June 12th Sarah Sides and I headed over to the new McCormick & Schmick’s in City Centre for their grand opening event. What a soiree. Patrick Henry Creative Promotions organized the event and invited us to check out the swanky new location.

The event was fabulous — fantastic atmosphere, great entertainment on the patio, generous amounts of M&S’s signature menu items and specialty mixed drinks. The food was delicious and the cocktails unique. Some of the specially mixed drinks for the event and now happy hours were a black raspberry Grey Goose Martini, Patron Margaritas, and wine spritzers — my favorite was with a Cabernet and St. Germain…fantastically creative and oh-so yummy.

The set-up invited guests to visit every corner of the new location – entertainment on the patio, wine and cheese in the back dining or meeting room, sushi bar near the open main bar area, seafood table with a fantastic ice sculpture leading you back towards the back dining room where the comfort food was served buffet style.

Hats off to PHCP for a well done event, highlighting all of what McCormick & Schmick’s has to offer in their new location.

This weekend was great for being outdoors, and what better way to spend your time outdoors than at a Arts Festival? The Spring Bayou City Arts Festival is in Memorial Park, a good setting to spend the day wandering among art.

Sarah Sides, Allison Johnson (the Intern) and I all volunteered at the Beer Booth, with tips benefiting SNAP (Spay and Neuter Assistance Program) in the morning. It has been something that I have done for the past few years and decided to share the fun. I have always wondered what it is like to be a bartender, and this is the closest I get to finding out. Usually there is a group of 7-10 people serving up beer, water, sodas and iced tea. It is a really good time in that you meet others in the Houston ad/marketing community (and others) AND you get to try new beers, not always craft beers, but definitely ones you don’t generally find elsewhere.

This weekend, as you can imagine, got pretty busy and by the time our shift ended at 2pm, there were lines backed up at least 10 people deep. I am happy that SNAP was able to get some of the monetary support it needed through the tips. People were all very generous and many came back because of our dazzling smiles and quick service (if I do say so myself.)

If you want to volunteer next time (Spring or Fall), get in touch with Tad Grow at Brandit Marketing. It is a lot of fun!

Team A at Broadway Cafe Beer Booth: Tad, Kate, Sarah, Allison & Steve

The 2 MLS Trophies

The 2009 MLS season has begun, which doesn’t really seem like it should be a big deal in Texas, where football is king. Well, here at Stanandlou we are some excited about fútbol.

One of our new clients on the roster is the Houston Dynamo, Houston’s very own Major League Soccer team. I, for one, was very excited about the new addition, being that I am Dynamo-crazy.

Pat Onstad

My first experience with the Dynamo was their 2007 playoff game against F.C. Dallas. They went on after that game to win the 2007 MLS Championship. I was hooked. I never considered myself a soccer fan, but the atmosphere was amazing. The Texian Army and Batallon (imagine an entire section of fans, jumping, chanting, playing instruments, throwing streamers for 90 minutes) lifted the energy of the entire stadium. I knew that Dynamo games were going to become a regular part of my life here in Houston.

Last year I spent learning all the players names, brushing up on soccer penalties and rules, and toying with the idea of sneaking into the Batallon’s section. This year is going to be the best year yet. How could it not be? It started off with a bang: the Kickoff Luncheon.

Dynamo Diesel was there, hanging out with the players and Dynamo Girls. Brandy scored a hug. How cute, right?

The luncheon opened with a silent auction of all kinds of cool Dynamo gear – signed jerseys, signed soccer balls, T-shirts, etc. There were also things up for grabs like lunch with Stuart Holden or Oliver Luck.

They introduced the roster - there are a few new players this year – Julius James, Danny Cruz, and Tyler Deric. Each table had one of the guys sitting at it. We got to sit with the Assistant Coach, John Spencer, a veteran soccer player turned coach.

During the lunch, there was a Q&A section with the players. Questions ranged from strategy to “what is your favorite video game?” The players all were good sports about the whole thing. They seem like a great group of guys.

