Little Monster Baby Shower

baby shower stuff

I have to brag.

I threw a baby shower this last weekend, and I think it went off quite well.

My friends Rosa and Bryan are having a daughter in July, and Bryan had registered OurLittleMonster.com. Given this sort of opening, who wouldn't throw a great shower? The invitations which my co-host prepared had a small drawing of a monster on them, with the words "Please join us in welcoming Bryan and Rosa's New Little Monster".

One of the wonderful changes in baby showers is this trend towards "couples" showers, instead of all women. Get a group of intergenerational women all in the same place, and for some reason we lose our minds. Pink everywhere. Stupid games. Yuck. On the other hand, a couples baby shower implies alcoholic drinks. And many fewer and potentially cooler games.

The party was hosted at Cork & Company, a wine bar in downtown Austin (see -- drinks! wine! Perhaps not so nice to the guest of honor, but great for the rest of us!), which has a menu of wine by the glass, sample, or flight. Flights of wine are interesting in and of themselves... While having a party at a wine bar was not the cheapest option in the world, this one worked out surprisingly well. Our party -- 25 or so people, so not that large -- took over the entire front of the bar, started an hour before the bar officially opened, and only cost us what we ordered in drinks. Because Cork & Company doesn't serve food, we were able to bring in our own food -- fancy cheese and crackers from Costco, and Monster cupcakes (see examples above).

I am particularly pleased with the only game we did. I had Rosa and Bryan scan in pictures of themselves as babies and toddlers, printed up duplicates, and then put out small permanent markers in a rainbow of colors for people to "graffitti" them into "little monsters." The parents to be voted on the best one, and we gave away bottles of wine to the best ones. (I should try to scan some of these in -- some were quite ingenious...)

All I had to do for decorations was a vase of flowers (again, Costco) and an UglyDoll propped on the table.

Everyone had a good time, which is the point of a party, right?

Easy. Cool. Fun. Feel free to borrow at will. (And if you follow the kaboodle link at the top, you'll see a lot of other ideas that I ended up not using...)

Smokin'

So my mother recently purchased a smoker. Being an extrememly frugal person, she feels she has to 1) make her money back on the purchase as quickly as possible and 2) max the output of the smoker each time she runs it. What this means is we have a plethora of smoked delicacies, most sent home as leftovers for us to cook with over the week. As a sample, here's what was on the menu last week:

* smoked chicken and smoked cheddar quesadillas
* smoked portabello mushrooms with smoked port salut melted on top
* enchiladas made from smoked colby, topped with Mexican Garlic Cumin Sauce mixed with Fire Roasted Tomatoes.

Not to mention some random smoked meats.

Smoked cheese is pretty incredible. I don't think we've eaten so well in a very long time.

This week it's Ben's turn to cook, and he's starting with a smoked brisket that is very tasty. Last night's dinner was a stewish sort of creation with more of the fire roasted tomatoes, a lot of wine, and the aforementioned brisket (diced), served over rice. It was delicious!

word watch: prii

What's the plural of Prius? According to this post, it's Prii.

In Praise of Jazzercise

I'm both proud and embarrassed to admit this, but as of yesterday evening I've taken 50 Jazzercise classes since January 1st.

When you think Jazzercise, you may be picturing leg warmers and sweat bands, but let me tell you -- it's an incredibly good workout. 40 minutes of cardio, followed by 20 minutes of strength training and stretching means you don't have to do anything else to get a full workout. Different instructors and music that changes every class means you don't get bored. It's basically a dance class, albeit a relatively simple yet fast-moving one.

As Ben says, "This is the only excercise you've ever done where I don't have to push you out the door -- you actually *want* to go." And the proof is in the pudding -- I have muscle definition all over, have lost 7 pounds, and have enough dedication that I think I may have found an excercise regimen I can do for life... (Although I'm not the youngest person in class at all, there are also 70 year olds there... That Jazzercise attracts that range of ages is pretty cool!)

Observed: Jello Pudding Snacks

1 serving Jello Brand Pudding Snack, Chocolate: 130 Calories
Fat-free: 100 Calories
Sugar-free: 60 Calories

I think this sums up why the whole "fat free" thing doesn't really work. It's probably not the fat that's making you fat, it's the sugar.

Foodaphilia Austin

Don't you just love it when you discover that a friend has started blogging? I like how Kara announced her blog to me -- by tapping me in a restaurant meme, yum! (I love how she's been blogging for less than a month and already is more connected than I am!)

So here goes the restaurant meme...


Step 1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, u.s.a)
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA! USA! USA!)
Tits McGee (New England, USA)
Kat (Ontario, Canada)
Cheezy (London, England)
tafka PP (Jerusalem, Israel)
Liza ("Northern" Israel)
Beth (Dublin, Ireland)
Emily (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Mamacita (Houston, TX, USA)
Sara (Austin, TX, USA)

Step 2: List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

Manuel's. Interior Mexican. Brunch. North location has a patio for the kid to run around on. I like anything they have with crab.

TacoDeli. Fast, yummy lunch. The Mojo de Ajo Tacos are fabulous.

Mirabelle -- Mmm. Fine dining and neighborhood restaurant rolled into one. Ben and I Mirabelle as our boy-do-we-need-a-date lunch date spot. (Not to mention our fast-evening-out date night spot.)

Trulucks -- Ok, the food is good, but the wine bar with it's CO2 replacement system is better. Silver Oak by the glass, anyone?

Mandola's -- what happens when one of the great Houston restauranteaur families moves to Austin. So family friendly they provide wipes!

Step 3: Tag 5 more people.

Right... This implies I actually have relationships with people in the blogsphere... Asha, maybe? Damon? Yeah, I suck. I read a lot of blogs, but they tend to be topic specific, and I don't comment that much.

What happens in Austin if Dell is delisted?

This Austin Business Journal article says that Dell has received it's second delisting notice from Nasdaq.

If Dell is delisted, how would it effect Austin?

I can see two influences:

1) I suspect there is still a lot of Austin money tied to Dell stock -- Dellionaires if no one else -- that might basically evaporate.

2) If Dell was delisted, it would severely affect consumer confidence in Dell, and would probably lead to a precipitous drop in sales. That, in turn, would lead to reductions in staffing. All of a sudden Austin would have a much higher unemployment.

Hmm... I'm sure the repercussions would ripple out even more. What else do you think would happen?