Hiatus

I wanted to express my apologies for disappearing the past couple of weeks. I've been running around like a madwoman and while I have tons of updates, I will make you wait until after this weekend to read them because it's Friday, and I have a train to catch. Please forgive me.

Pwetty pweaseee?

Much love xoxo

Sad puppy face

Rock My World

From seeing Beyonce to surviving the biggest earthquake I've ever experienced, it has been quite the week here in the city.

Since the earthquake was disappointingly small for all the hype, I’ll focus on Beyonce, who really rocked my world.

With three friends, I experienced Queen B in all her glory. We were ready for her jelly and Beyonce delivered. For a good hour and a half, I was somewhere between loving Beyonce and forgetting she was on stage altogether. We were having our own dance party in the middle of Roseland Ballroom, so whatever.

We even got shirts afterwards for $5 a pop. Here we are posing like divas to match the one on our shirts. (Jillian, thanks for providing this picture for me to steal)

(From top left clockwise: Meg, Jillian, yours truly, Marty)

The day following the concert was one of my rougher days at work, but I prevailed. I am a champion, my friends!

On Friday, Law And Order: SVU was being filmed a block over from my building. I walked by the set twice, but did not see Olivia or Munch or any of the gang. But two nights ago, I dreamed I saw all of them! So, that’s good enough for me.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been keeping me company at work the past two days. Thanks to the band streaming their new album “I’m With You” on itunes, time’s been flying this week. Check it out! Or just wait til it comes out next Tuesday…if you’re boring.

Operation: Find A Place to Live in Jerz continues, with Shane and I frequenting Craigslist. This whole process is a lot more grueling than I expected. I think I need a personal assistant. Not really. I just need to find somewhere to live damnit!

September is closing in, which means one thing: There is only another ¼ of a year to go until the Army will have to figure out a way to go on without Shane in it. I hope it can manage. I need him more, so the Army will just have to deal. Three months, people, three months.

Also, I will be going to Texas for a whole week somewhere around Labor Day, which is very exciting! I am looking forward to a big dose of Shane, Cully, and my TX friends! Woohoo!

A Year Later

Two posts in a day? Am I feeling okay?

Yes. I just decided to peruse my old (deployment) blog, Are We There Yet and oh hey, look what I posted a year ago today.

"Mel and the City"-

http://arewethereyetoe2010.blogspot.com/2010/08/mel-and-city.html

I did it. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a hot second.

Okay, I'm done.

I have my dream job and my dream boy and despite still doing this terrible long-distance thing, it's nothing compared to deployment. And I get to see him tonight. I win.

Back From Lolla Land

Hi people.

I recently returned from Lollapalooza in Chicago where we put together yet another exhilarating episode of Top 20. We had interviews with Tinie Tempah, Skylar Grey, Christina Perri, Foster The People, The Cars, Ok Go, Cold War Kids and an exclusive with Foo Fighters.

How was the festival? I’m not too sure. I spent most of my time in the media area. Yes, talent was often hanging out back there which is always fun, but outside of a trip across Grant Park to see Ellie Goulding and helping out with a couple of shoots around the festival grounds, I can’t say I truly experienced Lollapalooza. I mean, I was there to work anyway! Sheesh!

I had wanted to see Foo Fighters Sunday night to close out the fest, but pouring rain prevented me from hearing any more than a handful of songs. I was too exhausted at that point to handle the mudfest that ensued.

I also got to catch up with some old friends from my days as a little intern at MTV News. My bud Kathleen, who now works for Canada’s Much Music, is on the talent side of things now, with her face gracing television screens across Toronto and beyond. You know, no big deal.

The highlight of my experience in Lolla Land? Seeing Karmin walking around. Now, you may wonder “Who is Karmin?” “Is it some cool new indie band Mel is into?” Not quite. Karmin is a cute dude and an even cuter girl who are a.) engaged to be married next month b.) the best cover band to ever live and c.) do “Look At me Now” better than Chris Brown. See here:

Now, I admit, I got a little over-excited when I saw Karmin hanging out in the media area. I didn’t want to bother them, so I just gawked from afar in true creeper fashion. That alone made my day. Really.

Anyways, Lollapalooza was a good and productive trip. Another festival to add to my list! Woohoo!

Also, I started my house search for real. Montclair is completely perfect. Just need to find a place in it. Dinner party at the Gardiners in Montclair coming your way in a few months.

Switching gears…

While I was in Chicago, Shane’s grandfather passed away. Shane worked things out to be able to come home for the funeral, so I will be seeing him tonight through Sunday. I’m happy to be seeing him, but of course I wish it was under better circumstances. As always, we will make the best of our time together and ignore the rest of the world for a few days.

I have a confession to make before I end this post. I love the new Beyonce album and I got tickets to see her at Roseland Ballroom next week. Normally, I hate the world and life the few days after I saw bye to Shane. As I’ve told him, he seriously is like a drug to me, and I go through withdrawal when we separate. Luckily, B will be there for me two days after saying bye to Shane to restore my serotonin to normal levels, even if only for the night.

