Uniquely Austin – Unmistakably Cool

I heard not too long ago Zilker Park was coined the “Central Park” of Austin and though I expect many New Yorkers would beg to differ (most politely I’m sure) one can imagine in a uniquely Austin kind of way that Zilker Park embodies the spirit of Austin just as Central Park is the heartbeat of New York City. Regardless of age, gender or time of year there is always something entertaining to do. Like to swim? Take a dip in the natural spring fed Barton Springs pool featuring 68 degree year round water temperature. Chilly, I know, but next to a giant grape snow cone, the pool is hands down the perfect remedy for a hot August day in Austin. Outdoorsy? Take a canoe ride on the picturesque Lady Bird Lake brimming with a colorful assortment of ducks and swans. Walk the shoreline and they eagerly waddle right up to you hungry and expectant for goodies. If water isn’t your thing walk, jog or bike the over 50 miles of tree-lined hike and bike trails where at several rest spots you can find ice cold water provided year round - truly a joggers paradise. For the kids (and kids at heart) there is a colossal playscape covering several acres. The centerpiece is the famous life sized fire truck where kids can be seen taking their turn climbing into the driver’s seat while make believing they are on their way to put out an imaginary fire. Next to the playground is the historic “Zilker Zephyr” miniature train giving an entertaining twenty minute ride year round to anyone who cares for a scenic tour of the park. Did I mention the events at Zilker? If you haven’t walked the Zilker “Trail of Lights” at Christmas then you truly haven’t done Austin. The spectacular display of Christmas lights puts Clark Griswold to shame and is a must see if you ever visit Austin. Summing up Zilker’s magic is one of the U.S.’s longest continuously running kite festivals, the “piece de resistance” of Zilker, the Annual Zilker Kite Festival. Held annually in March, rain or shine you can see any size, shape or color of kite imaginable. I was fascinated at last year’s festival to see a gigantic pair of men’s pants with dangling legs soaring in the sky (fake of course)-anything goes at the festival. The downtown Austin horizon is spotted with thousands of kites, truly a site to see and definitely something not to miss. From afar you can see them dotting the sky like tiny exclamation points. Central Park or not, Zilker has toped my list of favorite places in Austin since I first laid eyes on it over thirty years ago. It is a “must see” if you visit Austin and a “must do” if you really want to say you’re a truly cool Austinite.

Chic Shoes that Won't Break the Bank

Fall is a fabulous time to find hip shoes and Nine West is the brand I love to shop. I value being able to walk in to nearly any reputable department store, make a beeline to the Nine West shelf and take my pick; flirtatious, sexy, smart, sporty or professional - there is always something to suit any occasion. Recently as I shopped, I was especially thrilled to see the vibrant fall line, making it all the more enjoyable to choose the very latest pair for my collection. Deep plum pumps in suede, buttery gold’s in metallic or suede, brilliant red peep toe sling backs and vibrant blue stiletto’s, how does a girl choose from such an extraordinary assortment? After much deliberation, I decide on a pair of crimson and black snake printed Mary Jane’s with double straps, a platform front and a rubber bottom for comfort. Complete the package with four inch heels and these shoes are not only hot but built for comfort (don’t forget the rubber bottom) two things hard to find in a stylish shoe. Since I am also just shy of five feet three inches, I also determine adding an extra four inches to my legs won’t hurt (smoke and mirrors baby- smoke and mirrors).
Priced at $89.00 they fall into the moderate cost category considering that I saw three other similar styles just yesterday at Nordstrom’s for between $300.00 and $400.00. Note to self: at this price I should pick up at least two other pairs but regrettably I resolve to stick to my budget and come back next month to treat myself again. Some may argue that the availability of these shoes is a downfall, because again they are somewhat easy to come by however, I see this as a plus. I mean, we all need that one or two pairs of shoes in our wardrobe that some girls of us refer to as “investment” pieces but let’s face it, in today’s tight economy a girl must practice wise spending habits and stretch her dollar as far as it can go. So I thank you Nine West - the price, style, comfort and availability has given me much satisfaction over the years. I’m off to meetings sporting my new crimson and black snake printed Mary Jane’s with double straps, they compliment my new outfit to perfection.

Clashing Isn't Always a Bad Thing

This is a story I wrote almost two years ago. My aunt Pat requested it back so here it is...

As my six year old Mikaela and I shopped for new shoes my stress began to build. Our trip to the mall had ensued promptly after a meeting with her teachers who asked me not to send her to school anymore wearing her most favorite pair of iridescent pink cowgirl boots. Mikaela has Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), a condition which largely affects fine and gross motor skills and also causes speech delays. The boots, as fabulous as they were, had not been offering her feet enough support. But worse, her teachers notified me was that they were causing her to trip and fall more frequently while at school. Immediately, I knew the change in shoes would not be an easy task as children with PDD often display many of the same traits as autistic children. My Mikaela, like many autistic children is quite obstinate to changes . Knowing this, I
had wearily prepared myself for what I knew would be the shoe shopping “Olympics”. As we walked the mall, like an athlete in training, I thought of everything I could to convince her a new pair of shoes was a good thing. We had already stopped at four places with no luck - none of the bribing or reasoning in my well prepared arsenal had worked. It was “Mikaela four - mom zip” and I was losing the game. Exhausted, I had presented what seemed like hundreds of different shoes and continually received firm “no’s”.

