Category Archives: tulsa

McDazzle Fun Ball

One of the lovely women I met at the Mrs. International Pageant was Aquillia “Q” Vang, Mrs. Nevada. I learned that her platform is Ronald McDonald House Charities, a cause she is very personally connected with.

Q has been to many different Ronald McDonald Houses to fix a meal or help out in any way. She told me she was coming to Tulsa to help out at the McDazzle Fun Ball and asked if I’d like to help out. What a great idea!

dazzle

One of the things you learn while competing at Mrs. International is that each contestant has a cause they are connected to. But to actually come along with a sister queen to share in that was an opportunity I was honored to be a part of.

I connect with Lindsay at the local Ronald McDonald House and she showed me around and gave me the low down on how the process works for people who stay with them. Although I live very close to the house and drive by it almost every day, I never really understood exactly how it worked. Very impressive!

It was so fun to help out at the ball. We started out at the door, greeting people as they arrived. Once inside, Q visited with the guests and directed them to the check in table.

visiting

After we greeted all the attendees, we joined the party in the ballroom and watched the live auction. It was a great night and a lot of money was raised for the Tulsa Ronald McDonald House.

But the best part of the whole night for me was the honor of being there with Q as she supported her platform of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Thank you, Q! It was an awesome night. 🙂

The Akdar Shrine Circus

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This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to hang out in the Safety Station with Fire Marshall, Tom Hufford, and the Tulsa Fire Department.

safety

There was SO much safety information to share and I was so happy to be able to share concussion safety information.

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Over the four days, I spoke to so many people and it was gratifying to hear them thank me for sharing the information because they had no idea that concussions were so bad. My goal and my mission is to share with as many people as possible that a concussion isn’t “just a concussion”. The Safety Station was a great place for me to share this message.

The clowns were a blast, too!

clowns

Many thanks to Tom and the Tulsa Fire Department for letting me hang out with them at the circus!

Beauty Secrets from a Clown

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I’ve spent the past couple of days hanging out in the Safety Station with the Tulsa Fire Department at the Akdar Shrine Circus promoting my platform of concussion safety for kids.

noze_the_clown

It’s a circus so, of course, there are clowns. I love clowns. So happy and fun!

The first clown I met and actually spoke to was Noze. We had a deep discussion about lipstick. Because, you see, he has the most fabulous, sparkly, red lips!

I asked him, “So where do you get your lipstick?”

He looked at me as if he was sizing me up. Trying to decide, should I tell her? Finally, he responded, “I make it myself.”

“Really? How do you do that?” I asked him, with excitement. I really need to have some of that lipstick and couldn’t wait to learn how to make it.

“Well,” Noze said, “I use red lipstick, then I put glitter glue on top of that, and then add red glitter.”

Hmm…. I was thinking. Glitter glue. Glue????

“So how do you get it off? How long does it take?” I asked him.

“I just use baby oil. It takes me an hour to put my face on but it takes me one minute to get it off.”

Whoa! That’s incredible! I was completely intrigued and clearly better informed for having had this conversation with Noze. Now, I’m off to buy some glitter glue. 😀

Bicycle Safety

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And no, I’m not talking about your safety while riding a bicycle. I’m talking about the safety of your bicycle.

I just opened our resident portal here in California to report that my kitchen light is flickering when I saw a note that two bikes had been stolen from our supposedly secure parking garage. Having had one of our vehicles broken into already and seen people in the garbage dumpsters who I’m pretty sure don’t live here, I have never considered leaving my bike in the garage.

Instead, when I’m not riding it, my bike lives in the entry way,

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or next to the stairs (both of which David hates, but I get busy you know),

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or on the balcony which really makes the most sense to me.

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There are lots of bike riders in San Jose. When you ride around you see bikes locked up but that’s clearly not enough because, additionally, you’ll see they have a wheel or the seat removed for extra safety.

It was really interesting when I was home in Tulsa last week. I was getting into my car after picking up my pizza (vegan) and noticed a family ride up on bikes. Well, maybe it was a family with a lot of kids or a family with their kids and their kids friends. But in any case, there were at least eight people and eight bikes.

Do you know what they did when they got to the front of the restaurant? They got off of their bikes, parked them and went in the door to eat. There wasn’t a lock among them. All the seats stayed in place as well as the wheels.

I reflected about the bikes here in San Jose and came to the conclusion that bikes are much safer in Oklahoma.

I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, though. Does it mean Oklahoma has less thieves? Less active people? Better things to steal?

As I ponder this, I’ll continue to ride my bike and keep it safe. In the living room. I mean on the balcony. 😉

A Resolution To Keep

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I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions. I’ve always felt that if you made a resolution it would ultimately be broken. Such common resolutions like losing weight, exercising more. We all see the kick off of those on January 2 when the stores trot out their “diet” food on sale and the gyms are all packed. At least for three weeks.

Eventually, the initial crush passes away. People let it slide. Resolutions are broken and another year is in full swing.

Well, this year, I’m making a resolution and I will keep it. In 2015 I resolve to not involve myself in Secret Santa gift exchanges.

Weird, no? Let me explain.

I love Secret Santa. I love taking the time to scout out the perfect gift for my draw. It makes my heart happy waiting to hear that they received the gift and to find out how they liked it. The remainder of the Secret Santa fun is getting a surprise gift that someone hopefully got the same enjoyment out of selecting and sending to me.

I have been a part of two Secret Santa groups now for the past two years. In one group, we actually use Elfster and the participants list things they would like to receive which gives you an idea of what to give even if you don’t know the person.

Neither of the two years did I know the person who’s name I drew but I still had fun looking through their list and choosing for them something that I would like to receive.

