A whole day old!

We got to visit Sarah and baby Alexis in the hospital again today. If it's possible, I think she's even cuter than yesterday. Like always, I made Michael hold her as much as possible. Partly for practice, but mostly because it just makes my heart smile.

Sarah is doing amazing, just a wonderful mom already! We are so proud of you, Sarah. And her hubby Michael is sure to be a wonderful dad as well.

I have to say, this is by far the best time I've had at the hospital for as long as I can remember. No one asked me to wear a gown or expose my backside! No one gathered my pee in the toilet to make sure I was going as expected! No one ever asked me my name, or why I was there, or when my birthday is, or who my insurance carrier is - not once!

No one offered me intravenous drugs though, which was kind of disappointing ;)


** PS: For our guest readers who might be confused, I've had five back surgeries in four years, so I have a bit of history with the whole hospital thing! **

It's a Girl! - Cousin Sarah Delivers!

Baby Alexis Micaela Tretter - Born at 5:40 pm. 7 lbs 0 oz. 20" - Very healthy and beautiful!! Mom is doing great.

Induced at 6 am. Broke water 10 am. Epidural at 12 pm. Pushing began at 3 pm - baby arrived at 5:40 pm. Introduced to the world wide web by me at 6:55 pm ;)

Welcome to the family little one. We love you already! Photos are here!

Merry Christmas from Michael and Sharon.com

We are home! (Well, our Texas home) We survived the holiday travel! We're nearly recovered now.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I wish we were there with you, but we are in spirit. We love you!

Celebrity Sightings

One fun aspect of being in LA is the chance that you may see a celebrity in person. That's just cool, no matter who you are.

At the hockey game last week, they showed Snoop Dogg on the Jumbotron. He was in a box with the first African American to play for the NHL, which is pretty cool. You can see him to the left on the screen.

Last night we got to go the Clippers (NBA) game at the legendary Staples Center. The guys at Michael's work often get tickets from their suppliers, so we got to go for free ($100 a seat otherwise!). They were the best seats I've ever had at a game, but we again didn't get good pics to show you. We were on the first level above the floor, in the front row with just glass in front of us, so the view couldn't have been better.

What was a little disheartening was that the players all looked so young! Then I realized we're so much older than most of them now. That's so sad.

But what was cool was seeing Frankie Muniz in the front row (aka Malcolm in the Middle). Ok, ok, so he never turned all the way around, but it was definitely him. I looked it up, he's a big Clippers fan.

So there you have it, our two mediocre celebrity sightings ;)

Clippers game pics at the gallery.

And the Brick Goes On ...

While we're away, work continues at break-neck speed on the house! They've just begun putting the brick on. I can't wait to see it in person! We've doubted our selection on it over and over (and by we, I mean me). If money were no object, it wouldn't have been our first choice. But it was what we liked best that fit our budget, like most of our decisions on the house.

They should be putting up the limestone accents this week. Hopefully that will be done when we get home, along with the cabinets and countertops. They finished painting this week too, and have just a bit more staining to do. Next comes carpet, then vinyl (which we're going to tile over ourselves).

More brick pics to join the hundreds of other boring house photos at the gallery.

Our Weekend in LA

We started Saturday with breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Redondo Beach where I gorged on a childhood favorite, Dutch Babies. There is just no other breakfast concoction quite like it.

We walked around our old favorite beach, then had dinner at our other favorite, Hennessy's Irish Pub (what else?). After that, it was more Rock Band at Jer & Roseanne's place. Rock Band makes Guitar Hero feel like its roadie. GH wants to be as cool, but it just can't be. You can play drums, sing and play guitar all together - like a real band! It's so much fun.

On Sunday, we were taken to the Beverly Center mall, an experience all it's own. Everyone is there to be seen, just as much as to shop, it seems. People wear their wealth on their bodies, since they can't afford to own homes around here. It's a beautiful place though, even if I did lose count of all the Uggs by noon. The smog had cleared just enough for us to see the Hollywood sign, and almost all the way to down town, as we road the escalator down the mall's four flights of decadence.

