Addison Lafaye

We have a precious new niece & cousin, Addison Lafaye born 3/28/06. 2 weeks early and over 8 lbs.

7 YEARS!

Yesterday was Trey and my 7 year anniversary! Trey surprised me last week with making dinner reservations at Louie's 106 downtown. Neither of us had been there. When I asked him what made him decide to do this he said that neither of us had been there and he found a $25 gift certificate for $6 on www.restaurant.com. Dinner at a nice restaurant AND a good deal--does my husband know me or what?! :-)

We each had a glass of wine with the crab cake & callamari appetizer (crab cake so-so/callamari excellent), then had our entrees; Trey had the Veal Scallopini and I had the Halibut Special. We both thought ours were excellent. For dessert we had the Chef's new creation, a Lemon Napoleon. The waitress was very good. Plus the place was beautiful with high ceilings and big windows looking over flower window boxes onto 6th street. Highly recommended for a nice night out.

The side yard . . .

Yea! I love trees! Yea! I love butterflies! I'm very excited today because Trey and I finally cleaned out the side yard strip between the street and sidewalk; we planted a Mountain Laurel tree and two butterfly bushes. We have some other ground cover plants to get in but ran out of time. After living in the house for 6 years we've finally gotten around to planting some more things. That makes three trees in the last year. I attribute the delay to 2 things: 1) money--wow--does landscaping cost a lot and 2) the almost completely opposite taste that Trey and I have in decorating is also almost completely opposite in landscaping ideas as well.

Later this week we'll also start on Trey's food garden. He couldn't resist getting the Dwarf Lemonquat (also called a Sunquat) tree/shrub. I think his Pop (Grandfather) is smiling down from Heaven; Pop was always so excited about Trey's plans for a garden.

I'll post photos soon.

A few words about the actor Randy Quaid...

Yes, I know it's silly to care about what any celebrities do and it's one of my downfalls--reading all the entertainment gossip pages--but this article really annoyed me about Randy Quaid.
From Yahoo's entertainment pages:
Randy Quaid sues studio over "Brokeback Mountain"Friday March 24 5:43 PM ET
Actor Randy Quaid has sued the studio and producers behind "Brokeback Mountain" for $10 million, saying he was underpaid for his supporting role in the acclaimed film about two cowboys who fall in love.
According to the lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, producers tricked Quaid into appearing in the movie for what was "effectively a donation of his time" by "falsely representing it as a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money."

The lawsuit names Focus Features, a specialty studio of General Electric Co.-controlled Universal Pictures, as well as Focus co-presidents James Schamus and David Linde. The movie, which cost about $14 million to make, has grossed roughly $160 million at the box office worldwide...Although "Brokeback" drew critical raves, many believed its box-office potential was limited because of its subject matter. (yeah, whatever) But the film gained numerous honors, including eight Oscar nominations, as it crossed over to a mainstream audience. Ultimately, it earned Academy Awards...The lawsuit says Quaid, an Oscar nominee for a supporting role in the 1973 film "The Last Detail" has a history of working at reduced rates in "experimental, non-mainstream" movies for the sake of art.

Quaid said he agreed to appear in "Brokeback" for a nominal sum -- rather than his customary seven-figure fee plus a percentage of the box office gross -- because the filmmakers convinced him it was a low-budget picture with no commercial potential.

The director himself, who is not named as a defendant in the suit, told the actor: "We have very little money, everyone is making a sacrifice to make this film," the suit says.

However, the suit claims that "from day one, defendants fully intended the film would not be made on a low budget, would be given a worldwide release and would be supported as the studio picture it always was secretly intended to be."

Moreover, the suit says, Linde obtained Universal's backing for "Brokeback" by presenting it to his studio bosses as a film "that was going to make money."


So--you agree to work for less for the sake of "Art" but when the "Art" makes money you want more money. So it's really all about the money, not the "Art." So what happens when some "Art" film he makes tanks and doesn't so much as break even? Does he sue to give some of his salary back? Should our soldiers serving in Iraq sue for a higher paycheck because they thought they might be serving in peaceful times? Should teachers who take a certain salary sue for more money when the test scores reveal that their schools are now Exemplary? Should ministers ask for more money because they saved someone who went on to do great things? Quaid made a bad business decision. He did it for the "Art" so he should enjoy the movie now for Art's sake. Quaid's full of crap. Go parlay your role in the "Art" film into some other seven-figure job. Then share that salary with me when the movie tanks and I waste $8 and a night out to see it.

Learning to ride the bike

Danielle is learning to ride the bike. She has done better in the past; I think it was an easier-for-mommy-to-push-me-than-work-at-pedaling day.

She was a little wimpy today after spending the entire night ill. I was a little wimpy and tired after washing two big loads of towels and sheets from the night ill . . .

I'm so cute . . .

Danielle today in the yard

Remember how exciting Dandelions were as a kid?
Danielle had a blast picking them all and blowing them around this afternoon.

Fav song of the moment

It's a little old but my favorite song of the moment is The One Thing by Paul Colman. You can get it at iTunes for $1 or check out the lyrics here:

The One Thing - Paul Colman
Genre/Lang. : Christian
Well Here I am In a river of questions
Can I pour my heart out to a listening ear?
Well I see this life
Its valley’s and mountains
And I think of all the roads that brought me here
Oh that brought me here
Walkin' down, walkin' down those roads

Well I’ve questioned my reasons
This life I’m living
I’ve questioned my ability
To judge wrong from right
Well I’ve questioned all the things
I’ve ever called certain
My race, my religion, my country, my mind

Chorus 1: But the one thing I don’t question is You
You really love me like you say you do
You really love me like you say you do
So hold me, 'cause I need you
Hold me

Well I’ve questioned my significance
Meaning and relevance
Does the work I’m doing really matter at all?
Well I’ve questioned my friendships
Alliance, dependence
Who will still be here when I fall?

