Posts by Merritt Patterson

  • Merritt Patterson
    • Merritt Patterson
    • Merritt has been writing a hate mail-generating column for Park Cities People since 2005. If you park illegally in handicapped designated spaces, she’s probably already written about you. She lives in University Park with her husband and four kids. None of them read her column.

  • Big Rich Texas, Breaking News and the Episode 6 Recap

    What do you get when you mix a local tribute to Amy Winehouse, a really bad dress and snippets from the Spanish Inquisition of Collin County? Episode 6 of Style Network’s Big Rich Texas. You can catch up on the drama with this week’s recap while you celebrate the confirmation of season 2, set to begin filming in October.

    Want a chance to join the cast a strikingly similar show with the same premise? Audition away. E-mail your name, age, contact info, current photos and a blurb about you and your life to dfwtxcasting@gmail.com.

    Daughters should be teen to twenties.

    By Merritt Patterson Aug. 30, 2011 | 4:40 pm | No Comments | Comments RSS

  • HPISD Wrap Packs. Pretending it’s More Convenient and Less Expensive.

    Every August parents e-mail me about these two things and I’m always more than ready for the discussion.

    1. School supplies: Rather than take a school supply list to Office Depot and purchasing items for your children, in HPISD parents pay the PTA and everything is ordered and waiting at the school. It’s pitched as super convenient and less expensive.
    2. Online registration: A convenience fee of $5 is charged for online registration, a requirement for each family. This process is intended to streamline the paperwork and payments and do everything in one place. It would be a total no-brainer if on the first day of school we didn’t get a bajillion forms to fill out and requests for more money for things not mentioned previously.

    For kids in 5th-8th grades, there is a “wrap pack pick up night.” It’s a big deal. Each grade level has an assigned time the week before school starts. You go with your child to the gym, pick up the wrap pack (their supplies bundled together) and lug it to their classroom. But to me, convenient would be something like, I have to do nothing- it’s all where it needs to be. Read More…

    By Merritt Patterson Aug. 24, 2011 | 9:01 am | 31 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Style Network’s Big Rich Texas Episode 5 Recap

    Park Cities resident Connie Dieb with daughter Grace at Innovative Cheer

    We’re half way through the series and I can’t deny it, in a real scrappy sort of way it’s beginning to work for me.

    Don’t miss the episode 5 recap on FrontRow. And if you can’t seem to get enough, here’s some BRT off-camera drama.

    By Merritt Patterson Aug. 15, 2011 | 5:30 pm | 6 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Back-To-School Shopping For Boys

    Let’s face it, back-to-school shopping is meant for girls because, for the most part, boys really don’t care what they’re wearing. I asked my 8-year-old son what he’d like for school clothes this year. After a long blank stare, he mumbled, “I guess I’ll take a few Burger House and Kuby’s T-shirts if I have to get something new.”

    And then the thing took on a life of its own. Now he has declared he’ll wear a shirt advertising something every day for the whole school year. We’ve got Burger House, Kuby’s, Highland Park Pharmacy, Wild About Harry’s, and JD’s Chippery. But if this is going to be an everyday deal, we’ll need some suggestions to increase the wardrobe.

    Fuqua, the kid wants to know why Plaza Health Foods doesn’t have tees.

    By Merritt Patterson Aug. 11, 2011 | 12:12 pm | 11 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Big Rich Texas, Episode 4 Recap

    Connie and Grace Dieb

    I hope I don’t jinx it. But now that we’re four episodes into Style Network’s Big Rich Texas, I feel comfortable saying that (in comparison to the other cast members) Highland Park resident Connie Dieb and her daughter Grace are doing us proud. So far. Don’t miss the Episode 4 recap.

    By Merritt Patterson Aug. 9, 2011 | 8:08 am | 3 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Style Network’s Big Rich Texas, Episode 2 Recap

    The episode 2 recap of Style Network’s Big Rich Texas is here.

    By Merritt Patterson Jul. 25, 2011 | 2:54 pm | No Comments | Comments RSS

  • Dear Style Network, About That Big Rich Texas Show

    I found the perfect message for Style Network regarding their latest reality show, Big Rich Texas, in the most unexpected place.

    While his sisters were away at camp, my 8 year old son decided to have a little fun. He sent letters saying he had won a trip around the world and each day he mailed a homemade postcard from exotic destinations complete with photos of himself at famous landmarks as proof.

    My camper could have played along. Or she could have stopped opening mail from him all together. But she saw his game as an assault on her intelligence. 

    Her response was straight-forward:

    Dear William,

    I am not stupid. You are just cutting out pictures and pasting them to pictures.

    YOU ARE NOT GOING AROUND THE WORLD.

    I decided that’s how many of us feel about Big Rich.

    Dear Style Network,

    We are not stupid. You are just cutting out pictures and pasting them to pictures.

    THIS IS NOT AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF DALLAS’ ELITE. Though it is a trainwreck we’ll watch til the bitter end.

    You can find the recap of episode 2 tomorrow on D Magazine’s FrontRow.

    By Merritt Patterson Jul. 24, 2011 | 2:10 pm | 3 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Please Stop Killing Trees And Trashing My Yard

    the briefing

    Dear Dallas Morning News,

    I just want to make sure I’ve got this straight. You want to charge me to read the online version of your newspaper but you throw The Briefing in my yard, free of charge, no matter how many times I ask you to stop?

    Seriously, cut it out.

    Love,

    Merritt

    By Merritt Patterson Jul. 21, 2011 | 7:37 am | 14 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Woodhaven Country Club Estates Homeowners Shocked By Style Network’s Big Rich Texas

    Style Network’s absurd notion that Woodhaven Country Club in Fort Worth is the hotspot for Dallas socialites has Texans shaking their heads. But this morning I heard from a woman who lives in Woodhaven Country Club Estates and she said neighbors are laughing more than outsiders.

    I read your story about the show Big Rich Texas. I don’t belong to the club but I’ve lived about a half mile from it for over 25 years. When the show came on I looked on the internet because I didn’t believe this was filmed down the street. I called my friend that is a member and she wasn’t watching the show so I told her to turn it on and she didn’t think they were talking about our Woodhaven either. When I convinced her we had a good long laugh. It’s not a bad place at all but even the people that belong there don’t think of it as a glamorous place. My friend said she’s going to get boa feathers and fancy shoes to sit by the pool.

    Another reader, a Park Cities resident, said her parents belong to Woodhaven Country Club and while it’s a comfortable place for them to visit with friends in their neighborhood, they could not imagine why anyone from Dallas would travel for the facilities.

    Anyway, if you liked the banquet hall where the episode 1 fight went down, the venue is open to non-member events like weddings.

    By Merritt Patterson Jul. 20, 2011 | 12:01 pm | 21 Comments | Comments RSS

  • Plaintiffs in Kamp Kanakuk Suit Ask Court For a Restraining Order

    Plaintiffs in the Kamp Kanakuk legal saga filed a motion last week asking  for an injunction and/or restraining order. According to the filing, Joe T. White, the camp’s owner and a defendant in the suit, just won’t stop contacting the plaintiffs directly.

    By Merritt Patterson Jul. 19, 2011 | 12:10 pm | 8 Comments | Comments RSS
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