If you’ve never been to Johnson City for Christmas lights – you have not seen Christmas Lights.  PEC, the electric Co-Op of the hill country, puts on the most amazing display of lights in one concentrated area.  They literally wrap every branch of every tree on their property.  It is pitch black out there in the midsts of nowhere, but a glow like no other is found off Main street in Johnson City.  The amazement the girls saw matched the excitement in ours, to see them run around and check out all the lights. 

While taking pics at night is still a new thing for me and my camera, a few came out and I posted them here:

Johnson City Christmas Lights

Ainsley

Ainsley came down for the summer and we had a blast.  Building forts, going to the beach, hanging out with the Fab Five, meeting new friends, seeing old friends, play dates and bowling, time with family and friends, her first concert to see Coldplay and her first time tubing the Texas river.  It was exhausting!  I think we had maybe 5 days at the house where we did not do something.  She’s a diva, a genius, a princess, and the center of my world.  She’s an accomplished reader, takes gorgeous pictures, is well rounded, has a great British accent thanks to listening to BBC Radio 1, and can make a killer chocolate souffle. The hardest thing was sending her back to NC last week.

Like me, she loves music, so I compiled her favorites which comprised our soundtrack of the summer.

Fab 5 hit the beach

So the Fab five hit the beach this summer with children, significant others and close friends for an amazing beach weekend in Galveston at Jeff’s family’s beach house.  Lots of Cornhole, Flippie Cup, time at the beach and overall Fab Five Fun.

Violated

Never have I felt more violated than when my office was vandalized last week.  The lovely people broke through a 10 x 6 sheet of glass in the building, pried off the door to the first floor suite they broke into, used a sledge hammer to break through the fire barriers in the stairwell so they could open the door, then broke the glass to our office, and two others.  In this, they stole over $2,000 of valuables from my office, including my laptop, laptop bag, 2 years of work, the back up of 2 years of work and some personal effects that were in my bag.  Here’s hoping the hardworking security staff can prevent this from happening again… and that the sarcasm dripping off that statement dries by the time you finish reading this post.

Cue the walk off music…

Travel is back up and going for me in the near future.  An exciting work trip is planned, the destination of which I shall keep secret till I am there.  I am back on my workout plan at the gym, hoping to see results in months not years. And the heat is about to kill me. 

Here’s hoping that as things slow down for the fall (yeah right), I’ll write a little more and get the pictures up from this summer before next summer.

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Here are some videos from last year, on Natalie’s boat as well as Ainsley’s school production of Where the Wild Things Are.

Enjoy!

When Stephanie picked up Ains, she was in tears and was unable to use her arm to open her door, carry her bookbag or do much of anything with it.  After a trip to Urgent Care and some X-Rays, we found out that Ainsley fractured her elbow and ulna.  A trip back to the radiologist, and Ains was fashioned with a hot pink cast.

After several emails, I got to have a nice long chat with her principal about playing in the bus lot, lack of communication and more.

Three short weeks and my princess is back to full arm movement, and more scariness in the bus lot!

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Ainsley Turns 7!

Ainsley had her birthday, and this year I was able to be there for the party!  As you can imagine, it’s tough having a birthday on Dec 27 and having a party with all your friends from school there.  This year, my mom and I flew up to Charlotte on the 18th and surprised Ainsley at her Yellow Belt Graduation Ceremony.  Ainsley is now an Orange belt and is well on her way to learning self defense – which is good since she’s not 50 pounds soaking wet yet!

While there, I was proud to be the Mystery Reader for her class and surprised everyone by showing up with two books to read before lunch.  Ainsley was so excited, she had no idea I was coming into school.  From there, we had lunch in the cafeteria, and boy have things changed!  You now have a PIN number for your lunch card and can pick from vegan options, a salad bar and more – all in elementary school!

That weekend, we went out to a small ranch and took Ains and 5 of her closest girls horseback riding.  Now I know what you’re thinking, but this was far from walking a horse in a circle.  Everyone had their own horse and things got interesting as Ainsley’s horse decided to JUMP a puddle of mud, and my horse was spooked by something and thought he’d see if I could hold on for eight seconds.  Both incidents ended with us keeping control of our horse and me hoping no one was thrown on a 7 year old birthday party trail ride!

