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!