I actually accomplished a lot

I'm currently enjoying our New Year's Day tradition of Egg Dish and horror movies with good friends. Since I don't love horror movies, I thought I'd get caught up on the past year at the same time. To say 2008 was busy would be a ridiculous understatement. I actually accomplished a lot of the stuff I wanted to do, including:

• Run a mile.
  
• Visit the San Diego Zoo
  
• Take the dogs for walks in Runyon Canyon and Fryman Canyon
  
• Plant a tree in our front yard
• Present a full-on summer season of Tiki Theater
• Grow my hair past my shoulders

Not too many bullets off my ambitious list, but let's see what else I did, and what else happened, shall we?


Threw our most kick-ass Oscar party yet in February.


Saw the dogs get cuter, and eat the eyes out of a bee.


Rocked St. Pat's with my favorite Scorpios.


Hiked up Runyon Canyon with Amy & Chip on Easter Morning.


Went to Medieval Times for the first time.


Bought my first bike in many, many years.


Went on a fabulous Hawaiian vacation; swam laps in this body of water.


Watched the dogs get even cuter.


Celebrated the one-year anniversary of Click.


Became a triathlete.


Enjoyed Minnesota in summertime, visiting Amy & Chip over 4th of July weekend.


Celebrated nephew Rusty's 1st birthday in Santa Barbara with the entire McLean clan.


Watched my little family get even cuter.


Met Mia Michaels.


Went to San Diego Comic Con for the first time, followed by a trip to the San Diego Zoo. (Got Nerd Flu.)


Celebrated Kristin & Mark's marriage with good friends outside of Boston.


Reunited with my UNC Crew in Greeley Colorado; danced and danced.


Ate a delicious peach from Mom's tree in her backyard. (Also went to my first water aerobics class.)


Threw a Valley Girl Slumber Party Bridal Shower for Amanda, and had attendees do 80's makeovers for fabulous prizes.


Bridesmaided for my dear friends, once in September, once in October. Thanked God my friends have lovely taste in bridesmaid dresses.


Worked my ass off, rubbed shoulders with celebs, and pissed off Victor Garber at the Runway for Life event.


Threw the Halloween Cocktail Party I've wanted to throw, oh, forever; discovered black vodka.


Met one of the funniest women alive, Amy Sedaris.


Voted in one of the most important elections of our lifetime; wept with joy on Election Night.


Gardened! I finally populated the little garden in front of our house with herbs and flowers, I planted three rose bushes, and we had a tree planted in the front yard.


Learned how to weave a lattice pie crust and baked the world's most beautiful (and delicious) apple pie for Thanksgiving.


Bought the prettiest white winter coat just before our trip to Seattle, where we got to see some fabulous friends, and got a truckload of great business accomplished. (Also, note how long hair has gotten!)


Took formal family portraits with the McLeans at Sears.


Sent out beautiful Click holiday cards to our clients and press.


Enjoyed a lovely, low-key Christmas in Santa Barbara.


And, finally, watched the dogs get even cuter.

I'm a mess. Ho ho ho.

It's been almost a month since my last entry, so first I'll do a quick list of bullets of what we've been up to, for those of you keeping track of my life (ahem, Mom). Then we can talk holidays.

Thanksgiving 08: What a fantastic holiday. We hosted members of our "chosen family" at the house this year, and it was just wonderful. My friend Tony the Chef did the most amazing things to our turkey--brining in brandy, shoving garlic & rosemary under the skin next to the meat, stuffing with apples and oranges. It was one of the most moist and delicious turkeys I've ever tasted. All of our friends brought delicious sides and snacks, actually, because they are classy like that. For my part, I baked 2 loaves of dill bread and 3 pies: pumpkin, pecan, and apple with a lattice-top crust. I hope to get caught up on photos over the next week or so, but suffice to say they all came out gorgeous! Good food, good wine, great friends--GREAT holiday.

Seattle Trip: The first week in December Mac and I went to Seattle to visit friends, do some business, and enjoy some proper chilly weather. Not that I'm complaining about our fabulous SoCal weather, but it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it won't stop being 80 degrees outside (the weather has since changed, thankfully). This trip was PACKED, and as usual we ran out of time before we got to do everything or see everyone. We got a lot of great business done, striking up some fun partnerships and strengthening our Seattle press relationships. We got to see some of our favorite people on the planet. And we ATE. Oh, my God, we ate our way through that city. Someday I'm going to write the Mac & Dinah Guide to Seattle, with a list of must-sees, must-dos and must-eats. The newest revelation was The Black Bottle in Belltown. YUM.

Family Portrait Time: Yet another separate blog post in the making, we took family portraits with Mac's family at Sears the second weekend in December. We wore coordinated outfits and posed uncomfortably (at one point I was laying on my stomach). Mac's family all look happy and natural in all of these photos. I look like a robot.

