California Dreamin’ Tour – Day 5

Santa Barbara reminds me a lot of Aspen, jaw droppingly beautiful and very consumer-focused, but much more tastefully presented.The stunning homes, the smell of eucalyptus and ocean air, and the Four Seasons Biltmore definitely elevated our endorphins. Even our way less expensive, but very cute motel, The Sandman Inn was a treat.

 Since my travel buddy Deb and I are on a budget, we didn’t buy much, except bottles of wine, which were surprisingly inexpensive. The irony being, it wasn’t even California wine it was South American.

This was sort of our day of rest. We tootled around town, got our nails done, caught a few rays, had a nice glass of wine and dinner on State Street (the main drag), as we watched the "beautiful people" stroll by. Then we went back to the motel and spent hours plotting our drive through the Big Sur and to Monterey, where we’ll visit their famous aquarium. Oh yes, and we laughed our butts off as we pondered a one-night stay-over in Mojave (yes, the desert). When we Googled "Things to do in Mojave," the response was, "Nothing." I want a t-shirt that says, "I survived the Mojave Desert!"

To be continued...  SueAnn 

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 45

#45 – “Make your husband a pie. He'll feel loved.”

This one of one hundred things my mom taught me a million times is one that definitely found purchase in my psyche. I never leave town for more than a day or two that I don’t make my adorable hubby two-dozen baby pecan pies. In fact, it is the only other thing that puts that uniquely goofy smile on his face! You know the one.

Making a pie can be pretty easy if you buy a ready-made crust, but traumatic to tragic if you try to make the crust from scratch. Making a good piecrust is a skill you either have or don’t, like a good singing voice. Or, something you can learn and master if you do it several times a week, like golf. But it is not something you can do well once in a blue moon. Click on Read More Below...

California Dreamin’ Tour – Day 4

The Getty Center, in the Brentwood neighborhood of LA (yes, OJ’s hood), was created by a $600 million dollar grant from J. Paul Getty, who was born Jean Paul Getty in 1892 and died in 1975. As you can see from these photos, this place is architecturally stunning. Although I was terribly underdressed, we had a lovely lunch at the restaurant, which also provided exceptional people watching. Then we perused the museum store, walking away with some cool books and tasteful memorabilia. As far as the art collection – we actually saw little of it, as there just wasn’t time to do more than scratch the surface. 

I did, however, find out some very interesting trivia about J. Paul (I figure we’re on a first name basis now). His dad, who made his money in Oklahoma oil, decided J. Paul was a bum when after finishing college and making his first million with his own oil company, J. Paul announced that he was going to retire and move to LA to become a playboy. In fact, this pissed dad off so much that he left J. Paul a piddly $500,000 in his will. Eventually J. Paul ran out of money (in the process of being married and divorced 5 times), or perhaps to “show” his dad, so he had to go back to work. In 1949 he bought the drilling and concession rights to a barren tract of land where no Americans had ever drilled, nor had oil ever been discovered. That land straddled Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and as the story goes, the rest is history. So I guess we can thank J. Paul not just for the Getty Center, but also Desert Storm and the Gulf War, but on to more pleasant thoughts.

Yesterday’s journey was also about driving Wilshire Boulevard and Hwy 101, or as it is locally known, the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).

Oh, I almost forgot. We did surf for a couple of hours with Matthew McConaughey in Malibu, but then his wife and kids showed up and we all had to act like we didn’t really know each other. As you can clearly see from this photo, he was pretty disappointed when we left. Today is all about Santa Barbara, and that means shopping, which could be very interesting since neither Deb nor I have any money. Mas Mañana! SueAnn

  

California Dreamin’ Tour – Day 3

Who says you can’t learn on vacation? So far I’ve learned:

1.  Not planning ahead provides surprises! Some wonderful, some not. For example, by not mapping out my entire vacation (my type-a personality is on vacation too), I’ve learned that California hotels and gasoline are damn expensive! If I’d known in advance how expensive, I probably would have va-ca'd in Arkansas, or Austin!
2. In some high-tourists areas, you have to pay to potty!
3. I’ve re-learned that staring at the ocean will suck the stress right out of your soul!
4. Although I love the luxury of swank hotels, the hillbilly in me tires quickly of “Disney Land” perfection.
5. Balboa Park (San Diego) demands a separate dedicated vacation!
6. Laguna Beach is waaay cooler (as in groovy) than Newport Beach!
7. Every now an then when you think you’re in the armpit of America, i.e., Long Beach, you stumble upon a gem, i.e., the Marina Motel ($65/night), and the Sushi Studio! Our sushi chef, Pond, was killer! Travel partner, Deb, in her vast sushi consuming experience, just said, “Wow us!” or something to that effect, and we were! What a cool joint too!