The other group is a blind gift. If I could have made my own choice of the person I wanted to have for my draw this year, it would have been the person I got. I was so happy. I already knew what the gift would be, I just had to find it. I had to have one piece made but then found the other. I enjoyed including a little description of the background of one of the selections as I knew the other would be understood.

Both recipients seemed happy with their gifts and, in turn, I was happy.

It’s now New Year’s Eve. The last of the deliveries have been made for the day, tomorrow is a holiday. Not to mention, another year.

I have received no Secret Santa gifts in return.

I’m not mad. Things happen, people get busy, sick, life gets in the way. But I can’t help but being a little bit disappointed.

For the past three years, one of my favorite events with Social Media Tulsa has been the time we spend with the Salvation Army helping them get ready for the Angel Tree gift giving. The group is a fun group and the cause, a worthy one. I love bringing toys that will go to kids who might otherwise not have a fun Christmas.

Next year, instead of Secret Santa, I’m going to draw angels from the Angel Tree and fulfill their wishes. Since Christmas, to me, is really about giving, it will be a completely happy experience.

I’m excited with my New Year’s resolution, one I know I will keep. Maybe the first ever! I’m also looking forward to an awesome 2015 and I wish you and yours an equally awesome New Year. 🙂

The Zoo!

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Yesterday we took Geoff, Nikki and the Glambaby to the Tulsa Zoo!

We’ve lived here, more or less, for around 11 years and have never been to the zoo. At Woodland Hills Mall there is a big advertisement for the Zoo and every time we walk past it, the Glambaby has to stop and look at it and talk about it. We’ve been waiting for it to be warm enough to go.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It was around 64 degrees and sunny. There were very few people there so it was comfortable all the way around.

The Glambaby really wanted to see an elephant and a monkey. And she got her wish.

The monkeys got crazy!

We rode the train around to the other size of the zoo.

We ate lunch at the McCaw Landing Grille inside the zoo and had some very tasty burgers!

We then visited the slides. The glambaby, supreme slide lover, saw them as we went to lunch and we promised her we’d slide when we were finished eating. We played on the playground for quite a while until she got so sleepy it was time to go.

We didn’t get to the giraffes or the carousel (which looks amazing!) or the petting zoo. I hope we’ll get a chance to go back soon. We had so much fun! 🙂

Review: Ti Amo Ristorante

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My bestie was coming to town for business and we planned to have dinner on Wednesday. I know she loves Tex-Mex but I’m not a super big fan. I asked her about Italian. She said she loved it so I made reservations at Ti Amo’s South which is right around the corner from our house.

After we were settled in a comfy booth, our server came to take our drink order and brought us the most amazing bruchetta. I didn’t get a photo of it but it was delish!

I decided on a glass of Chianti. I’d been talking about Chianti with a twitter friend recently and telling her that I’d never had it. I loved it! It tasted a lot like the Malbec we’d been drinking before we left the house. For some reason I was afraid it would be too sweet, but it was nice.

Then came the lobster bisque. I could have eaten this for my main course. It was wonderful. Spicy and warm. It was a good choice.

My dinner was fettucine alfredo with chicken. I rarely indulge in pasta and the creamy pasta and juicy chicken really hit the spot.

I had followed Ti Amo’s on twitter and got to choose a free dessert.

Experience the taste of Italy! Follow Us or Retweet this post & get a FREE Dessert with any two entrées. pic.twitter.com/XUr1kcFXy6

— TiAmo Tulsa (@tiamooftulsa) November 29, 2013

We chose the Lemon Berry Marscapone Cake to split since we were mostly FULL!. Yum! It was light and sweet, the perfect way to end our meal.

While we were waiting to get our bill, the owner came by our table. He asked if we liked Limoncello. Denise and I said, yes we did. He told us he makes his own Limoncello and brought us each a shot on the house. It was awesome!

We had a really nice visit with Denise and a lovely dinner at Ti Amo’s. I’m sure we’ll visit again!

Girl Scout Cookie Tweetup

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Yay! It’s that awesome time of year and this year, I was able to actually find some Girl Scout cookies without having to have them shipped to me like last year.

On Saturday, we met up with Cheryl, Ingrid and Madison for a Girl Scout Cookie tweet up at The Phoenix.

Before Ingrid and Madison got there, I was able to sneak in the Elvis scone that my vacation belly yelled “Get in me!” to. 🙂

The scone was delicious. Kind of scone-y and muffin-y all at once. It had peanut butter, banana and bacon. Yum!

Madison, came wearing a crown, which of course I think every girl needs.

We talked about the hashtags to use while tweeting about the Girl Scout cookies.

And I snagged our favorites.

We got to check out Cheryl’s Google Glass which was cool.

I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout back in the day. Mostly, I was in it because that’s where my friends were and I could wear a cool uniform on the days we had meetings. I never really participated like it’s meant to be participated in.

When I was working for KJRH in 2009, I covered the Girl Scout end of the year banquet and I was so impressed with what today’s Girl Scouts is about. Girls are learning leadership, financial planning, and community involvement. I’ve been volunteering with the PR Stars with the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma and I’m so impressed with how smart, well spoken and confident these girls are. It’s definitely not the Girl Scouts as I remember them.

It was a great time as always. I just love those girls and any tweetup involving cookies is a good tweetup. 🙂

Lauri Rottmayer

Catch the Rottitude!

Category Archives: tulsa

McDazzle Fun Ball

The Akdar Shrine Circus

Beauty Secrets from a Clown

Bicycle Safety

The Zoo!

Review: Ti Amo Ristorante