A super cool part about running The Blonde Side, are the invitations to fun and exclusive events and trying things (products, food, beers, etc.) before they are open to the public. Today I got to sample EVERY single one of the new Frozen Custard Waffle Cone Sundaes ($5.50 each) at Petite Sweets.
This new menu includes seven sundaes:
1. Chocolate Covered Pretzel – for those salty and sweet all-in-one lovers.
2. Big Island – if you love pineapple, give this one a go.
3. Lemon Ice Box – a big favorite of many.
4. The Turtle – caramel and chocolate – how can you go wrong?
5. The Funfetti – smashed up sugar cookies IN your waffle sundae!
6. Makers Chocolate Covered Cherries – a rather bold taste, but I’m not much a fan of cherries, unless it’s cherry vodka.
7. Balsamic Strawberry – this one was my favorite. It is typically served with vanilla frozen custard, but in true blonde fashion, I always change things up a bit, so I got chocolate frozen custard. There is something about a chocolate | strawberry combo that is sinfully good – and of course the strawberries (A FRUIT!) makes me feel it’s sort of healthy!
Petite Sweets is located at 2700 W. Alabama near Kirby, in Houston.
Pro tip for dudes – This is a cute after-dinner date spot. Ask the girl “mind if we hit one more spot before I take you home,” and take her to this deliciously adorable shop. Trust. Me.
With the Olympic Games underway, it’s time to pick your favorites. We’re all cheering for the big names — Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Natalie Coughlin — but lets put some hometown pride in our Olympic pom poms this year. Out of the 10,490 elite athletes headed to London, here are six from Houston (or with close Bayou City ties) who I’m going to cheer loudly for.
Olympic Boxer, Marlen Esparza, photo courtesy of Facebook Vogue
Marlen Esparza
This Pasadena native was the first American female boxer to qualify for the Games as women’s boxing makes its long awaited debut in London. At 5-feet-3-inches and weighing 112 pounds, this flyweight can pack a punch. Literally. In a sport not highly touted for its beauty, Esparza brings a new light to everything we once knew about boxing. As the new face for CoverGirl, her ambitions will take her well beyond the ring in London.
In a sport not highly touted for its beauty, Esparza brings a new light to everything we once knew about boxing.
Esparza’s top two goals both in and out of the ring are to make the first women’s Olympic boxing team (check) and to graduate college. She was student body president at Pasadena High School and graduated in the top 2 percent of her class.
Esparza, who came to love boxing thanks to her father’s love of the sport, is now trying to show the world she, too, can fight. In a Los Angeles Times article she admits, “I got into a lot of street fights. Once after school I beat a guy up. My big brother was always getting into fights. So I’d jump in and help him,” she said.
Even Vogue Magazine has tabbed Esparza “America’s best hope for the gold” in its July issue.
Esparza turns 23 today —just two days after the opening ceremony — and I can’t think of a better present than an Olympic gold medal, can you?
Veteran Gymnast, Jonathan Horton, photo courest of Ralph Lauren
I had the opportunity to chat with Horton just days before heading to London and became an instant fan. This will be his second time heading to the Olympics; four years ago in Beijing he won a silver medal in the high bar routine as well as a team bronze medal.
When asked where his motivation comes from, Horton had a pretty standard answer: “From within. I set my goals and go after them,” he said. “I visualize being an Olympic champion — standing on the podium with my teammates and that’s what motivates me.”
Horton’s best event, the rings, is ironically his least favorite. “It takes a lot of strength and is a tough routine to get through,” he admitted.
Horton, who at 26 is six years older than the next oldest guy on the U.S. team, feels he’s much more mentally prepared this year compared to 2008. “Everyone knows how big the Olympics are. When I got off the plane in Beijing, it hit me — all the hype, the pressure. But this year I know what to expect. I feel I’m more prepared, a better gymnast and more technically sound,” he said.
“A lot of people are expecting me to retire [after these games], but I told my wife, as long as I can contribute to Team USA, I might as well stick around. After the London Games, I’ll reevaluate,” Horton said.
Trying for his fourth medal, this Sugar Land native comes from a family of Olympic athletes, all in Taekwondo. His brother Mark, who won silver at Beijing, did not qualify this year, but his younger sister, Diana, did (see below).