Our one and only stop in LA is going to be the Getty Center and we are sooooo excited! Then off to Santa Barbara.
Ciao Bella - SueAnn

California Dreamin’ Tour – Day 2

As I lie here staring at the Pacific, I can barely get up the will to write! A beachfront suite at the Del Coronado (or as the natives call it, The Del) does not inspire blogging. It inspires a thousand mile stare and navel gazing, or perhaps more appropos to the setting, naval gazing. If I weren’t a glass-half-full gal, I’d fear that the California Dreamin’ Tour is all down hill from here, but I foresee more great adventures as Deb and I meander our way map-less up the California coast.

Did I mention that the current temperature is 67 degrees? No, I’m sure I didn’t. I also probably didn’t mention that the temperature in Yuma Arizona yesterday at 8:00 pm was 112 degrees, so California is definitely the right place for us menopausal gals.

California is a botanical wonderland, and the flowers are glorious. But I have this queezy feeling that it's all "sinner bait," luring us across the Andreas Fault till the accumulated weight shifts the tectonic plates, at which point we'll all go sliding off into the ocean. 

Forgive me, but I have to go back to staring at the ocean. At least my posts will be brief!

SueAnn

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 44

#44 – “If you want to enhance your blond hair, just squeeze a little lemon juice on several strands and sit out in the sun for 20 minutes.”

When I was a teenager, this one of one hundred things my mother taught me a million times flew in the face of some of my most deeply held beliefs. First, I didn’t want to “enhance,” my blond hair, I wanted to “Kim Novak” it to Nordic white, or at least to a Sandra Dee champagne blond! Second, I didn’t know how to sit out in the sun for just 20 minutes! I wasn’t a sun worshipper. I was the Dali Lama of daylight. I was a swimmer and a twirler, two things you couldn’t do indoors – at least not in my little West Texas hometown, so I was out in the sun, a lot. And as a result, my hair was that glorious blond that only the sun, and the most expensive colorist in the world can produce.

During the summers I didn’t spend 15 minutes a day inside. Having had a fairly unsupervised childhood, I would walk the 2-3 miles to the community pool arriving about an hour before it opened, pacing and baking until the lifeguard begrudgingly opened the gate. My friends would come and go during the day, escorted by their conscientious parents. Then at 9 pm, after about 30 “Get out now!” warnings from the lifeguard, I’d drag myself out, and stumble home, exhausted. I did it every day in the summer, except Mondays, when they cleaned the pool, the most dismal day of the week for me. Click on Read More Below...

Gals Guzzle

Melissa, Mary, Kelly and Sally

Holy cats but the gals had fun last night at Jeffry’s. Martinis, champagne, wine, steak tartare, oysters, frites, fresh-made mozzarella! The evening was described as luxurious, not just the setting (which was by the way, and hopping, and everything half-priced for happy hour), but because we felt indulgent. We laughed, we gossiped, we laughed! Melissa Garnett and her husband own the Uvalde Leader News and the Pearsall newspaper. Melissa is very active in the Humane Society Uvalde, and I met her (round-about) through Paula Disbrowe (whose cookbook, Real Cajun, written with Donald Link, just won the 2010 James Beard Cookbook Award for American Cooking!). What a fun, funny gal Melissa is! Lucky me for meeting her. Mary Wilbur and her husband Bob are very involved as CEO and Marketing Director for Salient Systems, a manufacturer of Video Surveillance Management, Digital Video Recording and Network Video Recording systems. Mary is also very involved in philanthropy in Austin. She and I bonded about 10 years ago when we worked on a gala together. Mary is smart and good through and through. Kelly Jackson is a writer, yoga instructor and partner with her sister Sally as the duo, “Midlife Gals,” a fabulous comedy team, contributors to More Magazine, and much more. Check out their blog at http://www.themidlifegals.com.  Sally Jackson, in addition to being a partner with Kelly in “Midlife Gals,” is an accomplished actor, and a casting director, having cast principal actors for directors such as Stephen Spielberg, Robert Redford, Sidney Lumet, Kevin Costner, Roger Vadim and John Milius. Trust me gals. One of these days you’re going to see Sal and Kelly walk across the stage to accept an Academy Award or an Emmy, or both, and you’re going to say, “Aren’t those the gals that SueAnn told us about?” Unfortunately Linda Benjamin didn’t make it, but I’m sure she’s got some outrageous excuse and since I love her, I will forgive her.

