I am excitable

No life-changing news so far this week. I'm actually kinda glad. I'm still getting used to the "Hey, I saw you on TV" that I've been getting at H-E-B and around town, and I'm having a hard time sleeping for all the ideas spinning in my head for this new job. Oh, and Julian's a little blossoming Einstein, too.

He's got all these genius babies to look up to, and now he's adding his own adorable contributions. He rubs his hands together when you turn on the faucet or say "Wash your hands" or "Clean." He points to the sky when he hears the birds, and I've even seen him sign "plane" when one soars overhead. He's got "more" down and, like Jenny posted recently, I can't help but agree that all I want is more of him lately. (And when moms talk about this concept of unending joy their babies bring, don't think we don't get frustrated and burnt out like everybody else. Just those feelings fade pretty quickly when they pull some charming stunt as simple as a smile and a hug.) Julian's just irresistible to me these days.

OK, enough with the kid-gushing. Here are some cool things I've come across lately. I wrote some captions for a photo package about an interactive photography installation in downtown Austin. It's called "I AM _____" and the artists ask you to fill in the blank. You'd be surprised at the responses.



See more photos here.

And only time for one more cool thing. Bon Iver played SXSW and the kids all flipped.

Here's why:



Julian's March photo gallery to come tomorrow...

Orange I happy?

I guess the phrase "when it rains it pours" can apply to both good and bad events in life. The Knox-Broyles house happens to be in a harvest time right now, and don't doubt for a minute we're not thanking the universe with every grain of our beings...

I'm going to be the new food writer at the Statesman! All this WNTW stuff really allowed me to flex my media and writing muscles, and so when the opportunity arose to apply for this position, which is most definitely what I could consider a dream job, I couldn't help but take it. Not only am I thrilled to be writing about food, I'm on cloud nine to be thinking about generating content rather than editing it. I feel like I have so many ideas and so many ways of telling stories that are just bottled up inside me right now. This blog has been the only outlet for some of it. Of course, I'm a little nervous about all the changes this job will entail (goodbye, long, lazy days with Julian and Ian; farewell, the pleasure of leaving work behind when I leave the building), but I can't wait to resume what I fell in love with so long ago: using words and images to tell people's stories.

I don't start officially until the end of April, but I imagine there will be lots of planning and preparing that will be done in the meantime. I can't tell you how exciting this is for me, Ian and Julian. We're in the midst of a lot of change right now, but everyone is handling it tremendously. And there's no way I could take on this job without Ian's support.

:) I feel like the luckiest girl in the world...

Revealed

What a treat! After a late night watching, blogging and celebrating my national television premiere, Julian contradicted my previous post and slept all through the night until 10:30 this morning! I could hardly believe it, either. Now we're still at Uncle Tommy's out in the Hill Country, trying to figure out how to enjoy this beautiful Saturday!

I had such a fun time blogging during the show; all kinds of people were chiming in with comments and questions. It was fun to hear from folks at my parent's party in Missouri. They had a houseful of badly dressed friends (They awarded prizes to people who dressed the worst. I'm sorry I missed that one!).

Here are some photos of the engagement party that I couldn't show until after last night's "What Not to Wear":

A snot-faced little boy

Julian's been having a rough week. Either allergies or his teeth or perhaps some germs he picked up are simultaneously stuffing him up and giving him the snots and a case of the I-don't-want-to-sleeps. He's usually a great napper and sleeper, but for the past few days he's been up at night and refusing to go back to sleep in his crib. Now, it's nap time and he's got these big old circles under his eyes and he's refusing to sleep. I think it's probably because he can't suck his thumb like he wants with all that snot in his nose. And, if he's anything like his momma, the snot draining on his throat is making it sore, which is irritating enough in itself. Poor guy. I got some baby Vicks last night, but I'm thinking I should have gone for the full strength...

He's turning into quite the little boy. He started saying "ruff ruff" when we're talking about dogs. He's making the connection with signing "more" and "all done." He even acted like he was brushing his teeth last week when I brushed mine. His movements are getting so focused and intentional. His physical features are chiseling him into a toddler. It's so fun to watch. He's still got that crazy happy laugh of his, which Jenny noticed the other day when she and Ollie were hanging out with the Jules. And, look! He's already a drummer! Momma's so proud.

_______________________________________

The big "What Not to Wear" premiere is tonight! Yeah! I'm going to live blog at statesman.com/thegoods, starting just before the show airs at 8 p.m. central on TLC.

The Springfield News-Leader ran a story today in the Life section. My favorite part?

At the end of her week in New York, she flew back to Austin for the big "reveal" Feb. 1 at an engagement party the show hosted for her and Knox. The waiting crowd included her family from Aurora.

Broyles came out in heels, nice jewelry and a fancy dress.

His daughter's heels surprised him most, Dan Broyles says: "I haven't seen her in high heels since prom. It was kind of a shock."

My article is still up at Statesman.com.

Have fun! Let me know what you think of the show!

What Not to Wear article

So many exciting things are going on as the "What Not to Wear" premiere approaches! I've posted a glimpse at what the front of Thursday's Life & Style cover looks like, and here's a link to the story I wrote. There's also a video style writer Marques and I did the other day.

