Props...

So I'm just sitting here, sipping my tea, listening to a little internet radio, enjoying this month's Austin Monthly magazine, when i come across a "Did You Know" article and read:

There are six endangered whales living in Lady Bird Lake. If you go to the
Mopac bridge between 4 and 6am you can see them.

WHAT?!?!?!

As I immediately start googling this and trying to figure out who to call and how quickly I can post an outrage blog about how utterly ridiculous it is that this information has not been made public until now... Also at the same time freaking out that I have been at that stinking bridge at 6am and if I had ever seen/heard one of those things below, I would have literally screamed bloody murder, fainted, and probably have fallen over the railing and into their MOUTHS... I look down at the bottom of the page to this inconspicuous, litte '*'............... then it says something really hilarious like if you believed anything in that article, they want to feature you in some "Keep Austin Naive" mumbo-jumbo.

%$^#. I'm such an idiot. Who in the world gave these people permission to pull an April Fool's joke? I don't read this magazine to be pranked and would appreciate it if they would stop messing with my psyche.

happy, happy

well happy weekend, friends. hope you're out frolicking in the sun, putting your boat in the lake, downtown at rachel ray's sxsw party, or at least relaxing at home and watching your tivo'd friday night lights from last night. i myself am getting ready to have a night out on the town to celebrate the one and only PETIKEI! that's right. we have a birthday girl on our hands. i wanted to do something cute and fun on here to commemerate, but chick-fil-a was out of chicken minis today and i'm having a hard time being creative. so i decided to tell you one of my most favorite stories about this co-blogger of mine...

allow me to set the stage. it was the beginning of summer about six years ago. i had literally just graduated college two weeks prior and hadn't started working yet and lct and i decided to be 7th grade girls camp counselors for a week at our church camp out on lake travis. so very many things transpired that tiny week in our lives... stories, people, situations and life lessons we learned that we still re-hash and laugh about to this day. for example, there was basically an epidemic of "woman issues" in our cabin... alllllll 30 13-yr-old girls left in our care decided at some point during the week that it was their turn to "start" and we were constantly having to tell them "no, you did not, go back to land rec." or there was one precious girl who would crawl up into our bunks (FULL headgear on) and go through her pictures of her and her family and her pets and her pet's pets every. single. night. i just remember being so thankful that the cabin was dark so this little camper couldn't see us trying so hard not to laugh, as lct and i didn't even know headgear still existed and could not understand one word coming out of her and this contraption. i could go on and on, but one story has been burned in my memory... something i will never forget and even believe it has caused me to live differently every day since.

for two hours everyday all the campers are forced, or, um, blessed to take part in land recreation. everyone gets a colored wristband when you get to camp and this color is your "team" for the week... so all the games you play during land recreation are tallied up at the end of each day and it's a big competition to see which team wins. i think the grand champion at the end of the week got pizza or ice cream or something... i have no idea. it was always so hot and instead of being a good counselor who helped her campers out by going and cheering them along, i would most likely go get a sno-cone and then take a nap in the air conditioning. this was not true for lct. that girl would be out there right in the middle of these 7th and 8th grade girls and boys- cheering and screaming, making sure everyone was hydrated, and more than anything, making sure everyone was having fun.

so the challenge one particular afternoon was an obstacle course that ended in a climbing wall. i can't for the life of me remember his name, but one of the boys on lct's team was just one of those kids. you know, one of those junior high boys who had absolutely nothing going for him... he was right in the middle of the puberty change, came from an awful family life, didn't have any friends... on top of that he was hefty, slow, uncoordinated... and he was designated to be the one to finish the climbing wall for his team. as soon as he took his first step/stumble onto the wall, the whole team rolled their eyes and knew it was over. his teammates started walking off, not caring anymore, totally admitting defeat before this poor kid even had a chance. but then out of nowhere came a "coooooooome onnnnn!!! you can doooooo it!!!!!! just a few more steps and you got it!!!!!!" it was lct. the kid took a few more steps up the wall... other teams whizzing by him, but he kept going. lct started another catchy cheer and before you know it, her team was paying attention again, yelling for this boy who five minutes ago they wouldn't give the time of day to. he takes a few more steps up the wall and now EVERYONE in the whole camp had gathered and is yelling for him, "you can do it!!! you're almost there!!! just... one... more..... YAYYYYYYY!!!!"

he made it.

all the other kids were finished and had gotten water and were now at the bottom of the wall, yelling him on as well. he slid down the back and walked over to everyone and i kid you not, he was beaming. the kid came in dead last and had the most elated, joyous face i have ever seen one anyone. lct ran over to him, gave him a huge hug and said... and i'll never forget this... "oh man! you did SO great! i thought you were going to win the whole thing!!! but it looked like your shoe had come untied?! i could tell it was bothering you a little bit. dang shoe! oh well, that was amazing!!! you were such a super star!!!!" he looked at her like a million lights went off in his head and was like, "oh yeah, you know what? i think you're right, my shoe was a little loose. oh well!" and he ran off to the huge crowd that was waiting to give him high fives and walk to the cafeteria with him so they could all sit together for dinner.

