a walk down the runway...

so remember in my last post when i said i wouldn't leave you guys hanging? well, like i said, i'm no deserter....

procrastinator, maybe....

let's go back six weeks to an average march friday. TGIF!

during my lunch break from my work, i ran into amy head cosmetics (the shop i work in occassionally on weekends) to pick up some makeup and say hello. kate, the manager, asked if i had plans for the next monday around lunchtime.

"sure, i'm free. what's up?"

i figured she needed another makeup artist to help with an event.

her response, "would you be the model for a photo shoot?"

"what!?!"

she explained that a local boutique needed a model for a last minute shoot and they had called the store and asked if someone who worked for amy head would be available for the shoot.

"really? are you sure about this? trust me, 9 out of 10 pictures taken of me aren't even close to being frame worthy...much less being put online," i stated.

"you'll do great, i've done it before and it's fun. it will only take an hour," kate countered. "it's tons of fun, come on alison!"

after much coaxing, i finally agreed....

the following monday, i showed up at the boutique a little before my noon photo shoot. to give you some background, this boutique is very similiar to a saks or neiman marcus.

it sells high end women's clothing, shoes and makeup. basically, a shopper's paradise...especially if that shopper has her dad's credit card.

which is very unfortunate, i did not....

as soon as i arrived, they led me back to the dressing rooms where one of the boutique stylists' began bringing me clothes to try on for the shoot.

robert rodriguez dress, tom ford sunglasses, tory burch bag...

"this isn't so bad," i thought to myself.

then i looked down at one the tags and noticed "size 2".

i'm sorry, i didn't realize i had 3 days to become bulimic.

i tried everything in my power to get that zipper up...it wouldn't budge...nothing.

as soon as i stepped out of the fitting room, 2 stylists for the store and the photographer were waiting to see the outfit. luckily they agreed (and were very nice about it), that they'd get me one size up.

the photographer took me outside and we began to take the first few shots. standing there, i was instructed to look away from the camera and not to smile.
you would think this would be easy.

wrong.

not being allowed to smile is tough. if i would have known these were the stipulations, i would have easily picked a fight with someone to have made this situation a little easier.

for the last shot, they put me in a plunging coral dress that (in my opinion) would be perfect on a trip to the carribean. as of now, i don't have the coral dress or the trip to the carribean, but i'm working on it.

as they adjusted my hair for the shot, i glanced around the store and noticed about 15 people had gathered to watch the shoot.

people were "oohing" and "ahhing" over the clothes i had on; such a great feeling! 5 minutes later that feeling was gone as i was back in my own clothes driving back to the office.

i really enjoyed this experience, but i am confident that i don't belong on the runway...i like mexican food way too much.

love,

alison

p.s. check out my photo shoot at: http://www.poshbirmingham.com/Gus-Mayer/sc/4

it's 2011 already??

ok, i know what you're thinking...

she accomplished her "to do" list for 2010 and she's not coming back.

well, i've got news for you...i'm not a deserter. my mom can attest to this fact. back in 2006 as we were skiing down a slope at crested butte she wiped out....like one of those wipeouts where you just want to lay on the ground and not move for hours. she kept telling me to go on and ski to the bottom with the rest of the deserters group. i wouldn't leave her side...

so back to my blog.

i wanted to give yall a quick recap of updates since writing my blog adventures of 2010.

• november 11: worst day ever. i came home early from work only to find flip (my goldfish) swimming upside down. actually he wasn't swimming. caroline, leah and i gathered around the toliet and had a short memorial service for him where we each said something about nice about flip. in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to anyone running against obama.
• wipeout of 2010: remember my graceful fall off the bike in june? that fall cost me more time and money than anything i can remember. when i was practicing for a kickball game back in september, i fell AGAIN on that knee and ended up having to see another doctor here in birmingham. he said my knee looked terrible and was horribly infected (shout out to dr. snowman on that one! i knew i needed stiches). i also got a letter in the mail from the hilton head hospital saying that when they gave me the tetunus shot, one of the important drugs in it was accidentally left out. they assured me that i could come by the hospital and get the remainder of the shot. really? since i live in birmingham that sounds very convenient guys.
• me and the prez: stephen gave me a frame with several photos of me doing the president's hair AND makeup. the powder puff i used is placed in the center of the frame! one of the best gifts i've ever received. thanks stephen!!

moving on 2011. and here's what i'm thinking. for this year, rather than doing 12 new things, i'm cutting the list down to 6.

i'm thinking i'd like to do 6 really cool things this year, rather than 12 okay things...plus january is already over.

so check back occassionally to find out what fun, crazy stuff is going on. i'll try to keep you entertained. :)

love, alison

heartbraker in houston...

there are two types of people in texas....