Which, okay, I'm actually checking my calendar to remember what all we've done this month. We took the LA division of our awesome staff out to a holiday dinner, after video chatting with Scott and his lovely wife. The whole team chipped in and got us a Wii Fit. I'm choosing not to take this as a personal commentary on my need to lose weight, but as an amazingly intuitive and thoughtful present that we actually had every intention of buying for ourselves. They also got us a game that you play with your butt. Awesome. Seriously, we employ the best people on the planet.

We also hosted a holiday party for one of our clients, which went off perfectly and inspired a separate blog I need to write about throwing parties. Because, for real, I pulled that thing together in about a day, had tasks for everyone to help me with, and did the whole thing BEAUTIFULLY and under budget. I'm not bragging; I'm just good.

Everything else has just been a mad scramble to get prepared for the holidays. I always stress out about Christmas, every year. What do I get? Is it too much, not enough? Why do I put it off every year? Christmas cards still haven't gone out--it might be a New Year's/Wrap Up card this year. Plus I'd love to do a "Best of 2008" mix... but I never even finished or mailed out my Summer 08 mix. Oh, I'm a mess. Ho ho ho.

So that brings me up to date. The checklist of future blogs I just mentioned includes: photos, Seattle guide, family portraits, how to throw a fabulous party, and Best of 2008 mix. Yeah, we'll see.

Thanks for checking back on me, even though I haven't been updating. I appreciate everyone who reads Puffpiece, and hope you're all enjoying a fabulous holiday season!!

23 mosquito bites

What I did on my Summer Vacation in Minnesota:

Saw the biggest dragonfly ever.


Watched & blogged SYTYCD with my sister which was SO FUN. I wish I could have transcribed us watching it a little more accurately.

Enjoyed two shows at First Avenue and the Triple Rock Social Club, thanks to the connections and generosity of my brother-in-law Chip and his rock star friends.

Went for a jog down Summit Avenue. (No, seriously.)

Read Posh Spice's "That Extra Half an Inch" and learned that Brits refer to tank tops as vests, and Posh not only wears acrylic nails on her toes, but she has most likely gotten poo under her fingernails at least once from changing her sons' nappies. All of this, unsurprisingly, just makes me like her that much more.

Discovered Room and Board, and picked out this bedroom set to replace the crappy furniture currently living in our bedroom (eventually).

Sang the Star Spangled Banner with my sister while watching fireworks explode over Gold Medal Park. It was really pretty. Both the fireworks and the singing.



Bought Mac his first Nut Goodie, purchased at Fleet Farms.

Went to the Walker and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden where we finally saw the (in)famous "Spoonbridge and Cherry," the bizarre-yet-striking Oldenburg sculpture that was installed in 1988, and has come to dominate pictures of the Twin Cities.


Ate the most delicious ribs I've ever tasted, oh my god. Thanks Chip!

Met up with an old friend from high school, and the guy who was kind enough to go with me to my senior prom (he'd already graduated, bless him).


Got about 23 mosquito bites.

Checked out the St. Croix River in Wisconsin.


Cuddled a blue tick hound puppy with a taste for flip flops.

Met a hospitable and generous business man with a passion for art and architecture.


And so much more. We had such a wonderful time with my sister and her husband. Not to get all mushy and cheesy, but it's a real blessing in my life to have a sister who is also a best friend. I know that it doesn't always happen that way with families, and once again, I find that I feel very lucky and very grateful.

my beaten, yet victorious, ass

I was going to go with "Shark Fight."

The story went like this: I was in Hawaii, enjoying my Big Island vacation and frolicking in the surf, when suddenly a shark swam up to me all, "I'm gonna EAT YOU!!" and he bit my ankle. So I punch him in the face and knocked his teeth out! But then he smacked me in the face with his tail and head-butted me in the shoulder, and then bit the back of my legs! Thank god he didn't have any teeth anymore, so he just gummed my legs and left big bruises. But it hurt!! So I kicked him in the nuts. And he was like, "Ow! Sonofa!" and he finally swam away. And I dragged my beaten, yet victorious, ass out of the water and collapsed face first on the sand. And when I awoke, my back, shoulders, & arms were all sun-burnt.

And then I got home from Hawaii, and read about this.

So I've decided to go with the other story, which is less fun and goes like this: First, I flayed over an inch of skin from my ankle in the shower with my cheap-as-shit Bic Soleil razor and bled all over the hotel bathroom, and worried about convincing the hotel staff that someone had been horribly murdered. Then I jumped off the high dive of a boat, and landed in the water in a seated position, and gave myself multiple contusions (that's when a bruise is also a bumpy welt) on the backs of my legs, one of them bigger then both of my hands end to end. Then, after applying and re-applying water and sweat-proof sunscreen religiously all week, I forgot to re-apply it after the boat trip, and sunburned the hell out of my back and shoulders in the convertible on the drive back to where we were staying. But none of these injuries would stop me from going back into the ocean on my last day of my trip, and when I saw the big wave coming I thought, "Um, that looks like it's going to kill me. What am I supposed to do?" The ocean, merciless bastard it is, gave me no time to figure out the right answer, and flipped me over until I pounded its sandy bottom with my shoulder and face.

