Good afternoon and a big ol’ Happy Galentine’s Day to all the ladies around the Texas Capitol today. I’m sitting in the Dallas airport at a time I was supposed to have been home for hours, pre-Galentine’s Day Happy Hour, and it’s become abundantly clear that the scheduling and content of something like Pink Granite cannot rest with one galentine alone.

Luckily for me tonight one beautiful goddess, snowflake, princess (insert any other Leslie Knope-ism here) Terri Broussard Williams stepped up tonight to save me.

However me make sure this doesn’t happen again - if you are interested in becoming a Pink Granite Contributor in any way (helping host events, writing blog posts, interviews, social media, etc.) Please let me know.

I’ve even made a handy form below that you can complete! The idea here is that we all have back-up on events and no happy hour suffers because of an airport fire (sigh).

You guys are the best and hope to see you all tonight!

Name *

Name

First Name

Last Name

Employer/Title

Email Address *

Phone

Phone

(###)

###

####

How would you like to contribute? *

Writing blog posts.

Soliciting interviews.

Social Media posting.

Hosting/Greeting at events.

Photographing events.

Planning events.

Whatever needed!

Comments

Thank you!

… and other unsolicited advice that makes me want to walk away in the middle of a conversation.

I consider myself a pretty friendly and happy person. And sometimes, some can’t help themselves. And usually it’s people who have known me for an entire 2 minutes if at all. And just to be crystal clear, a woman has N-E-V-E-R said this to me. Ever. Not women I’ve known for 5 minutes, not women I’ve known for 5 years.

Whew…

I feel better now.

Here are some good articles that may make you smile. Or not. I don’t need you to smile to make me feel better about how our conversation is going.

• Republicans are massively out-raised this quarter according to Politico.

• Do you prevent your child from watching certain Disney movies? Here’s what Keira Knightly draws the line on. Via the Ellen Show and Fox News. What a combination.

• “Thank God it’s Friday - I’m kidding, I’m a parent.” and other times working moms have owned Twitter via Buzz Feed.

• We all know you can be a pro-choice Republican but can you really be an anti-abortion Democrat? One candidate is testing the theory via the NYT.

• An oldie but interesting article behind the psychology of Claire Underwood - which I found while searching for a perfect RBF photo for this post.

Today at lunch time I hosted the very first “Pink Granite Party.” It was a lovely and intimate get together of about 20 or so ladies from all walks of life in and around the Texas Capitol. There were seasoned professionals there, as well as interns in the room that had lit.ra.lee just come from job interviews. This is 2018 and ladies are helping ladies.

If you were there, thank you for making it so much fun and making Pink Granite a real thing that doesn’t just live on the internet. I was nervous, put at ease and humbled all at the same time.

We’ll do it all again soon.

Image source.

I'm in New Orleans for the ALEC Meeting. You can learn more about that here, the meeting is in Austin next year. Last year I wrote a post about the meetings you should consider attending in the interim, I dropped the ball for 2018 but you can revisit the list here.

On my flight from Austin 458,982 of my closest friends in the #txlege were also on board. Only 54,991 jokes were made about "if this plane goes down..." 

But yes, here we are at Friday and it's been a week since we've been together. Someone at dinner last night recognized me from the blog and I got both incredibly excited and awkward all at the same time. So to her I'm sorry - she knows who she is and I hope she's still reading after meeting me one gin and tonic in.

I'm applying for a promotion at work and that's been the real time suck this week. I will legitimately sit in front of a cover letter for 5 hours. It's not my best quality, don't even ask how long it took me to update my resume. In related news, here's an interesting article on a few questions you should ask before saying yes to a promotion. Spoiler alert - I will say yes.

In all efforts to become Kate Middleton I've had my eye on the L.K. Bennett Sledge heel for years. Unfortunately I also spotted that $345 price tag. In yet another instance of the universe looking out for me - when I decided to finally pull the trigger, L.K. Bennett's shipping system in the US crashed. Or something. Regardless they cannot ship orders to me period. Never deterred, I started looking at department stores and other online retailers and stumbled on a pair from Poshmark that were floor samples and only $95. The downside here is that you cannot return them - but with some online research I read that this brand runs small and to order up a half size so I was prepared. They fit great, still had the tag on the bottom and actually to be new are wearing like a dream. I've tromped all over NOLA in them and there's barely even a dent in the heel tips. I love my Ann Taylor Mila heels (half off right now!) but I'm thinking there is something to be said about getting what you pay for.

Here's some real news:

• A record number of women have been nominated to the U.S. House. Holla. BUT it won't be more bipartisan. Both stories from NPR.
• In related news - is it really the year of the woman? Why can't it just be that women are here. Every year. Half the seats. Including the Muslim American women. And women of color.
• The long road to Mexico City's first female Mayor.
• And the women who have the potential to shatter glass ceilings in this year's Governor's races.
• GM has the best dress code that allows us all to use our brains, "dress appropriately."
• RBG marks 25 years on the bench, via CNN.

I may dabble over the weekend but will for sure be back next week with a new interview (or two!).