The other day we stopped by Hadley & Harriet’s quaint boutique that is located on Lemmon Avenue. As the door was opened, we were amazed to see the floor almost covered with some of the best looking gift baskets around - they were almost overflowing with great trinkets and gifts and then adorned with stylishly sophisticated ribbons.

The crew at Hadley & Harriet are working feverishly this time of year - but as a customer, it’s fun to browse the many themed baskets as you walk amongst them. Needless to say, many in Dallas have embraced the services of Hadley & Harriet to easily take care of their gift giving needs.

But there’s a lot more to Hadley & Harriet than just gift baskets as they specialize in interiors, decorative accessories and events. They can assist clients - by the hour if needed - with all sorts of interior design needs such as paint, flooring and textiles. If, after having their design services, you’d rather keep your interior looking great, take advantage of using their venue and courtyard to host your own events whether it’s a baby shower or luncheon.

Our weakness is always decorative accessories…candles, pillows, object d’art. They have a great selection of house blend candles and our personal favourite is Orange Vanilla. It’s a great place to browse and indulge yourself.

For this time of the year, alleviate some of the stress and have Hadley & Harriet put together a wonderful gift basket for all those people on your list. With prices starting at $20 per basket, it’s hard to resist such an easy solution. Some of the themed baskets they create include: Corporate, Birthday, Wedding, Baby, Wine & Cheese, Chocolate Lovers, Coffee or Tea Lovers, Writers or Candy.

Contact Information:
Hadley & Harriet
www.hadleyandharriet.com/
3922 Lemmon Avenue
Dallas TX 75219
214.559.4440

Spectators should be able to enjoy the weather at the Dallas White Rock Marathon on Sunday, but the expected mid-70 temperatures coupled with strong winds will be a challenge to thousands of runners.

With an expected cloudy day with a high temperature of 75 degrees and a low of 60 degrees, the weather is ideal for spectators - but not so much for the racers as they would prefer 30 degrees cooler with no wind.

The marathon begins and ends in Victory Park at the American Airlines Center near downtown Dallas.

Extra cups, water and ice have been ordered and will be placed along the route to encourage runners to hydrate.

Runners won’t have to worry about northern winds whipping across the lake. Winds will be coming from the south at 20 to 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service . The race course winds in different directions, and runners will at times have to face the wind.

After losing a valuable piece of online real estate to enterprising cyber-squatters, the Bush presidential library has replanted its flag into that e-territory.

But the squatters – a North Carolina Web development company called Illuminati Karate – had the last laugh, making a huge profit off an embarrassing oversight by the GOP-connected company charged with overseeing the Web site for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, which will be built in Dallas.

Illuminati Karate paid less than $10 for the www.George WBushLibrary.com domain name – and sold it back for $35,000 to the library’s contracted Web developers, Yuma Solutions, who had accidentally let it expire. Illuminati Karate recognized what the library obviously knew as well – that anything else, like www.GWBPresidentialLibrary .com, would have been cumbersome and less than ideal.

“It worked out very well,” said George Huger, lead Web developer for Illuminati Karate in Raleigh, N.C.

Mark Mills, owner of Yuma Solutions, could not be reached for comment.

The Tallahassee, Fla.-based Yuma Solutions has a history with the Bush family, hosting Web sites for Mr. Bush’s 2000 campaign and for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 1998 and 2002 campaigns. The company also sold $1.25 million in computer equipment, support and Web services to John McCain’s presidential campaign this year.

Records indicate that in March 2007, the George W. Bush Library Foundation, using Yuma Solutions as its contractor, bought the domain name from a private citizen for $3,000. Officials apparently overlooked the fact that the registration was set to expire within a few months.

Mr. Huger was trolling through a public list of names that were about to expire and saw the potential in the library name. He grabbed it.

Months later, in March 2008, Mr. Huger said he’d gotten some offers on it, but he declined to detail what they were or who was trying to buy it.

After The Dallas Morning News reported that the library had lost the domain, Mr. Mills contacted Illuminati Karate and asked to buy it back, Mr. Huger said.

