The deadline for the ninth annual Points For Peace Basketball Tournament is fast approaching. The 3-on-3 competition on March 6 benefits NATAL, Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War. The tournament is put on by Yavneh Academy’s Students Against Terrorism club, and will be held at the JCC. Participants must pay a $30 registration fee and raise $200 in donations for NATAL. Sign up today, because tomorrow’s the deadline.

Saturday morning, students and local celebrities took to the runway to finish out National Eating Disorder Awareness week in style. Saks Fifth Avenue in the Galleria hosted the second annual Esteem fashion show, which was chaired by Jan Osborn and Robin Bagwell and benefited the Elisa Project. Still photos by Osborn after the jump. Read More…

Congregation Shaare Tefilla sent out an e-mail today announcing a breach in the eruv that overlaps with Preston Hollow. The fishing line that encloses 4 square miles bounded by Northaven, the Tollway, LBJ, and Hillcrest is down.

While this may not mean much, if anything, to the Gentile reader, it’s a pretty big deal for the Kosher crowd. When the line’s up, the area is religiously recognized as private property, which allows members of the Modern Orthodox synagogue to do things like carry keys and push a stroller to the Friday evening Shabbat service. This evening, Shabbat goers will have no such privileges. An excerpt from the e-mail:

The following restrictions are in place this Shabbat:

• One may not carry any item into a public domain (essentially out of the enclosed area of a private residence or shul). This includes keys, books, reading glasses, talit bags, extra shoes, etc. *Make sure to drop off your talit bags before Shabbat!*
• One may not push a stroller or carry an infant in a carrier.

Please note that simply attaching an item (for example, a key) to ones clothing does not make it permissable to carry such an item. In order for an item to be considered a “single piece of clothing”, it must be designed to have either a functional or decorative purpose.

Congregation Shaare Tefilla is fielding calls at the shul office (972-661-0127) to assist those who may have trouble meeting these guidelines.

It’s the last weekend in February, and it’s supposed to be in the neighborhood of 80 degrees. Not bad for a month that started like this. Let’s get out and enjoy it, shall we?

Imagine you want to celebrate the Shabbat, but you also have a hankering for jazz. One might think you’d be out of luck, but no, Temple Emanu-El is holding a Jazz Shabbat Service at 6:15 p.m.

If you still have a spring in your step on Saturday, head over to NorthPark Center for the Day of Dance, which begins at 10 a.m. with a performance by the Dallas Swing Dance Society. Catch more local talent at the 2 p.m. show by Park Cities Dance. You know how I like a good theme, and this one is just developing naturally (a-la-jazz), so let’s go with it.

After a short breather, boogie on down to the JCC for an 8 p.m. performance of The Sound of Music. If you’d like a little background on how a Jewish Community Center tackles a tale of Nazi invasion, reference Georgia Fisher’s front page story in the Feb. 18 edition of Preston Hollow People.

On Sunday, go outside. Throw and catch things with the dog/kid (whatever your life stage predicates), and be merry.

Pardon me for taking more than 24 hours to write about this event, but it took me that long to recover from my first Tony Orlando experience.

The Branson fixture was the headliner at Wednesday evening’s Roast & Toast to Ebby Halliday, the latest in a series of soirees marking the real estate icon’s 100th birthday. The black-tie affair, held at the Hilton Anatole and benefiting the Foundation Fighting Blindness, also featured the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, who raised eyebrows by thrusting and grooving to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”

Preston Hollow residents who spoke in person included master of ceremonies Ron Chapman, Tom Leppert, Roger Staubach (who referred to the outgoing mayor as “Senator Leppert”), Ross Perot, and T. Boone Pickens. Offering Ebby their congratulations via video were neighbors Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki, and Shawn Marion.

Footage of those Mavericks luminaries was interspersed with a video of Warren Buffett, who jokingly asked if Ebby was into younger men. The 80-year-old investor advised her that, if she was interested, “Boone and Roger have my number.” He then picked up a ukulele and led the crowd in a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Ebby is a ukulele enthusiast, so I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked when the Dallas Ukulele Headquarters took the stage. Anybody remember when Eric Nicholson wrote about them in Preston Hollow People back in ‘09?

Staff Photo: Chris McGathey

Jesuit senior Jordan Spieth, currently ranked No. 2 on the amateur Polo Golf Rankings, has accepted a sponsor exemption to play in the 2011 Byron Nelson Championship at the Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas. Spieth made headlines last year when he finished 16th in the tournament and scored an interview on ESPN’s Sportscenter. Read the full press release in all its glory after the jump. Read More…