So, yeah. Hawaii was awesome and we had an amazing vacation. We got to see whales, dolphins, sea turtles, a mongoose, brown geckos, green geckos, and countless birds, bugs and fish. We drank all the refreshing island cocktails ever invented and watched the sun set over the ocean. We got lomi lomi massages by the water. We bonded even more with my sister Amy and her husband Chip. We ate some of the most delicious fish you can imagine. I'm not complaining, it was a dreamy, relaxing vacation.



I'm just saying: I got beat to shit, dude. It's probably for the best that we're back.

It was cold, but it was awesome

I love Christmas in LA & all, but you know what else is fun? A real, honest-to-goodness white Christmas with the fam in Colorado.



It was cold, but it was awesome. Plus, a great excuse to wear my cute blue & orange toque.

happy

I'm in DC, visiting one of my favorite people on the planet. We've cooked fabulous meals, listened to hundreds of songs, and ventured out to the Mall for an Edward Hopper exhibit.

In a word: happy.

Midwestern, down-home and comfortable

You may have noticed by now that I haven't commented on So You Think You Can Dance this week, with predictions, affirmations or lamentations. It's because I haven't watched either show yet, so Shh! Don't tell me what happened. It's waiting for me--with, I hear, some face-rocking Wade Robson genius--in my Tivo, and I'll watch it when I get home from Austin.

Oh, yeah: I'm in Austin, TX. Howdy y'all! Austin is RAD. Wait, that's not the right complimentary adjective. Let me tell you what it's like, and you can help me come up with one.

Austin is lush and green and beautiful. When you fly in and look out your window, you see rolling countryside blanketed in trees, buffeting the twists and turns of the Colorado River. Stepping outside on a late June day feels hot and humid, but it's not overpowering--this is what summer should feel like. The neighborhoods are each unique, the houses are darling and situated on plots of green grass next to tall leafy trees. The occasional rope swing dangles from the front yard. It immediately feels Midwestern, down-home and comfortable. But with guitar sculptures. Austin fits like an old pair of Levis. I like it here.

So far, we've checked out a bit of SoCo, where I bought a birthday present for my sister at one of many groovy boutiques. We ate dinner at Guero's Taco Bar where I had my first taste of Real Queso (Texans are particular), and it was delicious. After a long day of travel we capped off the night early with some beers & conversation poolside at The Hotel San Jose.

Yesterday we lunched at the Whole Foods Flagship store before checking out the new Die Hard at the Alamo Drafthouse. Of course, Mac and I and the friends we're staying with all had to work at some point in the day, but we managed to squeeze a Sno Beach break into the late afternoon. For dinner we inhaled some Texas BBQ at Rudy's, followed by Mexican Martinis at Trudy's.

If you haven't figured out by now: you can totally eat your way through this city, and well. And cheap. This morning I got stuffed with deliciousness for about $4 at El Chilito. Breakfast tacos: come to Austin to see what all the fuss is about. They really are that good. Also proving to be fun and productive, is the shopping.

Still on The List: bats at sunset. Fireflies (I miss them). Maybe a chill hike at some point to walk off all the delicious food we've eaten, and have yet to enjoy. Not to mention a long list of recommendations from all my Texan friends. We have a day and a half left, and many more opportunities to come back.

And after all that, I still can't think of anything else, so I guess I'll have to stick with my initial assertion: Austin is RAD.

I must have done something right

Since my last entry? Oh, my. Lots has happened though, and I'm going try to move through it all very quickly.

We celebrated a lovely early Valentine's Day on Feb 12 at Crustacean, and stole forks. Well, Mac stole them. I am a horrible thief.

I went to San Francisco for the day on Valentine's Day--in in the morning, out at night--for work.

My brother came to visit President's Day weekend, and we enjoyed a fabulous lazy bbq with some friends complete with full-contact speed croquet and Karaoke Revolution, as well as a trip to the comic shop and a whole day of pretty much nothin'. A relaxing and fun weekend!

We threw another fabulous Oscar Party on 2/25, and I got 9 out of 24 categories correct. My butterscotch chip cookies were far more successful. Check out the whole menu, with pun-tastic names and Mac's mad photoshop skillz HERE.

I discovered my new favorite website/online community: iLike.com. Love music? Listening to music right now, in fact? Come play on iLike with me!