California Dreaming - Day 1

You know you’re menopausal when you pick your vacation destinations based on the daytime highs on the weather map. Aha! My next career, a la Jeff Foxworthy,  “You know you're menopausal when...” But I digress.

Today is the first day of the rest of my vacation, and yes, you’ll have to suffer through relentless emails begging you to read my travel journal. I think I may have the Tom Cruise “Look at me!” syndrome. That’s just sad. But I digress.

So off to California I go where ocean breezes whisk away the mosquitoes, my hot flashes and any semblance of a hair do. Here’s the agenda. First, to Van Horn to have dinner with my youngest, Colt. Then to New Mexico to pick up my BFF, Deb. Then we’ll put on our Depends so we don’t even have to get out to pee as we drive through scorching hot Arizona. Then do a “Thelma and Louise” and drive straight into the Pacific (actually to the Hotel Coronado - ocean front room – yes, I’m blowing my wad)! 

My personal goal for this trip is to only eat where I can throw a fork into the ocean from my table. Actually we don’t have an itinerary per se, but the "turn-around" destination is San Francisco, by way of highway 101.

·      I want to have dinner and stare at the beautiful ocean and people at Georges at the Cove, and eat Crème Brule at La Valencia, in La Jolla.  

·      I want to go to Mr. Sushi on Cannery Row in Monterrey, where your sushi floats to you on the tummy of a little plastic otter, (there’s a little river-mote surrounding the bar).

·      I want to eat garlic ice cream at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

·      I want to spend the night and get a massage at Ventana in Big Sur. Except that probably won’t happen since I already blew my wad in San Diego. It’ll probably be at the Motel 6, no massage, in Santa Cruz.

·      I want to drive down Lombard Street, freeze my arse off on the ferry to Sausalito, and hurt myself on Dim Sum at Yank Sing in San Francisco.

Ciao Baby!

SueAnn

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 43

#43  “Don't flush the toilet every time you pee, that waste water; just pour a little Pine Sol in the bowl to keep the odor down.”

 This "drawing' of "Saint Inez, Patron Saint of Incontinence," that I did as a joke one time, seemed appropriate for this blog post.

As gross as this one of one hundred things my mom taught me a million times sounds, I have to admit that it is really pretty practical. Bathroom behavior is not something I am really comfortable writing about, but then it’s a little hard to write about mom’s #43 without discussing pee pee, potties and tp (we will not, however be discussing poop).

So about pee pee and Pine Sol, and by the way, this is not an endorsement of Pine Sol, it just so happens that was the “disinfectant” of choice in our household. And honestly, I’m not sure it’s not the same thing as that “blue lagoon” of liquid that never seems to quite cover what needs to be covered in the bottom of a porta-potty (gag reflex engaged). 

Part of why #43 makes a lot of sense to me is because I’m a waterholic, which naturally also means I’m a pottyaholic. Yep, I’m in there about every 30-minutes between 5:00 am and 9:00 pm. A low-flow toilet uses 1.6 gallons of water per flush. That means I’m using 25.6 gallons of good, fresh, drinkable water a day, just to slosh my pee pee away. That’s pretty horrible – 25 gallons of water! Yikes. I suspect there are entire villages in Africa that survive on less than that every day. Click on Read More Below...

