It's a Blessed Life

First Base at The Rangers' Game

Sweet Delana, her husband Steve, Matt and I went out to the ballgame tonight. Somewhere between the Rangers trying to keep up with the Royals and our intake of hot dogs, nachos, and peanuts ... Matt and I made our Kiss Cam debut on the JumboTron! I don't think the fans got the full-on make-out fest they were looking for, but we delivered some solid smooch action for what seemed like a minute :o)

Fresh Perspective

As the second week of being with my new agency begins, I'm reminded that I really enjoy this new environment and am experiencing things with a refresh set of eyes.

Smile

(via FFFFOUND!)

Playful Saturday

We had a great day out on the waters of Lake Lewisville for our last on-the-water lesson with Hobie University. Hobie Fleet 23 sponsors an exceptional sailing course with Sam Baker sharing his invaluable experience and coaching. We even took Sam's Hobie out for a great run and I'm already itching to return to the water. We wrapped up the day with a double-feature (Forgetting Sarah Marshall & Horton Hears a Who) at the Drive-In theatre in Ennis!

Become

In the Work Neighborhood

A short walk from my hotel and the office is the Santa Monica Pier and refreshing beach boardwalk to the Pacific Ocean!

Creative Work Space

This is our TracyLocke/DDB LA office! It's located on Main Street in Venice, four blocks from the Pacific Ocean. The 75,000 sq. ft., three-story office space was designed specifically as an ad agency (formerly Chiat Day) and is expressed as three distinct elements (binoculars for strategic vision, etc.). The binoculars contain space for private conferencing and research and are tied into the main client conf. room. Each cylinder is topped by one skylight oculus.

Rose Cafe in Venice Beach

Before heading out to the focus groups in Riverside, we popped into The Rose Cafe & Market for lunch. It's next door to the agency and quite the gem! Tons of healthful options in a funky fresh environment. I heart Venice Beach!

Joining the Venice Beach Team

The first biz trip of TL has me working out of our LA (Venice Beach) office this week. For one of my brands, I'll be the only team member not based in this office so I have a feeling trips like this (strat meetings, creative briefings, groups) will be frequent. No complaints here as the team seems terrific and the city is like an Austin-on-the-ocean.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Fellowship Sunday

It was certainly a day well spent. We started it off with the early service and a really inspiring message from guest pastor, P.T. Lee on compassion toward yourself and others. Afterward, we started a new FC Kids series, Super Sports Spectacular (think Playing for God's team, fully equipped with disciples' trading cards)!
We wrapped up the early afternoon by meeting up with Adrienne, Bill and Jeph for lunch at AllGood Cafe. (Super cheesy pic but Jeph got to try out his new camera phone ;o).

Celebrating Kelly, Wilco and Baby Nico

We honored Kelly today with a baby shower for her and Wilco's little Nico! Lots of planning and a rock star group of hostesses pulled off quite the celebration.

Sleep-Talking

Could be one explanation.

Blanket of Bluebonnets

It's that time of year! I'm overflowing with joy at the slightest sight of our blooming Texas Bluebonnets. These fields of cobalt blue look and feel like a magical painting of pure bliss to me :o).

Feisty Evening

We checked out the Feist concert tonight at Palladium Ballroom. Pretty good show but the highlights were definitely my fav tunes, "1 2 3 4" and "I Feel It All".

FC Kids

Tonight was my first class to teach an FC Studies Just For Kids series at our church. I'm beyond proud of my kindergartener, Britan, for his prayer list above. We learned that "praying is talking to God" (hand motions and all ;o)

A New Season Begins

The lion sleeps tonight as a new opportunity has unlocked itself (all pun intended ;o). Today is the first day of my new agency school at TracyLocke. I'm settling in well (great downtown building that I'll share with several friends within sibling Omnicom shops :o). Sweet Kelly even surprised me with welcome flowers for my new office. The other kids are really nice to me and there seems to be great opportunities to learn and grow :o).

Fun Caution

(via We Heart It)

Off The Beaten Path

Matt and I ventured out a little to check out a place to have dinner-with-a-lake-vie along Lake Ray Hubbard. I'll admit, the first place we stopped was a good try but despite our best efforts in Rockwall, Texas, we just couldn't do it ;o). I was challenged to not give up so we drove a little further and stumbled into a great little area with a cute lighthouse and a fun little cajun restaurant, Dodies. I loved the character on the menu that called out "Uppity Food" ... a mere 30 miles from The Big D and crab legs are considered a snobby choice ;o).

Catching Up at Cru

I flew back from Houston in perfect time to catch up with a friend and former colleague, Candace. We have a really good mutual friend and in his honor, we spend the eve at one of his favorite (and ours) Dallas venues, Cru. It was a perfect night for patio sipping, snacking (think cheese board and delish chocolate fondue), and chatting - we were even graced with a visit from Berger.

Productive and Fun Play Day

Today, I finished creating my pages to add into my mom's journal for our family's collaborative art journals project. (It's a fun initiative where each of the gals in our family started a themed journal and we pass them along through rotation to contribute a spread created within that theme! In the end, we will each have a unique book that's home to a contributing spread from each lady in our family.) My aunt's art studio was the perfect place for unleashing creativity!

My incredible little brother, Casey, came by this evening to hang out, have dinner, and brainstorm with us on a little business idea for him. Turns out, we tapped into some creative, focused thinking and at the end of the night, he had a fleshed out business idea, marketing plan, and even ordered some nifty business cards to start spreading the word. (I'm proud to say that he's already up and running with at least three new clients!)

Wonka Wednesday

Willy Wonka may have met his match with Candylicious! Wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling sugary goodness. Aunt Cherie introduced me to this treasure-trove today along with its neighbor, the chocolate bar (we had to indulge in the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie ice cream)! Afterward, we headed to the beach for some fun, strategic thinking on her new creativity business.

I Heart Family Fun

I get to spend the rest of this week hanging out with my super fun and inspiring Aunt Cherie! If you don't already know her (most my close friends do :o) ... click here for a little insight. Otherwise, here's introducing my Auntie Cherie, Uncle Ruel and their pups, Scarlett and Mel.

Sailors in the Making

We officially started sailing lessons today! Mariner Sails of Dallas offers a great, complimentary sailing course consisting of five sessions - three 2-hour evening lecture sessions held at Mariner Sails and two on-the-water sessions held out at Hobie Point on Lake Lewisville).

Nurturing Nature

Another amazing day in Austin! We started it by hiking the Greenbelt and wished we had all day to spend along the secluded trails.

Love In All Directions

Great neighborhood street sign on our drive out of Austin this afternoon. Love it!

Austin's Great Outdoors

We packed in a ton of outdoor fun today! Started the day with brunch at one of my fav breakfast places, Austin Java Co, then unloaded the bikes for a full day of riding along Town Lake and through the city. We explored Zilker Park, stopping at Barton Springs to see the swimmers and the Rowing Dock to take a canoe out on Town Lake for awhile.

Later, we went to our friends' house for a BBQ and got to spend time with their cutie kiddo, Matteo. We wrapped up the night with fajitas, Micheladas, and live music overlooking Lake Travis at Iguana Grill.