Aunt Caroline, Part Deux

I'm an aunt twice over now!
Jackson Everett Shearer was born today at 2:03 p.m.! He was 6 pounds, 9 ounces.
Everyone is doing well!

Happy Easter!

Do I not have the cutest niece in the world? (Other than my own aunts and uncles, of course. :P )

I'm about to be an aunt twice over. Little Alivia here is about to have a baby brother - any day now!


I hope you all had a Happy Easter! I came home with lots of organic dark chocolate so I'm definitely happy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, and may everyone with a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" button be really cute!
Four leaf clovers to the lot of ya'! : )

Live Music Capital

I've been really bad about posting lately. I'd say nothing interesting has been going on, but that wouldn't be accurate. It's more that what has been going on is a.) not stuff I can put on here or b.) stuff I cannot put on here. :D

I have been trying to hit a few SXSW events, along with the thousands of music-lovers who have descended upon our city, the live music capital of the world. There literally have been parties and live music and movies every hour on the hour, every day for a week. This will seem random, but Rachael Ray, the delightfully likable food celebrity, had a party with some indie bands. (Apparently, her husband is in that scene so there is the connection.) I missed seeing her, but I still made the party. I also went to an Ice Cube concert, which was pretty cool. It was old school - You Can Do It, Put Your Back Into It and Today Was a Good Day - meets new school - Gangster Rap Made Me Do It. It was fun.

My dad will be proud that I am taking advantage of the music scene. He doesn't understand how I usually just let it slide on by me. There really is this whole other world here.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY yesterday to my little brother!! : )

Texas Woman Receives Silver Star

Yesterday, March 8, was International Women's Day. This story, then, from the AP, makes a timely appearance.

A 19-year-old medic from Lake Jackson, Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor. Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said. After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away. "I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there," Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday at a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost.

FOX Report in College Station

Have y'all been seeing my dear Aggies each night on the FOX Report with Shepard Smith? Looks like they are in the MSC (Memorial Student Center) on the Texas A&M University campus and are behaving so well - decked out in maroon and whooping only when appropriate. ;)
The segments are part of their ongoing election coverage. If only Shepard could pull some strings and get those political callers from non-stop calling my house!

Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day!
Enjoy your extra day of February! :D

in Pursuit of a Good Picture

* Yep! You guessed it! I was in Amarillo, and this is from nearby Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States!

It is very hard to take a good picture of yourself when trying to include a phenomenal background and simultaneously staring straight into the sun. :P

Any idea where this was taken?

Hint: Loads of history here - from Native American to Civilian Conservation Corps to present-day performances that draw hundreds of thousands each year.

Hint: Nearby, if you can finish a 72-ounce steak dinner in under an hour, it's free!

OK - I made this really easy!

Red Tulips

I was in the grocery store this weekend, and they had an assortment of flowers, presumably left over from Valentine's Day, on sale throughout the store. I often will buy a few stems to keep on the kitchen counter overlooking my breakfast area and living room because it creates a nice, bright feeling, I think.
One of the specials they had was on tulips - red tulips. I really like tulips, and the red ones were quite pretty and rather dramatic looking. Since they were offering 30 stems for $10, I bought one bunch of them. Then I got them home and discovered that 30 is a lot of tulips - a whole lot! I realized right away they weren't going to fit into just one vase. Now, I have two big vases absolutely bursting with red tulips brightening up the mood of my house and myself!
For the next couple of days, at least, I look very loved. :P

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Here's a little V-Day cake I made, with raspberries and homemade whipped cream in the middle. Mmmm ... too bad I gave it away instead of getting to eat it! :P

Have a wonderful day celebrating the love in your life - all of it!

This Weekend

I played Laser Tag for the first time this weekend. It was FUN! It was the adults versus the kids we tutor in a two-story, black-lit playing field. We were all running around, trying to tag each other and the "bases." I discovered I'm a little bit of a daredevil in combat - willing to catch the brunt of the opposition forces in pursuit of attacking their base. : )
The kids won both games - BUT we would have had them the next game! It just took us a little longer to get the hang of it, not being experienced in these things. :P They keep pushing for paintball, too, but I have to admit I'm a little scared of that one.
It was beautiful this weekend. I spent a good deal of the afternoon Sunday out walking on Town Lake. It was so nice!

Texas Family Magazine - January/February 2008

All about Love.

That was our theme for this issue, my second now as Editor in Chief. Isn't this cover cute?