According to USA Today, “Only South Korea and Taiwan have more Olympic Taekwondo medals than the Lopez family.”
In Beijing, the Lopezes became the first set of three siblings to compete on the same Olympic team in the same sport since 1904 and all three came away with medals. (Can you imagine the roughhousing that went on at the Lopez house? As an only child, I certainly cannot!)
Steven, who was included in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People, is the only member of the Lopez family to have won gold (doing so twice). He was 21 when Taekwondo made its Olympic debut in 2000 in Athens, where he took gold in the welterweight division. He has gold medals from the 2000 and 2004 Games and a bronze from 2008.
He heads to London looking for redemption after a controversial loss in Beijing. He was defeated after a bad call, which the World Taekwondo Federation later acknowledged as an “unintentional judgment error.” At 33, he is back and better than ever after putting in long hours to get not ready — physically and mentally.
The youngest in the Lopez family, Diana has taken gold in the Taekwondo Junior Nationals for 10 years in a row and is looking to snag a gold medal at the London Games. When she won the gold at the World Championships in 2005, she made the Lopezes the first three siblings in any sport to win World Championship titles at the same event.
Diana claims in an espnW article that she followed her brothers into the ring so she wouldn’t be left out.
Currently in her last semester at the University of Houston, where she studies childhood education, the 28-year-old who goes by “DLo” has put her studies on hold until London is over. Here’s hoping she returns to classes with a gold medal around her neck.
In her first Olympics (Beijing 2008), Loukas finished ninth in 3-meter springboard and contemplated retiring after her subpar perfomance. Lucky for us, she thought better of it and is now off to London to try and earn a gold.
Currently a resident of The Woodlands, but originally from Chicago, Loukas, 26, will be competing in the 3-meter springboard. (She and her partner, Kassidy Cook, barely missed qualifying in synchronized diving by less than one point.)
Less than two years ago, Loukas decided to give diving another chance and is now headed to London with a refreshed attitude and a renewed spirit, happy and thankful to have another shot at the Olympic stage.
Jason Richardson makes his Olympic debut in London in track and field
Jason Richardson
London marks this track and field star’s Olympic debut. Richardson, who was born in Houston and raised in Cedar Hill, has high hopes of snagging the gold in the mens 110m hurdles, where he is the reigning world champion in the event (he initially won silver but winner Cuba’s Dayron Robles was disqualified for impeding another hurdler).
In the Olympic trials semifinals in Eugene last month, he ran an impressive 12.98 seconds – becoming only the 13th man to break the 13-second barrier in the hurdles.
Richardson, 26, may have the best “what I want to do when I grow up” line as quoted on NBCOlympics.com saying, “I would like to amass wealth and prestige and invest well [enough] that I could sit up in the house and eat Skittles until I figure out what else moves me in life.”
Richardson, who studied sports entertainment management at the University of South Carolina, where he also, obviously, ran track, is eagerly awaiting his chance to show the world that his event may just be the best in all of track and field. A guy after my own heart, Richardson plans to handle the pressure with his “no-filter personality” and by making as many jokes as possible as he recently told a Vanity Fair reporter.
The Blonde Side editor’s note: my apologies for missing Camille Adams, Houston native and Texas A&M sophomore who is also competing. If anyone has her contact info, I’d love to do a solo interview with her – email me jayme [at] theblondeside [dot] com
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/facebook_vogueMarlen_Esparza_Olympics_2012_boxing_Vogue.350w_263h.jpg263350Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2012-08-01 02:46:142012-08-01 02:46:14Houston Olympians to Keep an eye on in London (6)
Lightning may not strike the same place twice, but who says Opening Day can’t happen twice?
Thursday night that’s exactly what greater Houston residents will get to see — a second baseball Opening Day, Opening Day for the new Atlantic League Team in Sugar Land, the Sugar Land Skeeters. And thanks to the novelty of this new independent league team, some Outer Loopers are about as excited for the Skeeters and their new $36 million stadium as they were for the Houston Astros’ Opening Day. If not more.
The Skeeters, at least for now, are new and refreshing. They aren’t coming off the worst record in franchise history. They didn’t go through any ownership or changing leagues drama in the offseason.
