Posted by Monica Danna on Feb 12, 2010 in personal
Cliff + Cassidy by Clint Shuttlesworth
Oh Love. Or in the words of one Ashley Simpson Ello, Ello, Ello, Ello, Vee, Eee.
Like a JoBros concert, I usually try and avoid V-Day like the plague. But this year, in lieu of spewing hatred on the infamously industry-created “holiday” I decided to confront it head on, and face the demons. So what’s the big deal anyway? This will be the 6th year in a row I won’t have a Valentine. And most of those years that was a conscious decision. Most of them.
I’m known to be pretty outspoken on my views of romantic relationships, moreso that I’m writing a book about it. But rarely do I ever discuss the L word. It’s not that I’m afraid of love (an all too common misjudgment of a 31 year old single gal). I’ve been in love. I’ve been loved. I cringe when coupled up friends remark, “oh, you just haven’t met the right one yet!” It doesn’t often occur to those people that maybe I’m not looking for the right one. Just yet, at least. I refer to this as couple-tunnel vision. Or love goggles. Most people in a relationship (at least happy, healthy relationships) can’t imagine why everyone wouldn’t want to be. I’m not going to get into that in this post, but suffice it to say, not every single person is actively looking for love.
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Growing up in the South has had an adverse impact on my views on marriage and relationships. I’ve traveled all over the world, and the stereotype that Southern folks tend to get married at an earlier age, seems to be pretty spot on to me. Speaking in general terms, of course. Not that I am judging this at all, just an observation. When writing for the book, I focus my audience on young women, girls in their late teens, or early twenties. You change SO much in your twenties. How challenging of a situation to be in for two people, both changing so drastically, to try keep the same ideals? In no way am I saying this can’t be done. I have many happily married friends who were married in their early 20’s. I just want to offer that there is an alternative. A happy, growing, fulfilling alternative. I don’t think that quite gets through to most people. At least in the South.
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As cliche and predictable as it sounds, the HBO series Sex & The City had a tremendous impact on my feelings on dating and relationships. Not in a way that I sought to emulate these characters, but for the first time in my 26 years (the age at which I discovered the show) I finally felt like someone GOT me. For the first time I felt like someone was telling MY story. I’ve dated these guys! I’ve had these issues. Married guys hit on me WAY too often. Some guys are horrible kissers and, yes, some women, even in the South, have healthy, active intimate relationships. I’ve been told flat out to my face that “no one acts like those women.” By golly, they do. I DO.
I have an eternal argument with two of my closest friends about Fiction vs. Non-Fiction. I wouldn’t label myself an avid reader, but when I do read, it’s usually history or other non-fiction books. Why? Because it ACTUALLY happened. I understand the talent it takes to create a world of fiction. And I understand the delight of being drawn into a fantasy world, especially in the fast-paced, quickly changing world we live in. However, I like to base my idols on REAL people. People with real flaws, emotions, and experience. Both Maggie and Andrew will argue with this, but just as well. That’s why I love them.
I know what you’re going to say. Say it. Sex & The City is fiction. Or is it? Personally, I feel like the details of these women’s lives and situations are too intimately documented to be made up. A vast majority of the writers on the show are women, and I’m confidant that Monday morning writers meeting consisted many times of weekend tales from these women. Nevertheless, these characters, dialogue, and relationships portrayed are comfortable to me. Or rather, a comfort. Or both.
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A few weeks ago I attended an Opera in the Heights Performance of Un Ballo en Maschera. As many operatic plots goes, the protagonist is destroyed by his flaw of loving a woman too much. For the woman to only be discovered by her husband, who threatened to execute her in front of their son for her transgression. In book after book, and movie after movie, we see love portrayed as an all consuming emotion that leads seemingly sane people to crazy, self-destruction. I often have wondered if this kind of love exists in real life? Or are these acts merely machinations of mental psychoses within one’s self? If in 2010 a man cut his ear off and sent it to a woman as a Valentine, he’d be arrested, thrown in jail, and evaluated for mental stability. But 150 years ago, this act was “romantic”, the ultimate act of “love”.
On the way home from the opera, I commented to my date, “At what point did men stop loving women so much that they would endure pain, suffering, and ultimately death?!”
