Author: Gracie

Brake Parts Cleaner

I learned a valuable lesson this week and feel compelled to share it with you!
IF you happen to drive down a road with a sign that says FRESH OIL… I now know what will take the oil off your car.

I did this a few weeks back… They are repaving all the roads in Fayetteville and it was time to repave the road at the bottom of the hill. I really had no option, I had to get on the road even though it said fresh oil. I thought, how bad can it be? VERY BAD!!! I had oil all over my car. Obviously, the car wash would have been useless as well all know oil and water don’t mix. I called around for some estimates to get it off and was astounded to hear it would be upwards of $150. But on one call the guy told me to use break parts cleaner. So I rode down to Walmart in my two tone car and bought 2 cans of the stuff – $1.50 each. I tried to hype myself up for lots of elbow grease. To my surprise, it wasn’t that tough to get off – a bit of force but not too much.

So there’s your lesson for the day boys and girls – I hope you can use this if you need it or pass it along…

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More animals saved…

Saturday when Mike was mowing his yard, he found a baby bird. We couldn’t do much with it since you aren’t supposed to touch them so we just left him hanging out in the shade.

Then, when we got home Saturday night, Mike found 2 frogs!

So, none of the animals were really “saved” but still our world is clearly full of all kinds of fun creatures!

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Weekend Update

I had a very busy weekend this past week – and an interesting week to say the least – here are the highlights!
Wednesday I went to renew my driver’s license – always a good time to be had at the DMV! My last picture was really good, so I made sure to practice really hard for this one too. After many, many self portraits with the ever present digital camera, I felt confident I could master a smile that did not look fake and that I would be OK with for the next 4 years… So I headed out. I waltzed into the DMV and grabbed a ticket # and was immediately served (yes, hell must be freezing over). The attendant took my picture and jokingly asked “Did you practice” – yes mam I did! She wasn’t prepared for me to say Yes I think but she just sorta laughed…and I was on my way.

Friday, I headed to B’ville to get my hair cut. Lindsey and Stella came and hung out for the 3 hour event. I think I saw them more last week than I have in the past 6 months and Stella is out of her French stage.
Then Friday evening was our Junior League New Member retreat at Mt. Sequoyah. Erin and I headed up the hill to the lodge area where we spent the next 18 hours learning all about the year ahead of us with the Junior League. It was a great evening and morning. We did some volunteer work on Saturday which is always very rewarding. I’m very excited to be a part of this great group of women and to meet so many new people in Northwest Arkansas!

Saturday evening we had plans to go to Shogun with Dan and Michelle and Lane and Mark came along as well. It was tasty as always! Dan is also lucky enough to receive the distinction of having a “notable quote” on the column to the right…Then we headed down to Dickson Street to see the local favorite Maud Crawford. Brad and Jennifer were there and had a front row table saved which was great!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day – didn’t roll out of bed until about noon. Amanda and Suzanne had a pool party which I was supposed to bring a dessert to, I was stoked about some banana pudding but it didn’t really turn out that well – it looked a little more like banana soup so that was scratched. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool …

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News FLASH! Stella may be French…

On Tuesday, Stella and Lindsey came to Fayetteville to browse in my shoe shop… Stella is walking and starting to talk, she kept chasing Presley around saying PUPeeee — she must be French. Presley is very selfish and doesn’t like anything smaller than her, especially if they get more attention, so she growled alot, but her tail kept wagging so I think she was mildly entertained at the idea of having a small child around about as much as me – 2 hours tops – then they go back to mommy!