For those unfamiliar with this minor league free agent league the Skeeters are part of,it allows all 30 Major League Baseball clubs to sign a player at any time from the A.L. (which stands for Atlantic League, not to be confused with the American League which the Astros will soon be joining) and assign them anywhere within their organization. This is a huge gateway for ballplayers, both old and still relatively new (the age range on the Skeeters roster currently goes from 24 to 34), to try and make it into Major League lineups.
The most recent guy to have success with this free agent (and often last chance) model of minor league baseball is Houston native and Rice University graduate Lance Pendleton who was recently signed to pitch for the Tampa Bay Rays. Prior to this deal, Pendleton signed a minor league contract with the Astros and was released on March 30, 2012 as a free agent which sent him straight into the glove of the Skeeters.
In a press release issued by the Skeeters, Pendelton said, “Being from the Houston area, I knew the Skeeters would give me the best shot to showcase my arm. The organization really treated me with open arms. It is a double-edged sword though.
Sugar Land Skeeters
“I am upset to leave home where my family is, but this is an opportunity I cannot pass up.”
When asked about being competition for the Astros (mostly in the form of ticket sales and fan loyalty), Skeeters marketing communications manager Bryan Hodge responded with: “This area is a huge baseball market. Whether it is youth leagues or the Astros, everyone loves baseball here.
“We do not see the Astros as competition. We believe this market is suited for both teams to prosper and benefit each other. The more people watching and talking about baseball, the better it is for the growth of the sport.”
This just shows one of the many goals of the Skeeters organization — to further the mission of baseball by grooming these men on the Sugar Land field or helping them find their spot within MLB organizations. Aside from the actual sport itself, Hodge promises fun filled nights of entertainment for guests — that brand of entertainment you only find in the minor leagues.
“We will have the Cowboy Monkeys, a man who will light himself on fire and run the bases, fireworks, Roger Creager, concerts and more! We are a circus with a baseball game,” Hodge says half joking, half serious.
And it’s almost part of the game in Minor League Baseball to come up with wackiest and wittiest promos each year. MiLB.com even runs a contest to showcase the craziest ones — here’s hoping this new Sugar Land team can top that list some day.
The Skeeters will play 70 regular season home games at the brand new Constellation Field which broke ground in April of last year and has since generated an immense amount of buzz from locals. The $36 million stadium on Highway 6 is equipped with luxury suites, party seats, decks and even lawn seating where fans can sprawl out on blankets and battle the Texas heat.
Fans also seem to be excited about catching a glimpse of the eight-story HD video board in the shape of Texas.
Opening Day for the Skeeters is 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Constellation Field against the York Revolution. The game is completely sold out. Some lawn seats remain for the other games in the opening weekend series. Constellation Field has 6,000 reserve seats and the capacity for about a 1,000 more on the lawn or in standing room. Ticket prices for non-suite seats range from $7 to $12 (kids who show up in a youth baseball uniform are let in free).
Now those folks outside the Loop finally have a stadium to call home.
This article was featured on Culture Map, Houston’s Daily Digital Magazine in the sport’s section.
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/6_Sugar_Land_Skeeters_baseball_team_April_2012.800w_600h.jpg600800Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2012-04-26 10:22:472012-05-06 10:26:18Sugar Land Skeeters Opening Day
On Feb. 24, 2011, Houston lost a piece of its soul. Not just in the local sports world, but in the community as well.
In a moment of reverse déjà vu, Shane Battier was traded back to the Memphis Grizzlies — the same team Houston acquired him in exchange for Stromile Swift and the draft rights to Rudy Gay back in 2006.
For the first time in five years, the Houston Rockets will hold a home opener without Battier Thursday night. Battier has moved again, leaving Memphis for Miami where he’ll chase a title as a sidekick to the championship favorite superstar trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Heat are already 3-0 as the 0-1 Rockets take the Toyota Center court for the first time this season to face San Antonio with Houston just hoping to make the playoffs for the first time in three years.
I’m not sure anyone could have imagined the impact the 6-foot-8 forward from Duke would have had on one of the biggest cities in the country, or conversely the impact that city would have had on him and his family.