The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths By Pat Brown

When I do a book review I always check to see what other people have to say about the book and how it’s rated on various book review pages. These don’t influence my review, because there’s really no getting around how you feel about a book. But it is interesting to me how books affect other people as well.

The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths by Pat Brown was one of those books that people loved or hated, and even the ones who loved it hated some things, and vice versa. The ratings were all very high or very low, nothing in between.  I believe I know why. 

First, most of you would probably take a wide detour around this book unless you’re fascinated by what makes serial killers and psychopaths tick. I’m not sure why, but I can’t get enough of the who’s, why’s and how’s. So the readers of this book have expectations created through experience (not killing but rather lots of reading about it). Pat Brown didn’t let us down on the juicy details. Her descriptions of the suspected killers, their motives and methodologies were really quite satisfying (that sounds a little sick, right?) Click on Read More Below...

My Latisse - Not So Clinical Trial - FINAL Results

Yep, it works. Enough said. I’m tired of writing about it and you certainly must be tired of reading about it. Plus looking at photos of my face that close up is simply too depressing. As Bette Davis said, “Old age ain’t no place for sissies.”

Week #5                                         Week #4

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 42

#42 “When you get a run in your hose don't throw them away, you can stop the run with clear nail polish.”

I remember with horror the many times when I was a kid and saw the tops of my mom’s stocking and garters (not to be confused with a garter belt) creeping down below the hem of her skirt, the folds of stockings slumped around her ankles, and yes …. the telltale swabs of nail polish marking the end of a run. Mom being the frugal and low-paid teacher she was, would often use whatever color of nail polish she had, as many times as needed, so occasionally her legs looked like she’d been in a paintball fight. I swore as a kid that I’d never lets my hose sag or dab them with nail polish.  

First there were the girdles that held up my stockings, which was ridiculous since I was 18 and had as Melanie Griffith said in the movie “Working Girl,” a mind for business and a body for sin,” (not that I knew it at the time, however.) Then, much to my relief (ha ha) they invented pantyhose. Little did I know what a horrible piece of undies those would prove to be, and I won’t waste time decrying the horrors of pantyhose because if you’re a woman you know, and if you’re a man, you wouldn’t understand (except perhaps the challenges of getting them off a woman during the heat of passion [in a car, added by my husband]). Click on Read More Below ...

WANTED – Very Smart Gals (and Guys) to Build Clean Water Wells and Schools in Tanzania

When I got an email from Very Smart Gal, Dr. Donna Gunn, asking me if I would like to go to Tanzania to build three clean water wells and schools, my first thought was “SueAnn, you are an idiot. When will you ever learn.”

Why?  Because when I went over to Donna’s house some months ago to talk to her about writing grants, I saw a George Bush sticker on a car parked in her driveway and though, “Good grief, a Republican.” How quickly we jump to judge people. Just because I was mad at President Bush, I judged Donna. Then I met her, and liked her immediately.

Then last week when she sent the following email to me, I really wanted to jump on board her cause: Click on Read More Below

My Latisse - Not So Clinical Trial - Week Four Results

Week #4 – Still growing (I think?), although I nearly had a panic attack when I thought my precious 3-year-old granddaughter had nabbed my minuscule bottle of Latisse. She recently got hold of my Cover Girl Outlast Lipstain. Needless to say, it was just short of tragic as I caught her before she painted my purse, the table and herself!

Week #3

Jeff Lofton Jazz Happy Hour at Ruth’s Chris

We heard the best jazz Thursday night at Ruth's Chris in Austin. Jeff Lofton, which included that night, Chris Jones on bass and Butch Miles, drums. Other than the fab music, the best part was it was happy hour, not 11 pm! Jeff sounds a lot like Miles Davis, but different in a very nice sort of way. He plays that brand of jazz that makes you want to close your eyes and drift, soulful, relaxing and stirring, very, very cool! Check him out this Sunday at Jazz Brunch at Waterloo Ice House 38th St. 11am - 1pm, then 3-6 pm at T. C.'s Lounge 1413 Webberville Rd, the "coolest bar you've never been to...",  and each Thursday at Ruth's Chris.  Click here to hear some of Jeff's sa-weet music.