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Fun in Second City

We went to Chicago this past weekend for Tom and Stephanie’s wedding. We took a few days off before did some sightseeing around town. I’ve never been to Chicago before and I absolutely loved it! We drove all night on Wednesday night with Mark and Lane and hit Chicago right at about morning rush hour. We went straight to the zoo in Lincoln Park, which is a great zoo by the way! Then we went downtown to Michigan Avenue and ate at Giordano’s Pizza which is the best deep dish pizza EVER! Then we went to H&M. where apparently I proved my shopping prowess! Then we went back to Lincoln Park to check in to our Hotel. We stayed at the Belden Stratford Hotel which is Fabulous! It’s part hotel and part apartments. We all took a much needed nap!!!
Thursday night we went to Tom and Stephanie’s apartment for drinks then out to a club. Friday, those that weren’t in the wedding headed out to Navy Pier and took and architectural tour through the city on a river boat – this was probably my favorite part! We also at the infamous Billy Goat Tavern, where the SNL skit Cheebourger Cheebourger originated. Then we went to the Museum of Science and Industry where Mike was enthralled with the Poop to Power display. By the end of the afternoon, Mike and I were the only ones left in our tour group and we were about a $40 cab ride away from our hotel, so we decided to make and adventure out of public transit. It was much cheaper (about $8 in total) but about twice as long, but we saw parts of the city that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Friday night, we went to a great dinner out to celebrate my new job… Kinzie Chophouse – it was wonderful – probably the best steak I’ve ever had. We walked around downtown and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Saturday, Mike and I walked to Wrigley Field and bought t-shirts to prove we were there and headed the 3.6 miles home – we did alot of walking and hailed a cab about halfway back… Saturday night was the wedding – the whole reason we were there… it was so wonderful! The entire affair was at Carnivale, a Cuban restaurant in the downtown area. Everything was bright colors and pop art and it really illustrated the creativity and passion of Tom and Stephanie. Stephanie even made her own wedding cake – it was gorgeous! We ate and drank and drank some more and danced the night away.

Sunday was a rude awakening in that we had to go back to reality and drive 10 hours back to Fayetteville – it wasn’t too bad – it helps to travel with more than 2 people so that everyone can nap. We made it home safe and sound right about 12:31 – precisely as predicted by Lane.

I really loved Chicago! Although I may have other things to say about it had it been the middle of winter.

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Garage Sale update and notice of Resale Shops NOT to shop at!!!

My sale was a great success! I got rid of so much stuff. It’s always amazing what people will buy and what they won’t… in total I made about a $1000 so I think I win!

I was a bit disappointed that more of my clothes didn’t sell, but that just wasn’t the clientele of my sale – clearly the boat mention in the adds drew a different crowd – they weren’t interested in my clothes. So my great plan was to take my remaining clothes to a resale shop. I went through the lot piece by piece and folded it neatly and took strict inventory. I went ahead and took the t-shirts and other plain items to Goodwill. By my calculations, at and average of $5 a piece, I was expecting $700 total, but would be happy with $500 if they took it all.

My first stop was Plato’s Closet in Fayetteville. I was there as it opened but was not the first one in line to sell clothes – no worries, I waited… when it was my turn, I helped get all my bags onto the counter and then was told it would be about 30 minutes and I could leave if I wanted – NO WAY – I stayed very close to my clothes. They had no interest in my formal dresses nor my business attire, but I had plenty of “going out clothes” to last someone a few years…. well, out of 85 pieces that she sorted through, she only was interested in 14 and was only going to offer me $37.10 for them – WHAT? really? I told her no thank you and that the pair of boots she personally wanted cost 3 times that to begin with and there was not anyway I was going to take the insult of $2 a piece! I’d rather give it away that that!!!
So my advice to you on Plato’s Closet – DO NOT SHOP THERE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL TO THEM – STAY AWAY, PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS….

2nd stop was a place in Bentonville “Check My Closet.” I remember that’s where lots of people in High School would go to buy their homecoming and prom dresses so I thought this would be a great place to sell my formals and my suits, etc. NO! WRONG AGAIN!!!! The owner of this shop could not have been any ruder to me (and Melanie was with me too). It was ridiculous.
So my advice to you on Check My Closet – DO NOT SHOP THERE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL TO THEM – STAY AWAY, PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS…

So here’s my plan – I’m keepin’ the clothes and will have another great sale one weekend in September when there is not a football game! However, if you are interested in a private showing, or are in need of a formal (sizes 2 and 4 and 6), feel free to give me a ring!!! I’ll hook you up!

So all in all, the sale was good, as I mentioned earlier. I do want to say a special thank you to Lindsey and Jason… they helped me move ALL of my crap from Dallas – they are great friends to have done that AND still talk to me today!!! Love you both!

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Yard Sale this Saturday!

Boy, do I have a lot of CRAP!!! I’m a self proclaimed packrat for sure. So this weekend I’m going to have a YARD SALE. I’ve got some really good stuff actually. All good things for a first apartment or if you like bar pariphinalia – I have a bunch of that!
I’m even going to sell a boat and some boat motors if I can.
If you need more info, let me know!

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Vegas, baby!!!

