Texas Blue Lime Productions

Last week’s #ATXplanecrash hit close to home, literally. It occurred just a couple of “highway” blocks south of where we live. I was home, never heard a boom, and didn’t see any smoke.

Twitter was our source for information. I learned of it first, there (just like I did of Michael Jackson’s death) and Re-Tweeted significant information so that our friends would see it, too.

It was a bit surreal and resurrected tragedies in my life—the Paris tornado (1982), Hurricane Andrew (1992), Aggie Bonfire (1999), and yes, the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks—only on a much smaller scale. The day’s news blurbs via Twitter and local network streaming were even a little reminiscent of the Columbine tragedy.

Tomorrow night, our friends—@kimhollenshead, @laniar, and @bennrosales—are hosing a Candlelight Vigil in memory and honor of those affected. True to the open-minded and welcoming style of Austin, it’s a secular not-quite-”Kumbaya”-but-with-that-spirit event that is designed only to bring the community together in the aftermath of a tragedy. If you are in Austin, please join us:

#ATXplanecrash site
Candlelight Vigil
25-Feb-2010
6:15pm
BYO candles
across 183 in the Gateway Lawn

Wow. What a week it has been! And it’s just Thursday.

1. Tuesday was our (mine and Beth’s) little Taste of Dream Dinners party. As You Wish provided updated headshots/avatars to those in attendance. Another friend, Victoria sold her necklaces. It was small, but valuable for each of us involved. I have been too slow at getting those images processed.
2. Wednesday, I was “it” at my monthly Brainstormers group. I presented a problem: how to market to school-age kids, Tweens, and teens and their parents. Through a process that adheres to the rules of Brainstorming, I was literally bouncing up and down at all the fabulous ideas. I can’t wait to implement some of them. I was also happy to see that my brainstorming topic was one that could apply to a lot of the members of the group.
3. Thursday morning I had an interview for a great job—-I’ve kept my job search a bit on the down-low, I’ve had enough bad bosses/jobs thankyouverymuch [1]—-as an Education Coordinator…but as it turns out, it has a 75% travel time. I could easily be gone Monday-Friday for three weeks of every month. If I get an offer from them, we will have to consider it very carefully.
4. Thursday all day, As You Wish was the Groupon.com deal of the day for Austin. As of this writing, I have 90 portrait sessions from new clients for the Austin area! And, my business name has been in front of 44,000+ Austin members today. In addition, I also got a new Senior Ambassador, and I sold a Womb-to-Bloom portrait series that includes a maternity session, newborn session, 3-6-9 month sessions, and a first birthday session complete with balloons and CAKE! (Maybe #3 isn’t so important, after all…?). Whew! Late in the day, I learned that a potential bride and a close friend were on the list of those who purchased Groupons. Thank you, both. You “warm the cockles of my cockles”. [2] Ack! I just checked again and it’s up to 95!!

There have been several other happy moments this week: I was selected to serve on two committees for the Nuptial Essentials Association of Wedding Professionals; I’m going to be working with great folks on both of those! And, my new friend, Hilarie, gave me some excellent feedback on a challenging aspect of my website, which I took to heart and applied fully. Just a few days later, I was able to return the favor to her in the form of reviewing her “audition” piece for a graphic design job. She was pleased with the feedback and genuinely considered my thoughts. She and I are on to something, here… There were others, too. It’s been a week of amazing moments.

When will my world stop spinning? I can only handle this adrenaline rush for a little while longer. At the same time, it sure is a spinning a web of happiness; a web that I know will catch me when I fall.

“If my friends could see me, now!” Oh wait; you can! You just did!

Oh, and BTW, adrenaline and/or sheer excitement is an easy fix for a caffeine dependency. I’ve barely had any today and have hardly noticed. How do I get THAT side effect more often

Happy Weekend, everyone!

His name is Ben Lerman and he plays the ukulele.

Because I listen to Keith and the Girl, I knew of Ben Lerman and his melodic-with-a-ukulele genius. Ben has some great stories that he has turned into song. He also does the occasional cover song that fits his shtick. His material is NSFW (not safe for work), but this post on our blog is.

We arrived early and had a drink (and I worked on a couple of Christmas gifts); that was the best decision of the night. We took the best seat in the house, the couch. A few minutes later, another couple arrived and when they rounded the corner, said, “oh, someone is already sitting on the couch.” So, we made room and invited them join us. That was the second best decision of the night! Fositi, Shane, (and later their friend Chris who joined us) were hilarious and kept us in stitches until Ben’s show. They were all there to see the band that Ben was opening for.

When they asked me about Ben, I didn’t really know how to describe him except that he’s a great comic and his tag line: “My name is Ben Lerman and I play the ukulele.” I hoped that they wouldn’t be disappointed.