It was also wonderful that Butch Miles happened to be playing with Jeff that night. Butch is married to my friend Linda Benjamin, and is quite famous, having played with such luminaries as Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dave Brubeck, Mel Torme, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Itzak Pearlman and others. Click here to hear Butch swing it.

Seeing old friend Bill Andrews, owner of Ruth's Chris (they served me one hell of $5 martini, and their steaks are unsurpassed), and Turk Pipkin, writer, film maker, actor and creator of The Nobility Project, also made the evening extra special. Not to mention that everyone hung out at our table between sets.

I particularly loved meeting and visiting with Jeff Lofton's wife and Publicist, Dean Lofton (photo to left - a Very Smart Gal!) I think I need to hire her to be my publicists! Click here to check out her website.

Take a listen to Jeff. Go see him live. Buy his album "Jazz To The People." Sometimes we just have to be reminded of why Austin is sooooo special!!

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 41

#41 – “When you run out of something, put the empty box or bottle in your car to remind yourself to buy that item the next time you’re at the store.” 
(Photo is of me and my beautiful daughter, just being silly)

When I see the TV shows about hoarders, I have flashbacks on this one of one hundred things my mom taught me a million times. Mom wasn’t technically a hoarder; she was more like a slob. (Sorry mom). Granted, she though nothing should be thrown away, but it wasn’t so out of control that I couldn’t tidy up the place before friends came over. Yep, I did. I cleaned house before my friends came over because I was embarrassed for them to see how disorderly mom kept it. You know what though, some of the coolest women I’ve ever know didn’t/don't give a hoot about cleaning house, so I don’t consider that a fault, just a characteristic.

So back to the empty boxes and bottles in our car. Honestly, having an empty gallon bottle of Clorox bleach, and Nilla Wafers and Arm & Hammer baking soda boxes rolling around in your front seat floorboard just felt so wrong to me. I can’t tell you how many times I cleaned my mom’s car out so I could take my friends “riding around,” which is pretty much all we did once we learned to drive. Click on Read More below...

My Latisse - Not So Clinical Trial - Week Three Results

Week #3 - Well my Latisse lash-growing experiment seems to be going well. I am most excited that the lashes on my right eye seem to be catching up with the lashes on my left eye. I have a theory about that, which may sound a little wacky to you, but I think it has merit.

Week #2 - I think it’s a right brain/left brain thing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this “theory” clinically referred to as Lateralization of brain function, in a nutshell (non-clinical, basically worthless opinion), the right side controls creativity, and the left logic.

Here’s a gross rationalization for you. If you’re an anal, Republican, control freak, the left side of your brain is probably dominant. If you’re a hippy-dippy, new age, bohemian painter, you’re right brained. I also think that’s why some people have very symmetrical faces (supposedly the most beautiful people in the world), and some appear to be two-different people depending upon which side of their face you’re looking at.

Anywho, I think my way too logical control freakiness left brain has been stunting the growth of my eyelashes. However, this past week I took a couple of days off from work and relaxed and gave my right brain a little play-time, and my anal left brain a rest, I think that made the lashes on my right eye grow faster.

My Latisse - Not So Clinical Trial - Week Two Results

WEEK ONE - Baseline - Pitiful

WEEK TWO – OMG! I think this stuff works!

OK. I need a little perspective and a third-party opinion here. Are my lashes really longer, thicker and darker, or is it just my need to believe that the $114 I spent on a bottle of stuff half the size of a wine cork isn’t just vanity run amuck?

I’m starting to feel a little like Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

I’ll mention again that I spent a good 30 minutes “re-touching” this updated results photo (something I seem to do a lot lately), but I didn’t touch the lashes, just the depressing sea of wrinkles, pores the size of salad plates, and brows in tragic need of maintenance.

So what do you think? Is it working or not?

The Time of My Life By Patrick Swayze And Lisa Niemi

Patrick Swayze never blew my skirt up the way Brad Pitt used to (note the past-tense here), but I always thought he was good-looking and a good actor. So, when I saw that he had a posthumous autobiography out, I paused before deciding to read it, and I’m glad I did. Not glad that I paused, but rather, glad that I read it. It being, The Time of My Life, by Swayze and his wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi.  How do you do a posthumous autobiography? You write it then die of pancreatic cancer two weeks before it’s published.