i would have never in a million years thought of the shoe thing. it was genius. that sweet boy knew he was bigger than the others, knew he was slow and knew this was the reason he never excelled at sports, etc. but all of a sudden, none of that came into play at all. it was his shoe! and an untied shoe is an easy problem to fix. i'd like to think he left that experience believing he was just like everyone else and could go on to compete or do anything he wanted to with no excuses… because his shoe would always be tied and that day a whole bunch of people saw him as someone who mattered, someone who could do it, someone who was worth the cheers.

and it all started with this silly camp counselor and her relentless positive attitude that believes the best in everyone. she wasn't purposefully meaning to impact this guy in such an amazing way, she was just naturally doing what it is she does best... she was being Jesus to him in a way he desperately needed it.

so happy birthday, lct. thanks for accepting, loving, laughing and being exactly who you are. love you more than you'll ever know! petikei and all :)

Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can't Lose

What a night of W's!!!! I must admit, sometimes being from and living in Austin, it's hard to root for any other team besides UT. Eeeeeeven when you're a Baylor grad. I must also admit I had no idea Baylor even had a good basketball team or such a cute muffin of a coach. But look at those Bears as they played their little pea-pickin' hearts out and beat Texas, winning THREE tourney games and now onto the Big 12 championship tonight!! (This would also be a good time to probably admit I don't really like basketball. And have no idea what I'm talking about. All I know is that during this time every year, I hear the word "bracket" entirely too often.) I found this picture that pretty much sums it up. Look at the Goliath Longhorn and that giddy huddle of Davids down below... Sic 'Em!!

So I'm torn because I want all of my excitement and pride to go towards the Bears, but there was another big win on the big screen last night... The Panthers won their first play-off game and move forward to regionals!!! That's right, the Dillon Panthers pulled off a nail-biting victory against Arnett-Mead to advance them onto the next "bracket"... This was an especially sweet win, due to the fact that Matty Saracen pulled it thru in the end with his newly discovered receiver talents. I would post a pic of the winning team celebrating on the field, but why do that when I can show you this instead...

Sigh.

So there you have it. Two reasons to be grateful you're alive today. I currently have on a green party cardi to show my BU support for the next showdown in a couple of hours... What about you? Pumped about Baylor or still basking in the glow of Coach Taylor's cunning move at the end of last night's game, cinching the final points they needed? Feel free to comment. And if you do not watch Friday Night Lights, I will now kindly ask you to log off this blog and do not come back again until you have rented all seasons and get caught up. C & P will then accept you back with open arms.

convenient trivia

tonight i stopped at the tigermart to get a diet dp on the way to my monday night girls group and ended up leaving with a little nugget of information that i will not soon forget.

after checking out the lady in front of me who purchased a large bag of cheetos, connie (woman behind counter) leaned in really closely, as if getting ready to kiss me or about to share the secret to the fountain of youth, and says... "hey. d'yoo know you can light a cheet-o on fiar and it won't ever go out? it's the truth. soldiers in iraq do it all the time."

you know what, connie? i did not know that. and i think i can safely say i'm a better person now that i do.

after researching this topic a little further, i'm sad to say i did not find anything that supports connie's theory. but i did find this:yay for rain in austin, texas! someone finally heard jim spencer's pleas. ok. i've enlighted you all on several subjects this evening and now i'm tired. sleep tight.

Weekend Moments...

So every now and then I have these moments (and this weekend I seemed to have more than usual)…

Friday evening I was driving home from a business trip and realized the previous days spent in San Antonio had truly grown me ‘professionally’…

When I got home that night I was exhausted, but my mind was racing with thoughts ranging from what I needed to do over the weekend to what’s the next challenge I’m going to tackle in life…

On Saturday morning, I was working and reacquainted with a client I had helped several months back. He is my Grandpa’s age, a cardiologist in town, and recently lost his wife…

I gave my brother and sister-in-law a tour of the neighborhood where I will eventually be working. When we got to the housing section we got out and toured a couple row homes…

I went to dinner at Mighty Fine (one of my new favorites) with my family and then went back to my grandparents and watched Fireproof…

I enjoyed my usual Sunday afternoon bike ride. Today’s was particularly nice because I realized spring is almost here. Wildflowers are starting to bloom on the Veloway. Trees are blossoming in the medians of my neighborhood…

I went to church tonight and the music was on- it seemed like we sang all my favorites. Then, the message was on 1 Corinthians 13:1-8…

...when I can’t wait to find my soul mate and share my weekend with him!

