Heather Foeh

For the past month I’ve been getting tantalizing emails from Verizon about the new Blackberry Storm with a touchscreen. I’ve been salivating over the videos and online tours of its functions, so on Friday when it was released I stopped by the Verizon store to check one out. Sadly, I found a fatal flaw with it. The on-screen keyboard is very cool but it won’t work my fingernails. You have to touch the ‘buttons’ with skin, but when you have long nails, it’s impossible to touch the right one! I tried to type several sentences and it was painful - I was only able to get a few letters right.

So, I’ll be keeping my Blackberry 8830 for now, which has served me well and works with my nails.

Ooh - I’m just so excited that this day is finally here! I’m ready for this presidential race to be over, for one thing! But I’m also happy to know what’s going to happen.

I went and voted with my husband at lunchtime today. We didn’t have to wait at all - one of the nice things about living in small town.

We’re sitting on the couch now watching CNN and counting electoral votes…

Last week I went to the open house of the Yoga Center in Fredericksburg and was thrilled with how many people were there! The owners were very smart and were running a special that sucked me in… no initiation fee on unlimited packages of 6 months or longer. I had went to the open house intending to buy 1 month (or maybe 3 months) unlimited, but of course, the savings got to me and I’m now the proud owner of 6 months of unlimited yoga. This evening I attended my first class and I really enjoyed it — although I may not be saying the same thing tomorrow morning when I try to get out of bed. I was the only person in the class which was actually quite helpful since I’m a newbie and I needed some help understanding all of the poses. There’s another class tomorrow night and then one again on Thursday night and I intend to go to both of them. And in case you’re wondering, yes, there are plenty of daytime classes but I can’t get away during the day, so I’m thrilled that there are evening classes available for people like me.

Hooray!! A new yoga studio is opening up in mid-October and it’s only .6 miles from my house! How lucky am I?  It’s called simply Yoga Center and it looks like they’re going to have a wide range of classes, and they’ll also offer Pilates and treatments such as massage and reflexology. I can’t wait to try it out and I’m going to attend their Open House on October 16th.

Our little town of Fredericksburg has a great new business — a cocktail lounge called Proof. It’s in a wonderful space, tucked away between two buildings. You feel like you’re heading into a speakeasy! You can sit in the narrow outdoor path or get comfortable inside. The decor is mod - simple tones, leather furniture, big wooden bar, large fireplace. It’s perfect. We’ve been twice so far and have had excellent drinks and prompt service both times. There’s not a website yet (maybe they need to hire BlueBranch to build them one?), so I’ll post their address the old-fashioned way: 215 West Main Street, Fredericksburg, TX 78624. If you’re in town, stop in - you won’t be sorry.

We had the extreme pleasure of seeing Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in concert on Friday night in The Woodlands (that’s in the Houston area for you non-Texans). The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is a great venue and we had excellent seats about 20 rows from the stage. They put on an awesome show - everyone in the band is an amazing musician. It was the final night of their tour they really seemed to give it their all. We stayed at the The Waterway Marriott — apparently along with everyone else who went to the concert — and it was fabulous to be able to walk back there after the show rather than fight those invariably long post-concert traffic lines. All in all, a wonderful weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate my parents’ 40th anniversary!!!

Thank you, George W. Bush - you bought me a Kindle with your Economic Stimulus Check.

Seriously, I’ve been wanting a Kindle for a while, but I had a hard time justifying the cost. So when the “fun money” of the stimulus check arrived, I decided it was the perfect moment to take the plunge. And MAN am I ever glad I did! It’s small, it’s super readable, it’s easy to use and I’m thrilled. The only downside that I can see is that it’s too easy to order books. It doesn’t really feel like you’re spending money. You just navigate to the Kindle Store from the Kindle itself, find your book and click Buy. Voila! Super handy and super scary.

So far I’ve reined myself in to just two purchases (however, one of them was the Harlequin 1-click Blaze buy — all 6 July books for $9.99). But I think a magazine subscription is next on the list… I’ll keep you posted.

Good heavens. I’ve been such a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of girl lately that I didn’t even catch that my friend Catherine Morris tagged me! Sheesh! So…better late than absolutely never… here are 6 random things about me. (Catherine - I feel your pain: how to know if they’re random?!)

1. I’m a big nerd. I love the cool things that technology can do. Just yesterday I took my Mini Cooper in for an oil change. They took my key and plugged it into a little thingy hooked up to the service computer and VOILA! out came a print-out saying how many miles my car had on it, what services were needed and which ones were not. I love that. LOVE THAT.
2. I have a huge sweet tooth and really would rather eat cookies than dinner almost any day of the week. I love cake for breakfast, especially Red Velvet (The Official Birthday Cake of Heather Foeh for 39 Years).
3. My pseudonym is Emma Clair. Why do I have a pseudonym when I don’t yet have a published manuscript? It’s the power of positive thinking. I’m visualizing being Emma Clair full time somewhere in the future. And by the way, Emma would love to live in France.
4. My nose is pierced. Now, everyone reading this blog probably already knows that I’m sure. But I still like that about myself. I wanted one for years before I actually took the plunge 2 years ago, and when I look in the mirror, I still really like my little shiny nose stud. It’s my late-30’s rebellion.
5. I cannot possibly watch the Pride and Prejudice miniseries (with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) enough. It’s like comfort food for my soul. The words are beautiful. The story is beautiful. And HELLO - Colin Firth is also beautiful. He is absolutely superb to watch in that movie.
6. If I had my life and career choices to live over again, I would be an FBI agent. I’d like to be on the technology side of things - thwarting hackers and internet bad guys. Special Agent Foeh has a nice ring to it. Please take a moment to picture me saying it as I flash my shiny badge.

Now, according to the rules, I need to tag 6 other people. However, Catherine already chose three of the people that I would have chosen as well (Michelle McGinnis and Lexi Connor and Nicole Reillan), so does that get me off the hook for six?

• Jane Sevier
• Monika Schulze
• Jeanell Bolton

The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you
• Post the rules on your blog
• Write six random things about yourself
• Tag six random bloggers by linking to their blogs
• Leave comments on their sites to let them know they’ve been tagged
• Let your tagger know when your entry is up

I’ve had a few folks ask me where the heck I’ve been and I want to assure you that I’m alive and well and freshly back from vacation. We had an awesome family trip June 27 through July 6 in Paris, France. Below is a slideshow of some of our pictures.

Highlights of the week:

• Our apartment was fantastic - so much better than being in a hotel for a week
• The fountains at Versailles
• The bones in the Catacombs
• A wonderful dinner at L’Auberge de Nicolas Flamel
• Beautiful weather almost the whole week

This post is for Deb P. who reads my blog. :-)  Thanks for getting me out of the house this morning! It was lovely to see you! Have a great weekend.