Before Ben took the stage a couple of tiny acts did a couple of numbers each. One even played the ukulele. I thought it was a little like stealing Ben’s thunder, but he took it all in stride and thanked all the performers by name when it came his turn….and then he blew them all out of the water!

His first song, “My name is Ben Lerman and I play the ukulele,” made us all giggle. But just one song in and our laughter was boisterous. If Ben is going to be near you on his tour (Texas, California, Colorado, New York), you simply must make an effort to see his show. He has some great stories and songs and is a genuinely nice guy who wants to meet his fans. I promise you’ll have a great time.

The super-best part is that we made new friends in the process.

TwitPic
please forgive the poor quality phone camera

http://benlerman.net/
@BenLerman on Twitter

Ever since we moved here, I’ve been wondering why Thursdays are so popular for events. We can have our calendars ~wide open for Monday and Tuesday evenings. Wednesdays have a few things every other week or so. But Thursdays tend to 1-2 events every week and sometimes 3 events on the same night/time seeking the exact same niche within their audience. Even in a city where there are plenty of people to go around, this has caused tension within that group. Frankly, when that happens, I usually end up going to nothing. Just looking at the calendar makes me tired. ha!

This past week, however, some holiday something was being discussed. I didn’t pay much attention. I was making a polite excuse to miss and commented that “everything” in this town happens on Wednesday and Thursday. Another woman in our conversation circle summed it up better than I’ve been able to so far. It went a little something like this:

“In Austin, Wednesday evening is like Friday night. So, Thursday is Saturday night. And, then, Friday is Friday, again, and Saturday is Saturday.”

So, every week has two weekends!

Double The Pleasure; Double The Fun

At around 12noon today, we had snow in Austin! I was at our Dream Dinners session making our meals for December and early January. It was perfect timing when “Let It Snow” came on the Muzak. And then, the sun came out while it was still snowing. That was an interesting thing to witness/

By the time I left our session, it was sunny and warming up. It’s supposed to be a hard freeze (26 degrees, last I heard).

If you want to see some pictures, KXAN is gathering images from their audience.

If you want to read people’s reactions, search the #AustinSnow tags on Twitter.

(And no, it wasn’t nearly as nice as the snow we had in Bryan last year. ..but it’s early in the season!)

So, today on Twitter (and through either Foursquare which I play or Gowalla which I’d play except it crashes my phone), a guy I’ve met like-two-times-in-really-crowded-environments-&-he’d-never-remember-me situations posted where he was. He was Black Friday shopping at Toy Joy.

What? Did I read that right? Toy JOY? TOY Joy?

Did he just say that out loud? Does his mom read his Tweets?

Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend, we went on a tour of the condos downtown hosted by the wonderful guys at The GoodLife Team. WOW! What fun! If you get the chance to do this, act fast. It was free to attend, but there were only 30 spots and they filled up in 48 hours. The next one is November 13th.

First Stop: The Austonian

Austin’s tallest building. The ride to the 56th floor in an outdoor cage/construction elevator was a thrilling experience. The amenities at this place are going to be fabulous. It even comes with a 24-hour concierge. The models are gorgeous, but unnecessary since the view of Hill Country is so spectacular. Even if we could afford it, though, I’m not sure it’s the right fit for us. It’s going to be gorgeous, though, when finished.

We rode 56 stories up in an external open-air/cage construction elevator!

Looking down on the Frost Tower

The view from the future restaurant.

Looking West

Looking East

Second: The Spring

This was my clear favorite of what we saw. I liked the layout of the units and I could “see” us living in them.

Third: Bridges on the Park

This one is a boutique building, so it was dwarfed in size by the other properties we saw. Emil and I both like the larger facilities and the numerous amenities you get with the additional residents chipping in. It’s a great little building, though, and has a fabulous view of the park and immediate access to the lake, trails, and a pitch/putt golf course. One of their claims to fame is that residents trim down when they move in.

Fourth: The Shore

I didn’t care for the model we saw at The Shore, but the amenities of the facility are amazing. The pool and party deck looked like something out of CSI Miami. The night-time views of the city, watching sunset, and watching the bats emerge from the Congress bridge was a great cap to the evening.

Sunset View from The Shore

Bats Emerge at Sunset

In Sum

This are, of course, just a sampling of the range of what’s available. Even as we talked on the tour, I could tell that the Realtors had other ideas for places that would be a good fit for us. I don’t know how they did it. They were able to keep up with all 30 of us, what we liked/didn’t, what felt like a good fit, what amenities were available at each place.

Thank you, Todd and Carlos, for an amazing tour and a fabulous education.

