The autograph session starts at 7 pm

Hi, all!
I am attaching a link to the ASU campus newspaper. They interviewed me for this article in today's paper. Always skeptical about being interviewed, but I actually think they got most of it right this time. At least my boss, the Dean, was pleased.

Now, we find out that the University of Texas is going to stop giving National scholarships, so I'm getting ready to swoop in there, and pick off even more of their students!! UT-Austin is one of our primary competitors anyway, so this was good news to hear.

http://www.statepress.com/print/node/7417


Enjoy your weekend!
Michelle "Barrett Babe" Hollin

Too busy watching tv, are ya?

Well if not- we would appreciate a photo or anecdote from time to time. Why are we only hearing from these guys?- Although they are fascinating I'm sure they are not the only ones with things to share.
There are no excuses- even if you have nothing to post- just make a comment on someone's post so we know you are visiting and alive and well.

If you forgot your password - reset it. Please comment to this post if you have any other technical hang-ups.

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Ugh, horrible green-screened music video from the girl from icarly- thanks marketing. I hope the movie itself looks better than this...

Tough Cookies vs Sac City

The Tough Cookies were challenged to a bout against the Sac City Rollers on August 22nd. I called Emily and Kyler and asked if they would want to meet me there to watch the game. The hardest part was the drive there and back, but turned out to be a really fun game. I think Kyler and Emily got a good show of how hard these girls work and play. The Cookies ended up beating Sac City, again proving they are a tough team, banked track or flat track.
Laguna Beyatch and Gori Spelling in front of the State Capital Building.
Connie was so super excited to show off her cowboy brother to her roller derby team and her roller derby team to her family.
It was very dark in the rink- hard to take photos. SKATE FASTER!
We made Kyler sport some team flair.
Celebrating the victory at the local dive bar.

Packing in the Rockies

Hey All,
I somehow got the blog to recognize me again so maybe I can start blogging some more. Anyhow, My parents, Rodney and Beth, and I met in central Colorado at Rocky Mountain National Park a couple weeks ago. My mother had an Alpaca convention where she learned lots about fiber and livestock breeding practices. If you are at all interested she would be happy to fill you in. My father and I, while she was doing that, took some ponies to the mountains for a little camp trip. We got some rain, some wind, and a whole bunch steep ups and downs. All in all though it was a good time. Our horses where good and so was the company.(well as much as can be expected from two grumpy fun-haters like my dad and I) Saw some pretty remote country which was cool. Hope all of you are doing well.

Cape Cod Photos

Here is a link to Flickr, a few photos from our Cape Cod vacation. I really wanted to shoot some in film so I am still waiting to finish off some rolls and have them developed. Hopefully they will be a little bit more exciting and artsy. The downside of a nice DSLR camera is it's not great to lug around on vacation or at the beach.

Highlights were definitely our Seal kayaking tour and the Whale Watch. For me the lobster at Moby Dick's and the lobster panini/seafood pasta combo at The Lobster Pot were worth the 8 hour drive. It was great to get to explore Boston a little bit more as an adult and though it went by so fast I hardly had time to relax it was definitely needed.

More pictures from Cape Cod coming soon. This was definitely our favorite restaurant. Clam chowder, lobster bisque, tuna shashimi, seafood linguine and 2 lobster panini's. MMMM.

Sum, sum, summertime

"Don't let all those pictures go to waste!" says the husband, so I am finally getting a few images up of our summer activities.

First, the boss's 70th birthday party. If you can't tell from the pictures, it was a Hawaiian theme. (Kyler even wore a pink Hawaiian shirt the night before!)


The boss rented out one of the performance halls at a local casino. When we arrived the curtains were drawn, but a few flashing lights and the music from "2001: A Space Odyssey" later - - - we saw the curtains open and our dinning tables rise up from below the stage. Quite a production, but it made for a fun dinner.

Next, a little bit of the outdoors. Our first hike of the year was to Mt. Rose. We were originally just going to do a nice little loop, but due to focus, determination (and mostly missing the loop sign) we began to hike to the mountain summit.

And we would have made it, but unbeknownst to me (okay, so the boots were probably 10 years old) my hiking boots had begun to rot. We ended up deciding to turn around because it was like I was hiking on flip flops!

Not to worry though - Kyler, the ever ingenious eagle scout, devised a solution of sweatshirt arms cut off and used as a kind of legwarmer/slipper. While I wondered what people were thinking as we headed back down, it worked great. Needless to say, we stopped by the Sierra Trading Post shop on the way home and I got a new pair of boots.

This way - - we were able to take another hike a few weeks later with our neighbors/coworkers, Bruce and Deb. Hiked to the Loch Leven Lakes. It was a good, hard six miles, and we couldn't understand where the girls in flip flops with only an I-pod and their 6 week old puppy thought they were going when we passed them on our way home.

And just to stick with this outdoorsy theme, we took Bruce and Deb up on their offer to borrow their giant two person sea-kayak one Sunday evening. We strapped the kayak on top the pickup and took a quick jaunt up to Pyramid Lake (about 15 minutes north of us). Roc either ran alongside us on the shore or swam out to meet us. Kyler hauled him up into his seat, and our pup seemed quite content to observe the lake from above the water.

Biding time

I'm one hour away from getting out before my week of vacation to Cape Cod. I'm so anxious. Won't actually leave until Saturday but tomorrow I'm playing on Princeton college radio (will let you know when the air date is) and Friday I'm taking Mom and Eleanor on a tour of Philly so the vacation starts now. More pics to come.

Connie's roller derby team challenged my softball team to a softball game. Let's just say my team was super excited to finally win a game (25-4). The Tough Cookies were super exuberant and great sports. I think there may definitely be a rematch in the future. But I doubt they'll let my softball team near them on a pair of roller skates. Here is a great shot of Connie playing center field.