Ainsley’s 7th Birthday58 pictures
Charlotte, NCDec 20, 2008

We wrapped things up with an early Christmas and watching Ains eagerly open her gifts from Texas.  We had a great stay with her mom and step-dad, and got to see her new little sister in person.

Christmas with Ainsley in Charlotte44 picturesDec 21, 2008

New Years

Continuing my tradition, I had my annual New Years party, which was quite successful.  Ending up asleep in my closet at 5:00a New Years Day should be enough to highlight how much fun we had.  Many thanks to the best friends I could ask for – Roy and Natalie – for all their help in setting up and keeping my OCD in check.  Thanks to Roy, Natalie, Jeff, Jason (grr), Sean, Joe, Brandon, Ryan, Andrew, Sheerin, Brooke, Libby, Maggie and everyone else for starting the New Year off with me!

New Years Eve30 pictures
Pflugerville, TXDec 31, 2008

I met WonderWoman…

A dear friend of mine, Kathie, showed me in 2009 the definition of strength, determination and love.  January 6th, at 6:30p she lost her best friend and husband to an uphill battle of cancer.  Steve and Kathie are the couple you want to “grow up” to be like, with their two adorable daughters – Delaney and Alby.  In the midsts of caring for Steve, raising her daughters and running a house, Kathie was quite possibly the strongest person I’ve seen in a long time – and even managed to carry out every one of Steve’s wishes despite some less than ideal in-laws who gave her hell from 1400 miles away every day.  If 2009 is good to anyone this year, Kathie better be on the top of the list.

89 is not just another year…

My great-grandmother, Violet, hit the “one year away” mark this month, as she turned another year more fabulous and celebrated 89 years.  My grandparents, Nana and Dada, along with my Dad, threw an awesome lunch for MeMaw in Kerrville, with grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren in attendance, along with one of two living siblings.  At 89, MeMaw is the oldest of her siblings and enjoys her days with other residents of her senior community and a nice cold Dr. Pepper.

Do you hear what I hear?

No, not Christmas bells, but the pitter patter of little feet.  My Step-Brother Jason and his adorable wife Cecilia are getting ready to welcome a little boy to the world this spring/summer.  With all the excitement, it makes me wish my brother Allen were here to raise his little one (Allen Evan) and see these two friends who grew up together raise their boys together.  Another reason to cherish every day you have with someone – you never want to have to wish you would have called one more time just to say hi.

Home is where my head rests…

After a wonderful week and a half off from work over the holidays, I started back on 5Jan and hit the ground running.  I’ve spent most of my time since then traveling and visiting marriotts from Houston to Manhattan.  It’s exciting and rewarding to be part of such an envigorating company with an unbeatable product offering, outstanding team and confidence in what we do.  In todays economic times, everyone is thankful for their career… If the economy were at the top of its game, I’d be just as thankful for all the opportunities I have every day.

If you’re still reading…

You deserve some sort of award.  I told you a lot has happened… and well, when you put your homepage on your Christmas cards, and have some friends that keep track of you through this and Facebook, you kind of need to download everything, even if it is mundane.

While I don’t resolve to do anything other than the best I can this year, there are a few things that I’d like to see happen.  I won’t bore you with the list, and some of it is just cheesy, but I will say keeping in touch with you more is on the list.  So help me out, drop me a line or pick up the phone, and I’ll try more to do the same. 

With everything this life gives you, it’s the people in your life that fill your days with the joy and fulfillment that make the journey a memorable one. Thanks for being part of the ride.

Later that week while Stephanie was on the phone with me, Ains piped in and asked again “Mommy – ask Daddy if we can go to the Nutcracker.”  I told Steph if she could tell me when and where, I would look into it.  Steph replies to Ains “I’m not sure honey, I don’t know anything about it.”

