March Madness

March was filled with stuff that kept me more than busy. First and probably best was the Justin Timberlake concert. I got the tickets last year for my friend Jen’s 30th birthday. I have to say…we were not disappointed. The show was amazing, and so well done. He more than brought sexy back. My friend Emily had shirts made for all of us that read “JT’s future wife, he just doesn’t know it yet.” They were a big hit. Other than Bon Jovi it was the best concert I have ever seen.



My favorite guy friend Noah was married in March to his girlfriend of 9 years…yes I said 9 years. I adore her and have no idea how she put up with him for that long. We went to San Francisco for the wedding, and it was beautiful. Open bar for 5 hours…hello I won the lottery. I needed the beverages because it could have been a high school reunion. My boyfriend loved sharing a table with my high school ex, his wife and all our old friends. I think nostalgia has an expiration date for sure, and he got an earful about what I was like back then. He was a very good sport.



Christine turned 27, and we had a girl’s night out. I think my favorite part was at one point Christine (highly intoxicated) explaining to a 23 year old that she was “way too old for him”. It was hilarious. The rest of us were encouraging the youngster by saying “There are all kinds of things she could teach you”. If looks could kill we would all be dead. She seems so sweet and kind…watch out because after some drinks mean Christine makes an appearance. Attached photo demonstrates her distain for us at that moment.



Kerri and Scott had a housewarming party. My old college roommates moved about 5 min from me here in Dallas. I love having them back. She cooked amazing food and we had a blast meeting new and old friends. The party ended up going till 2am and included my boyfriend imitating the New Kids On the Block dance routine to hanging tough. Listen up everybody if you wanna have a chance….oh oh oh oh oh. That is what happens after to much jager.

Febrary was all about me.

This year February was all about me. Why? Because I TURNED 30! I don’t feel 30, and it’s true that 30 is the new 20…but 30? Seriously. I remember being in high school thinking 30 was ancient, and wondering what people did when they were that old. Ha. This year I decided that it was time for a party. Not just any party, but the biggest party I have ever had. I feel so blessed right now in my life and wanted a party not just for me, but for all my friends who have been along for my crazy ride of a life. I started planning in September of last year. Hotel ZaZa was the chosen location of course. It is a swanky boutique hotel here that the famous people stay at when they come to town.
I booked one of the Magnificent 7 suites called “the crouching tiger” it was over 2000 sqft and decked in Asian décor. It was a girl’s only slumber party. Having a mix of single and married friends always causes a dilemma about the boy factor. I felt it easier for entertaining if it were all girls. The invites went out, all the food was ordered, and the cake was chosen. The weekend came and my best friends flew in. Val from San Diego, and Colleen from North Carolina. We have been friends since Jr. High, and I can’t imagine a major moment in my life without them.

My roommate from college Kerri and some Dallas pals as well. In all there were 15 of us. We started with dinner in the suite, a TON of alcohol, and some gift opening. I made gift boxes for everyone with fun stuff and a CD of my favorite songs from the past 30 years. Kerri made a beautiful slide show and even had a ton of pics from my mom! Then we moved to the club downstairs “dragonfly” where they had created a VIP area for us. We had cake and danced with the Dallas nightlife there for a while, before heading back to the room for the after party.


Down the hall from us were: Johnny Knoxville, and Tommy Lee (separate rooms) and some of the guys from Prison Break which is filmed here locally. It was the best birthday I have ever had, and a night I won’t forget with people I love. Well there was one I could do without, but that is another story for another time.
To the rest….thank you for all the years of friendship and I look forward to 30 more with all of you!

January

I can’t believe its 2007….I remember 1997…how can this be happening?

