Girls Night Out at Mama Lou's!

Mama Lou is back in town! And it's about time! We were so glad when our sweet friend Lou King and her handsome administrative assistant, Dick, returned from Oregon after a long stay of closing up her late mom's home and a little r&r in their retirement home. We all missed Mama Lou loads and were excited to have her home. Lou gathered "family" together for a girls night to hear all that has been going on while she was gone. Her administrative assistant served as doorman, butler, chauffeur, and even invisible husband in his man cave as we girls laughed and giggled the night away as we all caught up on the past several months. Guest included Kirsti La Montagne, Alix, me, Jeanie and Jean Axtel, who couldn't make it because of a previous engagement. We each brought a dish, dined, took a ride in the admin's new red lemo he got for his retirement present, and enjoyed the company for several hours. We missed our sweet Taylor (Lou's daughter and Alix's best friend) but she was off on vacation to Jerusalem. Maybe next time Tay-Tay! Anyway, it was a WONDERFUL evening and one we will HAVE to do again soon. Thank you my sweet friend...WELCOME HOME!

Kristi, Alix, Mama Lou & me

MAMA MIA!

On September 29Th, Junior League had a special event where the leaguers could buy special priced tickets to see the play version of Mama Mia at the beautiful Majestic Theater here in San Antonio. Alix, a league member, and knowing how much I LOVED the show, asked if I would like to buy a ticket and go with her the night of the league event. She was in charge of hosting the before cocktail/dinner time at Acenar Hotmex:Coolbar at Hotel Valencia on the River walk. One of her cute friends I met was originally from Jasper, Texas....can you believe...what a small world! We had a great time with WONDERFUL food. We then headed to the show and sang to our hearts desire. I got into a little trouble though. I continued to take pictures (no flashes though) and apparently, NO PHOTOGRAPHY is allowed AT ALL in the theater. Can you believe that? Not even of the theater!!! It's so beautiful in there...Anyway, when no one was looking, I couldn't help but pic off a few of the show. I know the guy next to Alix wished we would shut up! But we couldn't sit still. Anyway, it was a great night with lots of fun and good music. The only thing missing was Jimmy's CD of the soundtrack on the way home. Man! Sometimes those men ARE good for SOMETHING!

The Lady in charge

Cute friend from Jasper

Ready for fun night

3 Leaguers

Not my beer...just scooted in!

Getting ready for wedding

He proposes

A Princess Day with Emmy, God's Little Princess...the pink ballerina

What a great day today was. Jimmy, Clark and Huston had planned to go to Waco for the Baylor game and Alix was to attend a women's retreat at her mother's church. I offered to sit with Emery since I had never had her alone for the day. I took special care and planned for a couple of weeks to make the day very special - something Emery would find fun and I could scrapbook for her so she could one day look back on with the two of us together. Since I never had girls, I wasn't sure what to do with a little girl. A friend in BSF told me about these special little books called Gigi, God's Little Princess. It's about a little dark, curly headed girl who's parents tell her she's truly a princess - God's princess. So, I decided I would have a special day for our little princess and have very girly things to do and EVERYTHING in PINK - her favorite color, of course!
Alix left for her retreat early Saturday morning. Though Jimmy and the boys decided not to go to Waco, I had decided to keep my Princess Day with Emery anyway. I picked Ems up at around 10:30 am. When I arrived to pick her up, she wasn't dressed to go yet...Clark was dealing with both kids and hadn't quite gotten to dressing her for her departure.
I asked what she would like to wear to start the day. She had been playing in princess dresses (costumes really) and decided that those were just the ones she wanted to wear. I figured...what the heck...why not...after all...she IS the princess. Alix had already packed the outfit I requested for later in the day, so off we went in her little princess dress for the day.

Tell daddy and the little prince (brother Huston) bye bye!
Careful not to trip!
No, you boys cannot come!

All buckled in!

These princess shoes are already killing me! Where's my glass slipper?

Our first stop was for some royal lunch at the Golden Arches...just the proper place for a princess with expensive taste. Yummy golden nuggets and fries with apple juice and a Barbie ring prize! Soooooo Exciting!

No one better touch my golden nuggets!

Hey Princess, watch that dress...this ain't no strip joint!

Back on the road to the royal mall for a little shopping! Lovey says Target has lots of special toys for every little princess. I wonder what I shall buy?

Barbie Princess' everywhere...Aunt Whitney would be proud!

Now THIS looks promising!

By George, I think I've found it!

The PERFECT princess play house for a perfect little princess...and it's PINK...no kidding!

After finding the perfect prize to take home, we headed to Lovey's house for the little princess to take a nap on the big Princess bed! Emmy usually sleeps in her pack and play when she's at Lovey's, but today, I thought she might like to play like the princess and the pea and sleep in the big tall bed (what I told her was the princess bed) in the extra bed room. She was excited and went right to sleep without a sound.

The sleeping princess in the royal bed!

While Emmy was asleep, I arranged her attire for the rest of the day. I planned for a special treat that afternoon. I asked Alix to pack her ballerina bathing suit I bought for her earlier in the summer along with some pink shoes. I planned a special outfit for a late afternoon coach ride....wait and see!

