Aubrey Cate

Monday, July 06, 2009

Blocks

The toy AC got the night of our wreck has entertained Daddy and Pax as much as it has AC. You should see Eric's face every time she almost knocks his masterpieces over.

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A Mere 85 Degrees!

It was only 85 degrees Sunday evening, so we actually went outside (we don't do much of that in July and August around here.)

Aubrey Cate played by herself, as her buddy Will has grandparents in town. They're getting all the visits they can before Will moves to Siberia- I mean, before they move to Detroit.

This is a leaf she named "Number A."

Big girl shoulder and big Texas hair. What happened to the baby? (but if you ask her, she's a baby, not a big girl. in particular, she wants to "be your chicken baby."

We play a little game at our house. It's called "run around the tree." Inventive, aren't we?

A successful dismount from running around the tree.

Yay me.

More running...

Collapse in a heap- a successful wearing out tactic, for sure.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Did I REALLY say this stuff? I probably did... I think she called me while I was knee deep at the white house.

Issue Date: June 26, 2009, Posted On: 6/25/2009

‘Cliff Fest’ Planning BeginsNew festival will take cues from Taste of Addison
By Silver HogueStaff Writer

The wheels are turning on one of the biggest festivals to hit Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District.

At a June 16 community meeting, several Oak Cliff business owners and residents filed into Zen Sushi on Seventh Street to get the ball rolling on the latest ode to OC: Cliff Fest.

The event, which is slated for Nov. 14, will be a showcase of all things Oak Cliff and is being modeled after Taste of Addison, a food and entertainment festival held each year in the suburb north of Dallas.

“I want it to show the best of Oak Cliff,” Sheri Mathis, event coordinator for the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce. “All the things people don’t know about — the artists and galleries that are out there that people don’t know about, the restaurants, the neighborhood feel of it.”

Neighborhood organizer Amy Wallace Cowan, the planning extraordinaire behind events such as the Mardi Gras Oak Cliff parade and the Election Night party in Bishop Arts, is heading up the event.

“In many ways it will be similar, in that Addison holds true to the merchants and businesses that reside there, and we’re going to do the same thing here,” Cowan said. “The way we’re different is that Oak Cliff is different. It’s such an eclectic community. It’s all community driven, so it should be quite different.”

While the details will be worked out in a series of planning meetings in the coming months, the event is expected to feature food vendors, live music, merchant booths, and work by local artists.

Cowan said the only rule is that all of the businesses, restaurants, and merchants involved must have an “Oak Cliff base.” Nonetheless, she said she hopes the festival will attract outsiders.

“Everyone likes to just have a reason to celebrate,” Cowan said. “There is such a stigma where Oak Cliff is concerned, and people who aren’t familiar with it may not have ever taken that Saturday evening to go to Hattie’s, whereas they may be willing to come to a daytime festival. People may not be comfortable coming at night.”

Julie McCullough Kim, owner of Make Shop and Studio on Bishop Avenue, said she wants the event to expose people to the area’s art scene.

“I hope that people see a lot of new things and all the creativity that goes on down here and how everything here is independently owned,” Kim said. “I also hope they get exposed to a lot of things that are outside the district. Since they’re coming to the event for the day, they might go to those businesses as well.”

Cowan said she is hard at work looking for volunteers, performers, vendors, and sponsors to get involved, and is confident Oak Cliff will come through.

“If we can do something all day that showcases all of our different people, then hopefully we can show the rest of Dallas what we have to offer and how fabulous we are,” Cowan said.

E-mail silver.hogue@peoplenewspapers.com

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy 4th of July!

Aubrey Cate is decked out in her festive dress from Aunt Mill!

It's too hot to grill, so we came to Hunky's for some American fare... A little ironic that the music of the day is The Beatles, but whatever!

Everyone appears to be okay today. AC keeps talking about the car that was on "flier," and she no longer wants to go buy a pool. GEICO doesn't appear to work on holidays, but hopefully we'll learn something about the repairs on the Land Rover soon! That Jeep sure is hot in the summers!

Off for an exciting afternoon of painting at the white house!
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Going to Need a Big Ol' Band-Aid

This is from the initial impact...I can't believe that's as "minor" as it is. The tail gate won't open and the metal is all smashed into each other, but it didn't cave into the body of the car at all. I'm amazed. We aren't too sure how this side part happened? We assume this part is from smashing the side of the Acura...