“The same point at which it stopped being acceptable for a man to execute his wife in front of his child,” he quickly remarked.
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I heard from a friend this morning, that in Australia only couples celebrate Valentine’s Day. More specifically, “V day is an annual holiday celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.” As if people not in relationships aren’t capable of giving or receiving love. Psshhh. I happen to actually enjoy showing extra affection to everyone in my life on Valentine’s Day–Mom, Dad, best friends, Grandma–as an act of reminding myself how lucky I am to have these people to help me through my life.
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When talking about love, I’m constantly reminded of Carrie Bradshaw’s desperate admission in one of the last episodes in the series:
“I’m looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love. And I don’t think that love is here in this expensive suite in this lovely hotel in Paris.”
I spent the day at the beach with my sister, her BF, Matt, and his boys, Matthew and Jacob.
Matthew spent the day capturing jellyfish.
Jill spent the day getting stung.
Jacob spent the day peeing in a bucket and pouring it on Jill’s stings.
We all spent the day laughing.
I still have my place, so there will still be a Christmas Tree Viewing Party 3.0!
I quit my job!
I’m freelancing! (yes, read above: i quit my job!)
I’m really, really happy, excited, and scared as all hell!
Wedding Bells
Whew. That wasn’t so hard? Now what took me so long to write this post? (Besides painstakingly searching for the exact right image. Which I will always obsess over.) Read more…
Two weeks after the Mom 2.0 Summit wrapped up, as I was continuing to catch up on 3 months loss of sleep and eating things other than the Weight Watchers + Quaker Oats swag bags items (which both, by the way are excellent–chocolate and raspberry True Delight Bars FTW!!), me + Maggie + the Kirtsy gals reunited again in Boulder, CO, for the much anticipated nuptials of our dear friend + fellow Kirtsy Gal, Gwen Bell.
Gwen, and her lovely fiancé Joel Longtine, had been quite the talk of the Twitterverse + Social Media world, ever since their love affair bloomed online for all to see last year. They embraced it, and continued to celebrate the role that technology has played in their relationship.
I’ll never forget the first conversation I had with Gwen about Joel. It was June, and Gwen was in town for the Caroline Collective opening party. I could tell she was bursting at the seams to share a bit of information with me, but I couldn’t tell what. When she began talking about Joel, and their initial courtship, I swear I never saw it coming, from the one who I gab with about technology, and business ideas, and social media. The one who we could talk for hours on the importance of brand, and community, and Mexican food. Never did I expect that the news she was so excited to tell me. was. about. a boy.
This boy, who I would over the next few months, get to know as a caring, loving, intelligent, lovely person. This boy, who had turned this girl on her head, and allowed her to experience true companionship. I watched as a strong partnership was formed. Amidst skeptics, and drama, and naysayers. I watched. As these two friends shared their lives. Online. Offline. Who made their networks of friends and acquaintances a part of their relationship.
On my 30th birthday, Oct 5th, I got a text message: Joel Proposed! It was a wonderful ancillary birthday gift. And over the next 5 months, I looked on as they planned the celebration of the beginning of their lives together. A day I was so fortunate to be a part of.
So as I traveled to Boulder, a town I once called home, what seems like decades ago, I was ever conscious of the relationship I was in at that time. And how much I have grown as a person. And how these two technology-clad lovers have shown me that love does exist. Even with wires, and no wires, and http’s and twitterstreams, iPhone applications, and custom gmail scripts. At the end of the day it’s still love. And it’s bold.
Is 1/4 of the year REALLY almost over? Geez. You blink and you miss 3 months. Well, I haven’t been doing much blinking (nor blogging) in the last 3 months. Mostly just trying to stay sane, awake, and healthy. I’ve failed pretty miserably at 2 out of three of those. Sleep hasn’t come so easy, though.
So, yeah. It’s been awhile since I’ve cranked up the old Wordpress. Looks like she’s still working fine. Whew! I could come up with tons of excuses for not posting for awhile, but I think when you are done with reading the next few posts (yes, shooting for a marathon session today), you’ll form your own opinion. And hopefully, it’s of the opinion that you’re glad I’m blogging again. Because, well, I am glad to be blogging again. And we should get along just fine.
