I'm back!

Vegas was a blast. A total and complete blast. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to post as of now, because I cannot find my camera cord to post them!!
In a nutshell, here are the details..
Sunday, 3:45 am
WOKE UP and left for the airport at 4:30 am to check in for my standby flight, scheduled for 6:25 am. Got to Vegas at 8:30 am and met my girls and a fellow Extra finalist, Steve at the airport where we were picked up by a Planet Hollywood limo and taken to the hotel to check in. We got in our bathing suits and headed down to the casino to take a taxi to the Palms hotel, where there was a cabana waiting for us!! We had a whole private area reserved and got everything for free. We also got to go up to the private pool area over the bar (aka Hugh Hef's pool when he's there; interesting fact: there are two large windows at the bottom of the pool that are directly over the bar. hmmm...). After our hangout at the pool, we went back to our hotel and got ready for the nighttime. We ate dinner at KOI. Now, for those of you who know me well, you will understand my trepidation at eating at a purely sushi restaurant!!! I was a little freaked out, but since it was all being paid for, I knew I just had to suck it up and try something new. It was shockingly good. I think what I normally eat and do not enjoy, are the sushi rolls... This time we just had all different kinds of tuna, which was awesome. After Koi, we hung out a bit more down in the casino, and eventually headed over to the Wynn, to go dancing at Tryst, where we ALSO had VIP everything and a private booth!! IT was sooo much fun! Those are the only pictures I have, because they are on the Tryst website. SO, here they are:



We had such a fantastic time, and I'm so glad I got to go.

BUT, I must say... as great as the trip was, as FANTASTIC as the trip was, my first thought when I woke up the next morning was my little girl and Niles, and how ready I was to see them. I'm sure if I would have stayed another night I would have had a great time. But I was so ready to get on that plane and head home for my family. And, what was ALSO great, was that I felt that way!!! I love that feeling of having a family. I love being a mommy and a wife and having that in my life. It was wonderful to know that as much as I enjoy my friends and being adventurous and girls nights... all of it... I have something so great to look forward to when I get home to my family. When I got home and saw Reese in the car and saw how excited she was to see me, my heart leapt!!!

Reese had her first "school concert" last night. It was absolutely precious, and as soon as I find my darn cable cord, I will get those pictures up! The only bummer is that it was SOOOO packed in the sanctuary that I had to sit up in the balcony! So needless to say, my pictures are completely useless. Her class sang, "Praise Him, all you little children". It was AWESOME!!! And Reese had a large cheering section, so when her class came out on stage, someone yelled "Yeah Reese!" and she stopped dead in her tracks on stage and started looking around everywhere. It was great.

Anyways, until I get photos, that's it for now!!!

PEACE.

And firing him makes sense because....??

DALLA​S— The Dalla​s Maver​icks annou​nced today​ that they have relie​ved Avery​ Johns​on of his coach​ing dutie​s.​ Johns​on becam​e the eight​h coach​ in Maver​icks histo​ry on March​ 19, 2005.​ He colle​cted a recor​d of 194-​70 (​.​735)​ durin​g his tenur​e with a posts​eason​ recor​d of 23-​24 (​.​489)​.​

“I would​ like to thank​ Avery​ for his valua​ble contr​ibuti​ons to the Maver​icks organ​izati​on,​” Presi​dent of Baske​tball​ Opera​tions​/​Gener​al Manag​er Donni​e Nelso​n said.​ “Over​ the past four years​,​ he has been an integ​ral part of our team’​s succe​ss.​ We wish AJ nothi​ng but the very best in his futur​e endea​vors.​
”
In his first​ full seaso​n as head coach​ (​2005-​06)​,​ Johns​on guide​d the Maver​icks to 60 wins and their​ first​ appea​rance​ in the NBA Final​s.​ He becam​e the faste​st coach​ to reach​ 50 wins (62 games​)​,​ coach​ed the Weste​rn Confe​rence​ All-​Star team and was named​ the NBA’s​ Coach​ of the Year.​

In 2006-​07,​ Johns​on led Dalla​s to a franc​hise-​recor​d 67 wins (​67-​15 overa​ll)​ and the NBA’s​ best recor​d.​ The mark was also the sixth​ best in leagu​e histo​ry.​ Follo​wing a 10-0 month​ of Febru​ary,​ Johns​on garne​red Weste​rn Confe​rence​ Coach​ of the Month​ honor​s,​ an award​ he won three​ times​ in his caree​r.​

This past seaso​n,​ Johns​on becam​e the faste​st coach​ in NBA histo​ry to reach​ 150 wins with a victo​ry over Memph​is on Novem​ber 17, 2007.​ He accom​plish​ed that feat in just 191 games​.​

“It is never​ easy to relie​ve a coach​ of his dutie​s,​ espec​ially​ one of Avery​’s calib​er,​” Owner​ Mark Cuban​ said.​ “He is a talen​ted coach​ and I want to thank​ him for his effor​ts over the last four years​ and what he has done for this franc​hise.​ We wish him well in the futur​e.​"

My Melodramatic Ode to Avery.

