I was eating at Hooters the other day when the Hootress came up and asked, 'does everything taste ok?' and I said, wow that's exactly how it tastes.".

Houston, we have a concert...

Mr. Miner & I trekked over to Houston last weekend so that he could do a gig with Daniel Wheeler & Ben Sims. I enjoyed their set, especially the surprise Britney Spears medley!

















We stopped at a truck stop on the way home to get an apple juice, and as a bonus, found this t-shirt:

Go This Alone...

I wrote this chorus back in December after visiting my Mom & Step-Dad, Rick, in Missouri. Rick has some health problems and was laying in bed feeling really ill. I looked in at one point and my Mom was spooning him and telling him everything was going to be ok. It was one of those moments where you don't know if you should feel happy or sad. Maybe just thankful for unconditional love.

After I wrote the chorus, I started in on the verses after reading journal updates for Ty Dahlstrom. Ty is amazing. His family is amazing. What they are going through right now is life-altering, but they stay strong together.



Inspired by two precious boys, Rick Baldwin & Ty Dahlstrom, who are not going this alone.

HOW, HOW CAN I HELP YOU NOW
HOW DO I BREAK YOU
FREE FROM THIS BURDEN
FREE FROM YOUR HURTIN'
I'D DO ANYTHING AND I'M PROMISING

YOU WON'T GO THIS ALONE
NO YOU WON'T BE ON YOUR OWN
I'LL HOLD YOUR WEARY BONES
NO YOU WON'T GO THIS ALONE

SHAME, SHAME ON THIS ARMY OF PAIN
FOR HURTING MY DARLING
WELL NOTHING SHOULD MESS WITH
SOMEONE SO PRECIOUS
IF WE SOLDIER ON WE WILL OVERCOME

THERE WILL BE DAYS WHEN YOU ARE STRONG
BUT EVEN WHEN THE NIGHTS ARE LONG
I'LL BE HERE WITH YOU

Written by Beth Miner, Sweetestday Music Publishing (ASCAP)

The Money Man...

This is Jim, the man responsible for our whole Eddie Money expose! He sent me this message last year that inspired us to start my photo series. He came by our office today and obviously had to pose:

Square & Spongey...

We went to Nicolas Schmidt's 2 year birthday extravaganza. It was a Spongebob theme, hence the headgear. Back in the day, before Carl was properly familiarized with who lives in a pineapple under the sea, he would call him "Squarebob Spongepants". :)














This was too good of a photo op to pass up:

I got you babe...

I attended lovely Lori's baby shower last weekend in Castroville, Texas (west of San Antonio). Baby Andrew will be arriving shortly. :)

They gave each guest a diaper pin and we played that game where if you catch someone saying the word "baby", you get to take their pin. Notice how I'm wearing quite a few of them in the photo below? I got creative to win the game...

Working for the weekend...

We had quite a fulfilling weekend! On Friday night, we went to the Austin Fiddle Olympics. Not quite as "thrilling" as it might sound, so we left in the middle and went to see some friends perform improv at Coldtowne Theater. That was good times.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and drove to New Braunfels to help with a service day for the Windham Family. I cleaned, organized, and scrubbed everything in their kitchen, while Carl helped redo their front walkway and move a storage shed. A white scorpion (TX is so racist) latched onto Carl at one point, so I'm glad he was wearing gloves! Here's the cute little reason for the day's events:















After much needed showers, we headed to Jamie's Birthday party in Kyle. We got him a pretty card that said something like "Happy Birthday...Let out your inner princess". It's just what we do.

I think Jamie was reaching for Carl's "moob" (man-boob), but missed the mark a bit:




















Obviously boobies were a strong theme at this party. Jamie's wife even had a cake made for him, modeled after sexy Adrianna Lima. Please make note of how cool I am...my shirt has built in thumb-holes.




















After that we went bowling and met radio DJ Bobby Bones there!




















This evening is a bit less exciting...I haven't done laundry for like a week and it's starting to win the battle. I must fight back.