people that love dallas and hate houston

and

people that love houston and hate dallas

it's kind of like being a fan of alabama or auburn...you have to pick a side. i always appreciated being from austin...everyone likes austin.

i fall into the group of "people that love dallas and hate houston"....you're welcome dallas.

since my mom is from lake highlands (dallas), we visited quite a bit growing up. i know dallas like the back of my hand.

the best experience i had of houston was in feburary...(see blog post for feb) other than that, houston is one of those cities where i always seem to get lost and have frizzy hair thanks to the humidity.

it didn't disappoint this trip.

in november, we found out my alma mater, baylor university, would be playing in the texas bowl at reliant stadium in houston. this is the first time since 1994 that were eligible and chosen to play in a bowl game. so definitely a big deal for baylor. and for me, i have never been to a bowl game.

let me give you a quick history on baylor football. my family calls the team the "folding bears" because that's what they do, they fold, just when you think there's a chance of winning.

my dad and i have this joke that we feel like drug addicts with the baylor football team. we keep going back even though they continue to let us down.

so, back to december 29th. game day.

one of my best friends from baylor, emily, graciously offered me a ride from austin to houston with her and her husband, spencer.

about halfway to houston, it started raining...nothing to worry about, right?

once we got to houston, we dropped off spencer and emily's dog (bailey) at emily's friend's apartment.

next up....reliant stadium (luckily a covered stadium).

actually...next up was houston traffic....with it accompanied by pouring rain...

we were cutting it close, 15 minutes until kickoff and didn't know what lot to park in.

not to mention, that i hadn't thought to bring an umbrella and spencer and emily only had 1 in the car.

spencer graciously let us out at an entrance where both me and emily took off running toward the covered area. once we got under the cover, we were both drenched. like standing in a shower for a minute drenched.

then we realized that this is the "club entrance".

seriously?

unfortunately, the ticket takers didn't care that it was pouring down rain, we couldn't go in this entrance...rude, i know. clearly, the rain messed up my negotiating skills.

so emily and i took off again running toward the closest entrance.

by the time we got to the comcast entrance, i had to wring out my clothes...completely drenched. i my look the equivilant of 5 minutes in the shower.

luckily, one of my other best friends from baylor, cayce, had her husband (john) standing there waiting for me with my ticket. cayce and john had my ticket and i sat with them and some of our old friends from baylor. emily and spencer were seated with some of his fraternity brothers in another section.

john and i walked quickly to make it to our 20 yard line seats by kickoff.

and kickoff....

after 10 minutes of watching baylor play, i knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

and it wasn't.

we ate our troubles away with nachos (thanks john and cayce) and cotton candy (thanks lauren and steve).

final score:

baylor 14, illinois 38.

after our horrible defeat, i met emily and spencer in their section and visited with some of their friends.

we picked up bailey for the drive home and for some reason got turned around...actually we can thank the exit signs they put up in houston for that one. we got back to austin around 1 a.m. the next morning.

regardless of the score, it was fun to see old friends and have the opportunity to go to a bowl game.

me and cayce...obviously still wet....

me and emily after the game...
and you never know, maybe next year will be the year for the bears...or not.

love,

alison

adventures of babysitting

alright, i know what each of you are thinking....

lame, she's doing a blog about babysitting.

but, trust me....as you start reading you'll figure out why this month is so special to me.

you know, i should know a lot about babysitting. i spent my freshman through senior year in high school over at the ballard's house babysitting their 3 little boys with my best friend, lauren. crazy those kids are now in high school and college....they grow up so fast. :)

but, this was something brand new for me...

not only did i get to babysit this sweet boy (mason).

i got to meet and babysit this adorable girl (hailey).
yes, my nephew and one month old niece got to spend the afternoon with me (aunt ali).

unfortunately, i wasn't able to make it to texas for hailey's birth at the end of october. so when i came home for thanksgiving, i planned to spend a few days hanging out at my sister's home and getting to spend time with hailey and mason (and everyone else, of course).

on saturday, my brother-in-law, michael, took my dad out fishing on his boat. then my mom and sister wanted to run a few errands without the kids.

so, i volunteered to babysit.

lucky for me, it was nap time.

mason slept the entire time.

and hailey....

did too.

you know, there's just something about being an aunt. the weekend consisted of me changing dirty diapers, climbing on my hands and knees through mason's fort (and getting quite claustrophobic if i may add), and making the craziest faces to get those kids to smile at me.

i loved every minute (okay, maybe not changing the diapers)...but everything else...

love,
alison

kickball 101

i blame this month's "to do" on kate.

my roommate, kate, makes the list of the top 10 on the social scene in birmingham. if there's a party going on, either she knows about it and is going or she is one of the ones throwing it.