Dear Avery: I'm sorry you have a scummy boss. I'm sorry you have dead weight, so-called "All Star" players on your team that can't do jack for all the talk and hype around them (and I'm NOT talking about Dirk). I'm sorry that you are getting SCREWED for mistakes that aren't your own! I know that you read my blog daily to find out how I'm doing so I want you to know I'm sad that you will be leaving. Just wanted you to know. =)

I'M SOOOOOOOOOO FIRED UP right now!!! I'm so pissed at Cuban. So pissed that he is such an idiot for getting rid of Devin Harris and bringing in a 50 year old formerly great player who has done nothing good for our team, and for that matter, is probably largely responsible for how we ended up this season. So pissed that instead of firing some of the players who are not performing like they should we are firing an amazing coach who has, in the barely three years that he has been coaching has taken us to the finals, and to a record-breaking season.

I am such a huge fan of Avery. Such a huge fan of him as a person of integrity and character and as a coach. I'm so mad that he is not getting respect for what a great job he has done.

Wherever he goes, I will be a fan. He could coach Golden State for that matter, and I will cheer for them!!!! That's how much I love that guy!!! He could even coach San Antonio... I will cross to that dark side for him.

Mark Cuban.... kiss off.
Josh Howard... get it together.
Devin Harris... COME HOME!
Jason Kidd... retire.

Dirk... love you!
brandon bass... love you too!

Good Morning!

SO, this morning Ive checked emails, made oatmeal, strawberries and eggs for Reese (okay, I just cut the strawberries...), cleaned house, and watched the American Idol elimination (which was absolutely RIDICULOUS on so many levels!!! Carly deserves so much better!! I'm tired of millions of teeny bopper girls who by voting for the little boys on the show who have such limited talent and who just absolutely do not deserve this are sending home perfectly legitimate, and fantastically talented people!!!! Whatever) I missed on Tuesday.

But there is a special little air of excitement around me today...
That's because I'M GOING TO VEGAS!!!

My friend Lauren was picked as one of the four finalists for Extra's special correspondent contest!! She actually went a few weekends ago to Vegas with another friend of ours (b/c I couldn't go, mind you), and now they are bringing her back again next weekend, and I GET TO GO!!!!

It's only for one night, but I don't care. I'm so freaking excited!! I know Vegas is one of those places you either love or hate, but I just want to GO. I've always wanted to go, and now I am going, and not only am I going, but I will be with some great friends, and getting a fabulous night out.

WOO HOO!!

You should really check out...

The following...

1. There Will Be Blood.
Completely awesome and way better than I expected. Should totally have won Best Picture over No Country for Old Men!!

2. The King of Kong.
Documentary about these guys who compete to get the highest score ever on Donkey Kong!! So totally did not expect to get emotionally invested in this movie! I practically cried and wanted to kick one of the major characters in his family jewels. If he had them.

3. Felicity.
I'm on season two. I forgot how much I used to love this show!!! I don't think I even got past the first season when it was on TV, and now I cannot for the sake of me remember why. It is greatness. The goth roommate of Felicity is my favorite character, along with her boss at Dean and Deluca.

4. Big Love.
The HBO series about Bill Paxton and his polygamist lifestyle. Actually much more entertaining than you would think. One of those shows that you should totally not find endearing, and yet you just can't help yourself!

Tagged

Jess tagged me, so let's see if I can think of 7 things you may not know about me...

1. I have a specific shower routine that I have to do every time I shower. I wash my face first, then shampoo my hair, then condition, shave if I need to and soap up, then rinse conditioner. Then I'm out, HAVE to completely wipe my feet dry before I will step out... If I go out of order, well... I just don't.

2. I have NINE magazine subscriptions. But, before judging me crazy, consider first that I used to buy half of those magazines every month. I'm literally sending Reese to college on the money I've saved through doing subscriptions.

3. I really nearly cry every time the Mavericks lose.

4. I own the movie, Crossroads. And Center Stage.

5. I am a talk radio fanatic. NPR on Saturdays, ESPN all day Monday through Friday. After 9/11 I listened to AM News radio every day for like, two years.

6. I am obsessed with the BBC version of The Office. I own the entire set and watch it over and over and over. I love Ricky Gervais.