Battier was a stronghold with the Rockets, starting all but seven games during his four and a half seasons. He played a key role in 2008 when the Rockets recorded the second-longest consecutive wins streak (22) in NBA history, spending the most time of any player on the court during that impressive streak (according to Michael Lewis’ often-referenced New York Times article, “The No-Stats All-Star”).
Battier logged 11,910 playing minutes and scored a total of 3,052 points during his tenure with the Rockets. His heart and soul on the court, his defensive hustle and never give up attitude are just a handful of reasons Rockets fans everywhere fell in love with the guy.
And that’s just on the court.
More Than a Baller
Photo Courtesy of NYTimes.com
Sporting News didn’t name Battier the seventh smartest athlete in sports for nothing. Battier has made a career out of being smart both on and off the court and finding a way to connect with his team and fans on more than just a professional and athletic level.
“You hope to make a connection with the community that you are a part of. I was proud of my five years in Houston, it was an amazing ride. So many great relationships were started and I am proud that I had an impact in my years in Houston,” Battier wrote in an email interview.
Off the court, the guy loves Houston just as much as Houston loves (and misses) him. Battier and his wife Heidi were sad to leave Houston and sell their Southampton house, which they refer to as their “favorite.” The couple also misses all the amazing meals they’ve shared over the years at two Montrose hot spots — Da Marco and Dolce Vita.
Aside from his court smarts, one of the reasons Houston fans adored Battier was his laid-back nature — not afraid to sign autographs out and about, and certainly not afraid to sing a tune or two at Christian’s Tailgate on karaoke night.
“I will karaoke anytime, anywhere. My Way by Sinatra is just my bag,” he wrote. “One of the worst parts of being traded to Memphis mid year last year was cancelling our Clutch City Karaoke event in Houston to benefit The Battier Take Charge Foundation.
“I’d like to think that I am not that different from any other family man. I go to work (conditioning, shooting drills, lifting weights) and come home to hang out with my family, clean up after dinner, put the kids to bed and crack a Bud Light. Pretty standard really.”
(Coincidentally or not, Bud Light just so happens to be the best selling beer in Texas. Presumably another reason Shane misses H-Town?)
Even though it’s been half a season since Battier left, lifelong Rockets fan, Justin Capetillo, still misses seeing him on the court. “I miss his hustle and heart,” Capetillo said. “He was the ideal ‘team’ player, and any team is lucky to have his leadership. I don’t really like the Heat, but hope Battier finally gets his ring.”
Native Houstonian Dan Kuehn feels the same way. “I miss his gritty play and his witty interviews,” Kuehn said. “He plays the game with heart, brains, and passion. No one can argue that.”
And it’s not just the fans that miss him. The lovable, huggable Clutch mascot shared his sentiments on No. 31 saying, “Shane was one of my favorite players from my 17 years with the Rockets. He’s a standup guy — both on and off the court. He exemplified professional basketball at its finest. I miss him dearly.”
Speaking of his new team, when I asked Shane how he felt about his old teammates (who he’ll play April 22 in Miami), his response was simple, “I will be excited to play my guys on the Rockets. It will be strange but they will want to beat me as much as I want to beat them. For pride.
“If they brought me some fajitas from Lupe Tortilla or El Tiempo I’d be a happy man.”
Duly noted Shane, duly noted.
This article was featured on Culture Map, Houston’s Daily Digital Magazine in the sport’s section.
At Houston’s second annual Hot Undies Run, I learned something very important: The simple term underwear is now synonymous with boxers, boxer briefs, loincloths, Spanx, spandex, long johns, corsets, thongs, boy shorts. And treasure trolls.
Underwear also comes in all shapes and sizes. Just take my word for it. When over 700 pairs of undies gather around Rice Village to support a good cause and a local running group, you realize for the first time just how many varieties of skivvies there are out there. Well beyond the realms of Victoria’s Secret.
The Saturday event was a two-mile fun run with a quick stop at the Rice campus bar Valhalla for a refueling of Shiner, and was open to anyone 21 and up “with a sense of humor.” Racers were encouraged to vie for The Best UN-dressed award (with prizes available) and to bring new, unopened packages of socks or underwear, for underprivileged boys and girls in the Houston Independent School District for an organization fittingly called Undies for Everyone.