Friday, July 03, 2009

It Was Like the Tea Cups, Aubrey Cate

So...We had a little wreck tonight.Excuse the bad photography- camera phone + nerves were SHOT.At 7:55 p.m. tonight, we were coming home from a trip to Toys R Us on Hwy 75 (North Central Expwy) .... Some drunk and/or stoned wonder boy and his girlfriend were apparently going somewhere near 100 mph (3 different stories had him at 90, 100, and 125). They apparently clipped a Toyota Prius, and then slammed into the back of us. We spun and spun- it felt like forever. Like I'd bet we started spinning at that farthest bridge you can see in the pic before we stopped at the bridge underneath Northwest Hwy. Eric was driving... AC was back in her car seat (see previous post!!!)... she started screaming and crying, and Eric was fighting to stop and/or gain control. We hit another SUV in its side before we managed to come to a stop about 6" from a concrete dividing wall. Eric asked if we were okay, and then he took off- I assumed to see if other people were okay... turns out Eric was actually gone to tackle the wonder boy who abandoned his burning vehicle while his nasty trashy girlfriend was still inside and decided to make a run for it up the service road on a major highway. Eric caught him and said the guy had shit in his pants. Lovely, right? Good. Because we know they were going to jail for the night, and I can guarantee you that those Sheriff's deputies won't be rushing over to clean that up for him. He told Eric someone had slipped him some pills... but he still decided racing down 75 was a good idea? He wasn't wearing shoes or a shirt- just a bathing suit full of poop.

A nurse had witnessed the wreck and stopped to check on us. She checked Aubrey Cate out, but there wasn't a scratch on her. At one point, Aubrey Cate and I were standing on the side of a major highway watching this fire burn and burn, and there were no signs of help coming. Cars were still driving through the scene, and I knew we couldn't back too much further away without being at risk for being hit by a car rubber-necking, but I was also terrified that that car was going to blow up. So in my moment of panic, I called Lana and John- you know, who live 15 miles away- to see if they could come get Aubrey Cate. At this point AC wasn't crying, but was just insistent that she wasn't getting back in the "brown car." (mine is the brown car, Eric's is the black car... even though they're both black... go figure.)This was ALL THE DAMAGE done from the part that took the direct hit. I L-O-V-E Land Rover.They finally got the fire out. They used an ax to chop off some of the engine block stuff, and Aubrey Cate declared that the car was getting a spanking. This nasty piece of trash with no pants on openly told witnesses she was too drunk to drive. Um, hello? But you still got in the car with him? The guy in the white wife beater "reluctantly" dragged her from the burning car and made her sit there until police came- I guess like Eric, he was worried they were going to flee the scene.We were officially "those people," ruining everyone's commute out of town on the 4th of July. That's Northpark Mall in the background...At some point Eric came back... the EMTs made me get my blood pressure taken and grilled me about my prenatal care. I assured them that I had over-the-top prenatal care, and that I was going to live... This is the car we t-boned.

So John showed up to get Aubrey Cate, and at the same time, we were getting "released." I'm sure I totally over reacted in calling him, but I was just convinced that he was going to get there before those darned fire trucks, I guess!

We were driving home, but even after Aubrey Cate suggested that the brown car get a band-aid, she still wasn't thrilled about being in the brown car... Eric told her it was just like the tea cups (the ride at Disneyland that she loved.) She definitely agreed.

We're home now, and since neither of us have ever been in a "real" wreck, we aren't too sure what to do. Obviously we know we can call our insurance company, but I'm really hoping wonder boy isn't one of the one-in-five in Texas without car insurance (yeah, right).

The Land Rover is the most awesome vehicle ever. My entire family was making fun of me for letting them put new brakes on that car last week, but you know what? It might have made the difference. There is no doubt in my mind that things would have turned out very differently had we been in Eric's Jeep. That amount of spinning surely would have ended in us rolling over.

I love my tank!

Moving Sucks

It's 102 degrees today, and we are trying to move some stuff to storage. AC is breaking al kinds of laws riding in the front seat.
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