7. If I could spend an entire day with one person, just for the heck of it, it would be Amy Poehler. I adore everything about her.

If I read this again, I'm sure I will edit it to death, thinking and rethinking and rethinking in my OCD way. So I am going to let this be my 7 things, and wrap this puppy up.

DES, WHERE IS MY LITTLE ISABEAU?!?!? GET THAT GIRL OUT!!!

Jumping with Emma!

Oh my gosh, Reese has a girlfriend! YAY! It's about time. I mean, girls, I love your sons. I love Reese having options in case she and Carson don't work out (I'm just kidding, but as you can see, they tend to gravitate towards each other's lips) ... but a girl's gotta have her girls!

So Rebekah and I took our girls to a bouncy house place today and they were great together. It was so cute.
Reese was a bit suspicious of the looming inflatable houses of bounce terror and she was just throwing tantrums right and left. I basically forced her to endure a obstacle course of fun. I mean, what kind of mother am I?! But eventually she overcame her fear and at the end I had to deal with the temper tantrum of not wanting to leave. Typical. All in all, the day was a success! And we got to have some grownup talk, too. You know, talking about our un-grownups.

Lotsa Pictures!

LOTSA LOTSA pictures to post!!

First off, I love taking Reese to the park. We are fortunate enough to have a lot of options for parks in this area and recently I found my total favorite. It's never too crowded, and it has a pond, sand volleyball court, a toddler playground and a "big girl" playground. Its awesome. We took bread to feed the ducks, who of course wouldn't come near us, and most of that experience was spent holding Reese back from falling into the pond, where, digustingly, I found a huge dead fish floating. So we may just stay near the land next time around.





Okay, and here's from Easter.
My mom was sweet enough to get Reese a really cute dress and Easter basket so we had several different Easter egg hunts, and we kept her in that dress until she crashed from the insane amount of sugar I allowed her to consume as well as the constant running around resulting from that sugar consumption. But I promise, I made her eat like, TONS of her gummy veggie vitamins to make up for it.

ok.

so i suck at brackets!

In this season of brackets...

I am too out of the loop to know how to make my NCAA bracket this year, and I'm certainly too discouraged by my Dallas team to make any sort of prediction or even talk about basketball. Period.

So, my "bracket" right now will just be trying to predict the next ten weeks of American Idol eliminations. =)
Okay, I will admit it. I completely overshot Chikezie's chances. But at least, ya know, he had that ONE. GREAT. NIGHT!!

This week I'm calling Kristy Lee Cook - OUT. Seriously. It's time. Too many chances, now matter how sweet and likable she is, she needs to go.

Next week - Ramiele. Out. Cute. Sweet. Go on, get going.

For the Next Two Weeks after - Chikezie or Dreadhead Jason Castro. Depends on who does better. (And, let it be known, I think Castro is super-cute)

Next - Syesha.

David Archuleta - PLEASE. I'm soooo over him. Yes, he's adorable and he's going to get this far ONLY because of the million screaming 13 year olds. Truth be told, I'd much rather him leave way earlier. Come on, the whole "... when I sing this song I just think of all the people in the world who don't have houses..." Need I say more?! "Someone" has a stage parent!

Michael Johns - I really like him a lot. I sure hope he gets to stay this long.

FINAL THREE!!
Carly, Brooke and David Cook.

I think the big upset is going to be Carly leaving first, and then Brooke and David Cook are going to be the final two.
And either of those I would be happy with!!

So there's my AI blog for the week. And the season for that matter!

Seacrest. out.

Reese and Carson sittin in a tree...

It's American Idol time again!!!

Finally all the auditions are over... The top twelve are here, and I'm so excited!
This is probably the first of many AI blogs to come just like last year when I was ranting over Antonella, Sanjaya and Haley (WHAT was all that about people?!).

So I missed the live show yesterday as I was in Houston working an event, so I'm in the midst of watching it today to catch up.

I have only watched two performances so far, Syesha, who I have loved until the last two shows... and Chikezie.
NEED I SAY MORE?!?!

CHIKEZIE literally brought me to tears because I was sooo excited for him and absolutely loving his performance. He was incredibly entertaining, his voice was outstanding and he was genuinely enjoying himself and sincere throughout the entire thing!! If you watched it I doubt you could disagree that he might have just landed himself in the final 2 or 3 just as a result of this performance.

Watching him afterwards during the judging, I was even more tearful because just hearing how the judges gushed over him and truly gained a huge amount of respect for him made me so genuinely excited!! Call me overly-emotionally invested, or call me a wagon-jumper... I don't care! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!! And I really hope that he keeps it up.
SURELY, some of you agree with me!!