As I was beginning to feel there was no hope left, she found them. Twinkling like a beacon in the night, sat a pair of bright, red patent leather Mary Jane’s. The shoes sparkled under the fluorescent store lights like an obnoxious Christmas ornament. Mikaela's eye's lit up, she stood still, momentarily mesmerized. She quickly seemed to come to her senses, grabbed the box and running proudly towards me shouted “I want these!” I stood there in a state of panic, my mind scrambling to think of how I would talk her out of them. I prayed they didn't have her size but to my dismay they fit her like a glove. “What about these nice black ones, don’t you like these better?” I asked. “No way!” she insisted. I knew her mind had been made up and there was no chance I would change it. I had wanted to find her every day school shoes so I quickly took a mental inventory of Mikaela’s wardrobe. Thoughts of the fashion police knocking at my door immediately entered my mind. Practically everything in her wardrobe would clash with these red shoes. As I started to literally pull her away from the shoes, I stopped myself. They did have special insoles and that was good for supporting her feet. She also adored them and this would mean drama-free mornings for both of us. Logically it made sense but from a fashion sense they screamed NO! I finally conceded and bought her the shoes but not before checking the store over very thoroughly to make sure we couldn't’t find anything more fashionably versatile. As we walked out of the store I had to laugh, we had both won the game but only my Mikaela would cross the finish line in such a brilliantly shiny and bright red pair of shoes that glistened on her feet like Dorothy’s red ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz.
The next morning, I watched her proudly clip clop her way down our driveway to the school bus. Her blue eyes beamed and sparkled as her bus driver greeted her with “ooohs” and “ahhhs” at the sight of the new shoes which gleamed like Rudolph's red nose in the morning darkness. I turned around and walked back inside smiling. Seeing her so happy, I decided I was glad I that I bought them for her. At that moment, I was reminded of how God our Father does the very same for us. He delights in giving us good things and He desires to bless us abundantly. Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Good things come in many forms and are not always material. I can’t help but imagine how God must smile and enjoy watching our joy when He gives us good things as I did with Mikaela. Remember that God does not promise to give us everything we think we should have. But what He does promise is not to
withhold anything that is permanently good for us. God will give us a way to walk along His path, but we must do the walking...even if in a bright red pair of shoes.

Overcoming Fear - Child's Play? What I Learned on the Playground

Life’s “light bulb” moments can sometimes happen unexpectedly and like seeing a shooting star they are usually a rare sight. Many envision having an enlightening “aha” moment after a three-month soul-seeking sabbatical in India or perhaps even some have hopes of finding the secret to life by a visit from a mystical Gandhi wannabe complete with a white sari, who decides to let you in on the secret the universe has been hiding from you all your life.

One of my life’s light bulb moments on the other hand, true to my world (as a mother of four) was experienced by watching my girls play on a jungle gym. Go figure. At first it was one of those fleeting thoughts, a mind-flash scrolling through the forefront of my never -still mind. There among the thousands of other thoughts like “what am I fixing for dinner” and “don’t forget to send that email in the morning” it flashed, like the stock ticker on the New York stock exchange. Had I not been using my mental TiVo and paused I may have completely missed it.
I had observed something very inconspicuous yet incredibly significant. One of my girls, Mikaela, with a little bit of encouragement and spotting from me had fearlessly climbed to the top of a very high and twisting red ladder onto the second story platform of a jungle gym. (I need to note this was not your typical playscape ladder. This baby was the kindergarten equivalent of Kilimanjaro - the Mount Everest of playscape ladders). Its rungs were about 12 inches apart and twisted like a strand of DNA around and around from the ground up about 9 feet. At the top, there was another 18 inch gap between the ladder and the platform requiring that you stretch out in a final leap-of-faith-like manner because for a quick moment you have to completely let go of the ladder leaving only your foothold as security and grab to leap up to the top platform. I was quite impressed when Mikaela (the least fearless of all my children) confidently climbed to the top. Her younger and very competitive sister, Mia was quick to follow. However, when Mia began her climb doubt and fear overcame her. She cautiously climbed half-way up but no amount of coaching, encouragement or pushing was going to help her. She began crying and asked me to pull her down. By this time Mikaela had made it down the slide and over to us for another climb. This time, seeing her sisters’ sheer fear and pain something changed in her. She too did the exact same thing, climbing half-way up only to change her mind a climb back down.

At first I was frustrated, I kept telling her “but you CAN do this and I promise I’d never let you fall”. What changed? I soon realized however, that fear had overcome her and logic and reason had disappeared like beer at a frat party. Ironically, it was not HER fear but seeing her sister afraid that stopped her. “Oh God, are you trying to teach me something here?” I thought. I had been battling my own fears boiling to the surface in my life and obviously it had come to the point that it required a “time out” with God so he could catch my attention and illustrate to me – on a jungle gym – how fear had been affecting my life. At first, I pictured myself as I had been climbing my own Kilimanjaro-like “ladder of life” and all I could do was cry like a baby and say, “I can’t do this, I’m too afraid...I want down!” All the while God is standing there saying “but you CAN do this and I promise I’d never let you fall.”

I chewed on this idea for months, thinking of the areas of my life affected by fear but more importantly what fear was keeping me from doing, who it was keeping me from loving and how it affected my thinking. Each time I pictured myself on that red ladder and asked myself, “What’s keeping you from going where you want to go?”

Fear is natural and in some respects a God-given survival instinct. We all have different fears – some which have deep roots and like any thing with deep roots, can’t be removed easily because in many cases we’ve had a life long relationship with it; fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, fear of losing something or someone but the bottom line is at some point – if our fears are not addressed and overcome we are selling ourselves short. Fear sometimes has to be overcome one step at a time but if we are persistent it will eventually grow smaller and smaller. Next time fear comes into play in your life, picture the red ladder and ask yourself first, “If I fall will it really be the end of the world” but more importantly remember God is always there to catch us and teach us with his wonderful sense of humor.