There’s so much to share and I’m really not sure where to start. The majority of this year has been consumed by the amazing, wonderful, successful the 2009 Mom 2.0 Summit, who will get her own post, as she deserves. Sprinkled in will be weddings (yes, 13 this year; 3 down, 10 to go!); new projects, all of which I’m extremely excited about!; and lots of new, big changes (and one little one).
Some tibits before I jump in:
I’m kicking back up Design Junky, my “design admiration blog” as I like to call it. I’m not a designer. But I can’t get enough of it. Check soon for a new redesign of that site, too. Follow DeJu (i totally just made that up. right now.) on Twitter @designjunky
Dang, y’all. Twitter done blew up, for realz! Over the last few months, it seems everyone from E! Online to Christopher Walken has jumped aboard the Twitter Train. Major news stations, Politicians, and Real Estate agents. It’s a free for all, and I, for one, am intrigued about how the landscape of social media will change over the next 6 months. I’ll be blogging about that often this year.
Me: “Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you and Dad that Andrew’s band, Runaway Sun, is playing at the House of Blues next week.”
Mom: (totally unphased) “Yeah, I know I saw it on his Facebook wall. The Battle of the Bar Bands.”
Me: (surprised she even knew what a wall was) “Oh, um, yeah. Cool.”
Mom: “Yeah, and his mom and sister are coming in from Lubbock for the show.”
Me: (nodding like I knew that, but really didn’t) “Um, yeah. So I guess you’re in the loop on that. Great.”
I’m going to start blogging again over at Houstonist. It’s been one of the things I’ve missed the most in the last 8 months or so. There is an incredible group of contributors there these days, and I’m really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things in the Gothamist world. I’m grateful they’ll have me back after a hiatus. Read It. Feed It. Love it.
With that, I’ll jump into a few more dedicated posts to some awesome events that deserve their own space.
December started off the way November ended: SICK. I was still trying to kick the sniffles, allergies, virus, etc. And with the weather jumping around like a pogo stick, it didn’t make it any easier. Eighty degrees one day, 40 the next. Not my idea of a winter, not even for Houston.
Due to sickness I completely missed Mustaches for Kids this year, and Spacetaker’s WHAM–two events I look forward to each year. However, I made up for it the first weekend I was well, as Andrew and I completed a marathon session as we hopped from a Sean Carroll opening at The Julia (Montrose), to a CD release party for Diane Landry at Tommy’s Steakhouse (OTL), to my sister’s Birthday at Norton’s Bar and Grill (waaaay OTL), finally ending up at Lindsay’s ugly sweater Christmas party (east side), only to find we had just missed the judging by 15 minutes! As we were told, we would have been contenders. Thanks, Matt, for the sweaters. We returned them the way we borrowed them: unwashed and stinky.
Probably the most exciting part of December, besides Baby Jesus’ Birfdae, was SNOW! Yes, it SNOWED in Houston this year. And I’m not talkin’ about no freezing rain, slush, or frost on the grass. It. Freaking. Snowed. Here. Y’all. The night it snowed, Andrew was over to cook some din din and help me decorate the infamous Kick Arse Christmas Tree. It did help to have a six foot plus man put the topper on (albeit, upside down). It was a great night of decorating, singing (him, not me, for Christ’s sake), crepe making (oh hell yeah i made the crap out of some crepes), and of course playing in the snow! | Full crepes, guitars, and snow set here.
Sway, by emmiegrn
December also celebrated the 12th month of Dr. Sketchy Houston. I still can’t believe it’s been a whole year. So many sexy Sketchy memories! Big props to the lovely and immensely talented, beautiful, kind, and wonderful HappyKatie for having the vision to bring Sketchy to Houston, and for doing such a phenomenal job of keeping it up every month all year. Don’t forget to join us Sunday, January 11th at Avant Garden from 2-6pm for the Houston Sketchy Birthday Party! Check out more December Sketchy fun here.
Although December was filled with many fun parties, I have to say, the one I look forward to each year is my Kick Arse Tree Viewing Party, and this year was no different. It was great timing, as the incomparable Gwen Bell was visiting Houston for the Hands On Kirtsy + Mom2Summit party at Caroline that same week, BONUS!