The real highlight of the day was our first Brazilian BBQ experience in Beverly Hills. Jer had been trying to explain the sheer delight of this one-of-a-kind dining event, but even he couldn't do it justice. I'll borrow from the website of Fogo de Chao to describe it, as they do quite well:

"The dinner menu features unlimited servings of 15 different delectable cuts of fire-roasted meats, a sumptuous buffet of gourmet salads and fresh-cut vegetables, and a variety of Brazilian side dishes.

Each guest uses a two-sided disk to control the pace of their meal. The green side signals the Gaucho chefs to bring out skewers of sizzling fire-roasted meats to carve at the table. The red side indicates a stopping point. Turning back to green lets the Gaucho chefs know to start offering the meats again.

The traditional side dishes of warm cheese bread, fried bananas, crispy hot polenta and seasoned mashed potatoes are automatically brought to each table and replenished throughout the meal."

So basically, yeah, their chefs walk around with sizzling meats they slice fresh for you, whenever you want, and it's all-you-can-eat. Everything from filet mignon, to parmesan-crusted pork loin, to lamb chops. The "salad bar" rivaled any I've ever seen, and the flavors of everything were unique and delicious!

We were so deliriously enjoying everything we forgot to take many pictures. But anyway, look them up, it's something you should try at least once (and probably only once, since it is quite expensive!).

This was our birthday celebration for both Michael and Jer. (Jer turned 31 yesterday). What more could two boys ask for than unlimited fire-roasted meats! I mean seriously. It was crazy good.

Check out all the pics from this weekend. And yes, I'm sure you're wondering, we did each gain 10 pounds after feasting the way we did. But it was worth it.

Ode to LA

We arrived in Los Angeles at about 11:30 pm Sunday night. I think I'm just now caught up on my sleep. Michael's been working at his office here, and I've joined him the last two days. I've even got my own desk!

Garmin Electra has been faithfully guiding us around the city in all her British charm. She's so wonderful. I think I will write an Ode to Electra when the mood strikes. But for now, I'm too busy looking up all the cool information she has to share. And finding all of the nearby Starbucks at a moment's notice, just because I can. And because the number of Starbucks in a 10 mile radius is roughly 37 times that in Austin.

Unlike the past few times we've come down here during the winter, it is freezing this time! And to add to our already chilly disposition, we went to our first hockey game on Wednesday night. Hockey is such a peculiar sport! It is an usual combination of grace (gliding around the ice) and manliness (macho men repeatedly slamming one another against the glass, etc). Twice we saw players actually throw down their gloves before brawling - a timeless indication of an ensuing fight. Needless to say, it was totally entertaining.

We went to the Duck's game for Michael's work Christmas party. We got to hang out with the office staff and their spouses, and treat ourselves to endless snack bar concessions - after driving through an hour and a half of traffic on the 405 to get there, of course.

O, Los Angeles, how I've missed you. Your endless palm trees. Your sunny skies. Your rolling hills and dramatic elevations. Your shining beaches. Your glistening purple haze and smog. Your honking drivers. Your girls in Uggs of every color. Your guys in skinny rocker jeans and girlish haircuts.

Believe it or not, I love it all!

OnStar Officially Retires

My other gift for Michael's birthday was a GPS navigation system for the car. Indeed, I had a bit of a selfish motive, yet again. But really, OnStar was ready for retirement. My replacement - the Garmin, has proven to be quite a reputable source for calm and pleasant navigational coaching.

We've named her Garmin Electra, but sometimes we call her CarMan (which isn't very gender-sensitive, I know). She's British. Patient. Kind. Non-judgmental. When you make a wrong turn, she simply pauses, says "Recalculating ... " then adjusts her instructions to adapt to your own creative maneuvering. She doesn't ask questions for the next 10 minutes, such as "How could you miss that turn, we've been here like A MILLION TIMES!!"