We would love to live downtown. We end up down town a lot for events and things, it would make us more centrally located, and it’s more our style than a house since there is practically no maintenance. Emil would even drive against traffic to get to work, shortening his little commute even more.

We just left the Round Rock Scion dealership with the first part of the paperwork and a new car on order! We haven’t had new vehicles since 2000 when our’s both died at the same time. (And, by the way, two new vehicles at the same time is not as much fun as it sounds.) Our experience at the dealership has been great.

We should have a new Scion xD in 2-4 weeks. In the mean time, we may try to sell our truck for more than they were willing to give us. It should be pretty hassle-free since we can list a firm price on it and communicate only by email. No phone number/calls. No haggling. We’ll see if we feel like messing with it even for that much. The dealership gave us a pretty good deal, so we’re ok either way.

In absence of any “cool” colors, we chose silver. White just seemed plain and the other colors were all very dark. It’s just too hot in Texas for a dark car (or leather seats), but manufacturers seem to think that “everyone” wants both of these.  Scion is a good brand for us because you just pick the parts/pieces you need/want and pay the listed price. There is no haggling, no running off to “ask the manager”, and no stress. We added on some practical stuff, like the sound package, and some fun stuff, like the interior neon lighting.

Here is the one we ordered…

image from Scion of Danville

Back in May, we moved the stuff we needed to live in a 2-2 apartment. Coming from a 3-2.5-2 house, this left a lot behind. A couple of weekends ago, we had a big moving sale to get rid of furniture we couldn’t use and some of the stuff we didn’t need. However, since we had not yet considered packing the entire house, that still left a lot.

Thursday, I drove over to Bryan to pack as much as I could. Of the 7 rooms to do, I got 3.5 done and felt good about it. Friday, I only made it through ~2 rooms, though. Emil joined me on Friday night in a U-Haul truck and we attempted to dig through the rest of our stuff. By Saturday afternoon, we were finally loading the truck. At about 2pm, I had a mini-panic, I could see a lot more stuff than we had truck. I could see a lot more stuff than we had time. I was frustrated that we had already had four garage sales in 2 years, had given/sold a ton of stuff, had planned this move to Austin for a year and had known about it for ~four months. HOW could we still have so much stuff we don’t need? I had to keep reminding myself that we weren’t just moving a household; we were also moving a business.

Between Saturday and Sunday, the following people were super-helpful and we wish to thank them:

• Charile: took some Hallowe’en decor they will use for their party; loaned us a jack so we could replace yet another tire on my truck; helped us move a credenza.
• Casey: helped us move Daddy’s (very heavy, large, solid) desk and later helped us clear out a bunch of stuff from the garage.
• Jes: helped us clear out stuff, took a bunch of half-filled containers of cleaners and yard chemicals (that we didn’t want to put into storage) off our hands.
• Mr. R: purchased several pieces of equipment from us; helped schlep stuff to the curb for the neighbors to pilfer, and will be making trash runs for us  by refilling our curb-side dumpster and refilling and placing it where it will be picked up tw0 times on trash day (“that” side of the street early am, and again on “this” side of the street later in the day when the truck makes another pass).
• Mom L: housed us for Thur-Sat nights, made cinnamon rolls, and helped me load stuff on Sunday morning (she didn’t lift, she manned the door!) when I was in a huge hurry to grab what I could and then catch up to Emil who was already on the road.
• Neighborhood “elves”: several neighbors we know from HOA events stopped by and pilfered our “junk” for their own uses. We are grateful that they found purpose for the items and kept them out of the landfill.

We resigned ourselves to staying over one more day and made a very detailed plan for Sunday. We accounted for every 15-minute time slot and planned to get the truck returned on time.

We buzzed through cleaning and packing the rest of the house as best we could. At ~9:15, Emil told me it was 10am, so we cranked things up a notch. We decided against trying to get the stuff at his mom’s. He got on the road and I went back to Mom’s to get our clothes. While there, I took 9 boxes I could fit into the pickup. During the drive to our storage unit in Austin, I caught up to him within about five minutes. We went to work on loading stuff into the storage unit, went without breaks, drove to the apartment, loaded the rest of the things that were to go there without a moment to spare, and went to U-Haul to return the truck. The truck was supposed to be back at 5:30. U-Haul had closed at 5pm, so we had to use the drop-slot. I was frustrated that we really pushed to be on time and could have easily taken more, but also relieved that it was almost all done. We had fabulous burgers at MooYa and then came back home to rest.

We have at least one truckload left at Mom’s, but we’ll be back in two weeks for closing. Whatever we don’t get then, we’ll make a weekend run for at another time. This whole move to Austin has been a long time coming (a year of planning and wishing) and seems like a longer time to process (May-August moving). We are grateful for the light at the end of the lo-o-o-o-o-ong tunnel.