Christmas was extra special this year, as we got to spend it with Baby Kailey. She kept us all entertained, as did my sister’s BF’s boys with Rock Band for Wii. I swear, I have the worst voice in the world, but I totally got 100% on vocal for Beastie Boys “Sabotage” the first time! True story. | View full Christmas set.
These recaps have been an amazing way for me to remember 2008. I stil can’t believe how much I packed into this year. I truly found out the meaning of community this year, and consider myself one of the luckiest girls alive to be surrounded daily with the family and friends I have. This city, this amazing, beautiful, hot, muggy, fantastical city that I call home, My Houston, you are the love of my life, and I wouldn’t be the same person without you.
And to that I say…”PEACE OUT, 2008! and bring on 2009!”
Looking back at all the goings on in October, it’s no wonder November was filled with more sickness, this time it knocked me out for weeks.
Image: Ed Schipul
November kicked off with the Orange Show’s Annual Gala, this year themed Dia de los Muertos. Had a blasty as usual dressing up and volunteering with MagsMac, Jason, Tiff, Shannon, Foofers, Hala, Erin, and Andrew.
Soon after, I got very ill with an upper respiratory infection + strep throat that just won’t go away. Smashed in between was my Lasik surgery, at which I was praying to Jesus, Mary AND Joseph that I didn’t cough when the laser hit my eye. I think the Valium helped. Yes, I’m most certainly it did. And of course, as I should have guessed, things weren’t to go as planned.
The right eye went fine. I won’t get into the details of Lasik for you squemish readers, but everything was cut, peeled and lasered just fine. However, when they got to the left eye, they apparently discovered what I had been claiming for years! My left eye is smaller than my right! After trying about five times to get the Lasik instrument in my eye, they took a break and decided on PRK for the left eye. The eventual result would be the same, but it would take longer to heal. Figures! The result has been great! For someone who has been in glasses or contacts since 2nd grade, it’s an amazing feeling to awake from sleep and see your alarm clock clearly. It’s a dream. But it’s real.
November was also the month we were blessed with little Kailey. As some of you have read (if not you can read the post here), in November my parents were given custody of my 3 month old baby cousin, Kailey. Since then, our lives have transformed as the whole family has pitched in to help give Kailey the best care and safe home as possible. She’s been such a joy to be around. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers for her! She is doing fantastic! All healed and grow to be quite the chubber! Will update more in the New Year. | View my Baby Kailey set on Flickr.
Even though I was down for the count for most of November, it was still jam packed with events. I had the pleasure of helping Tina Zulu with the DJ Melodic Benefit Raffle at Block 21, spend an awesome evening at HappyKatie’s for the Nintendo Wii Fit Party (where I scored my very own Wii Fit!!), saw my first show at Houston’s new House of Blues, and celebrated the birthday + engagement of my best, dear friend, Taneka. One of SEVEN wedding I’ll be celebrating next year!
Yep, it had finally come. The dreaded 3-0. Thing was, I wasn’t dreading it at all. Every year of my life had been getting better and better, and I didn’t see any reason for that to not continue. I had become excited about turning 30, about being taking more seriously professionally, about getting past some of the train wrecks of my 20’s, and about coming into my own. It was around then that I began the idea for the book I’ve been writing. I had an incredible 10 years in my 20’s, and I wanted a way to document those stories. So the book is in the process! Stay tuned.
Every year I make a pretty big deal about my birthday. I figure it’s the one time of the year that’s it’s OK to celebrate yourself. So when it came time for deciding on a location for this year’s bash, it was pretty much a no-brainer. In 2006 I had teamed up with Dave Wrangler for Vinyl Ranch at Leon’s Lounge in Houston, and the party was a huge success. And i figured, if it ain’t broke…
Vinyl Ranch + 30th Birthday Bash - Leon's Lounge
So, we headed back to Leon’s for the second installment of the Cosmopolitician B-Day Bash + Vinyl Ranch. The night was proceed by the Schipul 11th anniversary party, which laid ground for the perfect amount of toasty Schipulites in attendance. I seem to always get teased for having made such random acquaintances over the years, and I LOVE my birthday each year because it is a time to get all the randoms under one roof. This year’s party was followed by an impromptu after-party at my place, where a few of us (Katie + Michelle I owe you big for the thievery!) continued the party into the wee hours of the night, where Andrew played the guitar, Paul took some pics, and Michelle, Wod Wod, Nadnuk, and Seanscreamed sang in unison. It was the perfect way to ring in the new decade. With friends and music. And alcohol. Stolen alcohol.