This One Goes Out to the One I Love

Way back in July, I started thinking about what Michael might like for his 30th birthday. Anyone who knows us well would know that we typically don't buy gifts for each other. Somewhere around the 5th or 6th year of our relationship we decided it just brought unjustifiable stress, and was somewhat a waste of money to buy gifts "just because". So we sometimes treat ourselves to things we want (like a cruise, or guitar hero) as a way to commemorate a holiday or milestone.

But I felt like this was a monumental occasion, and I wanted to recognize it somehow. (Also, since I threw my (small) big sister a big shindig two years ago, I felt I had some minor expectations to live up to :)

I decided what Michael might like most is to see his Paul, since he gets lonely way out here without any guy friends around. So I got Michael Paul for his birthday. This gift meant Jess got to come along too, so I may have had some selfish motives. But this gift also meant that Jess and Paul got to come and see us in Austin, and celebrate both Michael's birthday and an early Christmas. So it was a win, win, win.

Last Thursday night (3 days before the actual big day) I told him my parents had a coupon for one of our favorite places and wanted to meet for dinner. When we arrived at the table, he saw the balloons and gifts, and was surprised. (Especially at the princess theme). Then a shaggy haired person came up and offered him a beer. That was when PB&J made their big appearance.

Watch the video (very grainy, so sorry!):



The rest of the night was filled with laughter and joy. It was really a memorable evening. View all the pictures here.

A big happy 30th birthday to the love of my life, Michael. You are my pride and joy, and seeing your happiness made me feel like it was my birthday.

I love you!

Safe and Sound Hounds

Shame on me for not updating you on our cruise sooner! All this build up to the big event, then nothing, for weeks! And here you were, worried this had happened to our ship.

It didn't, of course, cuz here we are, back in the blogosphere where we belong!

Our die-hard fans (hello you two!) have already seen the pictures on the gallery. For everyone else, a quick recap! We had a very wonderful and relaxing time. Unlike most of our trips this year, this was NOT a working vacation! While out at sea we never checked our email, and only received one business-related phone call. (But if you knew the caller, you'd know it was a miracle only one situation came up!)

We started the trip by driving to Galveston. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, and we had a room overlooking the beach. Without being too unfriendly, let me just say how much I miss California beaches. It also feels completely disconcerting that the sun does not set on the water. Makes for a totally different "sunset at the beach" experience.

Nevertheless, we boarded our boat the next day without incident. It was a huge ship and took us nearly the whole week just to figure out how to get around!

The first two days were out at sea while we traveled to the Caribbean. We soaked up a lot of sun, saw a few shows, ate a lot of food, and took a lot of naps. Seriously, that was one of the best parts.

Wednesday we arrived in Jamaica. The weather was perfect! We got on a catamaran that took us to a nice snorkeling spot. On the way, the crew gave us foot massages with fresh aloe vera. That was one of my other favorite parts of the trip. They dropped us off at the beach after that, and we did some more snorkeling. We got brave and walked a ways through the city to go to Margaritaville. It was scary, to say the least. People are very overbearing and it is crowded!

A storm came in the second half of the day, but we were already back on the ship, taking a nap, of course!

Thursday we arrived at Grand Cayman. The water was a startling shade of turquoise. We went snorkeling again and this time was probably the best. We saw the biggest fish we've ever seen, at least 4-5 feet long. They were tarpon, coming to feed, and scare little children. Feed on chum, not little children. We again went to the beach, had some fried calamari, then went back for more snorkeling. (See a theme yet?)

Friday we arrived in Cozumel. This was supposed to be the most amazing snorkeling tour, but it was unfortunately canceled as a big storm was rolling in. We trading that trip for a jeep tour around the island, including a different snorkeling stop! The jeep was fun, but it was kind of cold that day.