she pretty much knows everyone in this town. this has proved to be very helpful when we wanted to get the scoop on a guy someone.

so the "social coordinator" of the house (kate) decided that it would be fun to start a kickball team to play in a popular league in birmingham.

and voila! she somehow convinced me and leah to join the team.

let's go back in time...say 20 years...

i begged my parents to join a t-ball team. they finally gave in and i joined.

according to them, i spent the whole season in the outfield...picking flowers.

yes, picking flowers.

texas has beautiful bluebonnets...but, i digress....

so this is the history i'm going into kickball with.

kickball and baseball were never really the sports that i enjoyed playing. now give me a tennis racquet or a pair of snow skis and we're in a whole other ball game (no pun intended).

our team, called "kickaholics anonymous" had a social at our house in early september to meet and greet all 20 or so guys and girls on the team.

it is the most random group of people. but, everyone seemed laid back and nice, so i wasn't concerned about it at all.

that is until i went to our first practice.

not only do we have some amazing athletes (2 college football players) on our team, they are also very competitive...and want to win.

lucky for me, only 4 girls play each game, so for the first 3 games, i got to sit back and watch.

in fact, in game #2 i was responsible for writing down errors that our team made...i also took the liberty to write down if any of their clothes were mismatched. our roommate, leah, got a citation from me for wearing bright green shorts with an olive top...ha!

game #4, i was up.

it's funny, when i play a team sport, i have this incredible pressure on me to do well because other people are counting on me. that's why i like single's tennis...just me...no pressure.

i didn't harm the team, but i don't think i did much good either. i was positioned on the field with one guy behind me and one guy in front of me, so if something came my way, i'd be covered.

as for kicking, i didn't and still haven't gotten on 1st base.

trust me, i've tried different kicking methods and they always seem to get that ball to the base faster than my legs can get me there.

game #5 was definitely an interesting one.

it was pretty cold that night and i was wearing a fleece. when we went into the outfield, i put my hands in my pockets. probably not the smartest move because when the ball came my way i didn't have enough time to get my hands out of my pockets.

so i got reprimanded encouraged not to do that again.

lesson learned.

i did end up redeeming myself in that game. i caught 2 ground balls and managed to get 2 guys out. not too shabby.

for the last game, it was "theme week" so our team dressed up as the chilean miners. so funny!

and it looks like we're going to the "playoffs" next week. we are currently ranked number #8 out of 60 teams!

while, this has been a great opportunity to meet some new friends; i'm thinking i may take the bench next season and cheer on the sidelines...

or pick flowers.

love,

alison

why hello windy city...

when i started my "to do" list at the first of this year, going to a new city was near the top of the list.

i love to travel.

i think i would give away one of my kidneys to have samantha brown's job on the travel channel ...ok, not really, but it would be an amazing job.

in july, i started my "let's go on a fun trip campaign" to my roommates. apparently, i'm not too bad on the sales front because they actually bought into the idea...with very little persuasion.

we ended up choosing chicago. kate and caroline had been before and loved the city and leah and i would be the "first timers" on the trip. how perfect for my blog!

the weekend was great; i fell in LOVE with the city!

i could literally write a novel on the weekend, so i'll spare you all with details.

instead, i'm going to give you the top #10 funny/random/good things that happened on our trip.

10. leah accidentally left her driver's license at the hotel one night and as we each got carded she asked the host if she could use her starbucks card rather than her driver license's....the look on their face was priceless.

9. smelly cabs. caroline, leah and i witnessed the worst smelling cab. we drove 14 blocks with our shirt tops covering our noses.

8. 2:30 a.m. yes, that's about the time we got back to the hotel every night. it was like the college years all over again. :)

7. just as a reference, you may want to avoid the southwest airlines counter at midway. supposedly i "cut" in line and this southwest employee thought it was appropriate to yell at me.

i responded with, "i'm sorry, i didn't know i cut in line, you don't have to be ugly about it."

unfortunately, she was responsible for taking my checked bag too. i had $20 saying that i would never see that luggage again....to my surprise, my bag made it to birmingham!

6. on saturday night (or morning) as we were getting into the cab to leave a rockit grill, kate realized that she left her credit card. she jumped out of the cab to go back inside. leah felt that kate shouldn't be left alone and jumped out too....little did leah know that she would be out another 2 hours (until 4:30 a.m.) going to another hotspot in chicago with kate. ha!

5. toast. this is a reason in and of itself to go to chicago.

best. pancakes. ever.

4. leah and her conversations with cab drivers. leah felt the need to interview each cab driver that drove us around. we knew where they were from, how old they were, what professional sports teams they were fans of, how long that had lived in chicago...funny how i know more about several chicago cab drivers than i do some of my coworkers.

