Hi, I am Sophie—the newest member of the Grier family.  I moved into my new yard on Monday and have made myself right at home. I have my very own herd dog to protect me, although I think she's a little frightened of me at the moment. I follow my new daddy around like he's made of Fancy Feast and he repays my by calling me things like Soapie, Sopapilla, and The MewMeister. My new mommy is very excited to have an outside kitty so that she can love on me without sneezing and having her eyes swell shut.

My Likes:	My Dislikes:
white albacore tuna	riding in the car
chasing anything that moves	being still
climbing	the sprinkler system
stalking the big black furry thing	the big black furry thing trying to sniff my tail

As most of my friends and family already know, I am not particularly fond of clowns. I won't say that I have Coulrophobia. Clowns don't invoke terror or make me lose sleep at night, but they are definitely something I would place in the creepy category. I think it's mostly the feeling that something disturbing and foreboding is hiding behind all that grease paint. Having said that, it has come to my attention that painting one's face to look clown-like seems as though it might be hazardous to one's health. Not a definite causal relationship, but why chance it?

I admit it. I am the biggest slacker in the world when it comes to blogging. I haven't written a post since April because we've been busy. Sadly, all the things we've been doing are what I should've been making posts about. This post is going to be more of a highlight reel to catch everyone up, but after this, my goal is to mend my slacker ways and post at least once a week. We started off the summer traveling to McKinney for his cousin Ann's wedding. Terry performed the service and did an awesome job. (He also sang with the band at the rehearsal dinner.) We stopped in Dallas on the way back to hang out (and drink copious amounts of margaritas) with my cousin Chuck and his family. The week after the wedding, Mama Linda and Newman came to visit for a few days after the wedding. I think they really enjoyed the new house and I enjoyed the fact that Newman was able to help Terry complete some long overdue items on his honey-do list. We had more family in town for Father's Day. My dad came up with my grandmother who was in Texas visiting from Arizona. She turned 98 in May and still lives on her own and drives. (How's that for good genes? i think Terry will be stuck with me for quite some time.) Terry made a fabulous brisket and brewed some beer while they were in town and we also had a fabulous brunch at the UT Club to celebrate Dad's day.

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Port Aransas with the Moores, the Peters, and the Tuckers. We celebrated our independence by drinking homebrew on the beach, eating ridiculous amounts of smoked salmon and pizza, and pub crawling our way across Port A. The biggest highlight had to be The Gaff, a pirate-themed bar where we went at least three times during the weekend, and where Terry and Tucker both felt the need to shotgun a PBR. It was one of those weekends that makes you question whether you are too old to be doing this sort of thing. Nah!!! Big T (Terry's dad) came to visit us for a weekend after a conference in San Antonio. For some reason, both Terry's seem to enjoy golfing in the heat of the Austin summer. I only partook in activities related to the pool, food, and festive cocktails, but to each his own. Last weekend was the baby shower for our friends Jake and Julie who are awaiting the arrival of a little girl in September. Kudos to Marissa for awesome food and even more awesome beverages. I'm not saying I can't ooh and ahh over little freakin' socks without alcohol, but it certainly helps.