Saturday was the last day at sea. By this point we were ready to come home. We exhausted ourselves with all of the excursions, and trying to gorge on as much food as the days and our bellies would allow.

All in all, a very wonderful time. We arrived home to chilly and rainy weather. But lots of progress had been made on the home, so that warmed our spirits.

They've just finished texturing, and are getting ready to install baseboards, trim and doors. The outside is ready for brick but is waiting on something - subcontractors, I'm guessing.

It's been full speed ahead since we got back. Thanksgiving came and went so quickly I thought I might have been dreaming! We had a nice day at our makeshift home - eating lots of food, watching movies, playing games and guitar hero. I can't wait to have people over to our new house when it is finally done! We're aiming for March to be in. But I'm secretly hoping for February. We're more than half way there, and construction only began at the end of September.

You may have guessed our trip to Virginia to see Bob got canceled. His dad was in a car accident, broke his leg and needed surgery. So Bob flew home to take care of him. Please send big Bob your thoughts and prayers. He's recovering well.

So our last trip of 2007 is coming up next weekend when we leave for two weeks in LA. Work and play again.

By the way, we've finally gotten our business website live. It's funny how much a completed website changes people's view of what you do for a living. Suddenly you're the real thing, even though the IRS has known about you for years. Check it out! Oh, and do you need your own website? Because I happen to know a great team to help you ;)


Stay tuned for the newest feature coming soon, "Nothing but a Hound Blog!"

Web Hounds, out.

"Sharon Matthew, only 3 days until your cruise!"

Oh, the anticipation!!

On the Road Again ...

Just returned from our second trip to Houston for Michael's work. We left Sunday afternoon, had a quick visit to the "urban lake" of the Woodlands and dinner at the outdoor mall (pictures). We also tested our new snorkeling gear at the hotel pool and it gets an A+!

Michael worked all day Monday and I, well, I shopped. Which was hard work in its own way since I had to hoof it around town with all of my treasures. That night we went downtown for dinner and some more walking. Burning the calories in preparation for a certain aquatic vacation soon to be upon us.

Houston pics at the gallery too. Also, a concert we went to last week. And cousin Sarah's baby shower. And, of course, the latest on the house.

Today, we met with our builder at the house to review our electrical plans. Thinking we'd be making final decisions before they began, we were surprised to see half the boxes and wires already placed and about a dozen workers making quick work of it all. I believe we've got all our wants and needs covered now though. Michael's ("shockingly") doing a lot of the installs after the house is built - mostly for budget-related purposes :) .

So, that's the latest on the house. They should be finishing up the roofing this week, and while we're on the road again (or, rather, the sea) next week they will start on drywall on the interior and brick and stone on the exterior. The progress is amazingly fast, much better than we hoped for.

Something's in the Water!

And I'm not talking about this (blechh!).

It appears we've reached that season in life where it seems like everyone we know is having babies! So I have a few announcements to make of my own ... regarding other people, of course ... just to keep y'all up to date, and because everybody loves baby pictures!!

You've already met Logan Chase (above), Michael's cousin Jamie's baby boy who was born last Spring. There are new pictures of him at the gallery. He is the very lucky first grandbaby on the Matthew side.


My cousin Luke (or Lucas by his wife, Kelly) had the first grandbaby on the Jolly/Barber side this summer. Ethan Michael was born August 4. (On the left with Mom Kelly).


Now, more news. Michael's cousin Sarah, who lives here in Austin, and her husband Michael, are expecting their first baby January 5th. They've chosen the name Alexis Micaela, and the baby shower is next Saturday. (If you are so inclined, might I point out she is registered at Target ;)

My friend, Stacey, is also expecting in early January. They are having a boy, whose name is tbd. ("To be determined", they are not actually naming him TBD, I think they are leaning toward Rocco.) She is registered at Babies 'r' Us. ;O) She lives in Colombia, but will be home to visit after the baby is born.

