Lisa's Lounge

Here's our boy, all dressed up in his last year's outfit. It was not quite this snug last year :-)



And here is Ben , carving the pumpkin!

and some fool dressed like Daisy Duck....

I don't have any Fallish photos yet, but the weather has been outstanding! Ben and I spent this past weekend in San Antonio, and decided to go to Sea World this time. I think it's been about 5 years or more since our last Sea World visit. Our friends Ryan and Laura met us there. We only see them in San Antonio, though we all live in Austin :-)

The weekend before that, Ben was in Key West with some of his buds. So Elway and I trekked to Big D to spend the weekend with a couple of the other wives whose husbands were in the beautiful Keys... went to a spa and got my 2nd, but really first real one... a pedicure! What an invention! Why haven't I done this before? I had one done 5 or 6 years ago, but I don't remember it being this wonderful. Definitely a habit I will continue to feed. Elway hung with the Westies at our friends Walt and Jenny's house... Madison and Max. He was not real sure about them, but they got along fine. He got to spend the day with cousin Jake over at Auntie Malia's and Uncle Pauly's house, while us girls were at the spa. And that he REALLY liked.

So, no news, really. It's the beginning of super crazy busy time at work that will last til New Years Day... Oh Goody.

Here's some of my favorite photos of the weekend.





This HUGE tree is in the courtyard of the Marriott Plaza SA hotel we stayed at

Having our nephew Jake here has been so much fun, we don't want him to leave. In fact, I think I will be gone all weekend. That way, when the Irbys come down on Saturday to pick him up, all they will see is his smiling face and waggily tail in the window. Behind a locked door. :-)

Here's a short video of him entertaining himself with his purple monster squeeky toy. He also likes to fling his chewy rope toy 12 feet across the room...

Right click and save : Jake and the purple monster

USE YOUR IMAGINATION! GET YOUR OWN FREAKIN' SIGN! I don't think any commentary by me is necessary. The picture says it all.

I fight it daily, but I fear I'm turning into what I termed as "old" when I was younger. Granted, I'm not old, and I'm generally a social liberal...but my patience for youth is so thin... I'm wondering.

A local high school is in danger of being closed down after being rated unacceptable 4 years in a row. It is in a poorer section of town, so I don't know that closing it down is the answer, and I won't even pretend to know enough about the politics of our local public education... Plus, 20+ years ago when I was in high school, this was a magnet school for busing. The kids in that neighborhood were bused out and others were bused in...the whole (extremely important) integration thing. Wonder if that stopped, and why? Anyway, this particular high school's principal sent out a memo that they were cancelling their football season due to injuries. (I'm assuming here that no pass, no play is also an issue, given the unacceptable rating) The students were in an uproar.

I read an article in the local rag, and sometimes I just want to shake a teenager and say "Did you listen to what you just said??" Here's the quote - I've removed identifiers.

For football player this is more than just a game.

"When I first heard I was shocked and just cried in the hallway..." said football player...

football player looked at it as a way into college.

"Maybe no college at all," player said. "I have to step up, get my grades better and do better in the classroom, cause football ain't going to be there anymore."

Oh the humanity! Study in school? Actually work for something? What?

One of my oldest and dearest friends got married this weekend in Oklahoma, so off I go to the party. Vicky and I met in 5th grade at Del Valle schools, many many years ago. We've been through all the ups and downs 30 years of friendship can bring. I've even gotten used to seeing her wear OU paraphernalia. However, she was dressed properly for my arrival :-).

My other oldest and bestest friend, Mike, had already planned to visit me in Austin this past weekend. He picked up a court job in San Antonio, so came out a few days early to hang out. So, we decided to fly up to Oklahoma for the shindig together.

It was a wonderful weekend and a bit of a time warp. Kind of back and forth in the time warp. Mike and I are always 12 again when we meet up. But Thursday we had dinner with Nicole, and Friday with Kristin and Liz, some of my "current" buds. Then, in Oklahoma, Vicky's whole family was there, along with all her "newer" friends. I have of course known her family for 30 years as well. It was so good to see everyone.

We had a good time, stayed in a surprisingly nice hotel in Oklahoma City, and had uneventful flights (thankfully). Mike headed to San Antonio Sunday afternoon - hopefully we'll see him one more time before he heads back to Cali!

To add to the time warp, our airport is the old Air Force base here - and both Mike and Vicky lived on the base. Straight out the exit of the base (now airport) is Cardinal Loop. This is where 3 of the Del Valle schools were located - Popham Elementary, Del Valle Middle School and Del Valle High School. So Mike and I decided to cruise the loop - the elementary and middle schools are gone, as is most of the high school - however: Friday Night Lights is being filmed there! I had no idea. Our old field house is still there, but it's painted blue now... kinda weird. I spent a lot of time in that field house...

In with all of this, we are babysitting the Irby's sweet little poopsie Jake! He's so much fun! I felt bad he was here for 2 days, then we took him to Dog Boys for the weekend, but I think he had a good time. Both Beagles came home very worn out!