Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 24, 2008 in
health,
personal 
For the last 3 years for Lent, I’ve given up alcohol. A, ahem, sobering experience, that I’ve actually begun to look forward to, seeing as how much of a change of pace it usually is for my normal life. This year however, due to my extensive travel schedule, I was totally unaware that it was Ash Wednesday, i wanna say i was in KL? Not even sure.
So being the natural guilty Catholic that I am, pretty much assumed my lack of abstenance this year was causing some extreme stomach pains I was having on Good Friday last week. (Ok, i really didn’t make that correlation, but it did cross my mind.)
Michelle came over to bring me some meds, and after that still didn’t subside the pain, Mom & Dad swooped in for DevCon 2: the minor emergency clinic. They pretty much had to drag me there, as I was paranoid that I’d get there, they’d tell me it was gas, and send me embarrassingly on my way. Well, thank God for the ‘rents, because it wasn’t gas, or food poisoning, or Catholic guilt.
Yepper, it was my appendix. That little evolutionary organ that serves us no purpose at all, but to randomly become inflamed and infected. Awesome.
So after a cat scan and confirmation of the diagnosis from the Doc, I was put on an ambulance and admitted into St. Luke’s. It’s pretty much a blur after that. Surgery was first thing in the morning. Mom and dad had gone home to get some sleep, and thankfully Matthew came to stay with me during the night, because when the dr. arrived in the morning, they sent me straight to surgery.
The next 2 days were a fuzzy blend of friends, flowers, story time, banana pudding, jello, and pain meds.
As I was preparing for release on Sunday, we received some more bad news. My Aunt Theresa, my dad’s sister, and my Godmother, passed away Easter morning. She joins my aunt Beverly and my Paw Paw (both who also passed away on Easter) who are all resting peacefully now. thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. The funeral will be later this week. For those of you who didn’t know my Aunt Theresa, her husband was Henry Fry, creator of Fry Surf Boards. They lived in Costa Rica for 5 years where he had a shaping shop. He was somewhat of a star in the surfing world. And she was her happiest there in Costa Rica.
It’s been a rough few days, and all of your love and thoughts have definitely helped me through it.
Big thanks to Mom & Dad for always being there when I need them. To Michelle for continuing to be my partner in crime thoughout this; to Matt for covering the night shift and reading to me, even when I’m not supposed to be laughing; to Lindsay, Misty, Taneka, Shekara, Kasey, Jaime, Stefanie, my sister and Matt and the boys, for the visits, flowers, pudding, magazines, and DVDs! We needed a small truck to unload everything. 
And thanks to all the twitterati for all your thoughts and prayers. At one point Matt exclaimed, “your replies cover all of page 2!” (I think he was jealous—but it made me feel great )
I truly am blessed to have a most excellent support system in my life, and I can’t tell you another time that has been more evident than these last few days.
Tags: appendix, awesome friends, health, hospital, surgery
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 24, 2008 in
fashion need a new ‘do? go see Greg at Azur Salon on Shepherd (www.azursalon.com)
Tell him i sent ya!
Tags: azur salon, greg decker, hair, hair color, hair cut, houston
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 17, 2008 in
arts + events 
photo: CosmoPolitician
Another great Dr. Sketchy event yesterday, what a turn out! No doubt thanks in part to the Chronicle’s coverage in last Sunday’s paper.
If you missed the event yesterday, you can catch some of the Sketchy action over at our HoustonSketchy Flickr Group
Be sure to check the site for upcoming dates and to sign up for the Sketchy Newsletter.
photo: groovehouse
About Dr. Sketchy
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School is everything you wish all of your old boring art classes could have been. That is, chilled out afternoons full of beautiful people, killer beats, booze and ridiculous contests / draw-offs. Dr. Sketchy’s is what happens when Cabaret meets art school. When saucy models meet costume-themed boozefests. When artsy kids meet hip hop sketch clubs.
Houston Sketchy brings our steamy slice of the world a slew of stunning strumpettes to pose for and astound the masses – as well as pass out cool prizes and make fun of people. All that is expected of you is to sketch as you have never sketched before. And maybe have a couple of drinks, too.
Join us next time!
Tags: arts, avant garden, burlesque, cabaret, dr. sketchy, houston, houstonsketchy
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 14, 2008 in
arts + events,
music Michelle (DrMiggy) and I have just returned from Austin for a quick trip for the WashingtonVC Rock Band Party put on by the lovely Rana Sobhany, a 24-hour tour of some of my favorite places and peeps in tha ATX. Just what the doctor ordered.
Here are some pics courtesy of the most rocking Gwen Bell and Michael Cummings.
More pics here, here, and here.
Was so great to hang with peeps like Gwen and Andrew Hyde who i never get to see. Hmmm, trip to Boulder soon? Um, yes please.
we had a blasty. fo sho. @twiches was in tha house.
Tags: austin, rock band party, sxsw, sxsw 2008, washingtonvc
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 4, 2008 in
travel,
video I totally rode a camel today.
It was pretty dark, so the pics and video didn’t come out that well. But, dude, I totally rode a camel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWnSXzUKeU]
Tags: bahrain, camel riding, camels, manama, travel, video
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 4, 2008 in
travel,
video After taking us to ride camels today, our Saudi agent, and excellent volunteer tour guide, Mohammed, took us to his favorite hookah restaurant.
I had never toked the Hookah before, so Bryan and Mohammed were fine making fun of teaching me. Hey, it’s not as easy as it looks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn72cxfzqF0]
Tags: bahrain, hookah pipe, manama, travel, video
Posted by Monica Danna on Mar 2, 2008 in
travel,
video Ok, so my Bahrain mission to find the King of Pop has proven fruitless. However, I did find a hilarious You Tube video of a Filipino prison choreographing Thriller.
Today one of our Saudi agents for the show took us to the Bahrain Fort. The site is believed to have been constructed around 2800 BC, and is subsequently overlaid by various fortified settlements. The last was built during the 16th century to defend recent acquisition of Portugal. The Bahrain Fort is also known as the Portuguese Fort, due to this reason.
Tomorrow: camel rides!
Some pics and video of the Fort: (sorry in advance for the wonky camera work on the video.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls4Lx1Nm6EE]
Tags: bahrain, bahrain fort, manama, photos, Portuguese Fort, travel, video