Phil, Katie, Ed - Image: Carlos Meltzer
The next morning, after just hours of sleep, Miggy rallied me out of bed for a day long drinking session at Brian O’Neill’s, where we sipped mimosas, chomped on fish and chips, chugged Blue Moons, met some crazy characters, and may have walked home. (Michelle, do you remember?) Following that, we somehow persuaded Susan and Mandy to bring us MORE beer and held a Reba Karaoke Fest. In my dining room. What more can a girl ask for on her 30th?
More bad health news came in October. I contracted Salmonella poisoning, along with 4 other friends who all attended an event. And let me tell you, it. ain’t. pretty. I’ll spare you the ugly details. Stomach. cramps. aren’t. fun. For. reals. As I got over the Salmonella, I swear my digestive track still isn’t the same, I learned during a Lasik eye consultation that I had several holes in the lattice of my retina. Of. course. i. did. This year, nothing surprised me. SO after 3 eye surgeries to repair the holes, I could finally be a candidate for Lasik. I scheduled it for later in November. The better to see you with, my dear.
Bandcamp at Caroline (the brainchild of Matt and Philip of KTRU’s Revelry Report rounded off the end of October, an awesome sidelines visit to the Texans Game with Broadway Bankmann (see goofy video below from Michelle); And finally ending the month with Halloween at 13 Celsius with Migs and Foofers.
As August hit, I hadn’t had the time to stop and think that my birthday was approaching. And not just any birthday, the big 3-0! A large group of my friends from college and high school had been planning a “Dirty Thirty Bash” in Vegas for Labor Day Weekend. So what else to concentrate on August than getting in shape?!
I went all out. Stopped drinking, started eating healthy, started working out again, and kept the social events to a minimum. I was very strict about it. I was determined to look great in front of 30 of my closest friends in a friggin’ bathing suit. Half of my friends have kids, and have better bodies than me. And it’s terrifying! So I worked my ass off. For an entire month. Even during a trip to the Big Easy for Katie’s Bachelorette party I was still good!
So imagine my surprise when after 4 weeks, I saw no results. I was crushed! frustrated. defeated! I went to the doctor nearly in tears. And sure enough, I had my answer! I had, just like my mom and sister, been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. I was elated! Probably the most happy person to every find out they had a disease. I was just so excited to know that there was a reason for my inability to lose weight. I started on meds immediately and they seem to be working! Whew! Thus continued my year of bad health.
Vegas was a blast! With 30 of my closest friends, we closed out the 3rd decade of our lives together, and welcomed the next! I travel to Vegas quite a bit, but I’ll always remember this as the trip that trip that I learned to win at Blackjack! Thanks to Julia, (and to the casino for putting up with our drunk karaoke at 6am at the blackjack table.) | Full Vegas set here.
September: Stormy Weather
In September we experienced some unusually cool weather a few weekends, which always makes event hoping more bearable. One night in particular, as my first Christina was visiting from Florida, I was excited to show her a night in the life of me. We had not spend time together in years and years, so I dragged her from event to event to let her get a taste of Houston at it’s finest.
The Orange Show Foam Raiser, Image: Ed Schipul
We headed to the Orange Show’s Foam Raiser, sponsored by Saint Arnold where we tasted some yummy Lawnmower, and listened to some great music. Next up was the 80’s Movie Night at Caroline. She has heard me talk so much about Caroline int he past months, she was eager to see what it was all about. After a swing through the 80’s party with Erin, Carissa and the crew, we headed for the Museum of Fine Arts for one of my most favorite events in Houston, Mixed Media. We danced all night on the lawn of the MFAH, and I was so excited to share this night with my great, sweet friend. I’ll never forget it.