Don't forget to check out my live blogging on The Goods on Friday night during the premiere, at 8 p.m. central.

And, because you guys are awesome enough to keep checking this blog even though I've been super lame about posting lately, I'll let you in on a little secret: The jacket I'm wearing on that cover came from the Goodwill. Cost me 4 bucks of my own hard-earned cash.



More exciting things in the works. Or at least I'm crossing my fingers they are in the works. :) I'll keep you posted.

Things worth looking forward to

What a week! With the What Not to Wear show coming up on Friday, things have been picking up around here. I've been working on an article for Thursday's newspaper, talking to the three other contributors from the Austin area, doing interviews for the Aurora and Springfield newspapers, and, of course, taking in some South by Southwest. We also squeezed in a trip to Fort Worth yesterday and today for Ian's birthday. Whew. Makes me tired just recalling, but it's been an awesome week.

Has anyone else caught the What Not to Wear preview?? My in-laws saw it Friday night and I saw it yesterday afternoon. It seems like TLC is running it about every hour. It's just a snippet of clips from my ambush and when they trashed my closet, including a sound bit of Stacy telling me I'm being more like "Raggedy Addie."

It's so surreal to see myself on TV. It almost doesn't seem like it's me. It seems like some body double, who happens to sound and act like me. So, it's concrete now: Friday, March 21, 8 p.m. central.

I have to work this afternoon (always on the go, go, go, you know), but a small piece of wonderfulness from our trip to visit Ian's family yesterday.

He has a 5-year-old niece, Jenna, a sweet, sweet child who loves life and those around her. We love going up there to play in the backyard with her and her 2-year-old brother, Michael. We were talking about birthdays yesterday (Ian's been thinking about it a lot with the big 3-6 coming up tomorrow) and I asked her what she thought was the best age. "Five," she said. "Cause you can do stuff when you're a kid that you can't do when you're an adult."

Oh, I share that sentiment when I look at a set of monkey bars and wonder how the hell I ever swung all the way across them. But I think it's cooler that she loves the age she's at. Despite all the toys, the Hello Kitty, the Bratz, the television characters, she still loves where she's at, not where she's going. Something we can all strive for, no matter if we're facing 6 or 36 or 66.

When Not to Wear

Well, there you go. TLC posted my episode summary on their Web site schedule. So, I guess it's official. March 21 at 9 p.m. eastern (8 p.m. for those of us in central time).

Start planning your watch parties.

My favorite flightless bird

I was feeling guilty for not blogging yesterday, but I just couldn't think of anything to write about. So I did some origami (my new favorite morning activity while Julian's munching on his toast) from this awesome origami calendar we got.

So, for this beautiful Saturday, a flock of kiwis.

Looking out from inside the Observatory

An election day that will surely end crazier than most days around here begins as many days lately have: me sleeping in 'cause I get home late from work, waking up in time to put Julian down for a nap, eat breakfast and think about going back to bed. It seems like the schedule around here has been sprint-crawl for a few weeks. From a lazy day when I don't leave the house except to go to work, others when there are a thousand things to do (wedding invitations, anyone?) before I step foot in the office. My two online classes are overlapping these next few weeks. It doesn't really matter how well I do in either (one's a headline-writing course; the other is for HTML), but I don't want to just blow them off and do poorly. So I've added a few more things to my plate and my body's readjusting to the extra work.

It's a give and take, though. I'm still halfway through Middlesex, progressing a page or two at a time before something comes up that I have to take care of. I've been relying on easy-to-throw-together meals lately, which means I haven't been eating or cooking like I want to. Julian and I did manage to watch the season 3 finale of Lost yesterday (wow! I love that show!), and Ian and I have arranged a few dates in the past few weeks, the most recent of which deserves it's own paragraph.

Ghostland Observatory is an Austin band that blew up a few years ago after a performance at the ACL Fest. The duo plays pretty awesome electronic dance music; the lead singer wears his hair in Willie-style pigtails and evokes Freddie Mercury in a very good way. We saw them at a CD release party for their new album "Robotique Majestique" at the newly renovated Austin Music Hall downtown. We danced and danced and danced. Damn, it was a good time. Members of the Longhorn drum and horn line came out at the end, at which time I promptly freaked out and danced some more. Felt good to get out to a show. We don't do that as often as I'd like, but when we do, it's a good time.

Before the show, Ian and I hit the Tiniest Bar in Texas, in honor of the recently Coloradofied Blythe. She's started her new reporting job at a newspaper out there. Seems happy about the move; I'm so glad for her. She's an adventurer whose adventure here had dimmed. It was time to take on something. We all miss her so. Work just isn't as fun without her. I keep thinking she's on vacation and she'll be back in a few days...

Anyway, here are a couple Ghostland songs for your to enjoy (or to decide you hate. The first song here is their big "hit" from the last album. The second is a new single of the new one. Having listened to all of "Majestique", I kinda prefer the older stuff.)





And a little Julian to get you through the day:

February photos!

I posted photos from this month at www.addiebroyles.com/frameview. Enjoy!

(More photos of the What Not to Wear party will have to wait until after the show, March 21.)