What is it about Steve Tyrell, Karen Pulaski Tyrell and frosty weather? Their December wedding in New York was accompanied by a major snow storm. Wednesday's lavish dinner party for 100 Houston friends and family at the John and Becca Cason Thrash manse found the mercury plummeting into the 20s.

Aside from the splendid opportunity to pull out the sables and other furs, the cold weather caused hardly a blip on the radar of this heated party crowd. With a major fire crackling on the hearth (and no need for air conditioning for a change) songman Tyrell and his glam bride Karen, an interior designer, welcomed the well-heeled crowd. Laura Casey, on the arm of Evan Greenberg, joined the Thrashes in hosting the soirée.

As the guests poured in, the glam factor just kept rising — Diane Lokey Farb in dazzling cocktail dress and cap-sleeved fur wrap, always a show-stopper Jessica Meyer, the sophisticated Sima Ladjevardian, the exotic Sabiha Rehmatullah, and the elegant Elena Davis just to name just a few.

On the family front, Karen's parents Susan and Dr. Jay Stein mixed with Steve's sister and brother-in-law, Roz and Alan Pactor, and his cousins Frankie Mandola and wife Judy and Tony Mandola and wife Phyllis.

Sitting down to lengthy tables shimmering in candlelight were Renea Abbott and Greg Manteris, Kara and Ray Childress, Raquel Segal, Donna and Tony Vallone, Bill Caudell and Randy Powers, Gregory Fourticq, Holly Moore, Jeff Cohen, Debra and Mark Grierson and Neal Hamil.

Super Bowl jump start

It was no ordinary Thursday for LINN Energy employees in company offices that stretch from home base in Houston to Lewiston, Mich., to Brea, Calif. LINN Energy executive chairman of the board Mike Linn is a HUGE Pittsburg Steelers fan and he challenged each of LINN's offices to throw the best-ever Super Bowl tailgate parties — on Thursday, inside, amid their desks and computers.

As Linn said in his company-wide e-mail that went to all 700-plus employees in more than two dozen offices, "I was born and raised in Pittsburg and LINN's black and gold logo traces its roots back to Pittsburg where I started the company with a handful of natural gas wells in 2003." A surprise for many of his Houston friends, Linn was a spotter for the team for 15 years.

The connection doesn't stop there. LINN board member Terry Jacobs served as Steelers treasurer in the '70s and has a Super Bowl Ring to prove it. Jeff Swoveland, another LINN director, also has Pittsburg roots.

LINN distributed 800 terrible towels to its nationwide offices to aid in the celebrations that included Linn leading a cheer in the Houston office where the integration and production accounting teams rallied around him with a spirit banner, the Lewiston office playing their own Super Bowl game in a snow-covered field and the Alpena, Mich., employees venturing out in 7-degree temps and several feet of snow to design a Steelers snow banner.

Art gallery high notes

Those with a special appreciation of classical music and fine art gathered at Meredith Long & Co. earlier this week for what the Houston Symphony League billed as "An Evening of Notes and Nibbles." Katherine Yzaguirre and Sparky Frost chaired the evening that featured a performance by a bass quartet comprised of symphony musicians.

Galley owners Cornelia and Meredith Long welcomed more than 80 guests who included symphony CEO Mark Hanson, Symphony League president Nancy Littlejohn, Cora Sue and Harry Mach, Heidi Gerger, Anna Dean, Mark Yzaguirre and Harriet Gertner.

Providing the music while guests socialized and perused the gallery works were symphony musicians Eric Larson, Donald Howey, Burke Shaw and Mark Shapiro.

How do you spell that?

Those lawyers are just too brainy for words. For the fifth consecutive year, the Houston Bar Association team took top honors at the Houston READ Commission's 19th annual Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee, held at the Hilton University of Houston on the University of Houston campus.

In all, 23 teams competed with the Houston Community College-Central coming in second and the litigation law firm Royston Rayzor team finishing third.

It was fun and games and spelling challenges for those who attended including Grace and Rocky Holmes, Danielle and John Ellis, City Councilmember Ed Gonzalez and wife Melissa, Nic Phillips, Paula Arnold, Susie and Sanford Criner, Diana and Roman Martinez, Milton Howe, Knox Howe, Jay Baker, Catherine Mosbacher and so many more.

Sight 'ems

Rania and Jamal Daniel dining with Sima and Masoud Ladjevardian and Riad Chehlaoui on the first official night of Philippe's Restaurant & Lounge. At others tables gallerists Carolyn Farb, Deborah Colton and photographer Jay Rusovich, Nancy and Eric Littlejohn and Michelle and Dr. Dick Kearns . . .

Joanne King Herring, attorney John Houtaling of Houston and New Orleans and Jody Probe head-huddling over lunch at Tony's where they discussed fundraising strategies for Herring's "Marshall Plan" for Afghanistan including the benefit luncheon in April featuring Prince Jean de France, Duc de Vendome as guest speaker . . .

Karen and Mike Mayell lunching at Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen, former Gov. Mark White lunching at the counter in the bar.