Texas Family is now entering its third year, which is exciting! We have some really great stories in this issue - like a winery tour through the different viticultural regions of Texas and a story on adopting from the Texas foster care system. I wrote the adoption story and a travel story on Clearwater, Florida. I'd love to post pictures of those, too, but then you wouldn't go out and buy a copy. :P

Write-a-Thon

Supposedly, there is some kind of a football game on today, and since I couldn't be less interested, I have decided to hold my own write-a-thon. I'm going to try to write all day for my book (books, really.)
I have had so few opportunities for months now that I am curious to see how well I can get back in the groove and how my perspectives have changed regarding my characters and plots ... Wish me well!

Careful, or You Might ...

"Careful, or you might end up in my novel."
I saw that t-shirt design this morning, and it cracked me up. If I wore that, I wonder if people would take me seriously. Somehow, I doubt they would, and yet, they probably should ... :P

I don't know about you all, but I have sneezed at least fifty times in the last few hours, courtesy of that good, ol' cedar fever. Aah!

Juno, an Unlikely Hero. One of Many.

I saw a fantastic movie this weekend, titled "Juno." Very different from what I expected, it is a hilariously funny and touching story about a girl named Juno who gets pregnant at 16 and then proceeds to try to find adoptive parents for her on-the-way baby. And, while I was delighted the whole way through with this precocious/innocent/savvy/naive girl, I also really appreciate the underlying and tender message that comes from this storyline.

Take a moment, and picture this: a teenage girl, pregnant.

I imagine this brings up a lot of images conditioned from upbringing, society, personal experiences, etc. For many of you, it may bring up a negative reaction at first, or perhaps entirely. When I see a young girl who is pregnant, while at times there may be an initial shock, my next thought is one of love - how brave she is, and even braver if she is taking that extra step of giving up her baby for adoption. And, I think of the beautiful life that was created and is living inside her.

To me, the girl in this movie is like so many other girls I've known - not in the sense that they all became pregnant - but in the sense that they are learning how to live and how to be who they are (who they really are, not who others want them to be.) And, while some may not find her general choice of words or actions throughout the movie "appropriate," I can assure you how she talks and behaves is like so, so many girls today. It is a product of an independent spirit, and I applaud it.

Maybe if we're appalled, we're actually appalled at ourselves for not always saying what we think or doing what we feel, without regard for what others will think of us. I'm really proud of this next generation of girls, and I hope that we "older girls" (and boys) are able to learn something from them.

Back in the Day ... Songs

Back in the Day ... songs were not so different.
I was playing around with songs again on here, and it got me to thinking: This whole, "Oh, the song lyrics were so innocent back when I was younger" stuff people try to convince others of is not exactly so.
I remember the odd expression on my Dad's face when I'd go around the house, in seventh grade, belting out "Damn! I Wish I Was Your Lover!" over and over again. -- I'm surprised my parents didn't have me in Catholic school ... Oh, wait.
Then, of course, searching around I found a few other favorites from back in the day - "Naughty Girls Need Love, Too," "Bad Boys," and let's not even mention Madonna or hip hop. I'm not inclined to make a full social commentary today, but it's an interesting observation. And, hey! I turned out okay. :P

Deconstruct Your Reality

Sometimes things get stuck in my head, and I just can't move on until I get them out somehow. This can be particularly interesting when it's for someone specific and it's three in the morning, but, in this case, this one is more of a general statement and one I kept thinking as I was driving. The thought was so persistent that I fished out a gas receipt from my purse and scribbled it down at 70 miles per hour. For everyone it might mean a little something different so I'll just write it and let you interpret it for your own life. It's a simple statement, yet remarkably profound.

"Deconstruct your reality, and live, really."

Happy New Year's Everyone!

Happy New Year's everyone, and welcome to 2008! I think it's going to be a good year!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday season! It's time to begin anew ... : )

A Lovely Christmas Season to You!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that your holiday season is going splendidly! I am back in town after an extremely brief trip home. But - responsibilities beckon and all that ...
I am working hard today, but, in honor of the Christmas season, I'm doing it in front of my Christmas tree in my holiday pajamas - all day!
A continued blessed and beautiful holiday season to you and yours!

Zilker Trail of Lights 2007

We had our annual pilgrimage to the Zilker Trail of Lights. It's always a lot of fun to walk around all the different displays and then spin yourself silly under the big tree!

I also should mention that I have been going loco - as expected - with adding music, etc. to my blog. The sidebars keep going down further and further and further ...

Oh, and we added an "audio preview" to our website, if you just can't seem to get enough of my voice. :P