We had another visitor in September, who wasn’t quite as welcome. When the news that Ike was rolling in, many didn’t know what to believe. Fantastical news reports in the past, had jaded many of Houston’s citizens from taking refuge. I wasn’t about to risk it, and grabbed Michelle and Fayza and headed for my parents in Jersey Village. Dad had purchased a generator large enough to power the whole house and AC. We ended up with quite a crowd, as my mom’s best friend, my sister and her boyfriend, his 2 kids, their dog, his co-worker, wife, 2-year old, and their dog all piled in with me, mom, dad, Michelle and Fayza. Oh, and my parents’ 2 dogs, Patches and Harley. Thirteen in all, plus 4 dogs–who didn’t get along, so we had to keep them separated. It. was. a. zoo! But we were glad to all be together and safe.
The nervousness and exhaustion soon turned to hilarity, as we began broadcasting live from the eye of the storm, followed by a delirious video of how to wash your hair in a hurricane. Still not sure how we all made it out of there without killing each other. | Full Ike set here.
Image: Mark C. Austin
After the Ike madness calmed down, a few musically-inclined souls headed West for Austin’s Annual Austin City Limits Festival. A great lineup this year, with some excellent sets by Band of Horses and Jenny Lewis, and a chance for me to catch one of my all-time music idols, Robert Plant, during whose set, I called my mom, nearly in tears, “I’m watching Robert Plant!” I think she got a kick out of my freaking out about one of HER favorite bands. | View Mark C. Austin’s ACL full set here.
Whew! I feel like just yesterday we were ringing in 2008 at the Proletariat. RIP Pro!
So much has happened this year, and I was looking for a way to document it all. Over the last few months I’ve been writing a book. Mainly something to document my twenties, seeing as I turned the big 3-0 this year. And so far, 30 has been fabulous. The first step was looking back at the last 10 years and attempting to make a timeline. Things like boys, trips, weddings, boys, New Year’s Eves, Birthdays, boys, and a lot of boys. But we’ll save the boys part for the book.
So with that process, I’m in documenting mode. So here goes. With lots of help from my gCal and Flickr: A year I will never forget, (nor hardly remember).
And I totally didn’t plan this, but this is my 100th post on CosmoPolitician! Woo-hoo!
I’ve decided to split this post up, there is just too much to get in. Here are the first three months, and the rest will follow each day from now until the end of December. Enjoy!
January was also the month of our very first Dr. Sketchy! Still can’t believe it’s been a whole year! Big props to HappyKatie and the crew for an awesome monthly event that just keeps growing and growing! Looking forward to 2009 Sketchies! | Dr. Sketchy Pool on Flickr
One of my favorite memories from January took place on a night that Jeff Balke’s band, Orange Is In, was playing at Rudz. Earlier in the day, Noel was visiting and we all had gathered at the Microcinema house for a party. Following the party, and day long drinking, Matt, Ned and I headed to Rudz to catch the show; proceed to have one (read: five) too many Red Bull and Vodkas, and head to a Rice Archie party. In between resulted in car hurdling and surprising and kidnapping, Brandon, Matt’s transient roomie, and dancing the night away in a way too small grad student apartment with entirely too many people. Oh to be in college again. Well, at least for one night. No picture exist from this night. And that is probably a good thing.
January was also the very first time I laid eyes on Caroline. More about that later.
From KL, it was on to Western Australia! It was to be my first trip down under, and I was stoked. I headed for Perth from KL, and spent an amazing week in the sleepy Oil & Gas city. I went surfing in the Indian Ocean, hung out at the trendy Subi Hotel Bar, hiked to King’s Park, met a local chef who we spent a wild night at a casino with, swimming(?!), experienced Perth’s “Sunday Session” at the Little Creatures Brewey (same day as Heath Ledger’s funeral—it was 5 minutes from where we were) and learned of the ridiculous shopping hours: Everything closes at 5pm! Whaaa?! The night our flight was supposed to leave at 2:55am, so we headed back down to Subiaco, and ran into some US ex-pats, who took us to get MORE wine, beer, and Indian food. Highly intoxicated at this point, Josh and I stumbled into the hotel at about 11:30pm, attempted to throw everything into a suitcase, and head for the airport. Here’s a tip. If you are about to board a plane, from Australia to KL to Tokyo to LA to Houston—do not get wasted, eating Indian food, a mere hours before you get in the plane. Not the best idea we ever had. | Full Perth set here.