After the luncheon was coming to an end, I swallowed my pride and ran to get autographs. I managed to get pictures and autographs from some of my favorite players: Pat Onstad, Brian Ching, Stuart Holden, Chris Wondolowski and Corey Ashe. I even got pictures with them! I was so excited/nervous my face was bright pink!

I am looking forward to the rest of the season. The homeopener was a great success. Over 16,000 fans turned out March 21st, one of the larger attendances for a homeopener this year in the MLS.

I will be Forever Orange!

On Sunday I took a trip up 290 to go check out my favorite “convenience store,” if you can call Buc-ee’s that. With the friendly staff, wide selection of delicious road trip snack foods, fresh sandwiches, big 44oz fountain drinks, all the Jerky you can stand, and some of the cleanest bathrooms around, you can hardly put it in the same category as some of the “other guys,” i.e., dirty gas stations that you stop at on the long trips because you don’t have a choice.

So as we are approaching the Meuschke Road exit, I can’t help but notice the huge red and yellow balloon atop the gas pumps area and the huge smiling face of the Buc-ee’s logo. We pull in and I am amazed at the bustle – people getting gas, people coming in and out of the store, vacuuming their cars, cars entering and exiting the car wash (which I hear is one of the biggest in Texas), and yes, numerous customers stopping to take pictures with the 6-foot tall Buc-ee’s mascot at the door. (It wasn’t just me!)

Inside, I was like a kid in a candy shop, checking out all the delectable treats and wound up settling on a few bags of jerky (sweet and spicy is my favorite) and Sweet Energy (which I think must include some sort of addictive drug, because I can’t get enough of it!). For lunch, I ordered a BBQ sliced pork sandwich and Dr. Pepper Chiller – the perfect Texan meal!
The last adventure on this trip was the car wash.

My car is usually pretty dirty. I can’t seem to keep it clean. I don’t think this photo does the dirt justice. Well, luckily, I got to try out the ultimate car wash experience, and I am sure my car thanks me for it.

Since it is hands-free, I even got to eat my lunch inside while I got my car washed. Some kind of awesome multi-tasking, right? Also included was a free vacuum token, so I was able to clean my car, inside and out! It came out so shiny, even the tires look brand new. I was so impressed.

All in all, I can say that it was a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I only wish I live a little closer so I could visit more often.

Buc-ee’s Facebook Link

Buc-ee’s Flickr Link

That stems from many different factors – natural disasters (floods, etc), changes in farming techniques, but also government intervention in agriculture, specifically subsidies for food products to create biofuels like ethanol. Other articles also talk about the ratio of energy produced versus consumed to create these new fuels to cut the use of fossil fuels. All interesting reading.

In the June 28th issue of The Economist, they discuss Brazil’s biofuel industry. There were many interesting points to the article, but what stood out in my mind the most is that the ethanol that the brasileiros produce “packs 8.2 times as much energy as it used in its production, compared with just 1.5 times for corn ethanol, according to the Woodrow Wilson Centre, a Washington think-tank.”

My main problem with all of this talk is that people are living on less than $1.00 in food and people are concerned about using food to produce fuels that will preserve our future. Why don’t we care about people we can save right now, using those same resources?

My first encounter with The Economist was in Santander, Spain. I met with an ophthalmologist twice a week so he could keep up his English and we talked about all kinds of stuff: travel, economics, technology… He told me about the magazine and lent me one of his issues. I kept up reading it as much as I could between living la vida espanola and traveling around Europe.

When I came back, Michelle let me start reading her subscription, and so now I have a steady flow of great political, economic, and social commentary in my life. I usually read about 2 articles a morning for breakfast. Since I love the magazine so much, I decided to share some of the interesting things I learn.

Today’s facts:

• There are allegations that Lech Walesa (the trade union’s leader who greatly contributed to the fall of communism in Poland) was a secret police informant in the early 70s. He denies the allegations and the writer thinks that it is the opposition party’s attack on the Civic Platform, who won the recent elections.
• Chile is 2nd only to Norway in salmon exports. Last year the industry brought $2.2 million dollars into the country. The farms are mostly located in the south.