Houston on the mend

I dont know what I was thinking this morning when I left my house... Most times, I hop onto Main St. and jump to I45 for a 3 minute drive to my office garage. Typically this takes no more than 7-10 minutes depending on traffic. Not this morning! It took me at least a half hour to get to work! Grrrr...!!! Not fun when you arent expecting it- and certainly not fun when your trying to get in at a decent hour!

One bright side of the story is I got to see my beautiful city from a different angle this morning and it was BREATHTAKING! ;) It was hard to capture just how pretty it was on a camera phone- but you get the drift. Thank you Houston for making me so happy!

Day of Giving Back

Have I told you lately how much I love working here? When they say they want "giving back to be a part of our core values" they MEAN it!

Here's a list of the values that each employee must live by:

Values We Live By How we act: Acting with absolute integrity Collaborating, supporting and respecting one another Communicating openly, honestly and frequently How we work: Creating value for every customer Ensuring a safe, healthy and enjoyable workplace Caring for our environment and communities How we create value: Developing a highly motivated, valued and diverse workforce Optimizing our financial and physical resources Simplifying and improving our processes continuously

Pretty Princess

Just thought I'd share how cute this was. Thank goodness for camera phones! This shot was taken of Brooke at the Children's Museum last week in College Station Texas- since we were "evacuees" we ended up trying to find fun things for the kids to do each day. This was her favorite (dress up)

Did I also tell you that we found quite a bit of refuge in Chick-fillet? in College Station? They ROCKED! We basically went there each day for lunch and the playground, oh, and to get some work done too! (Bill spent all day there most days) WE LOVE THEM! Thanks Chick-fillet!

Looks Like the JPM Chase Bldg is on the "fix"

Check out this pic I took from my car yesterday on the way home. Look closely-there still remain a lot of boarded up windows!!! They have replaced over half of what was broken out on the South side of the bldg. This shot was taken of the West side of the bldg. going down Travis Street in downtown houston.

The privacy of strangers

We've fared well through the storm- now its back to business. I cant help but take a few moments though to mention a post by a complete stranger about my neighborhood and our home. I'd like to set the record straight that we left town FOR A WEEK on Saturday, had no electricity through the week we were gone. We returned home and had to deal with the sad loss of one of our beloved family pets, the loss of most of our trees and our fences. All of this coupled with the fact that my 4 year old twins had no available childcare other than moi and my precious husband worked from a Chic-fillet for the week we were gone! (Thank God for wi-fi, electricity and a playground which allowed me to work a little as well!) All of this made for a tough week! (I've edited this post to speak to the sincerity of a reply I got from my earlier rant on Houstonist.) I appreciate your writing me back. I appreciate your explanation. Stepping down now (off my soap box, that is!)

Hurricane Ike

Hey y'all- we've gotten tons of calls and emails wanting to know if we'll leave town for the storm. We've decided to stay around Houston. We're not in a mandatory evacuation area, in 77008. The storm looks to be speeding up a little (5mph) but breaking up a tiny bit. Check out this website for updates.

Yesterday- Reliant let us go about noon. They shut down the whole Houston & Corpus Christy operation Friday. Here are some shots from downtown about 1pm yesterday. There were lines of people lining up for the buses to take commuters back home from all of the suburbs. You never really see lines like this. I guess everyone in Houston got released around 12:00? Check out the lines at the gas station I stopped in at. They were out of regular unleaded too! (That was Thurs @ noon!)

Will post more as the day progresses!

Working Moms Syndrome

I had to post this latest article by Michelle Malkin. Again- She hits it on the head with a well written article about the inequity between liberal and conservative working mommies in the newsroom. Obviously you can draw your own conclusions- but isn't it funny how we, as parents, just tend to do the best we can? Slighting Palin for "needing" to spend more time with her new baby who has Downs Syndrome isn't the least bit fair. The liberal media is acting as if there aren't TWO parents present to take care of family life. If she were working in a highrise in Corporate America, she would be incredibly busy. We do the best we can! Laura Ingraham handed one of these criticizers his ASS on her talk show! AWESOME!

Best Pic this week!

I couldnt resist! Check out this cute little fella! (this is not my kid by the way.)

Stealth Socialism

Great article- Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism- "He's disguising the wealth transfers as "investments" — "to make America more competitive," he says, or "that give us a fighting chance," whatever that means. Among his proposed "investments": • "Universal," "guaranteed" health care. • "Free" college tuition. • "Universal national service" (a la Havana). • "Universal 401(k)s" (in which the government would match contributions made by "low- and moderate-income families"). • "Free" job training (even for criminals). • "Wage insurance" (to supplement dislocated union workers' old income levels). • "Free" child care and "universal" preschool. • More subsidized public housing. • A fatter earned income tax credit for "working poor." • And even a Global Poverty Act that amounts to a Marshall Plan for the Third World, first and foremost Africa."

1 Day of Vacation and his Jeep will never be the same!

Little Brycie wanted an Art Car- after seeing them in this years Art Car parade here in Houston. I decided to give him one ;)

Gig Em!

Hot Natchez Nights

I've just returned from Natchez, Mississippi- the state of my darling husbands "raisins". Although- Gustav tried to ruin our trip to visit my dear Aunt Margaret- the storm didnt sway us! My friend from college and I ran over for a few days of touring Antebellum homes, site seeing and just plain fun! We had it alright! We had three days of little or no electricity. Prior to loosing said power- we toured Longwood, Stanton Hall and tried to make a dash for a couple more, but got stopped by the fantastic Mint Julep's at Dunleith. (I kid you not, I could have never left that place by the sheer fact that those darn Mint Julep's are so great- to add insult to injury, the food at the carriage house at Stanton Hall was AMAZING! They have been written up in Southern Living- and it is NO JOKE- the Fried Chicken looked DIVINE! I had the Fried Oyster salad and butter biscuits. Added on a little custard sauce with praline sauce too. If you ever find yourself in the city of Natchez, don't miss "city market" where we spent our last morning this morning with a platter of hot scrambled eggs, and grits and bacon. I feel like I need to run a marathon for the food alone I consumed this week! Check out my Flickr feed for a few shots from our little jaunt, enjoy!