Legally Blonde's Proceedings

One of my two favorite plantation homes in Louisiana seems to be sitting right in the path of the eye of the storm. Houmas House is located in Houma , Louisiana. It is fantastic, and hopefully it was built to survive the worst of a hurricane like Gustav.

Tech won last night 49-24, but I'm not sure if there is a Tech fan out there that was happy with the performance. Hopefully this will be the kick in the butt that the boys need to get their acts together for the rest of the season!

Just when I was about to start planning a fall trip to my favorite city, NOLA, here comes Gustav. While I'm not wishing Gustav on anyone else, I wish it would go somewhere else (though hoping it wouldn't visit one of my best friends, Jenn, in the Florida panhandle either)! As someone who visited NOLA just a few short months after Katrina, I say let's pray the levees hold this time and save NOLA and the surrounding parishes from the devastation of 3 years ago. After seeing it in person, it is something that is hard to forget and hard to imagine that they might be facing it again.

I just finished "The Beach House" by Jane Green. Green's latest books are VERY different from earlier works, but I really enjoyed it. It is the story of several different people and at first it is a little difficult to keep everyone straight and to figure out what they have to do with each other, but then it all comes together and is a nice story. It makes me want to go for a trip to Nantucket! I recommend it.

I just finished reading "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicholas Sparks. I'm not a loyal reader of Sparks and have probably seen more of the movies based on his books than I have actually read of his books, but I saw the preview for this movie which is coming out in October and decided to read the book. It is a good enough book and a fast read, and while I don't want to give too much away, I just want to know what is with this guy Nicholas Sparks? What's with his obession with heartache? I think the books are suppose to leave you uplifted somehow, but I feel like I'm in need for a light-hearted chick-lit book now!

Just a few closing thoughts on the Summer Olympics... I don't know who has been tinkering with the Olympics, but I wish they would stop. Some of the tinkering has been in the name of technology, but I just don't like it. For example, the swimmers. These are the guys that are the most enjoyable athletes to behold; however, they are now covered up in crazy space looking suits. The women beach volleyball players run around in their little bikinis as eye-candy for every man in the world to enjoy (probably even in the Arab nations where they would slap a burka on them if they were on their soil). Did you see the men's beach volleyball? What were they wearing you might ask? Shorts and T-shirts! They don't even run around shirtless like they do on the beaches here in America! I can tell that men are running the IOC , and I can also tell that it is time for a woman to get her opinions in there! I'm just saying....

I finished another book last night. It was all I could do not to finish it on Sunday night, but I knew I had to get up at the crack of dawn yesterday so I held off finishing it until yesterday "Remember Me?" is by Sophie Kinsella who is the author of the " Shopoholic " series (and basis for the upcoming movie) and a couple of other books "Can You Keep a Secret?" and " Undomestic Goddess". I was leery to read this one because I really didn't like " Undomestic Goddess" and didn't even get more than 1/3 of the way through it, but "Remember Me?" was a pleasant surprise...in fact my favorite one since the " Shopoholics "! I give it a thumbs up and say read it if you have time. I'm not sure what is next, I will have to consult my bookshelf as there are several books waiting to be read.

That's right... Football season is swiftly approaching. One week and counting! Next Saturday Texas Tech Red Raiders will be playing their first game of the 2008 season. Texas Tech vs. Eastern Washington at 6:00 p.m. in Lubbock. Wreck 'em Tech!

I finsihed my "book of the week" last night,"Chasing Harry Winston" by Lauren Weisberger. It was kind of slow at first and I had a little trouble keeping the three main characters straight in my mind, but once I sat down to read more than a few pages at a time, it came together nicely. Overall, it was pretty good and it certainly made me a laugh numerous times. Lauren Weisberger is the author of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Everyone Worth Knowing", both of which I found to be pretty good also.

I received a phone call from my department chair at the college today wanting to know if I would be willing to teach another class (a 4 th ). Full time faculty teach 5 if you need that measuring stick to compare 4 classes to. I said no, which I believe is a good sign that while I may have already partially lost my mind when agreeing to teach 3 classes, it isn't completely check-me-into-an-institution gone!

Yeah, yeah. I know I've already announced with excitement that S&TC is being released on September 23rd, but check out THIS DVD cover... 2 disk special edition with an extended cut! When I think of September 23rd, I think "oh happy day". Don't anyone even think of getting this for me for my birthday. If you think I'm going to wait a whole month for it, then you are just CRAZY. However, if you are searching for Christmas ideas, here is one... The complete Sopranos is coming out November 11 th . It can be yours (or mine) for the list price of $399 (but barnes and noble is running the cut rate price of $319 or $287 if you are a member). Geez , I don't know how they are going to sell it so cheap ;)

A new semester is upon me. After teaching two classes last spring at the college and one this summer, I agreed to teach three this Fall. If you talk to me in a couple of weeks and I wonder when exactly it was that I lost my mind, please just remind me that it was probably when I agreed to teach 3 classes on top of my full time lawyering job! I was teaching a summer class that only met half as often, but ran the full length of both summer sessions, so this is my "week off" without school, as classes begin on Monday, August 25 th . Of course, the college scheduled a faculty meeting that I had to attend last night, so there goes the week off. It was quite the beating (lasted over 3 hours), but very interesting too. They have rearranged some of the departments and the department chairs (due to the rapid growth, they do this quite often). Now, instead of having a department chair over History, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology and Government, Government is now grouped wit...

