A couple questions each day

We went to visit Boppa last weekend. He finally sold the Drug Store so he's been in the process of cleaning it out. Hard to believe 12 years have passed since he retired and locked the store up for the last time. It's been really good for him to have this project to focus on and he says he's doing better. What do you do when you're in your 80's and your spouse -love of your live- is gone?


For those who don't know their story, it’s kind of a saga. However, the book jacket would include details like this: first love at 15, followed by college, marriage, three girls, three boys who didn't survive, returning their small hometown, pharmacy, divorce, emphasema, reuniting, remarriage and one week later, loss.


She has been gone now for 16 months and it has been as painful as you might expect. However, at one point he looked up and said "the joy is returning." We still cried a few times recalling her.

Of all our conversations, what I keep repeating in my mind and what has really stuck with me:

He said that when asked if he had one more day with her, what would he say?

he said he would tell her "I love you"

and "ask her for forgiveness"

but that he “mainly want to ask her ‘what is it all about? Why are we here?’"

He thinks she had a better idea of this and he's still trying to figure it out.

Later in the day Joe asked a question about weather patterns, and Boppa responded with: "One of the things I miss most about her, besides of course her constant company" (they literally didn't leave each other's side for the last 5+ years), he continued "is I miss her knowledge. I could have asked her that question and she would have known the answer. [he paused] ...I think of a couple questions each day that I want to ask her."

We sat in silence and a few tears fell and I didn’t tell him, but I have a few questions a day for her, too.

Home Delivery

"...I never remember to go out and check it..."

I've gotten this a few times lately from non-blogging friends. I totally understand because I, too, was once a non-blogger (i.e. didn't have links from my own blog to remind me to go check) and had friends' blog addresses scattered throughout email. I eventually started bookmarking them to a little favorites folder "friends blogs." But alas, I inevitably would get a new blog link, forget to bookmark it, and it would get lost in the shuffle (a/k/a/ "my brain").

Today I took some time and scoured through old emails to turn up all the links I've been sent and organized them BOTH in my favorites list AND on my blog. Let me just say that FEELS SO REFRESHING to have finished organizing something. Like there is a little bit of order in a world full of chaos.

I digress.

IF you are not so inclined to organize your blogging buddies' links and are more of the check-your-email type... Today I happily announce that I gonna help a sista out. I am adding a little widget that will email you when I have a new post. Feel free to "subscribe" for the auto-email. It will arrive in your familiar ole inbox all nice and tidy. No more effort needed.

And if you are still reading and I don't have your blog linked on here, please send it to me again. If you prefer no link to it, no problem- but I'll definitely bookmark. And I'll be checking your blog

xoxo~me

P.S. As Lucie, Angie, Brit and I have recently commiserated... it's nice to put that ol' MIS degree to SOME work... nothin' like brushing up on a little HTML. ;)

Thanks for the email widget tip, LUCIE!!

29, not 21.

...but you wouldn't know it after Friday. But whatever. We had a fabulous time celebrating --even though I was in recovery for the entire next day. So maybe the rebound isn't exactly the same as it once was...

start off with delicious dinner at Moonshine

Team Kate makes it out to Starbar

a wee bit of debauchery

Leann with her hilarious stream of commentary

swerve on and STILL fabulous!!

at least Joe had a friend to entertain him as he attempted to corral us...

Famous last words "maybe I should have had that pearl bomb"

Happy 29th, Kate!! Until next year, we are still in our 20's.

The Tax Man Cometh

Friday I protested our property tax appraisals and WON! WOOHOO!

Yes, I shamelessly dressed down and took off my sparklies (it was funny because my thumb automatically feels around for my rings when they aren't on so I was consciously trying to NOT do that). I went armed with photos, charts, graphs and a pouty bottom lip. and it worked! 10% reduction, baby~ Ironically, resorting to some slightly childish tactics made me feel very grown-up.

What I find facinating is how many people have done or are doing the same. Yet you rarely hear people talk about it. I'm TOTALLY protesting again next year. It's SO worth it!

Good luck S-Dawg- I know you'll do me proud!

two timin' & double dealin'

so today i have a two-part-post (how appropriate)

I have been working with all these new partners at work (external to my company) and having the same conversation over and over and over, trying like hell to remember what I told these guys versus what I said on my last call. I keep finding myself in back-to-back meetings but trying to earnestly let the partner feel like they are the most important. Last night, for example, I ended up with two happy hours back-to-back at two separate locations.

It is SO HARD not to slip and to keep my stories straight! I totally feel like I'm two-timing them. or what ever you call it when you're in high school and dating a senior on the baseball team and junior on the football team and hoping they don't figure it out... Sure, in this case it really is for the benefit of the relationship that they think they are the most important. While they are *aware* I have other accounts and 'relationships' with other companies, for a multitude of reasons, their knowledge of that should be kept to a minimum.

This effort gets further complicated somewhere between Happy Hour #1 and Happy Hour #2. So there I was at HH#2, with only a tiny tostada in my tummy from HH#1, and was certainly feelin' it. Yet, there was no real explanation (other than claiming to be a lightweight... which I am not sure was really going to work after our "favorite drink" conversation) for my first drink at HH#2 (in their mind, the first -and only- happy hour of the day) to hit me so hard. Really wishin' I had gone for the wine and not the martini...

After leaving, I consoled myself by admiring Sydney Bristow and her phenomenal capability to compartmentalize. Apparently, I could NEVER be Sydney.



On to part 2: and speaking of compartmentalizing...