At the time, a spokesman for the library foundation said officials were unaware that the name had been lost until a reporter contacted them about it.

“When the article came out, I think they wanted it back pretty badly,” said Mr. Huger this week.

Yuma finally reached a deal to buy the Web address back for $35,000, which the company, not the library foundation, apparently paid, Mr. Huger said.

Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Library Foundation, said Tuesday that he didn’t know about the Web site being lost and recovered. But, he said, he would know if the library had been stuck with a surprise $35,000 expenditure.

The site changed hands on April 17 and won’t expire until 2013.

So you are an armchair enthusiast and after watching several seasons of Biker Build-Off and American Chopper, you’ve moved up to the big leagues now that Sons of Anarchy is on.

Motorcycles. Excitement. Leathers. Oh my!

And now you are going to do it dammit. You are going to get yourself motorcycle and you’re going to join yourself an M/C ….become a 1 percenter.

What’s an M/C ? Well, Skippy, that would mean “Motorcycle Club” and no, we don’t mean Harley Owners Group or Honda Wing Dingers. We are referencing the likes of Hells Angels, Mongols and in our area, Bandidos.

Bandidos have typically caroused the streets of South Texas but they are slowly making their way north and this Saturday they are having their 1st Annual Bandido M/C Beary Merry Christmas. Bring $5 and a teddy bear to Diamond Jims in Grand Prairie at 1p. All donations go to BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse).

Russ Martin had an email exchange with D Magazine’s blog and here are his comments regarding his dismissal:

Yesterday Live 105.3 switched formats. It’s now mostly sports talk, and it’s called The Fan. With the switch, afternoon drive ratings juggernaut Russ Martin was let go. He was kind enough to answer a few questions via e-mail:

FrontBurner: Was yesterday’s format change a surprise to you? When did you learn of it?

Russ Martin: Surprised? Not really. Got an e-mail from a friend over the weekend that KLLI had registered The Fan website. They officially told me Monday afternoon.

FrontBurner: When is or was your contract up?

Russ Martin: They indicated they’d honor the remainder of my contract, which runs through April of 2011. So, no worries. Very odd, though, to be paid seven figures annually to do nothing. Gonna sit back, relax, and get me some of those Dr. Shoal’s jelly pads for your feet.

FrontBurner: What did station management tell you about their decision?

Russ Martin: They said nothing more than they were flipping to all sports talk and apologized — many times. I told them I didn’t perceive this as a personal attack and to make sure my money showed up every two weeks.

FrontBurner: I assume you can’t comment on any other station you might be in talks with. But would you ever consider doing mornings again?

Russ Martin: As far as other stations, I haven’t heard from anyone. My e-mail inbox exploded yesterday and had to use an auto responder. That way every e-mailer at least got something.

In a fantastic move by the Dallas City Council , a plan has been approved to toughen the city’s smoking ordinance.

We know some people are going to be all fired up about this - no pun intended - but a number of major cities have already enacted this type of legislation. It will be nice for non-smokers to be able to go out and not come home reeking of cigarette smoke.

It bans smoking at bars, taverns and pool halls. It also bars smokers from the vicinity of most business entrances.

Violators would face fines, and bar owners also could be fined for non-enforcement.

The vote was 10-5 in favor of the stronger regulations; Council members Vonciel Jones Hill, Steve Salazar, Tennell Atkins, Sheffie Kadane and Mitchell Rasansky opposed the measure.

The revised ordinance takes effect April 10.

For the first time since 1997, a space shuttle will be making a brief stop in North Texas.

Because weather in Florida forced the Endeavour astronauts to touch down at an alternate landing site in California Sunday, it is now making its way back to its home base at Cape Canaveral riding piggyback aboard a specially-modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

The odd-looking combo craft took off from Edwards Air Force Base early Wednesday and landed at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso at 11:15.

Weather conditions along the planned route have forced NASA to shift its next intermediate stop to the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, where Endeavor is scheduled to arrive at approximately 3:15 p.m.

The spacecraft will remain at the base overnight before continuing its transcontinental journey on Thursday morning.