So I figure that if I set out in my car, I will surely find Noah somewhere near... It has been raining and raining through the night and most of the day. Some places in Collin County (not too far away from my house) are reporting 8-12 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. Now if that isn't calling for an ark, I'm not sure what is! The areas of Collin County that got the smaller amounts of rain are still reporting a heafty 5 inches. Parker had to postpone golden girl Nastia's parade that was scheduled for Saturday because of the flooding. Who would have thought that we would have flooding in August? Update: Pete Delkus just showed the map of rainfall totals and it looked like my house was sitting in the 9-10 inches of rain in the 6 hour period.

So I have finally discovered what all the nightly commotion is about around my house... For a while now, every single evening, from about 5:00 until bedtime, Lola stands in the dining room looking out the window and about every 4 minutes, she will just go nuts. I have gone to the window and looked out countless times, but seen nothing. I have even gone so far as to get under the buffet (because it is in front of the window) and look from Lola's point of view, but to no avail. I had just about decided that my poor Lola was schizophrenic. Then last night, I saw our own little version of Remy from Ratatouille peeking out from under the neighbors fence! Of course, I would never put out poison for fear of hurting Lola, so looked up what I had heard, that cayenne pepper would kill rats. I read about this on the internet and now, after reading about what it does to the little guys, I could never do that to the poor little rat. So I have named him Remy. Haven't seen whether he has...

After hoping to watch some exciting events from the Olympics earlier today on TV, and getting stuck watching Kayaking, I decided to look up all of the "sports" that were part of the Summer Olympics. You may deduce from my tone that I do not believe each event is actually a sport, and you would be correct. Here are some that I question the legitimacy of: Badminton, Canoe/Kayak (2 different kinds), Trampoline(!!!), Synchronized Swimming, Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Table Tennis. Trampoline? Seriously?! How old are those contestants, six maybe seven, because I don't know any self respecting adult who is going to be competing in a trampoline contest. Why not tether ball , seems like that one was overlooked by the people who thought dancing around with pretty streamers was an event? You may find it interesting as I did, that the 2012 Summer Olympics in London will not include Baseball or Softball. Seems they were done on a trial basis and not picked up for the longterm. F...

So I just went into my extra bedroom to go through my gift chest (where I store gifts that I purchase for people over the year) to wrap my friend Suzanna's birthday gift. Her birthday is coming up in early September and being the early bird that I am, I wanted to get it all wrapped and ready to give (you know, in case something crazy happens and renders me unable to giftwrap ? who knows why i do things so early!). In the extra bedroom, sitting really kind of hidden away in the corner had been a birthday present that my friend Abby brought to me (she was also being a really early bird). I had done so good fighting the urge to open it early, and really had kind of hidden it away in there so that I would forget about it until late October. Anyway, I go in there and discover that my birthday present has been opened! Immediately, I say "Lola, you bad girl! Look what you have done! You opened MY birthday present!". Lola just looks back blankly. Then it kind of dawns on me ...

I saw an attorney in court this morning with what I am assuming were painted toenails...they were painted yellow. Now I know that some brands such as OPI has come out with some funky colors this summer, but I want you to know just how bad the idea of yellow is. For one thing, it isn't a truly opaque bright yellow, so you cannot actually tell for certain that it is toenail polish (as opposed to just yellow toenails). Considering that they make medication to correct the problem of yellow fungus toenails and that they advertise it heavily, I'm surprised that someone would think it is a good idea to (1) manufacture yellow polish, (2) choose it as a color, or (3) continue to wear it after seeing it painted on your toes. Lisa was disappointed that I didn't tell the attorney in court that her toes were really horrendous, but I really didn't feel like I knew her well enough (Lisa said sometimes things are so horrible, you really just have to say something even if you don't ...

Lola is still worn out from the four hours of keeping three children yesterday. As you can see, she got close to her toys and thought about playing with them, but decided that she was just too darn tired! As a side note, I am also worn out from staying up so late watching these darn olympics! Every single night, the best stuff comes on from 9:30 to 11:00 (or later)!

I played the role of babysitter today for 3 kids, ages 4, 5, and 9. A friend of a Mito and Lisa's died and I offered to babysit if the family needed a sitter (the lady that died had young children). Turns out there wasn't a sitter needed for the family of the deceased, but another friend of Mito's really needed a sitter in this area because they live in Fort Worth and were going east for vacation (they wanted to leave from here instead of having to go back to FW to get the kids after the funeral). Anyway, that long explanation leads you to how I ended up keeping the three kids. Upon arrival, I was warned to watch Gracie, the 4 year old. Apparently she like to cut things (like hair), draw on walls and furniture, etc. To quote the Mom "If you think it is hidden from her, you better hide it again because she will find it!" My adventures in babysitting included the following: Gracie playing doggy and carrying Lola's toys, bones, rawhides , etc. in her mou...