Chorus 2: But the one thing I don’t question is You
You really love me like you say you do
Yea the one thing I don’t question is You
You really love me like you say you do
So hold me, (come on now) hold me
Hold me, (come on, I need your love)
Hold me...

Only one thing doesn’t change
Only one thing stays the same
All I know at the end of the day is your love remains (2x)

Chorus 2: (2x’s)

Thanks to Jennifer Ehinger for the lyrics and www.onlylyrics.com

Busy weekend

We had a busy, crazy weekend and I broke my "no more than one planned thing a weekend" rule. Friday night I had an impromtu Girls' Night Out with coworker/friends, Lauren and Annette. We went to see Failure to Launch. It was so cute (the word my friend Paige hates to describe movies) even though you saw Terry Bradshaw's bare behind a couple of times. Saturday Danielle and I went to my boss' daughter/Danielle dance classmate, Haley's birthday party at Capital Gymnastics. Danielle was so amazing! She used to always hang back on me at these things but not any more! We got her shoes and socks off and I turned around and she was gone! And Jenn and I each got a good long bounce down the long trampoline before we got in trouble with the teenage workers. After the party I took Danielle to spend the night with Grandmama so Trey and I could go to an engagement party. According to this month's Brilliant magazine the party dress is the thing to wear this season but I couldn't find one I liked. I did find a flirty little skirt that fit the bill for last Sat and next. I also got to try out my pride purchase $200 shoes that I got for $50 at the last La Garage Sale. The engagement party was at the Zilker Clubhouse and was an amazing view! We had never been there and got to hang out on the porch since it was such a nice evening out. The groom is a fraternity brother of Trey's and I spent most of the night hanging with Marla, Russ' wife. She hit the margarita machine while I hit the Raspberry Daquari machine many times that night. We rounded off the night at Jack in the Box then the Crown and Anchor, an old college hangout of everyone there except me. Sunday morning was church (Mom and Danielle met me there; Trey slept in) then brunch at Trudy's. The breakfast buffet was delicious and I learned that it includes pancakes and waffles but you have to order from the waitstaff. We came home and all three crashed until about 6pm. Easy evening of Danielle's favorite meal, Pot Roast with carrots and potatoes, then bed. Of course, after watching Desparate Housewives and Dr. McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy. Monday was a little slow--a power blackout in Minneapolis knocked our system down until about 1pm. Trey said his work was slow today too. Danielle had a smaller classroom because of Spring Break and is allowed to take a toy to school tomorrow. Made a wonderful easy dinner tonight--Trey's recipe for Pork Tenderloin :1/4 cup stick butter, 5 TBSP Worchestershire Sauce, 3 TBSP Soy Sauce in over at 350 for about 45 minutes--was perfect. After to watch Danielle finish her ice cream then play for a bit. Have a great week--Angela

DC Trip

Well . . . we're back from the DC trip. Very happy to be warm and at home in TEXAS.

The Foreign Service just didn't work out for us, but that just means there is something else out there at this time. Trey's not upset but pretty sure he doesn't want to try again. The interview/test was extremely time constrained, very competitive and tough.

We were all pretty sick until Sunday night/Monday morning and it was cold and WINDY, so it may have tainted some of my feelings of our Nation's Capitol. We met some very nice people that but for the most part I found it a quite depressing place. For the source of our power and where our laws are made there is so much expense, opluence, waste, smoking and trash. The real estate is outrageous so every middle class person whose occupation is obviously not law or lobbying lives in Maryland or Virginia and ride the trains in. However, those million dollar townhomes in DC are all owned by politicians and LOBBYISTS. Then there was the night tour we did and looked at all the Federal buildings (our tax money) with NO ONE working in the office (you could not even see a cleaning staff in the windows) but EVERY light was on; what a waste of energy and what light pollution. Everywhere we turned people were smoking. I asked a cab driver about it and she estimated that 80% of the population in DC area smoked. While that didn't surprise me much, since our early heritage was a lot of tobacco farming, I was surprised that so many ignore the things we know today like the health risks & costs and still choose to smoke. Finally, the trash was depressing. Our route from hotel to Metro station was three blocks from our Capitol and right across the street from the Democratic National Headquarters. There is just a lot of trash--empty Coke cans, plastic bags, paper--strewn everywhere. Especially under bridges. In fact the cleanest areas were the places filled with out of town tourists who SOUGHT the trashcans--the Mall, Smithsonians and the BWI airport. The BWI airport was the only place where I could find recycling bins.

For the things I enjoyed: I did find the Smithsonians nice. Especially the Museum of Natural History, where I thought I would be incredibly bored but wasn't. The Monuments at Night tour was nice--especially the Korean Memorial. The bird houses at the National Zoo were beautiful and we especially liked the live flight houses there. The National Botanical Gardens were incredible--probably my favorite thing about DC. The Metro system was great & practical; if Texas was not filled with rock and we could do some type of underground subway system I would be all for it. But we're not. We went to two great food places--at the suggestions of two locals-- and they were great. An Italian place called Filipinos in Georgetown and a Mediterrian place in Woodley Park but I can't remember the name.

Danielle's favorite things were "playing with mommy and daddy" and the "hippo at the Zoo." She also enjoyed the first night at the fancy-schmancy hotel Mandrian Oriental and their indoor pool. I enjoyed the gigantic bathtub that I soaked in after she went to bed that night! Danielle was amazing good on the trip. Especially for visiting a lot of places where she was not allowed to touch anything.

Anyway--now we have a ton of dirty clothes so I'm off to do laundry!