There were several things in this book that compelled me to slog through the predictable “we went here, we did that,” theme of life-stories. Click on Read More Below...

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 40

#40 - "Moderation in all things.”
(This really, really old photo is of my great grandmother Vina Belle McLaughlin, and great uncle, Alva McLaughlin, taken around 1900 in Spring Creek, TX)

When I was a kid and mom would say this one of one hundred things she taught me a million times, I thought she meant don’t do things, which in my “exploring the world of wonder” mentality just seemed wrong, and to conflict with the adventuresome mother I knew. But by the time I got old enough to experience the downside of “lack of moderation,” I realized what she was really saying was “It’s not what you do that gets you into trouble. It is how much.” Even arsenic in the right proportion can save a life. Click on Read More Below...

My Latisse - Not So Clinical Trial

WEEK ONE - Baseline - Pitiful

Having the Wade Family short-eyelash curse, I decided to give Latisse a try. For those of you living in a cave, Latisse is that perscription stuff you swab on your eyelashes to theoretically make them grow. Whoever thought that Brooke Shield's (Latisse spokesperson) needed more eyelashes is just goofy. Now if they'd grown Whoopi Goldberg some eyebrows, that would have been more convincing.

Anywho, I decided to get some Latisse and do my own not-so-clinical trial. A word of caution here. Don't ever take a photo this close up without having a drink first. It was scary. I had to photo-shop the hell out of it.

So, I'm going to occasionally document the growing, or not, of my eyelashes. If I can grow lashes with this stuff, I'm going to buy it by the bottle and pour it on the "thinning hair" spots on my head! Stay posted for my reoccurring posts!

SPOKEN FROM THE HEART BY LAURA BUSH

Until I read former First Lady Laura Bush’s book, Spoken From the Heart (current #1 best seller, non-fiction), I would have never thought, nor wanted to admit frankly, that she and I share a bond. We’re both West Texas gals. I’d also like to believe that we have that West Texas gal quality of a simple façade, obscuring a solid core of wisdom, presence, and quiet fortitude, honed on the trials of isolation and survival, passed down by our pioneer mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers. Perhaps I flatter us both, but I’ve seen it in others, and although it seems odd to say (considering that I’ve been pissed off at her husband for eight years), I saw it in Laura Bush.

I’m glad I listened to her read her book, rather than reading it myself, because her voice (sound and style) made me feel like I was sitting on the porch at the 3rd generation ranch home of my friend Linda Sue, drinking iced tea, reflecting on life. As I listened to the book, several other things jumped out at me: Click on Read More Below...

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 39

#39 - "Mercurochrome and Vaseline will cure anything.”
(Photo is of my dad and my brother – probably taken around 1942.)

Mom tended to take a rather vague but seemingly effective approach to treating us kids’ illnesses, pains or ”owies.” Her treatments usually consisted of ignoring us or giving us half a baby aspirin (regardless of our age). But she had two other home-remedies in her vast medical repertoire - Mercurochrome and Vaseline, or as mom said a million times, petroleum jelly.

In a world with daily medicine recalls, one has to wonder just how in the hell we survived childhood without modern medicine – or perhaps we survived for the lack of it! When I  researched Mercurochrome, I was a bit horrified! Wiki says that in 1998 the FDA virtually halted its distribution in the United States over fears of mercury poisoning. Yikes! It’s a wonder I didn’t grow a third eye! No wonder I have kinky hair, my nose is too big, and Tom Smith didn't fall in love with me when I was in the 9^th grade. It’s all Mercurochrome’s fault.  Click on Read More Below...

THIS AND THAT

Arrangements Catering & Events

Très chic and very smart gal, Keely Murphy is looking for catering, events, convention services contracts and/or work. If you have any good ideas, or need a good gal, give Keely a jingle. Check her out by clicking on Arrangements Catering & Events above. 