Tiger balls...

The other night, we went to see our friend, Jamie, play a baseball game in Manor with his team, The Tigers. Rawrrr.

I always love to see people pursue something they're passionate about and baseball is just that for Jamie. He was a star playa in high-school, but ended up with an injury in college, so he hasn't played for years now. But he rounded up a bunch of teammates from back in the day and put together an adult team this year.

I told Carl I felt very American sitting there in a small town watching a baseball game. Neither of us know much about sports, but we always enjoy watching games. Except football...that just makes no sense to me and I'm always worried about injuries when they tackle each other. :(

You should all be very impressed by this photo. Not because it's of great quality, but because our camera is so ancient that it takes about 10 seconds to snap a pic, so I was surprised that I got an action shot out of it on my first try!

I heart art...

We went to an art show last week featuring our multi-talented friend, Terrence Moline. His "Patron Saints of Sound" paintings were being featured. There were many legendary artists to choose from, but when in Texas, you pose with Willie:

Stupid Cupid Slideshow...

Grace's amazing hands...

This is Grace Schmidhauser and she has divalicious written all over her! She performed at our Stupid Cupid event and stopped by our office beforehand to give us an impressive sample of her musical stylings. She sings, plays guitar, said her favorite band is Guns & Roses, and she's 9 years old. Totally badass. I really want to write songs for her!

Yo Chely, it's your Birfday...

I took Ms. Michelle Lopez out to lunch for her Bday! Chely has enviable skin & hair. I'm a huge fan. You probably wouldn't believe the milestone year she just reached, she looks so good!

Laundry Can Wait...

Ethan Diehl just finished this "almost life-sized" painting of me! Well my rumpus, to be more specific. ;) He invited us over this afternoon to check out the finished product in person. He's planning on shipping it to the Hespe Gallery in California. It's a bootiful day in the neighborhood...

Mattie Money...

I do believe this is the first "professional" Eddie Money photo I've received! This is Lord Matthew McCloskey. I feel like I have to refer to him like that because he looks so distinguished in this pose. Matt is a web guru, musician, papa to 2 adorable baby dumplings, and husband to a pretty little lady named Kayle. :) He may also be our business partner soon.

Who has two tickets to paradise?? This guy:

Bowlin' Bowlin' Bowlin'...

...though the streams are swollen, keep them doggies bowlin'...RAWHIDE!

I just discovered I have a natural gift for bowling. I scored a 91 the first game and a 75 the second. So if anyone's looking to recruit a new member for their pro team, please contact me! It might be my true calling.

And on a side note, I had the worst time hanging out with all of these good, wholesome people when they all kept talking about the "balls". I had to say "that's what she said" about 100 times in my head.

Though it was far too heavy for my muscular physique, I was determined to use a pink ball:




















Look at the intensity!! Notice he doesn't have a blue ball. Just sayin'.




















The woman on the right was described to me as "one of the coolest people ever", but I have forgotten her name. I'm awesome. Not. Here the lovely lady is with Ben, Scarlett, and baby Avery! I suggested to Ben that it would be great fun to use the baby, just once, as a bowling ball. But he was too uptight to comply. LAME.














Check out Ben's stance. You don't stand like that unless you really know what you're doing.




















Jenny Dupler (on the left) planned this whole ordeal. She's a doll! Those are her two sisters in the middle and her hubby on the right. I'm not sure what this stance represents, but it makes me slightly uncomfortable:














This is Jacob looking super intense and ready to crush the pins by sheer will alone:




















We just met this lovely little clan for the first time, but they are awesome! John, Kathy, and Mason were cool and sweet and fun. Both games, they ended up with scores double what I had. That won't stop me. I have drive.














There you have it, folks! A bowling extravaganza for the ages. Balls balls balls!!! There. I feel better now.

Happy MLK Day...

Mr. Matthew McCloskey sent this to Carl today:

www.blackpeopleloveus.com

Priceless.