One of my favorite events of the year is in January. SUNDANCE Film Festival. Years ago it started as a girl’s weekend. My friend Kerri had moved to Salt Lake City for her husbands’ job, and was bored to tears out there. I decided to go visit, and we thought going to catch a few movies at Sundance would be fun. Now this was back in the day when you could actually “catch a movie” at Sundance. 5 years later….that no longer is the case. We’re still going though…5 years later. The group of girls is always different with the exception of Kerri and me. WE LOVE IT. But oh how the times have changed. When we first rented a house in Park City and had 9 (yes 9) girls for 5 days at Sundance it was a party. We were up all night, out at parties or crashing them, inviting boys to the hot tub (not a euphemism), and celebrity stalking like it was our job. Kerri and a friend Erin were in the bathroom at a movie premier a few years back with Paris and Nikki Hilton, and now they like to say they “pottied with the Hiltons” It was a wild time. Now years later almost everyone is married, some have kids, and we actually go for the movies and girl time.


This trip was very last min and actually work related for Kerri. She had to bring models from her agency to represent one of the corporate sponsors. Yeah…rough job. This year our only goal was to get a picture with Celeb blogger Perez Hilton. And I must say we were 100% successful (see above photo). Opening weekend is always insane but each year the madness grows. I hate to say it, but this festival is no longer about the movies. In fact you can’t even get tickets to them anymore without being willing to give up a kidney, or sleep with someone “in the industry”. However if you just want to run into celebs on the sidewalk it’s still the place to be, and we saw plenty. The highlight I think was that we went to the MTV/Myspace party one night and ended up in VIP (it happens when you’re traveling with models). We’re standing there dancing, and all of a sudden…P Ditty, Nick Cannon, and Damon Dash decide they want the table right behind us. People were going nuts, paparazzi everywhere and security. Nick went to DJ, and the entourage was something else. As the night went on Diddy et all decided they wanted to invite our crew (models) to a private after party. I laughed when we all decided that we would rather go home and make smores. And that’s exactly what we did. Not that Diddy noticed the absence, but it was fun being asked. I mean how often are you given a strange card, told to go to a parking lot and stand under some light and get on a bus with no idea where you are going? Not often I tell you. We had no regrets about not going…until we discovered that Justin Timberlake went. Damn, but those smores were good.

Thank you for smoking

Ok I’m sorry and some of you might hate me for it…but unless you are smoking all by yourself in your own home or car (with the windows up) I am going to think you are an asshole. Why you ask? Because I have yet to see a smoker use the freaking ashtray in their car….thank you to the asshole this morning in an orange mustang cobra who flicked your cigarette butt out the window on the freeway in traffic and landed on the hood of my new car. By the way…1990 called and wants the orange mustang back. Unless you are 18 and just got back from military duty you picked a LAME ASS CAR.

To all the smokers that might read this…if you’re not an asshole, don’t act like one. Roll up your windows and USE THE ASHTRAY!

December

The major events of Dec were as follows:
1. I hosted a Christmas Cocktail Party. I would post pictures, but like the A+ hostess that I am…I didn’t take any. I did make a crazy strong drink called “White Christmas” which consisted of Vanilla Vodka, White Chocolate Godiva Liqueur, and Kailua. Delicious and potent. I realized that as much as I love a good party, I don’t like cooking for one. The boyfriend claims he had never seen me cook as much in the 2 years we had been dating than he had for this party. I call BS. I cook, just not for him.

2. The almost break up. The holidays are stressful for everyone, and when navigating a newer relationship can cause tension. Everyone comes with their own expectations and holiday traditions. I am no exception, but add to that a Christmas fanatic and control freak. Can you follow where I am going with this? Being the age that I am, having my own place, career, job etc…sometimes its hard for me to compromise. I said it…its hard. I love Christmas, and as my brother so eloquently stated “it’s Megan’s way or get out of the way” I always have a tree, it is always decorated and freshly cut. No fake tree for me. Fake?? Whisky Tango…that is what I think of fake trees. But I digress. So the boyfriend and I go in search of the perfect tree one weekend. Here is where the trouble starts. I want a noble fir, he wants a Douglas, I want at least 6 feet, and he wants 5. Really 5 feet, I am taller than 5 feet, he is a foot taller than 5 feet, and I have vaulted ceilings….5 feet!! No. So we hold up trees and debate each merit while happy families and children march right in and manage to pick one so easily. Finally we agree, or I win…depends on who you ask. Then we get the thing home, and get it ready to decorate. Here is where the fun really starts. Already licking his wounds from the tree battle at home depot he starts to put on lights. I like to lay them all out, plug them in, test them, and string them together. It’s a process for me. He just wanted to put them on and started from the BOTTOM. What? No, no sorry have you ever decorated a tree? And 5 min later I’m crying, he has left slamming the door, and the tree is half lit with no decorations. I have to call and grovel about how horrible I am at sharing, and learning to incorporate someone else’s suggestions, and apologize. Eventually he returns and we make nice while hanging the ornaments, and I say nothing as he puts the heavy ones on flimsy branches because I have already learned my lesson for the day.