S’more Soirée - November 6-7, 2010

Gal-friend Fayruz Benyousef clued me in on this fun girlfriend getaway to benefit Girl Scouts of Central Texas.  Any event that includes the word “Soirée” sounds Ab Fab to me! If you register with a girlfriend by 6/30, you get a great discounted deal!  Fayruz will be teaching a belly dance class! Must go for that!

Check it out, tell your friends, get a group together for some great fun. Fayruz said they had a BLAST last year with Sara Hickman - great views, great food, awesome pamper treatments – even shopping! Gal-howdy! Click on S’more Soirée above for more info.

 

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 38

#38 - "You are not Ansel Adams, so always put people in your pictures.”
(Here's a photo that you could write a book from! Family members - 1950's)
When my first husband (of many) and I went on our 2-week honeymoon in 1966 to Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, we took lots of pictures of the many beautiful landscapes, but I only remember one, of me standing close to the edge of the grand canyon. It was the only photo we took that had a person in it. When I saw all those photos, none of which did the scenery anything close to justice, I flashed on what mom taught me a million times. “You’re not Ansel Adams SueAnn,” she’d say. “Put some people in the picture. Otherwise it just won’t be interesting.” Gaud, she was right again! Click on Read More below for the full story...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

With a great husband, three loving children, five amazing grandchildren, great friends, and a plethora of books to read, I feel like I lead a charmed life (knock on wood). I am inspired to say this at the beginning of my review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because this is one of those books that fills your heart to bursting and makes you feel happy to be alive.

I’m not sure how a book about a poor black woman whose cancerous cell samples are taken without her consent shortly before she dies of cervical cancer in 1951, can inspire such happiness! Nor how I can feel so elated to read about how that woman's cells are eventually grown in massive vats, leading to a cure for polio, breakthroughs in gene mapping and a multi-billion dollar industry. But I will try to explain. Click on Read More below...

Happy Mother's Day!

I received this Mother's Day greeting from artist, neighbor and friend, Annie Taylor.

She should be illustrating children's books!

Isn't this lovely!

Thanks, Annie!

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 37

#37 - "Practice your Miss America walk and graceful hands."

 My husband Crouse and I in Port Aransas – we were 40-something – and to think that this is the body I always hated, and would now kill to have!

Although lots of people joke about beauty pageants, when I was growing up they were paragons of beauty, grace and status for women. We never missed watching the Miss America Pageant, always cheering for Miss Texas of course. Mom was determined that one of us girls (four daughters) would be a beauty queen, so practicing the Miss America walk and graceful hands was imperative.  She taught me a million times to walk with my head up, shoulders back, a smile plastered on my face, making eye-contact at all times! Several friends have said, “Ah yes, the book on the head thing,” but it was much more than that, it was the Miss America Walk, designed to convey confidence, very subtle sexual promise, and a virginity in tact! Click on Read More Below...

Nicole Brown Simpson’s Sister at Mother's Day Luncheon Benefiting The San Antonio Battered Women and Children’s Shelter

(Denise Brown left)
After 15 years, Denise Brown, has decided to talk about her sister’s death. Although Denise has long been an advocate against family violence, she only recently opened up about Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder. Denise said that her family helplessly witnessed the psychological and verbal abuse and manipulation for years. They didn’t know about the physical abuse. But later found 12 years of physical abuse documented in Nicole’s diary. How often we stand by helplessly as loved ones struggle. How horrific when that struggle and helplessness turn into irrevocable tragedy.

Christy Overstee (daughter’s friend in San Antonio), wonderful friend Linda Benjamin (VP National Domestic Violence Hotline/TX Council on Family Violence) JoLene Noelke Moore (my daughter), and long-time friends, Debbie Tate from Austin and  Suzi Crane from San Antonio.


Despite the sad topic, my table really enjoyed the "Honoring Mother's 2010" luncheon in San Antonio, benefiting The Battered Women and Children's Shelter, and felt honored to support such a nice event and important cause. My gratitude to all of the people working in the trenches to help abused and battered women and children.

Pat Smothers – Founder and Chair of the Event, Honorary Board Member of Family Violence Prevention Services, and friend from the days when we were officers and very active in the National Women's Political Caucus and the Texas Women’s Political Caucus.