So we have been keeping a little secret around the Price House which means we tiptoe around dodge questions all to ensure that this little plan doesn't backfire (at least for the short term). What's this little secret, you ask? Mr. Price is heading back to school this fall to get his MBA because apparently the last three years of grad school wasn't enough ;)

Truth is, this is a great thing we are both really excited about and something we have been planning and discussing for almost a year now. The trick was that we didn't want it to negatively impact his current work environment-- especially had we decided not to pull the trigger on this. He has already been doing 20+ hours of school work ("pre-matriculation" they call it) the past few weeks which has proven extremely difficult given that he is working 80+ hour weeks.

We knew there would be a breaking point and that breaking point happened last night when he was asked to take over on the large case he's been working on for ~2 years. And BAM~ and just like that, it was time to tell. Maybe a few weeks earlier than what might have been ideal, but just goes to show you can't control everything =)

But he's definitely going to Acton and work now knows about it so the cat is out of the bag. The two-timin' and leading the double secret life is over.

Which is great news because it was completely exhausting and wore me out. ...Kind of like the hangover from that d*mn martini...

A Million Yellow Pictures

if i were to write a book...

i think it would be a coffee table book.



if i were to make a coffee table book...

it would only have pictures


and the pictures would all be of the tabby that lives in my back yard


and I would call the book "a million yellow pictures"

good news is: i apparently almost have enough pictures to create said book. even better news: i will NOT be creating such a book.

but really is ridiculous how many pictures I have of my cat...

On Creating A Blog....

Hello, my name is emprice and I’m a blogaholic. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I am addicted to blogging. Granted, there seems to be a sort of pattern where I get totally engulfed in some sort of hobby for a few weeks and then move along... nonetheless-- this one has been slow developing and now I find myself swept away!

So I have come to terms with my newly found addiction to blogging. Who knew this could be such fun! I can't believe I didn't start doing this YEARS ago. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't. Good times, people. GOOD times.

I love the insight it gives you to a friend's life. I mean, seriously... It's all the stories you would never think to tell someone if you were doing a lets-catch-up phone call or an it's-been-way-too-long series of emails... But it's the stuff of life. “The good stuff” in my opinion.

Another brilliant thing is: I can do it at work! Although I cannot access any personal webmail accounts from work...yes, they are all blocked (and IF you find a work-around, the loophole is usually closed within 2-5 business days because heaven forbid that during a 60 hour workweek, someone may take 5 minutes to check their personal email...I'm not bitter or anything).

So in spite of the attempt to cut me off from the rest of the free world... I can at least hop on your/my/any blog and again feel reconnected. It's a beautiful thing.

On telling friends about said blog...

While I spend plenty of time thinking about funny or random tidbits to rant or reminisce about, it seems I quite regularly forget to ever tell anyone about this little blog. Opps.

So here's the bonus... I’ve been remembering to tell peeps about it lately and lo and behold...those friends mention their blog and *kapow* ~instant blog karma! I get to peruse another friends' blog and get that magical 'reconnected' feeling. Or even better... they're inspired to start/return/revive their own blog.

On style.....

Since I have found myself so entertained with the blog lately, I decided to give her a little love -- a face-lift, if you will. Sure, the 'ol girl isn't that old or anything but couldn't we all use a day at the spa every now and then. So tonight I have changed the background/layout. Not sure if I’m 100% on it yet... I kept bouncing between two or three designs and then there were things I didn't like Sooooo I did some brushing up on the HTML skills and revised them. But for now I'm going green (the one I modified the least, of course.)

Open to comments/inputs. Anyone? Anyone? ...Bueller ..........Bueller...........?

Which brings me to one last point.... if you're reading this, you are one of a fairly small crowd. Should you feel so inclined, please post comments so I know that

e v e r y o n c e i n a w h i l e ,

some one is actually reading my ramblings.

xoxo~me

Fancy Shmancy

okay, kendra, here they are...

background: so we went to this over-the-top fundraiser on lake austin. incredible house, delicious food and any drink you can think of. you always know it's gonna be fancy when there's valet parking at a private residence.

anyway-- as an "activity" they had a bunch of Bentleys for test driving. And to entertain the ladies? Oh, call it ~$40 million in jewels displayed in the dinning room, just for the tryin' on. Hindsight, I REALLY should have taken a picture of the whole layout... but already feeling a bit like the Clampetts, I opted not to. However, Hillarey and I did try on this little bauble-- a mere $150k+ estate piece-- and did manage a few snaps of our dress-up session.

And no, there was no "making a run for it" ...there were several APD officers in the dining room, at the front door, and flanking the gated entrance/exits to the neighborhood.

Good times, anyway.

remembering the alamo

had a great time bouncing between the 150-year-old Menger bar, Pat O's, the apartment and the river walk this weekend. totally worn out from the weekend but strangely, can't wait to do it again. and by the way, San Antonio is totally underrated. so glad supper club was able to make the trip and so grateful Chris and Sue let us stay.

Also-- rest assured that I confirmed, once again, that mimosas make mornings marvelous!

easily said that a good time was had by all.

(photos pending)

good morning, city

not far from home, in a rich and historic town always full of visitors, the city is waking up.

groups on walks, people on bikes, sidewalk signs set back up, tables being set for lunch, cupped hands peering into the windows of yet-to-open businesses, the volume slowly rising, visitors pointing out sights, occasionally someone spots me and waves curiously.

I've got my own soundtrack playing in my ear but I wonder what their soundtrack would sound like.

my coffee cup is almost empty. guess i'll join the cityscape on the sidewalk before long.