3. When I moved 3 years ago I told my parents it would have to be Christmas or Thanksgiving at home, but not both. Thus started the alternating holiday schedule. December of 2006 was supposed to be in Dallas, hello it had been the plan since the Christmas before. Only over the course of the year my grandmother died, my mom’s mom…and my brother and sister in law moved to Dallas…and my parents would be without any kids for the first Christmas ever, and without my Grandma. At the same time I was in a quandary because I had committed to spending Christmas with my boyfriends family. His family is divorced so the holiday really takes multiple meals and at least 2 days. I could see no good solution.
I know you are all yelling “MOM…hello go save your mom!” In my defense my boyfriend and I had just paid a million dollars to spend a week over Thanksgiving with them in Hawaii! I had just seen her 3 weeks before, and he and his family had sacrificed a holiday for them. So what do I do? After a sleepless night and a few phone calls, we invited my family to his for Christmas. Insane I know, and the reality of it didn’t hit me until we were sitting around the table at his grandparent’s house and I realized this was the first time they had ever met. ALL OF US. His family was thrilled, and loved the entire thing. My family was terrified, because we are all a little relationship phobic. But it happened, and no one died, or drank too much, or caused an injury. A success. Christmas was different for all of us, and it was still hard without my grandma, but at least we were all together.

I'm Back!

It’s been a while…a long while. I know. I am sorry.

Have you ever had those few months in your life when it feels like every day you are running around with your hair on fire? If not, feel blessed. I like slow, lazy, unplanned days. The last 6 months have been the opposite, but in mostly good ways. I last posted in November, the pre holiday posting season. So I will do one post for each month to get you all up to date. That is if I can remember what happened.

Me

How I got to Texas

I get asked all the time so I thought I would share the story.

I moved to Texas almost 3 years ago from California. A friend literally called me up one day and said “hey there is this job here in Dallas I think you would be perfect for…would you ever move?” Well I think most 27 year olds living in beautiful sunny San Diego CA, in a great job and 15 min from your best friend of 15 years and the beach would say “NO WAY!” But I am an oddity. I had been in SD for years, but it never really felt like home. Home is a hard feeling to explain, but you know it when you feel it. I knew it was never home, I just had no reason to leave. Until the call. So I snuck out of town one weekend to go visit a friend aka: interview in secret. I had never been to Texas and I stepped off the plan in hot, humid, summer 100 degree heat and thought to myself this is home. It’s a feeling I’ve never been able to really articulate, but it was home to me and I knew I was going to move even if I didn’t get this job.

I got the job, and then had to go back to paradise and tell everyone that I was moving halfway across the country, and they had 3 weeks to get used to it. Did I mention I lived near all my good friends, and my parents were just a 45 min southwest flight away? This move didn’t sit well, everyone thought I was crazy, that I would hate it, and was sure I would be back. But they helped me pack, and 3 weeks later I was here. Now the series of events in the 8 weeks after I arrived would have thrown others for a loop. If you call moving for a job at a dot com, that did bomb, and that I got my first and last pay check in the same month when they laid off 115 employees with a note on our desks one day, and no severance. Oh and the one friend that I knew in Dallas…yeah she was moving after the lay off back to California.

WTF? But did I pack up, knowing no one in this huge state and move back to my friends and family, already paid for lease, the beach, and let's not forget NORMAL weather? Of course not. I stayed, and I’m still here. I might have also spent an entire month after with my fellow laid off friends from the same company intoxicated but whatever…Here is home. Almost 3 years later, some of the people I met at that job I had for a few weeks are my closest friends. It's a story we all share, and we're all still here.