3. westin hotel toliets. we got to know each of the westin plumbers very well because they visited our hotel room about 4 times during our 3 day trip. now, this may sound like one of us had a little rumble jumble going on...but that is NOT correct. apparently, the hotel sewer systems do not work well and according to one of our new plumber friends, this happens ALL the time in the hotel. they will be installing a new system soon.

2. at&t and chicago do not mix. there was absolutely no service...anywhere. lucky for us, we met some nice guys at lou malhatis pizza place that had verizon and they used their phones to check us in for our flight the next day.

1. favorite fact that i learned about chicago: it is not called the "windy city" because it is windy. in the late 1800's chicago had terrible fire that burned much of the city down. as they were rebuilding the city, they thought having the world fair in chicago would be a good boost for the economy. chicago politicians went to washington to lobby for the world fair to be brought to chicago. a writer for a new york paper commented on their trip and called all chicago politicians "windbags"...funny, some things never change!

love,

alison

this isn't bread pudding!

there's always a story...

and this month, i won't let you down.

in january, i had a work event at st. vincent's one nineteen. it's a new facility and this was the first time i had the opportunity to visit. it's pretty snazzy.

st. vincent's is a healthcare system and has several hospitals in and around the birmingham area. st. vincent's one nineteen not only houses doctors' offices, but also has a gym, spa, and wellness center.

through their wellness programs, they offer tons of classes from prenatal yoga to karate to cooking...

i've always wanted to take a cooking class, and decided that would be my adventure for august.

sign me up!

after checking out their website in july, i found a cajun cooking class for tuesday, august 24th. this is great, i thought, i've never been to new orleans (airports don't count)...and this would be a perfect opportunity to learn about the food there.

i really enjoy cooking. i'm always looking for new ideas on what to make, but cooking for 1 can be a challenge (who wants leftovers for a week?)....so i'm on the "single girl food plan" which, in my case, consists of: salads, cereal, sandwiches, and whatever restaurant i'm meeting friends at.

and there's the occasional time, that i'll make strawberry cookies...they're always a big hit!:)
a few weeks before the class started, i recruited my roommate, caroline, to join me. thankfully, she agreed. thanks caroline!

we arrived right on time. yes, a first for me.

all of the tables near the front had been taken. apparently, most of the people that come to this class are "regulars" and getting there early ensures you get a better seat.

good to know.

we were forced to the back table...yes, rather unfortunate, but still excited to be there.

the class began with the chef explaining the cuisine served in the big easy and said he would be preparing several great dishes.

the menu for the evening included:

barbeque shrimp sauce

savory crab cheesecakes

corn & zucchini pudding

pork grillades

paneed catfish in pepper butter sauce

chocolate bread pudding



yum.

the chef began by preparing the barbeque shrimp sauce. we all watched intently as he discussed what do with each ingrediant. fortunately, each person was given recipe cards for each of the recipes so we weren't having to copy everything down.

about halfway through the chef preparing the savory cheese cheesecakes, caroline spotted a lady she knew and waved her and her husband over to our table. since they had arrived late and we had plenty of room at our back row table, we asked them to join us.

caroline introduced the lady to me; she is caroline's fiance's gardener and the gentleman with her was her husband.

"i didn't know you came to this class. do you come often?" caroline asked.

"yes, we're regulars," the lady replied in her british accent.

as soon as they sat down, they began making small talk. which was fine, initially.

shortly after they arrived, i realized they weren't at the class to learn how to cook, they were there to socialize and eat. therefore, that meant they wanted someone to socialize with....

i'm sure you can bet who those 2 people who were were :)

to make matters even more interesting, when the chef came around the table to discuss what he was making, "chatty kathy" decided to do some matchmaking for the chef.

and the lucky girl she wanted to set him up with was?

any guesses?

ding, ding, ding....yours truly. ha!

about halfway through the class, a lady from another table asked if we could be quieter.

can i get an amen?

but that only made our new friend talk even louder.

at that point, i gave up.

i had tried the "i'm concentrating look" and attempted to ignore the converstation at the table, but even that, wasn't successful. i was roped into conversation.

finally, the chef began to prepare his last dish of the evening...bread pudding. when the chef began to use toasted breadcrumbs in the recipe, our new friend at the table yelled out, "this isn't bread pudding!" ha!

apparently, she uses fresh breadcrumbs in her recipe.

we each got to sample each item that he prepared. the first bite of everything was delicious. by the second bite, it was too rich for me. there was so much heavy cream and butter in every recipe that when i got to the last dish, i felt miserable.

it was a good learning experience (at least what i heard) and caroline and i had a great laugh on the way home about how there's always a good story...c'est la via!

love,
alison