20 Miler

Michelle has been training for the Austin marathon in February, and this morning she completed a 20 mile race in Georgetown. Here she is coming across the finish line (in the black pants and jacket with green shirt). Jill, Mark, and I went to cheer her on. I got a lucky surprise of also cheering on my friend Sarah Burton, who I didn't know was running.


A closer look at the runner!


Do you think she's happy to be done? Who wouldn't be?!

Mark, Michelle, and Jill after it's all over.

Jill, Michelle, and me with Mark's dog Cooper.

Coach Jill insisted Michelle stretch out after running. Cooper was loving the salt-lick.

I was amazed by what great shape Michelle was in after the race. She was walking along and even dancing to music. When we got back to her place, she rolled this muscle relaxer bar over her legs to rejuvenate them, but seemed completely 'normal'. You go girl!

New Orleans: A Day with the Locals

Katie and I started the day with lunch at Slice on Magazine St in the Garden District with my dear friends Debbie and Camilla (more Katrina friends!). Debbie made Katie her new best friends within seconds of meeting her a couple years ago so it was an important reunion for them.


The calzones here were YUMMY. Debbie convinced me to start the day with a gin fizz and we just kept going from there.

We parked the car at Camilla's house and after a tour of her and Debbie's character-filled row houses, Erin, Katie, Camilla, Debbie, and I headed to the Marigny Brasserie to meet Michelle for drinks and dessert. But not without a stop at the corner bar 'The John'. Pretty unique seats, wouldn't you say?

Service was slow at the restaurant so Debbie took it upon herself to become our server extraordinaire. She was rockin' it, with the order pad and all. I ordered a Key Lime pie martini and Michelle ordered a lemon drop martini, but we each preferred the other's drink so a simple swap kept everyone happy. After sufficient people viewing and chatting on the sidewalk, Katie and Erin took off for some shopping in the quarter...

while Michelle, Camilla, and I headed to Debbie's house for pomegranate martinis. Debbie is always quite the host. I love her sign 'Trust Your Crazy Ideas' - so Debbie!

Michelle and I went to Emeril's in the CBD for dinner that night. Michelle got us hooked up as she knew the bar lead Charlie Brown and the chef Liz. We got all kinds of surprise appetizers not on the menu and some smooth red wine. It was quite a treat at one of the best restaurants in New Orleans. It was pouring rain after dinner but we made a run for it down the street to a local bar, Vic's (ironically owned by an Aussie). I'm not sure running made a bit of difference. We were DRENCHED and I had to laugh when the sign on the bathroom door said 'drip dry'. I was ringing out my hair and clothes.

I ended the night back with Emily, Erin, and Katie on Bourbon St. It was raining and the streets were flooded and the crowds were dwindling, but we partied on despite a surprising lull.

Car Surfing the Sugarbowl Red Sea

Katie and I decided that a pilgrimage to our beloved New Orleans was in order. We recruited participants and Erin and Emily made the cut. Two sets of sisters set off for a girls weekend in NOLA. We weren't expecting to part the red sea with our car but that's exactly what we did when Utah and Alabama fans flooded the streets on their way to the Sugarbowl. Katie felt as though she was car surfing. Despite many closed roads, we navigated our way to our Bourbon St four star hotel!


We reserved a room at the Royal Sonesta. We had requested two double beds but when we arrived, they had none left. Hmmm. I asked the receptionist if she could look around for the secret stashed away rooms to be sure, and she said they could upgrade us to a club level overflow room that's 1.5 times the size of normal rooms and includes a pull out couch, free breakfast, happy hour, etc. I'm thinking perfect! Not so much. The room was a shoebox and consisted of ONLY a pull out couch made up as a bed (not a bed plus couch as I had envisioned). No way would this even be standing room let alone sleeping room for the four of us. I went back to the desk to work some magic, insisted we at least got our reserved room type which could be either a king bed or two double beds. As luck would have it, we got the very 'last' room in the hotel which was a king bed. Yippee. I requested a rollaway. Oh, have I forgotten to mention our sneaky maneuver of claiming only 2 guests because each extra guest per night incurred an astronomical fee? So yes, we need a king bed + rollaway for TWO people. They accomodated my request. It's a good thing we all have a sense of humor as you can see with all four of us stacked in bed in the above photo.

The hotel was beautiful, which was somewhat surprising as it's located directly on the filthy but well-loved Bourbon St. Here's Katie and me in the entrance-way still dec'd out for Christmas.

The two sets of sisters had to take a quick pic below 'The Court of the Two Sisters' sign. Here we have me, Katie, Emily, and Erin ready for a night on the town.

We started with Cajun bloody mary's, crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole, red beans & rice, jambalya, our latest discovery of the hot roast beef po' boy (best of all), and the memorable bread pudding at The Gumbo Shop on St Peters.

From there, we headed up the street to Pat O'Brians piano bar for hurricanes.

The pianists kept bringing up a crowd from Norway that had travelled the farthest to be there. I tried to tell them I'd come from Australia (twice as far!) but I don't think they heard me.


We worked our way along Bourbon St, stopping at the balcony of the Krazy Korner.

Ta da! Our fabulous hotel right in the middle of all the action. We took advantage of our prime location, stopping there for a bathroom break between bars.

