I was very excited to learn that my dear friends Shannon and Roddy are getting married this summer in Austin at the Salt Lick, where I shared Easter lunch with them in 2006. Shannon and I worked together one summer at the Mustang Island Family Camp. Her full name is Shannon Eileen Kelly, like each of my three sisters (Shannon, Brigid Eileen, and Kelly), so naturally my parents liked her instantly.
She is one of the brightest, funniest women I know and her fiancee is altogether too much fun for a professor. I had the opportunity to have dinner with them last year in York and am looking forward to toasting this great couple in Austin, perhaps with a warm Busch tall boy in Shannon's honor.

Crafty like a fox

When I was a little girl my FAVORITE movie was The Frog Prince starring Aileen Quinn (Little Orphan Annie). My sister's child loves the film with a similar fervor. I always liked Princess Zora's blanket, and decided to make one for my niece for Christmas.

Fur helped me with the pinning and sewing of more than forty yards of red satin ribbon. We made the blanket slightly more fabulous than Zora's, with wider, shinier ribbon and bigger bows:

Don King does not appear overly impressed with her blanket in this picture, but Brigid says she loves it.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Mardi Gras Shoes

I am going to a Mardi Gras ball in January in Lafayette with my friends Ameara and Brett. I found these shoes at Nine West for twenty dollars:

and Crystal and I turned them into this:

Learning to read

Audrey has been reading and writing like cray-cray (crazy). Find handwriting samples here: http://audreymorrison.blogspot.com/ This is what she said to her little brother Clark, who woke up cranky and fussy from a nap:

"Aww, Clark. Are you sad because your name doesn't start with a blend? Your name does start with a blend!"

Take heart, little dude. Your name begins with a consonant blend.

Poladroid

I read about this program that makes your photos look like Polaroids, but I just downloaded it and think that the results are pretty fun.

Boston Visit

Last Tuesday I flew in to have dinner with my cousin Amy, her (cute) boyfriend Ross, and her newlywed friends Sarah and Jesse. Sarah and Jesse did not realize initially what I do for a living and that part of my job benefits includes free flights, so they thought that I must be kind of a big deal to fly in for dinner and fly out the next morning. We had a great time at Billy Tse's Chinese restaurant in Boston's North End followed by a visit to Mike's Pastry, home of the most giant lobster tail (a New England cream horn basically). The filling is, from my web searches, 1/3 pastry cream, 1/3 ricotta (which I normally don't like), and 1/3 whipped cream. Soooooooooo good.