Finally, we have received some rain this afternoon! After watching rain fall on the neighboring counties without a drop falling at my house, we finally got some measurable rain here in McK ! My yard and flowers are so happy (Lola not so much)!

They have finally set a release date for Sex and the City: The Movie on DVD! September 23rd!!!!!! YEA! You know Lisa and I saw it twice the day it opened and I've been waiting for the DVD so I can watch it a million times just like I have the series DVDs.

Milly is visiting for the weekend. This means no rest for me or Lola! Jennifer brought Joshua by yesterday to meet Milly and to check out all the action. As you can see the pups were in constant motion, but Josh thought they were oh so funny! I just went to the movies and was very happy to return to a house that didn't appear to suffer any damage in my absence (at least at my first glance). I met Lisa at the movies and we saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Pretty good. A combo of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th books as I suspected. There was a girl behind us laughing so hard during the whole movie (even non-funny parts) that I suspected she must have turrets syndrome and laughing was her "tick". I whispered to Lisa during the movie "oh to be that young and to think everything was that funny!"

Today was grooming day for Lola dog. When I picked her up at the groomers, I discovered that the prices had gone up 25%. Yes, 25%! Of course we also had an extra $6 fee for dematting , so it was quite the expensive trip to the groomer. In fairness, I think this is now on par with what I was paying when I took her to Park Cities Pooch for grooming, but it is McK , so you would expect to pay a little less right? I mean, doesn't the rent cost less at the old strip mall on 380 than it did on Lovers Lane in Highland Park? Lola seems to like them, so I'm sure we will stay there (I may just have to get a 3rd job to support Lola)! They usually put a cute bandanna on her, but as you can see in the photo, she left today looking like a clown (or perhaps like she was ready to march in a gay pride parade) with her rainbow bandanna. Usually I let her wear it for a day or two, but today, it has gone promptly to the trash! An upcoming Lola expense that I am really excited about...professiona...

Many of you who may be reading this know that I read a lot, and many of you may be my book-swapping buddies, so I thought I would have posts about what I'm reading and maybe what I am watching on TV. I have just finished the last two books in the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series. I read the first one years ago, the second one a few months ago, and decided to finish the series because it appears that the new movie that is just out actually isn't just the 2 nd summer, but encompasses stories from the 3rd and 4 th summers as well. I am now reading a new book called "How to Be Single". Before you get ready to call for a straight jacket for me and think that I'm reading some crazy self help book about being single...stop... it is a novel. The author is Liz Tuccillo who was one of the writers on the Sex and the City writing staff. I'm about 200 pages in and it is a fun read. I think I will definitely be recommending it. I have found a favorite...

So from time to time, I run across funny things in my work. I thought I would use this format to share them with friends. We had a divorce client and needed to e-mail the soon-to-be ex some documents. When Jennifer got the e-mail from the ex, the e-mail address went something like this... ournewlife08@whatever.com this just really cracked us up! can you imagine changing your e-mail address to this? wonder why this one won out? why not, myhusbandjustdivorcedme@yahoo.com , or finallyridoftheoldballandchain@gmail.com , or boywhatacrappyyear@hotmail.com ? Warning to Readers: The are not real website (at least I hope they aren't)... just figments of my imagination. Please don't click on them and try to send an e-mail!

So this is my newest purchase for the house. It is hanging in my dining room. I have wanted this picture for almost three years (just about the whole time I've lived in this house). I originally saw it in Ballard Designs and it didn't come framed (just stretched canvas) and was $249(!). I ran across it in Kirlands by my house and it was normally $199, but clearanced out for $99. So this is my deal of the week! Of course there is a back-story as to how I got to Kirklands in the first place... I was going places with Jennifer while she looked for a basket/chest/cube/something to put some of little Josh's toys in. We went to Hobby Lobby the day before and she didn't find what she was looking for, but of course I found christmas ornaments! Yes, Christmas Ornaments. Yes, it was 100 degrees outside, but they were 40% off and cute little kitchen-specific ornaments. I bought a new (bigger) tree for the kitchen last year 75% off in January, so I figured that I wou...

Abby & Brooks spent Sunday night here at my house. It was my first time meeting little B and I'm smitten. He is such a happy little camper and cute. Lola however, not so smitten. She isn't sure about people that small...is he a toy, squirrel, opossum ? I can tell these are her thoughts. Abby & I spent Monday shopping, shopping, and more shopping! We hit up downtown McK at a children's boutique and then went to the Allen outlets. I got back home just in time to go and teach that night. It was a real treat because I got to see Abby again on Tuesday. We met up for dinner because there had been some forgotten packages that we had to transfer over! Oh well, I don't care the reason because I got to spend more time with my friend!

So it seems all my friends either have blogs, myspace , facebook etc. pages. I started thinking, why not me? Sure I don't have kids that everyone wants to see updates on, and sure I rarely do anything exciting, but I realized that I have more than my fare share of shenanigans on just about a daily basis, so why the heck not! Of course, I always want to keep everyone updated with the latest Lola happenings too, so here we are... blogging for the first time.