Gals Graze

Yesterday’s Gals luncheon, which included (pictured, clockwise) Alisha Ring, Rachel Muir, Debbie Kern and Paula Disbrowe was dynamic, stimulating, and très amusant!
Alisha graduated from UT then moved to NYC for five years, but she returned to run the Austin Technology Council (seemingly dragging them from the brink of collapse), then became the GM of The Texas Tribune. Apparently Alisha is like the bluebird of happiness flitting around, landing on organizations, getting them good, then flying off to vitalize another! She is currently leading a collaborative technology initiative for UT.
Rachel founded Girlstart and hardly needs an introduction as this keen-edged stiletto knows everyone in town. She’s been featured on Oprah, CNN, and the Today Show for gaud’s sake! She most recently raised a billion dollars for Mother’s Milk Bank (OK, maybe just multi-millions), and now she’s going to heft Convio (non-profit fundraising software) to the Fortune 500 with her freaky marketing skills.
Debbie (also featured below under “My Friends”) is a very high-level events planner/marketing genius and owner of i3 Marketing Group (think Paris and IBM), five-time chair of the Center for Child Protection's PlayBingo fundraiser, scary smart, and a superior friend.
Paula is a chef and a food and travel writer, who is probably most famous for her fab cookbooks, one of which, Real Cajun, co-written with Donald Link, just won the 2010 James Beard Cookbook Award for American Cooking! If you don’t own her Cowgirl Cuisine Cookbook, go on Amazon.com and get it right this instant! It’s FAB. Paula is also the marketing guru for Feather Down Farm Days, which is like eco-tourism, but farm-y, fun and luxurious, where she recently entertained a half-dozen of Martha Stewart’s editor/mavens! Paula is everywhere you look and lookin’ good! These are some Very Smart Gals!

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 47

#47 - “Don't wear your glasses, they hide your true beauty and make you look weak.”

This morning as I perused the list of one hundred things my mom taught me a million times, seeking my elusive muse, #47 jumped up, grabbed my hand and said, “C’mon SueAnn, pick me! I always make you smile!” I often mock mom’s one hundred things, but there’s an esoteric little fold of gray matter snuggled away in my noodle that senses a fundamental, albeit chafing truth in her lessons. And gal-howdy this lesson is loaded. There is the glasses thing, and the not wearing of them, there’s the “hiding true beauty,” thing, and of course, the land mine, “looking weak.”

Let’s start with glasses. I wonder if I would have made better grades in high school if I’d been able to see? On the other hand, at least my school photos didn’t include cat-eye glasses.

Epiphany Pause! So that’s why I dropped my baton a lot! I was a twirler, and apparently a visually impaired one at that. Click on Read More Below...

Special Moms, Special Healing - For Special Needs Moms

My friend Julie McAllister, mother of two special needs children, has created a website to help moms "love themselves as much as they love their special needs children," and I think that's very special! Her oldest was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (an Autism Spectrum Disorder) at age five and the youngest developed multiple food protein intolerances shortly after birth.  Special Moms Special Healing came to being when Julie, who I met when she was the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters, started researching online for resource material that targeted mothers of special needs children, and found virtually zero. Julie's website provides support and information on the topics of "Self-Love, Forgiveness, and Nutrition. If you know a mother of a special needs child, please pass along this website link. They will surely benefit from Julie's considerable experience, education, and training - and, she's a Very Smart Gal!