TMI Little Mama

Earlier tonight I was relaxing with a magazine at the UP pool while the kids took a dive. After ahwile I ended up in the following awkward chat with the mom of a bajillion toddlers sitting nearby.

Lady: It’s nice that your kids are getting old enough so you can read at the pool.

Merritt: It really is, I’ve waited years for the summer it would be possible and it’s finally here.

Lady: Every month my husband asks if we need to use anything and I just tell him it doesn’t matter so I don’t know when I’ll get to read at the pool.

Merritt: Oh.

Fortune Says Travel to Uptown

Fortune magazine just named Uptown’s Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa as one of the world’s 33 top new business traveler hotels. Winners were selected based on location, decor and amenities. Overheardians advise the Stoneleigh is also a new spot for celeb sighting, especially in their restaurant, Bolla. The only other Texas hotel to make Fortune’s list is Hotel ZaZa in Houston.

A few hundred lucky Dallasites will be invited to check out the rooms and Penthouse when the Stoneleigh hosts their grand opening soirees, yes plural!, at the end of the month.

Kid Friendly And Free Weekend Activities

Now that school is out, are you looking for some options for your weekend family fun? This Sunday, Central 214 starts Sunday and Monday black-and-white film movie nights in their courtyard. They will serve complimentary popsicles for the kids to keep them chill.

Another option is the 5th Annual CityArts Celebration. The event runs Friday through Sunday with multiple outdoor stages showcasing a variety of cultural performances, culinary demonstrations, wine tasting (for adults) and more!

Teacher Raises For All or Just the Really Good Ones?

This blast e-mail from HPISD just hit the inbox. I think it’s great that we’re giving raises and all but I say we spice it up and vote on who gets the cash. You know, one teacher should get a $50,000 raise and another, the kind that doesn’t seem to match the excellence theme, gets just a few bucks. Now that’s fair.

The HPISD School Board voted yesterday to give all HPISD employees a 3.5 percent salary increase.
The HPISD School Board approved a starting teacher’s salary of $45,530, which puts HPISD among the top-paying districts in the Metroplex. The trustees also raised the stipend for teachers with master’s and doctorate degrees by $500 per year, making the new stipends $2,500 for a master’s degree and $5,000 for a doctorate degree.

 

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More Romance for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

I stopped by the 2008 DSO AT&T Gala launch party on Wednesday at the Meadows Museum. It was the a calm evening with cocktails, appetizers, music, and the usual Parkies and Preston Hollow[ies] patrons of the arts.

However, things picked up when committee members took hold of the crowd to announce plans for the upcoming event: The 2008 gala will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 10, with the theme (more…)

And Now It’s Time for Your Thursday Real Estate Tease

I know Overheadians worldwide can’t wait to read the Real Estate section in tomorrow’s editions of Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People, and online at www.peoplenewspapers.com so I’ll give you a little tease for what you can expect.

Later this year, both of the Park Cities will require residential sprinkler systems in all new homes. But how do these systems work? Are they effective? How much do they cost? How are builders reacting to the change?

The answers to all of this and more in tomorrow’s Real Estate section, available only in Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People.

My Bath is Better than Yours

So I’m on a search for Dallas’ best bathrooms. Have you ever been at a party and walked into an incredibly amazing bathroom? Tell me about it. Or is your bathroom the incredibly amazing one? I want to find the most outrageous and the most gorgeous bathrooms out there. Maybe you have a pool in your bathroom, or an ice machine, or golden bamboo everywhere. Whatever it is, let me know (of course, please realize that I’ll then come out and ask you a lot of questions about it).

Mockingbird Lane Tolls

In case you’re not tired of reading about it, after Belo and Channel 5 took a crack, Cassie Clark delivers the straight facts of the matter in this week’s paper — soon to hit subscribers’ lawns.