The idea for this sweaty little fun run came from Carissa Thomas, one of the Brian O’Neill (BON) Running Club’s officers. Thomas is currently working on her MD/PhD and has close family ties to a wonderful organization, the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF). She came across a similar idea benefiting the CTF in Washington, D.C. where residents ran around in the cold over Valentine’s Day in their underwear — so of course it only seemed appropriate to start something similar in Houston. In the record-breaking heat.
Myself (left) and Ironwoman finisher, Jennifer Jones (right)
Underwear comes in all shapes and sizes. Just take my word for it. When over 700 pairs of undies gather to support a good cause, you realize for the first time just how many varieties of skivvies there are out there.
In its inaugural year, the race raised more than $7,000 for CTF, but far beyond the money, was the awareness it produced.
BON was launched in the fall of 2008 by Dave Lee — an avid runner and entrepreneur who decided to tie his two passions together. After reading an article in Men’s Fitness about a similar group that epitomized a “fitness culture” in his hometown of Colorado, Lee thought, why not Houston? Sure, the weather may be a bit different than the Rockies, but Houston is social and has a lot of avid runners, so why not?
The loop around Rice is always packed with sweaty runners, but if you’ve noticed an abundance of runners of all levels on Tuesdays, you’ve probably seen BON in action. They meet every Tuesday (rain or shine) from 5:30-7:30 p.m, for a free 5K where people run at their own pace individually or with groups and meet back at Brian O’Neill’s (one of the club’s sponsors) for free snacks and drink specials. Not to mention lots of laughter and great running advice from some of the most hardcore runners Houston has ever seen.
I’ve been given some instrumental advice during my visits to BON — mostly that I run crooked and need to drink more V8. And my doctor agrees.
Lee’s dream in the not too distant future is to expand these free social running clubs to every major city in America. There are already three other local running clubs under this umbrella — CityCentre Running Club (Houston), Goose Acre Running Club (The Woodlands), Berryhill Running Club (League City) — and a fifth is set to launch this September in College Station called Corner Bar Running Club. Later this year, the group will be expanding for the first time outside of Texas to San Jose, Calif., Janesville, Wisc. and Chicago, Ill. – so tell your friends.
Lee is well on his way to making this running club dream come true. And if you know him at all, you know he’ll sure be able to accomplish this task at hand.
Victoria's Secret RICE Angels
For more information about the BON running club, visit the group’s website, Facebook or TWITTER and remember, the club meets every Tuesday for free.
So just show up in your running shoes. Underwear optional.
This article was featured on Culture Map, Houston’s Daily Digital Magazine in the sport’s section.
Right, wrong or indifferent, the Houston Astros have long been a team that pride themselves on being a hometown team. It’s because of that Texas flair and sense of entitlement we’ve all become accustomed to and our loyalty extends almost to a fault. It’s that unprecedented pride we feel about our barbeque, our cowboy boots and our country music…and damn sure our baseball. The Astros make a point of highlighting the Texas born and bred men they add to their roster each year as if it were a valid selling point. They beam about it in all facets of media using it to their advantage anyway they can. And like blind sheep, fans flock to these men in a Josh-We-Love-You-So-Much-Kind-Of-Hamilton-Way. Simply because they’re from Texas.
Last week, the Astros front office announced their new campaign, “We Are Your Astros”. This tagline was released in conjunction with the fact that they’d again chosen to outsource the campaign and all creative aspects to Lee Queano Creative in Torrance, CA. Having worked in sports marketing for over 5 years, and at one time specifically for the Astros, I can vouch that the creativity in most front offices is oftentimes lacking.
“This is perhaps the strongest communication we have ever created for the Astros,” the firm’s principal and chief creative director Lee Queano said. “The team belongs to the fans of Houston and this year’s campaign is supported by the continuing involvement and commitment of the Astros through countless community efforts to make the city an even better place to live,” Queano continued.
https://theblondeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TBS_Astros.jpg761415Jaymehttps://theblondeside.com//wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1526998321020-300x192.pngJayme2011-02-21 02:18:122011-06-08 00:02:48Hometown Astros outsource creativity… out of their hometown?
