Tuesday, May 01, 2007

round rock express...

Well, baseball season has started again and we have bought two season tickets to the games. Diane will not let the kids go with me to any school night games (Jacob went to one and slept most of the time and then had a hard time getting up the next morning). We're on the 9th row behind home plate and sit close to scouts and pitchers from the teams who are taking notes. The kids are enjoying it -- but they may end up costing me more in food than they did in tickets.

Jacob and I went to a party with the players the night before the opening game and we met Brooks Conrad, Mike Rodriguez and Hunter Pence. Jacob enjoyed the tour of the stadium as well but his favorite part was the 300 club with the Pac-Man machine.

All the kids enjoy that -- it's on the 2nd floor and only open to season ticket holders. They get free popcorn and get to play Pac-Man or watch the game on TV. Between that and the play area, it's a wonder we get to see any of the games.

nascar again....

I went with Dad and Caleb to see the NASCAR races in Fort Worth at the Texas Motor Speedway. The weather was frightful on the way up but it cleared up by Sunday. There was a cold front that came through on Saturday so it was freezing and we didn't stay the entire race. Sunday's race weather was nice and warm. Jack Ingram was the entertainment but we were stuck in traffic so long that we weren't able to hear him sing.

I bought our seats from a friend and they were on the 60th row (yes 60th) -- and it was a hard climb up. The race was really good. Dale Jr. had a great race and led for quite a while. Everyone in the stands was going crazy (over 70% of merchandise sold there is all for Dale Jr.) -- and then Tony Stewart wrecked and caused one of the Bush boys into him. He tried to keep going but his car finally gave out. He is such a good loser that he even rode Kyle Bush's car the last 11 laps even though he was the reason Dale Jr. was out. We'll be going again in November and sitting in the 20th row.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

romance romance romance.....

If you can't have it, why not read about it? When I'm not reading historical romance novels or sports romance novels, you can find me either reading chick lit or romance novels.

My favorite chick lit authors are:
  • Sophie Kinsella (just finished Shopaholic and Baby -- LOVED IT! The entire Shopaholic series is awesome; I have them all on my ipod to listen to in the car)
  • Emily Giffin
  • Whitney Gaskell
  • Jennifer Weiner
  • Kristen Billerbeck (actually a Christian chick lit author)
  • Lara Rios
  • Leanne Banks
  • Mary Castillo
  • Sinead Moriarty

My favorite romance authors are:

  • Rachel Gibson
  • Lori Foster
  • Janelle Denison
  • Carly Phillips
  • Christine Ridgway
  • Lucy Monroe (also a great historical romance author)
  • Erin McCarthy
  • Julie Elizabeth Leto
  • Julie Ortolon
  • Susan Donovan
  • Suzanne MacPherson

It is tough having so many favorite authors -- once I like an author, I have to go out and buy every single book that person has ever written which is getting quite costly. This is definitely an addiction. I think I need to get a life instead.

sports romance....

I have come to really enjoy reading sports romance novels. Who knew there were so many.

One of my favorite authors is Deirdre Martin. She writes hockey romance novels and they are all superb. I now want to go catch a hockey game which I have never wanted to do before.

There are quite a few Nascar romance novels out. Pamela Britton is my favorite author in this genre but it is quickly becoming a booming series. I've already read five that have just come out this year. Somehow the owners of the cars in these novels are all young and hot -- I don't think that is the case in real life.

Kate Angell is my favorite baseball romance novelist. I can't wait for her next book, Curveball, to come out later this year. There need to be more baseball romance books out there.

historical romance....

A friend of mine has turned me on to historical romance novels and I have to say I am hooked. I love reading these books and I have also found myself starting to talk as if I was from that period. I get vexed and say damnation, deuce or bloody which only causes me to get weird looks from people.

Some of my favorite authors are:

  • Julia Quinn -- LOVE her Bridgerton series
  • Lisa Kleypas -- LOVE LOVE LOVE all of her books
  • Eloisa James -- LOVE her Essex sisters series
  • Victoria Alexander
  • Julia London
  • Suzanne Enoch
  • Samantha Jeffries

more travel....

I've been doing a lot more travelling lately. At the end of November, I had to go to Dallas for several days for the Summit my work was sponsoring. The weather turned bad as we had an ice storm also with a bit of snow. It wasn't too bad. I left for Dallas on Thanksgiving day and ended up sitting in traffic for a while. What normally would be a three-hour drive ended up taking six hours.

In December I had to head back to Dallas for our new teen council meeting. While here I was able to do some Christmas shopping for the kids and also go to grab a burger at "Keller's Drive-In". It was on the GQ/Gayle King list of 20 best burgers although it wasn't all that special to me. It was a total dive and no telling how they found that place.

At the end of January, I had to go to Santa Monica for the second of our Summit.

I am always on the lookout for celebrities. On the flight up, Minka Kelly, the cheerleader from "Friday Night Lights" was on my flight. She was also on my flight back to Texas. Other than that, I didn't see any celebrities. We were scheduled to catch the last taping for the season of the "George Lopez Show" but ended up getting stuck in LA traffic and missed the taping by a couple of hours. I also went to eat at "The Ivy" but alas no celebrities there either.

There was time to grab a burger from "The Counter" which was on the list of 20 best burgers from GQ/Gayle King. It was pretty good as were the fries/onion strings. We also ate at Mel's Diner (not on the list but a cute place) where I was able to get car boxes for the kids -- they are sort of like happy meal boxes in the shape of cars. The bartender there made us drinks called "PD" which stands for panty droppers. The drink was so good but I have since lost the recipe he wrote down for me. I'll just have to head back there on my next trip. It was a couple of blocks from Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Another great place we ate at was "Fords Filling Station" -- a restaurant owned by Harrison Ford's son, Ben. I had a rib-eye there and it was the best I have ever had.

February took me to DC and NYC. We went to DC for the launch of new helpline. It was a quick trip and we got a sprinkling of snow while there.

In the middle of February, I went to NY for our advisory board meeting. That too was a quick trip but I did have time for purse shopping. There weren't any that really caught my fancy but I bought one anyway just because I hadn't bought one in my last couple of trips there. While I was out purse shopping with a colleague, we were standing at the light talking and I looked at the person standing next to her and it was the acress, Leelee Sobieski,

** I've also been able to get a burger (also on the GQ/Gayle King list) at Burger Joint in the Le Parker Meridian in NYC. That was a GREAT burger. The place is a total dive that is so out of place in that swanky hotel but it was a super treat.