Finally, last but not least, Michael's sister Shawna and her husband Shane are expecting a baby boy! This came as such a surprise - and a bag of mixed emotions - for us. We are sooooo happy for them, but sooooo sad that we live so far away now. When we got the news, it took some time for us to come to terms with this part of our move here, that we would miss out on so much with our family. We hope to experience as much as possible, and be terrific long-distance-uncle-and-auntie. Shawna is due March 10, and we plan to get out there asap when she goes into labor, and stay for as long as possible after that. I really can't wait!!! More pictures of their "It's a Boy" celebration at the gallery along with Logan.


So, you ask (well everyone else always asks), when are we having babies of our own? Easy answer: well, it's obviously terribly trendy these days, so we'll just wait 'til we can bring it back into style, you know, like skinny jeans. I'm totally just kidding. We will have babies simply as soon as we can. No word on when that will be. And for now we are drinking store-bought water.

Back to Business as (un)Usual

Michael returned safe and sound from LA, at 1 am (so I guess that would be Monday morning). After a productive week of work, he was able to have some fun and some sun over the weekend.

Check out his photos here.

While he was gone, I went to the Zilker Park Botanical Gardens with my mom and dad. There we saw the most adorable butterfly! Gallery photos here.

As usual, I'm ecstatic that Michael is home and we're back to the old routine. We are busy planning a few more events, though, in addition to keeping an eye on the house.

Somehow our original plan to take one or two trips this year has turned into 10 or 12. It's been really fun, but traveling is exhausting too! We're going back to Houston again soon for a couple days, then we'll be leaving for our cruise mid-November, and we can hardly wait! We'll be back in time to celebrate Thanksgiving here. Then it's off to Virginia for a visit with Bob. After that we leave for two more weeks in LA. Michael has a lot of work to do out there for his company, and his boss is kind enough to fly me out too - mostly for Michael's morale (Ron says Michael will get more work done if he's not distracted by missing me too much; I very much like that reasoning).

After Christmas, we are going to Maui for a week with Michael's family. Then we will rest. I think.

More House Photos

Things are moving along so quickly out there now we can barely keep up with photos! It is very exciting. Mom, Dad, Anna & I took a trip out there today. (Michael's flying back in tonight). Here's a few pics from today's trip.

Living Room View - You can see the covered patio behind me. The pool will be just a few dozen feet beyond.

Sunroom - I'm in the corner surveying the extreme vastness of this house and wondering how I'll ever keep it clean. Anna's in the living room. Dad has gone through the slider out to the patio.

Music Room View (second story)

In case you haven't seen it, we've been keeping the gallery full of progress photos too. Can't wait til y'all come visit us!

The Parish Room - Elliott Yamin and The Last Goodnight

Anna and I went downtown Saturday night to see Elliott Yamin from American Idol play. Don't you dare laugh at us for buying tickets, you would too and you know it. He was our favorite from that season. Just a genuine guy with genuine talent you couldn't help but adore.

It turned out to be the most fun we've had in a long time! The opening acts were incredible, including The Last Goodnight, an up-and-coming band from Connecticut who are known for their song "Pictures of You." They were so talented! Especially their keyboard player, who we agreed was the best we've probably ever seen. And of course, it takes a lot to impress us. After the show, the band was kind of hanging around so we got to meet them and take photos like giddy little fans. Hope they make it big one day!

This is Anna with the piano player. He was very sweet.

We didn't get up close and personal to Elliott. Unfortunately, I guess he's too big of a star now to mingle after the show. Although it was a small venue, which was cool.

I took a picture with "Sway" who was from the same season on AI as Elliott, and was singing backup in his band. What a cutie-patooty. Elliott's set was amazing, his vocals were impeccable, and the band rocked! It was so much fun. Check out more pics at the gallery.

Last but not least, here's a short video clip from Elliott. I'll post some more to YouTube shortly.