My TOPS

1. PRE-SCHOOL! I took Reesers for the first time today. She did so great! She ate all her lunch, slept on her nap mat (shocking to me) and all-around had a great time! I'm so proud of my baby girl.

2. Once - the movie, the soundtrack... I love it all. I was bawling in the first ten minutes, and I don't know why. It wasn't even sad crying, just tears that somehow forced their way out. Trust me, this is a keeper!

3. A Fine Frenzy - the new CD: One Cell in the Sea.

4. Eat, Pray, Love - fanatically reading through this book. It's so moving, and somehow can relate to millions and millions of women simultaneously. I've come to this realization b/c as soon as I started reading it, I've seen at least 5 or 6 women holding this book while out at the park, waiting at the doctors' office, etc.

5. Skinny Bitch - Despite feeling as though I'm being verbally abused by the foul=mouthed authors, this might be the one book that could snap me out of my junk-loving, veggie-loathing ways. Something has to! So far I've learned that aspartame is Satan and turns into formaldehyde once it gets into my body. I was drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper as I read along. =)

6. Across the Universe - the soundtrack. The movie was good, too, but the soundtrack is infinitely better.

7. Afrin nasal spray - I'm telling you, this is the one thing that has given me any relief for the past two weeks. Yet another thing Skinny Bitch is teaching me... This stuff is the last thing I should be shooting up my nose. Apparently my body is trying to communicate something to me. I'VE GOT IT!! Lets MOVE ON.

8. NPR's podcast: Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me... I've loved it forever, but I'm getting this close to flying my butt to Chicago for one Saturday visit to the Shrine Auditorium.

9. Sonic. I freaking love Sonic.

TTFN. =)

4404 as you've never seen it before!

This is the official GOODBYE post. I know I know, there have been about 50... BUT, the deed is done. So, this must be the official tribute to 4404. Tears are shed, goodbyes have been said, and mom's all moved into the new place, and happy with it I ought to add. But for all of you who spent significant rites of passage in my beautiful childhood home, this is the house as you've never seen it. Now YOU can shed tears, too!!!




Looking down from the stairs over the Christmas morning room and dining room

My old room (tear)

This one seems to be the kicker... The family room. (big tear!)

Started off as the playroom, then the boys' room, then the guest room.

Mom and dad's room



Even Reese can sense the devastation! (or she's just throwing a tantrum b/c I won't let her go upstairs... you pick.)


FINAL photo session on the stairwell.

no time for the important things i suppose...

At least lately...
So my parents home finally sold. I went to help my mom pack up the other day, walked in the door, and literally burst into tears. I admitted that I didn't think I was capable of going through with this dirty deed of packing up my childhood, teen-hood?, and college-hood...
My husband cannot really relate one smidgen to what I'm feeling because his family moved consistently throughout his life. I literally have a memory of nearly every corner, nook, cranny, crack, and baseboard of that house. Every single birthday of the last 23 years, nearly every Christmas... okay, I won't list every holiday, but that's about it. I still had the Homecoming mum that my 7th grade Homecoming date (whom I am great friends with he and his wife now - which makes it all the more hilarious) gave me hanging in my closet! I still have the (or HAD, since my mom is notorious for throwing things out) pink puff paint sweatshirt my BFF gave me in 3rd grade. It had a black puff paint teddy bear that said Best Buddies (AAhhh, the 80s... such class, such taste, such inability to recognize bad "crafty" clothing...) and it was also still hanging in my closet. BUT, OK, it's done. Time to move on...

Unfortunately, I have hardly been able to relish in the last few weeks of occupancy because I am currently "speaker-coordinating" a major conference. www.synergize.tv - check it out... yep, all 50 speakers. That's what I'm working on. So, I've successfully managed to ignore my daughter, miss out on packing up my history, and miss out on several good nights of sleep.

But it all ends this week. Thank the Lord!
Although, I lovah lovah love this kind of work.

Outy 5000.

SOLD!

It's official. My parents will be out by the end of the week.
Can you say, "depressing"?!

Thank God for YouTube! (and children with British accents)

Because this is the best laugh I have had in a long time!!!

Photo Booth Phun!!

This is no help at all!

So now I'm obsessed with finding out if I'm right or left-brained.
This is what I find:

Lindsay, you are Balanced-brained

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

awesome. so basically I just get used to being paralyzed by indecision? or I should feel okay about that, because it is quite possibly a win-win situation depending on what kind of brain I feel like being that day?

Are you Right or Left Brained?

Weird quiz I took just now.
It just popped into my head, wondering if I would be considered right or left-brained, so I looked it up and found this simple test: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html

I cannot imagine this dancer turning counter-clockwise at all. So I guess I'm right-brained?!