We went to London! It was my first time in London, and it was all I could do to restrain myself from going all, "Pip pip! Allo guvna! Wot wot! Oy!" And so on. (Why must I be so ridiculous?) Had a marvelous time, drank tea, saw many, many friends (more on this below), and got to hang out with my brother in law who was in town at the same time, because the world is just that small. Pictures are still in the camera, but I got some beauties.

Finally, last night Mac & I had dinner with my friend Stephanie and her boyfriend Matt. Unremarkable, you might think, but I've known Stephanie since we were 4 or 5, she just happened to be in town from Chicago and, oh yeah--we hadn't seen each other for 17 years.

I don't think that has enough emphasis on it.

SEVENTEEEEEEEEEEEEN YEEEEEEEEEEARS DUUUUUDE!

Which you'd think is nerve-wracking and weird-feeling and all, and it kind of was as we were approaching the restaurant? But then it was totally fine, and then it was just awesome and I was just so happy to see her again, and chat about Evansville and what funny, creative, happy weirdos we were as kids.

It's made me think a lot about the connections I've made in my life, these recent experiences. In London, I visited my London office (NERD! I know) and saw some work friends. I took the tube to Chiswick (pronouced Chissick, by the way, in case you ever go) to visit a couple of my dearest college friends who'd just had a baby on Feb 16. I went to lunch twice with a woman I met online, actually, and it was not only NOT creepy and NOT weird, it was rad and just like meeting an old friend for the first time. And I had drinks with a guy who used to be one of my best friends ever. When we weren't trying to date, or recovering from the whole "trying to date" thing, or fighting, or trying not to fight even though he and my other best friend were dating, and really? It's convoluted, and we have a lot of history, and we've been through a lot, and there was a time when I wasn't sure if we'd ever be friends again. But then I pinged him before we went to London, all "Hey, um, are you going to be around?" And he said YES! And made a trip to London from his small England town, and we went to a pub for pints and he showed me pictures of his beautiful wife and little girl, and we caught each other up on everything, and it was just so lovely.

Before we left for London, Stephanie had emailed me to see if I'd be around when she was in town, even though it had been 17 years since we saw each other last. I also got an email from my brother in law's sister that she & her partner are going to be in town and want to see us. AND a potential new friend from New Zealand, a friend of one of our Australian friends, arrived yesterday. We've promised to hook up with her while she's living here and take her around the city.

It's just really cool to me that in the time I've been on the earth, I've connected to people in such a way that I can let them know I'll be in town, or they can let me know when they (or their Kiwi friends) are in town, and we can get together for a meal and some conversation like it's the easiest thing in the world. For the millionth time, I feel lucky and grateful for these connections and friendships. And I can't help but think, for all the things I've done wrong in my life, if I've got people reaching out to me over miles and time, and responding to me when I do the same, then at some point, I must have also done something right. Right?

These are the things I've been doing and these are the things that have been on my mind.

holiday summary

Sweet fancy Suri Cruise I haven't blogged in AGES. At first, it was because I was enjoying The Lull, which is a lazy time when work demands ease up a bit and I, well, slack off a little. Which means reading everyone else's blogs. If you were doing the same, and wishing I'd had a little more reading material here for you, I apologize.

And then, of course, I didn't blog because life quickly reverted away from The Lull and back to The Crazy, and then I just didn't have time. Hence me updating my stuff late at night when I should be sitting comfortably on the couch enjoying the return of my regular TV programming.

So, quickly: holiday summary, and then I'll put the rest in separate posts.

Xmas: AWESOME. We threw the tiniest party ever, which I suppose means it was more a "gathering" than a "party." Whatever, we had a kickass cheese platter and pomegranate cosmos and espresso martinis and then Kim brought those chocolate-covered peanut butter cracker things? And it was rad.

We got stuff shipped out on time, but due to the super extreme Colorado weather, they didn't all show up on time. We got a real tree, and decorated the crap out of our house. For the holiday itself, we went to Santa Barbara where we spent almost an entire day opening copious amounts of gifts, and the rest of the day on a scenic walk with the dogs.


Overall, it was a glorious holiday, and I was reminded again how lucky I am to have all My People in my life, and what a beautiful thing it is to be loved.


New Year's Eve: Due to the inherent suckitude of this crappy holiday, we decided to discard our LA party plans and take off for beautiful Seattle.


We cooked dinner, we played Karaoke Revolution, I kicked ass.


And we rang in the new year like the hard-core party animals we are.


Since then, it's been, well. The Lull, followed by The Crazy. Mostly Crazy. I didn't make resolutions this year, per se, but I did make a mental list of Stuff I Want To Do, which I think is different. I've started some things on my list already, crossed off others, not started most of them, and instead started things that weren't on the list, because I am nothing if not a Master of Procrastination. Overall, not a bad start to the year. If I find a little more balance in my life in 2007, I'll put the whole darn thing in the Win column.

Next up: New hobby! The Best Songs of 2006!

What I did on my Australian Vacation

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