Determined to go see The Nutcracker, Ains called me yesterday and said “Dad – Nutcracker?” I said “Honey, we have to ask your Mom if it’s playing in Charlotte – she didn’t know about it.”  Without missing a beat, Ainsley – who’s not quite 7 – replies:

“Dad, just tell her The Nutcracker is by Tchaikovsky, and there are some accents in his name if she goes to look it up online.”

So smart. So adorable. So my daughter.

If you think driving in NYC is bad, you have no idea what bad is.  It took me almost an hour just to get to the hotel, where the parking garage was blocked by Christmas markets.  I had to park down the street in a public garage… which actually works out better.  Parking at the hotel is 27€, but parking in the public garage was only 14€ – so I think it was in my favor.

I tried looking for a different hotel, but I couldn’t find one that was in the suburb, even though I drove around a while… It may be best if I stay here and just commute, but we’ll see how that commute goes tomorrow.

I’m taking to ains on the computer right now, and she’s getting SO big.  She’s counting down the days till I go visit her, and waiting for her European surprises

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Despite her simplified view, I applauded her for being in the know and knowing her candidates as well as the election day.  Today, I asked her a bit more.  The following is a chat log between us from instant messenger… remember – she’s 6, so spelling is all phonetic.

Brian: I had my meeting with miss talbot today and she said you are a really good reader, which makes me proud
Brian: I was so proud of everything she said about you
Ainsley: wow  wow   wow  wow   wow!
Brian: you are doing great in school!
Ainsley: thancs!
Brian: are you going to watch the election tonight?
Ainsley: no!
Brian: you don’t want to see the new president?
Ainsley: no. mistr  broco obomu!
Brian: you want to see grandpa mc cain?
Ainsley: i    wish  i   cud    see             broco obomu      loos!
Brian: you’ll owe me a coke when obama wins

Already passionate about politics – even though she’s only 6 and goes with what she hear’s in the media… I guess at this rate, she’s as informed as most adult American voters

Well the following is a recount of this morning with her StepDad Ben and her thoughts around wearing a shirt that says:

I love mommy more than Santa.

Ben: “I like your shirt today”

Ainsley: “I don’t like it!”

Ben: “Why not?”

Ainsley: “cuz it’s not true”

Ben: “what do you mean it’s not true!”

Ainsley: “cuz i don’t love mommy more than Santa”

Ben: “WHAT!”

Ainsley: “I just don’t, i love them both the same”

(Stephanie: She came in to the bedroom this morning and said “mommy, do you think my classmates will believe my shirt?” I said “no honey” and she said “phew! Ok, good”)

Ben: “but don’t you think your mommy does more for you than Santa… takes care of you every day, feeds you, makes sure you have all the clothes you need, etc”

Ainsley: “yea, but santa gives me presents that mommy can’t afford… gives me the things that i ask for, toys and stuff”

Ben: “but your mommy gives you toys and stuff:

Ainsley: “yes, but not as much… and Santa always talks to me really nice, and he’s fun to talk to”

The innocence of children

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From there, I spent the weekend with Ains.  She was so excited because I rode the light-rail down to south Charlotte to pick her up and we rode the light-rail back.  She was so excited!  We spent the weekend hanging around uptown, went to the movies and went swimming. The whole time my body was catching up from being over stressed and over extended.

She emailed a little blurb to add to the blog:

She’s gotten so good on the computer and is getting better every day in her reading and writing!

I made it back into Austin on Sunday night and started settling back in for the week.  Monday night, I went and bowled a few games, testing out my new ball that I got.  I did pretty good, but after 6 games, I had a blister on my thumb!  Tuesday it was game night.  I bowled my best and we ended up winning all three games, and the points total!  We’ve decided to name my ball Shazaam for the design of it.

Outside of that, I have pics from Pittsburgh to put up, as well as Charlotte, but it seems like no time to get it done.  For once, I am laying in bed. before 11p, updating my blog and watching TV.  I am floored.

I’m watching this new show on HBO called True Blood – if you’re watching, hit me up, I’d love to discuss.  I hope to have more time to blog and keep up – lots to talk about with the election coming up!  Whatever your view, stay informed and vote smart.

Time to finish up some TV, watch some weather, as Hurricane Ike approaches…

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