Last week my mom and I went to Las Vegas to begin her 50th birthday celebration – her birthday isn’t until September but 50 is definitely worth celebrating for a long time.

We flew direct from Tulsa, here’s us on the plane…

It’s great when you fly to Vegas, because in theory, it’s free time with the time change. We left at 3:15 and landed about 3:40!

Mom has never been to Vegas before so it was fun to see her reaction to all the craziness of the city! I went to Vegas last April for Liz’s bachelorette party and had a blast! It’s constantly changing with new hotels and casinos going up EVERYWHERE!

We stayed at Harrah’s mainly because it was in the center of Las Vegas Blvd. It was very convenient to just get up and go and be able to walk everywhere. As soon as we got checked in and dropped our stuff off, we headed toward north toward the Venetian.

We also walked through Cesar’s the first night and had a bite to eat, then watched the fountains at the Bellagio… and then headed back to the room, we were beat!

Friday morning, we hit the pool for a good desert tan! It was really relaxing to lounge by the pool and drink … all before noon! After the pool, we walked all the way down to MGM, stopping at lots of places on the way. We stopped in at Margaritaville to grab lunch – we split a cheeseburger in paradise and of course had margaritas! For those of you that don’t know, my parents are Parrot Heads…clearly.

We also kept seeing this bus… I ABSOLUTELY love Absolut Marketing so I had to have a picture of this…

We stopped in Paris where I won $25 on the nickle slots! YAY! We also went in the Coca Cola and M&M’s stores. I was so very glad to see the Coke store because it seemed like Vegas itself is sponsored by Pepsi… (sorry B’s, but I don’t drink Pepsi). We crossed the strip and headed into New York New York. We walked back toward center strip and headed inside Bellagio to check out the Buffet. When we went for Liz’s Bachelorette Weekend we all went to the champagne brunch buffet at the Bellagio and it was FABULOUS! Mom and I actually decided against gorging ourselves on all that food – it’s hard to eat a ton when it’s so hot outside. So we headed back to the hotel for a while and to play some slots.

Saturday we were going to try and repeat the pool experience but it was CLOUDY!!! Who would have guessed it… it seems as if we took the humidity to Vegas with us. So we headed back north on the strip toward the Wynn/Encore. We walked through the Fashion Show Mall and then ate at a patio hamburger place. We walked around some more and then went inside the Wynn and through to the Palazzo and eventually back to the Venetian – it’s very nice that these are all internally connected – it was hot and super crowded outside. It’s definitely best to go when you can have a few days of the week to explore rather than fighting the throngs of tourists on Saturday.

One thing of mention – there were lots of kids there. I found this odd… family vacations are great an all but why Vegas for your 8 year old? We did hear about the adventures of a family in the airport where the 8 year old boy kept telling everyone that he pretty much stayed drunk and he was going to tell his teachers that. I taught him to say inebriated rather than drunk – he should at least get some vocabulary points!
Saturday night, we had tickets to see LOVE – the Cirque du Solei extravaganza… it was phenomenal. It was a multitude of performers dancing interpretively to all Beatles songs. It was so much fun! Before that, we ate at a bar called Stack… yes, you are correct in assuming that are the waitresses were just that… My oh so funny mother insisted on taking my picture in front of the sign after I explained the meaning of the name…
Then we had drinks at REVOLUTION which is the theme bar to coincide with the performance. Here’s me sitting in the U and my mom standing in front of the TSince it was our last night, we decided to go to the Piano Bar at NYNY from great recommendations from Melanie (aka Martini Momma). It was so much fun. My mom chickened out on letting them sing to her so that was too bad because I’m sure it would have made for a great picture and a great story.

It was a great trip!!! I had so much fun and am ready to go back again…

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Happy 1 year Anniversary to Liz and Chad!!!

So one year ago today, we were all gathered in Taos, NM at a fabulous compound to celebrate the marriage of Liz and Chad! It was such a great time for everyone.
I’m so very proud of you both for making it this far and going about it fairly easily! You have a great relationship and I know neither of you could ask for anymore in someone to spend the rest of your life with! I could not ask for better friends in my life either! Liz has been there through WAY too much and I know Chad has at least heard most of the stories and actually experienced some of them as well!
Here’s to many, many more years of wedded bliss, and not too much pressure to have a kid or 2!
Hope to see you soon!
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