Come see my new blog!

I tried on a new dress and it fit me well.

Check out my new digs here.

Kisses,
Lulu

Scene & Heard: Intelligentsia Coffee, Downtown Chicago, 4:15 p.m.

"I destroyed my heart by stirring sugar into it." — Audrey Fox, about her coffee art.

Scene & Heard: Deep Eddy Cabaret, 10:43 p.m.

"Well, could I do it in regular shoes? I'm really sure-footed. I'm a really good tree-climber! I had to do something to defeat my social awkwardness at parties during high school..." — Alana Ault, while at my Dive of the Month Club meet-up at a West Austin drinking institution.

Scene & Heard: Draught House, 11 p.m.

"It took me a while to realize I like whiskey." — friend, debating liquors over happy hour beer.

Scene & Heard: Bending Branch Winery, 6 p.m.

"With a wedding, there are two people getting married, but the wedding often takes on a life of its own. You end up looking around thinking, 'Who does all this belong to?'" — Woman chatting over a glass of wine with a friend in the tasting room

Scene & Heard: North American Beekeeping Conference and Trade Show in Galveston, TX, 11 a.m.

"People always say the same thing: 'My local bee club sucks.' Bee clubs are all the same. All folks want to do is sit around drinking coffee and telling swarm stories... Develop a leadership roll in your club. Don't be a know-it-all, but work to become the go-to person. Help focus the club outwardly." — Bruce Boynton, NHB CEO, Firestone, Colorado (on how to take a more active roll in the world of beekeeping)

25 Things I Learned How to Do in 2010

In my ongoing effort to impress you with my skills, I picked up a few new ones last year. I now know how to:

1. Find my way around Austin
2. Use an espresso machine
3. Drive a stick shift (almost… I need to practice a bit more)
4. Prepare Texas queso
5. Identify three new wines based on their smell, taste, and appearance (vermentino, picpoul blank, tannat)
6. Fold an origami tree ornament
7. Properly use the phrase "y'all" (including the plural and possessive forms)
8. Cook with bison
9. Put together an event
10. Ferment my own kombucha
11. Make a shower curtain out of deflated birthday balloons
12. Register a new LLC
13. Play the bass (ditto the stick shift)
14. Make my own gourmet soap
15. Texas Two Step to Motown music
16. Polish silver
17. Use Quickbooks
18. Grow outdoor plants indoors
19. Bake gluten-free muffins
20. Make a cake stand out of mismatched plates and tea cups
21. Turn a dowdy skirt into a few dowdy snoods
22. Meditate
23. Fit backline onto a tiny stage
24. Say the word "sin" in French
25. Ask for help