So until I find him, I am going to keep living life to the fullest, spending as much time with the ones I love, pursuing my personal and professional dreams, and praising Him… easier said than done- right?

birthday cards

i don't mean to be a party pooper, but are birthday cards really necessary? i mean, i get it if there's money inside (clearly), or if it's a picture of a boy pouring glitter from his hand, or if you are mailing b-day greetings from far away, or if you need to tell the person something special that is easier to write than say... but if you're just getting a card to say you got it, and it's just some un-funny hallmark with your name scribbled at the bottom, the practical side of me thinks it's just wasteful. save your $3.99 and get me a bag of sour punch straws instead.

this is not true for my mother. for ANY family birthday, there HAS to be a card involved. i should preface this by saying we are not a family of, how do i put this... pre-planners. so every single time we are getting together to celebrate someone's big day, there is always, without question, the obligatory card being "secretly" passed around underneath the table and everyone is blindly writing "happy bday, love ya" somewhere on the inside of the card. it goes without saying that this card was picked up at the nearest wal-greens by whoever is running the latest to the party destination. but we HAVE a card and that is the most important part, right, mom?

well, so yesterday was my grandma's birthday. and unfortunately, mimi is in the hospital right now. but does that mean there will not be a celebration (complete with hey cupcakes) involved? no, ma'am. so i get to Mimi's room and immediately my sister shoves the card and a pen in my hand... i of course know the drill, so i sneak over to the other side of the room to sign it, but my sister tells me: "don't open it. mom got a music one. if it goes off, mimi will hear it too soon." hmmm. sign the card, but don't open it. i manage to bend down a corner and scribble "love you, sem" in tiny tim handwriting.

long story short, Mimi finally opened the card (that she watched all of us sign five minutes before) and it WAS in fact one of those sound cards. it was a card with those two obnoxious pink cartoon things that talk in high pitch squeals (do you know what i'm talking about?) on the front and Mimi gets so excited and puts it up to her ear and hears these things screeching at her, saying (among other things): "You are a freak of nature and belong in the circus."

ummmmmm, what?! mimi doesn't get it at all, but we all bug our eyes out and look over at my mom who just shrugs and says, "what?! i didn't have time to listen to it beforehand!"

awesome. happy birthday, mimi. we love you. sorry you're in the hospital. and also sorry we apparently think you are a circus freak.

tootsie shout out at the stone!!

lct and i loooooove our church. the two people that immediately drew us in were the preacher (matt carter) and our favorite band member (jimmy mcneal). jimmy gets us going every single week during praise and worship. i mean just look at him...how could you not want to raise those hands and sing your heart out with this guy?? we have been very fortunate to have met him half a dozen times and don't worry, he is well aware of our obsession. however, he would probably think it a tad weird to see his pic on our blog.... oh well.

so back to the convo at hand... we got a major life giggle this past sunday night when matty c was discussing spiritual gifts and drove it home with this verse...

"Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body."

-I Cor 12:14-15

as if we needed more confirmation on the absolute necessity and importance of our feet... Jesus even agrees. so the Lord spoke thru matt and honestly and truly, he gave an awesome message. there were several great points, but more than anything he challenged us to FIGURE OUT what our "spiritual gift" is (aka the supernatural calling the Lord has specifically for you on this Earth) and then GET IN THE GAME. we can't assume someone else who seems to be better "gifted" is going to make sure others know of His life-changing, all-encompassing, unconditional love and grace... it is up to individual believers to make His kingdom alive here. this isn't an insignificant thing. people's lives are on the line. and it is the Holy Spirit's use of our time, our money, our administration skills, our creativity, our encouragement, our feet... that's going to make the difference. i'm just praying this truth becomes active in my life and doesn't just go in one ear and out the other.

ok, so not every one of my posts is going to be so serious and Biblical. but please, i couldn't let that blatant reference to cankles & petikei go without notice!! if you have about 30 minutes and want to hear for yourself, you can listen to it by clicking here.

also, get ready because we have a VERY important person we will be introducing you to soon. and it is going to be hilarious, i promise :) L, let's get on that this weekend, k?

and i will leave you with this tid-bit... i got a big 'ol chunk of skin scalpeled out of me today. talk about holy mole-y. not melanoma, but could've turned into it eventually. ugh. it hurts. (thanks mom and dad, for taking care of your daughter who is in her late-20's...) i have no idea what i am supposed to do with my self and my life this summer. i hope and pray i can still find it in me to go on living while i'm slathering on spf 110, trying to act normal underneath a silly, wide-brimmed hat. there was one highlight though- my dermie said my scar (from the last 'procedure') looked better than any she had ever seen!!!! i'm a miraculous healer. wait. now that i think about it, healing is a spiritual. gift. wow... we have come full circle, haven't we? i think i just fell in love with blogging! k bye.

R.I.P. Poker Face

Dear Poker Face,

You did it again. You called (oh wait I mean texted) our friend that you were in town, waited for the response (to help boost your esteem), got the witty hello (smiled), continued flexting (a.k.a. flirty texting), made plans to meet up… Then you disappeared (again). Bad news for you- our friend went out, sparked with someone else, called your bluff, and deleted all of your electronic communications.

R.I.P. P-p-p–poker face, p-p-poker face (Mum mum mum mah)!

Heart,
Lady LaLa

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I love when Google gets festive! It's the little things... Take a moment and do something that makes you feel like a tot- if only I had a heart shaped cookie cutter to make a heart sandy... guess I'll go see if Jeff wants to Go Fish or Play Uno!