Part of the bonus of our trip to New Orleans was getting to catch up with some old friends of mine. Michelle and I worked together in Biloxi following Hurricane Katrina. She's since moved to New Orleans, but is currently working another disaster in Iowa. She was back in NOLA just for New Years so the timing was perfect for us to catch up. She came out and made the rounds with us.

We walked about a mile from Bourbon St to the Marigny, a more local hot spot, where we saw this street band drawing quite a crowd.

Katie especially liked the music at Ray's Boom Boom Room but the place was as dead as it looks... so we headed back to the action on Bourbon St.

It was one of the first nights we'd seen where many of the bars were charging a cover. The place was hopping with all the Sugarbowl fans crowding the streets.

Erin joined in the line dancing taking over the streets.

Katie, Emily, and Erin in the midst of the crowds - sucking down those hand grenades. Not Katie though - this trooper declared an intention to not drink at all during 2009. Having survived New Orleans, I would consider that a likely feat.

New Years 2009

Katie's personal trainer Abel joined us in our venture to Austin for New Years. We stayed in my beloved home away from home, the downtown Residence Inn. It really felt like coming home getting to see all my receptionists and valet drivers. And with complimentary memosas at the front desk, how can you wrong? We had a few memosas, then enjoyed the hotel happy hour with my friend Adam before heading up to the hotel room to pop a bottle or two of champagne. We grabbed a quick bite in the hotel restaurant and bar, Champions. I was doing under cover runs back and forth from the memosas at the front desk into the restaurant. Then I decided to kick it up a notch, and brought down an entire bottle of champagne pre-corked of course into the restaurant under my jacket. I am oh so discreet. We got a great jump on the evening before making our way to Antone's.


Katie and Abel kick on at Antone's under the Bob Schneider poster - an Austin legend and the main act of the evening. We were feeling pretty smug as we'd purchased our tickets before they doubled in price and sold out. Well done us! Plus we got complimentary 'best hits' CDs upon entrance - gotta love those completely unexpected party favors.

This was our annual sister New Years celebration. We kicked off with Las Vegas in 2004, New Orleans in 2005, New York City in 2006, San Francisco in 2007, San Antonio in 2008, and now Austin in 2009. We're thinking maybe the Florida Keys next year.

Katie, Cyndi, me, Michelle, and Jackie all met up at Antone's.

Bob Schneider even dressed up for the occasion.

The lead up to the new year was so Schneider style - very low key and practically non-existent. He stopped playing a song, said there's 10 seconds until 2009, everyone counted down 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, then 'Happy New Year!', and he played another song. Funny.

We walked 'home' via 6th St which was hopping. Party girl Katie shows the way.

Bracken Range

Ah, back at the range! It took a couple tries, but we finally scored a spot at the crowded range. There must have been lots of guns wrapped up under the Christmas tree this year because this was one happening place. We tried to go the day before but the range was jam packed when we arrived half an hour after they opened. Today we arrived 15 minutes before they opened and were already the eleventh car in line at the gate. Fortunately we got two adjacent stalls. Above, Dad shoots Katie's gun (SIG 229 semi-automatic 40mm) and Katie shoots Dad's newest gun (Model 1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol). It was musical guns for us that day.

My favorite is the 38 revolver (Smith & Weston 60 2-1/8" 357 magnum) just because it's easiest to shoot and feels best in my hand. It's not as fancy as the others but it suits me perfectly.

I tested my accuracy with the single-handed shots. Just about as inaccurate as the carefully supported two-handed shots. I have to say a year away from the shooting range did me no good.

Katie's six months away from the range didn't stop her. She was even getting compliments from the neighboring shooters, duly impressed with her shooting abilities and gun ownership.

And here we have the tell-all target from Dad's stall. Dad shot out a good chunk of the top two targets. The bottom right target shows my splatter of shots - not quite as tight a grouping as theirs. I must need more practice.

Wii

Mom won a Wii through school nearly a year ago (we've never been big on video games - can you tell?). Lisa's friend Carly hooked it up for us and pioneered the way. We made mii's for Mom and Dad and later a black gospel singer alter ego named Shaniqua for sister Lisa. Dad was quick to jump in and demonstrate some mad skills in both tennis and boxing.


He got right into it, far more than we expected. It was extraordinarily entertaining to watch his face contort with his swift, sharp movements. Intense!

I jumped in to test the boxing game. I knocked out my opponent in the second round. Yup, I'd say that's about right.

That's what I'm talkin' about! Now if only I could win a game of tennis...

Merry Christmas!

Aren't Christmas morning pictures the best? We're oh so lovely. We're sporting our matching 'Under the Mistletoe' pj's at ages 30, 28, and 20, oh yeah!!

The beloved 'Masked Beauty' artwork I found at the 'Keep Austin Bizarre' Christmas Bazaar. With 3D glasses, the artwork separates into different layers - beautiful!! I was super spoiled at Christmas this year - something about there being benefits to being close to home. There's nothing subliminal about my family's 'come home' mentality.

Lisa, mom, Katie, and I ham it up for the camera. We do this so rarely that it was a unique opportunity to capture the candid moment. Ya right.

Dad with the daughters.

Grandpa with the ladies - always the ladies' man.

Mom and Dad laugh at my insane prompting behind the camera.