When Emmy awoke, we had a special tea party on a blanket upstairs while she watched her Barbie Princess movie. We had pink cupcakes and she had milk in her princess cup. As you can see in the next pictures...the icing was DELICIOUS! and the sprinkles were EVERYWHERE!

MINE!

This paper is good too!

Barbie doesn't have cupcakes!

YUM!

No Lovey...you can't have any! ALL MINE!

These sprinkles get EVERYWHERE!

Is this a good look on me?

So I got carried away a little...what's the big deal?

After our picnic, I changed Emmy's clothes, added a crown, boa, and gave her a wand with a princess butterfly on the end and headed to Yardley's Salon for her to get her very own manicure and pedicure. She was given the princess treatment by Maria and the entire Yardley's staff and even got to pick out her very own nail color...it just so happened to be Princess something-or-other pink... Wouldn't your know!

Is this gonna tickle?

While having her pedicure, I read Gigi, God's Little Princess...the pink ballerina to her. It's the sweetest book for the sweetest little princess I know.

Lovey, are you gonna take pictures the ENTIRE time?

I know...it's been WAY to long!

Yes, they are just a mess...can you make them pretty? My mom makes me do dishes and slave work. Can you imagine a Princess doing manual labor? It really messes up my nails! The color is great...don't you think?

You are doing really good, Maria. Good job! I shall grant you many royal wishes!

Thank you my royal subjects! You are the BEST!

After finishing at Yardley's, we headed back to the little princess' palace to show her mommy, daddy and the little prince her BEAUTIFUL toes and nails and how beautiful she looked with her special outfit.

For Lovey - aka...me, it was one of the best days I've ever had. What FUN playing princess with one's granddaughter. What a blessing. I hope I get more Princess Days again soon.

What does BSA, a Canadia, a Wolverine, a Cowboy & Cute Shoes Have In Common?

What does BSA, a Canadian, a Wolverine, a Cowboy and Cute shoes have in common? ONE HOT TEAM! Yes, Jim Davison, Jolene Cameron and Jose Delgado of FISERV (a company Jimmy used to work for out of Dallas) asked me to join their team in the Boy Scouts of America golf tournament here in San Antonio. FISERV was a gold sponsor and was kind enough to field a team and include me. Jolene and I had a great time riding together and out-driving the guys with FANTASTIC Tee shots (course, we did have a little advantage!) Of course, I did wear my "cute shoes". Jose requested I wear my lime green pair. Well, with so many "cute shoes" to choose from, and with team members requesting their preferred pair...what's a girl to do?! They didn't bring me the luck we all hoped for, but at least we didn't end up in last place. However...we probably did have the most fun! There was ONE little hitch in the game...Jim did NOT make it past the women's Tee box on one hole. Of course...for you golfers....well, you know what that means!!!!!
Jose suggested I drive the cart Jolene and I were in. He said I didn't want Jolene to drive. I'm no sure why, but I figured that my only almost throwing Jolene out of the cart a couple of times was much better than what she would have done...not sure...but just a thought!
Anyway, we had a great time and I was so appreciative of the invitation. The company was great and none of us got heat stroke! GREAT DAY!

Canadian, Wolverine and Cowboy..."cute shoes" behind the lens
Jose Delgado - Cowboy

Jolene Cameron - Wolverine

Jim Davison - Canadian

Surfing IKEA

Me, Alix and Kristi La Montagne are giving Alix's brother and sister-in-law a baby shower in November. They they are having their first little boy (Macpherson La Montagne), and want to decorate their baby's room in a funky surfer style. Alix and I drove from San Antonio to north Austin on Sunday afternoon to do a little shopping for the shower in hopes of finding something special for the decorations. On the way up, we decided to take the new toll road leading from SA to Austin. Though it is really very fast, after being on it for a little while, I had to make a little "girl" stop. In fact, I was wiggling all over the place like a kid about to wet, I had to stop so bad! There was no place to stop on the toll road. Can you imagine that??!! So, on the phone we were to Clark, getting directions to the nearest exit that may have a good rest stop for Kathryn to use before continuing on our journey. And what a journey it would be! You should have heard Clark - you would have thought we were lost in the deepest darkest jungle of Africa. Like we had no sense or sense of direction whats so ever! Last time we'll call for directions!
Anyway, back to the shower. At first, Robb and Daphne wanted to decorate the baby's room in an eclectic, nautical theme. Then, after a couple of hours of shopping and stopping for lunch, we called them from the Ikea store to ask a few questions only to find out that Robb had changed his mind to a surfer style. After talking with Daphne, and reviewing colors, I asked if she was wanting colors in the range of a Jamaican color scheme with surfer colors thrown in. Reds, oranges, greens, yellows and golds. A few blues and lots of black and white. Real eclectic and colorful! Alix and I saw this WONDERFUL fabric hanging in the cafe' part of Ikea and set out trying to locate it in the store. We were rewarded after questioning a sales persons, who directed us to the fabric section of the store. From there, we headed to other areas of the store holding other items we needed.
Ikea even has self checkout! They are really moving up in the world! From there, it was a real breeze getting out and back on the road to home.
All in all, the day was successful and fun. I'll go shop with Alix anytime! Party planning is great fun!

Fabric anyone?
Self checkout with a gun! Even MORE fun!

colorful floor mats - cute for kids floors

fish track lighting....fun for surfer decorating

even fun stuff for Huston & Emery's play room!