Sleep Disturbance

I had dreams all night about poor little Iggy. Is it because I was bombarded all day long with over-dramatic details from the media? Or could it be because my little Bear was sleeping next to me, head on Michael's pillow, whimpering in his own peacefully undisturbed doggy slumber?

(Michael's out of town, btw. Someone has to keep me warm at night! Don't judge!)

Escape from Suburbia

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them."

-- Bill Vaughan

The "quote of the day" on my Google home page :)

Recognition

My recovery was going along just fine and dandy - when all of a sudden, one of my incisions decided to open up and expose itself to the world, like a grimy old man in a trench coat. This has not happened to me before (with the incision, nor being flashed by an old man), but apparently when you slice into a previously healed scar, the skin is less likely to close back up properly. I developed a minor surface infection which began causing all kinds of slime and gore in and around the wound. So bad, that I couldn't even bear to take a picture of it like I normally would to gross you out with.

I tell you all this only so I can brag about Michael, and give him the recognition he deserves for having to clean it out with peroxide three times a day for the past four days.

Michael --- who can't even go into the vet's office with me when Bear has blood drawn (after a near pass-out experience), and turns various shades of green when I have IVs inserted at the hospital --- stoically overcame his aversion to medically questionable situations and didn't even dry-heave as he watched the ooze bubble from the antiseptic.

Michael --- who set up this very sanitary cleansing station (and brought me the flowers!).

Michael --- my hero!

Recovery

Well, the latest round in my slice 'n' dice tour was Monday morning. I went under the knife once more to have my spinal cord stimulator ex-planted. The surgery went well; it was one of the easiest so far, and I was able to go home that evening. Now it's just some rest and lots of tv (hurray for the new fall season!) before life gets back to normal. I didn't tell a lot of people about this surgery (because let's be honest, it's getting a little old already!) but for people who knew, I thought you may appreciate the update.

Of course, I have my live-in nurse to take care of me and take over my chores for awhile (all while taking unflattering pictures of me).

And my other roommate and personal dishwasher (Anna), and my own personal chef and life coach (aka Mom & Dad ;) to get me through.

Life's not so bad.

Another Austin Visitor!

Our good friend Eric didn't feel like he got enough quality time with us while we were in California, so he came all the way out to see us here when we got back. He also went to his cousin's wedding since he was in town already.

We didn't have a lot of time, but we did manage to show him some sights around town which he filmed (his profession at which he is very talented: see EricMaddox.com!)

Check out more photos at the gallery.

California Trip

New photos will be added to the gallery all week!

Claimjumper Happy Hour - Thursday Night

Anyone and everyone who is available, let's meet at Claimjumper Thursday night for old time's sake. Michael and I will be there by 6:30. Call for details. 512-965-3481.

Hope to see you there ;)

Many Happy Returns

Here we go, we're returning to California for our second visit! We hadn't been planning on repeating a trip home so soon, but a couple of important events convinced us otherwise!

Our good friend Rory's wedding is this Saturday at his parents' amazing home in Foresthill. Michael is a groomsman. We met Rory's bride, Astrid, a year ago at Anna's going away party. She is a beautiful gal we'd love to get to know better. All I can say is Rory is a different person since having met her; I don't think I've ever seen him so happy, and obviously giddy in love. Congrats you two!

Sunday is our Grandma's 80th birthday party! Can't think of a better reason to come home and celebrate such a joyous occasion. We love you, Grandma.


So, we'll be in CA Thursday (Sept 13) through Sept 25. This time we're bringing along a surprise guest - ANNA! I hope we get a chance to see ya'll.

Rescue and Rehabilitation

Sammie gets a new lease on life! I know for sure we made the right decision, even though we miss her at times. It seems joining a new "pack" was just what she needed to shape up.

It also sounds like she's receiving wonderful care, and is well on her way to finding a new family. What a wonderful organization. We are very grateful to them.