On my way to Perth from KL, I also encountered a little WATER problem back home at my place. One of the most terrifying things to ever happen, especially when you are thousands of miles away. Always in debt to Mom, Matt and Maggie for their help with that situation! Maggie even made me feel better with her adorable marker presentation to assure me all was OK. What a doll. Loves her mucho.
From Perth, it was back home for a few days, serendipitously in time for the February Dr. Sketchy! It was great to see all my peeps after traveling for a few weeks, and what a welcome home with boobie cupcakes!
After a few days home, I was back off again. This time to Amsterdam, where I went on the shopping spree of my lifetime, resulting in my new favorite winter coat; had a run-in slash fall out with KLM, spend a dreadfully boring day at the RAI for a trade show, hence resulting in Queen Trivia Post. | Amsterdam full set
Then, on to the Middle East, Manama, Bahrain, where, yes, I rode a camel and smoked the hookah. It was a great month of traveling, but I sure was glad to crawl back into my bed. | Bahrain full set.
March: Music + Medicine
March began my first experience with my bad year of health. But before that, as with every year around SXSW, Houston gets some stellar shows coming to town. We were lucky to get two of my all time favs in a period of 4 days: Wilco and My Morning Jacket. The day after the MMJ show, Michelle and I drove to Austin for the night to attend the SXSW Rock Band party. We had a blast catching up with Gwen + Joel, met both Pete Cashmore and Marianne for the first time, and proceed to try on every single winter item of my cousin’s coat rack. Promise it was MUCH funnier at the time. Hell, maybe it’s funny now. “Let it snow, biatch.” This was probably the first time Michelle and I realized we would be friends forever. “I love animals.” | SXSW Rock Band Party full dr. miggy set.
On Good Friday, i didn’t attend Mass. And maybe I should have. I came down with a horrible pain in my stomach, which turned out to be, wait for it….waaaait for it…APPENDICITIS! Whoo-hoo! Yep, I needed an emergency appendectomy Friday night. I still have a hard time believing it. I mean, how random?
If i learned anything this year, it’s that things never go as planned. My old roommate doesn’t call me Drama-ica for nuthin’. Of course, once they got in to do the surgery, they discovered that my appendix was hiding behind some important organs. So, instead of doing the nice and clean laproscopy, they had to do the old fashioned cut. Brilliant. Huge scar. Perfect.
Big thanks to Matthew who kept me company in the hospital for 3 days, Michelle who came to visit, but I feel asleep while she was there (“nobody likes sticking their finger in their eyeball!”), Stefanie and Paul for bringing by the portable DVD player (which I JUST returned last week), Shekara, Kasey, Jaime, Jill, Matt and the boys, and Mom and Dad. Did I miss anyone? Lesson Leanred: Demerol is AWESOME! (but not awesome for remembering hospital guests.)
before
after
So that’s all for today. The first quarter of 2008. That was exhausting just recapping it! Much more to come. So check back everyday for a new month’s recap.
Is 1/4 of the year REALLY almost over? Geez. You blink and you miss 3 months. Well, I haven’t been doing much blinking (nor blogging) in the last 3 months. Mostly just trying to stay sane, awake, and healthy. I’ve failed pretty miserably at 2 out of three of those. Sleep hasn’t come so easy, though.
Probably the most exciting part of December, besides Baby Jesus’ Birfdae, was SNOW! Yes, it SNOWED in Houston this year. And I’m not talkin’ about no freezing rain, slush, or frost on the grass. It. Freaking. Snowed. Here. Y’all. The night it snowed, Andrew was over to cook some din din and help me decorate the 
November was also the month we were blessed with little Kailey. As some of you have read (if not you can 
As August hit, I hadn’t had the time to stop and think that my birthday was approaching. And not just any birthday, the big 3-0! A large group of my friends from college and high school had been planning a “Dirty Thirty Bash” in Vegas for Labor Day Weekend. So what else to concentrate on August than getting in shape?!
WHAT A FRIGGIN’ YEAR IT’S BEEN!
Towards the end of 2007, when word was spreading that our beloved neighborhood bar, the 
January was also the month of our very first 
Feb was my 
Everything closes at 5pm! Whaaa?! The night our flight was supposed to leave at 2:55am, so we headed back down to Subiaco, and 
From Perth, it was back home for a few days, serendipitously in time for the 
March began my first experience with my bad year of health. But before that, as with every year around 