NYC + M&K = LOVE

I don't know how, but it managed to take me a month to come across this video while conducting one of my crazy marathon searches for all things good on the internet today. Oh well. I love New York (duh) and Matt & Kim, so this video made me happy and I decided it needed its own post. Check it out.

Matt & Kim- "Block After Block"

I Like Books. Maybe I'll Write One Someday...

Hey.

I’m happy to report I haven’t had any stories quite as nuts as two Fridays ago. I hope no one is disappointed in my lack of drinking.

On a more productive note, I have been on a reading frenzy. I always forget how much I like reading until I pick up a good book and think, “I should do this more often.” I am almost done with my second book in a week and a half. That’s like a record for me, because I usually get so sidetracked.

This all began with trying to find “On Writing,” Stephen King’s memoir, the Saturday following the Friday that I locked myself out and peed on my building. I went to a Borders and a Barnes and Noble, but neither had it. Instead, I left B&N with “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg and “Your Voice In My Head” by Emma Forrest. I am still working on the latter. The first book is a nerdy inspirational read about finding the writer within, and the second is this chick’s memoir about being a writer and losing her mind when she moves from NYC from Texas. Just kidding, she moved from England. Both are lighting a fire under my ass to write a book. I have always wanted to write one, and I think for once, I can actually see it happening. It’s still a working thought in my head, but I’m more serious about it now than ever. My friend and fellow Ram Page editor-in-chef (that would be the award winning Hightstown High School newspaper) Liz and I are even looking into writing classes in the city to pursue our goal of actually writing a book.

What is the saying? “Think it, believe it, achieve it?” I’m somewhere between step one and two. When I find myself between two and three, you can find me sipping cappuccinos instead of bournon and cokes on Friday nights for a good year of my life.

Anyways, I recommend “Your Voice In My Head” to anyone and everyone. Emma Forrest is a little crazy and totally adorable and her stories about meeting Bruce Springsteen and dating famous people are pretty rad. And, if you like Regina Spektor, and you’re whacked like me, you’ll like Emma that much more because of her striking resemblance to the “Fidelity’ hottie...

( Regina Spektor is left, Emma Forrest is right)

Am I right? Maybe it’s because they’re both cute Jew girls like me.

Whatever. I love them both.

Also in productive news, I sort of kind of have a real estate agent and am getting serious about finding a place to live for me and Shane. Montclair is looking cuter by the day and I really hope this isn’t too long and painful of a process.

I spent this past weekend in Pennsylvania with my Mom. I made some great discoveries:

-My mom and pinot grigio. Give her three glasses of the stuff and make her listen to “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO and she will shout “party in the house tonighhhhht!” until the buzz wears off.

-My 1^st grade journal. This was the first page, from April 29, 1993: “I HAV A BOY FRAN HIS NEAM IS RAE.” That would be Ray Madara, my first friend ever who I am facebook friends with who I hope never reads this.

I am going to Texas this weekend and am excited as always to see Shane and Cully, my two loves. It’s definitely nice to know that there are only another handful of visits and then we can live happily ever after. Yeah I said it. I can believe my life is a fairy tale if I want to. And I’ll write a book if I put my mind to it.

The end.

Last Friday Night

In case you don’t know me, I’m a bit of a spaz. My husband, friends and family can all attest to this. I’m quirky, a little all over the place and just plain nuts sometimes.

Last Friday night was a great example. No, I didn’t mean to reference the latest Katy Perry video, but here it is anyway in case you haven’t seen it. It’s doing well on the Top 20 Countdown, and the pop lover in me has been all over this one. (Well, after Gaga’s and Britney’s latest videos at least)

Back to my last Friday night.

It all started with dinner and drinks in the West Village with my friend Kelly.

(Mom, this is where you should probably stop reading.)

Two margaritas, two shots, a bourbon and coke and a gin and tonic later, I was a little toasted. That may not seem like a whole lot, but these are New York City drinks. They’re the real deal. Kelly and I said goodbye, and she headed for her subway while I hopped onto mine. I took the 1 downtown to South Ferry, where I had to make the transfer to an N. The N was pulling away, but an R was sitting there on the other side of the platform (my drunken head didn’t think clearly about the obvious…other side of the platform = train going the other way) so I get on. Unsure of what I was doing, I asked the blue-eyed white kid sitting across from me in the car if he was headed to Brooklyn, and he said yes.

The subway starts moving, we get to the first stop. I am on a Manhattan, not Brooklyn-bound train. I told this kid, Doug, that he was wrong and led me astray and I was getting off the train. He followed me. He really was harmless, being he was smaller than me, but it still shook me as a bit odd. I had been carrying a knife around in my bag, and told Doug if he didn’t leave me alone I was going to cut him. He called me a bitch, I hailed down a cab, I left that weirdo far behind. I had tried calling Mikey somewhere in that charade of events, because I had been near his hotel and thought I could stop by and say hi. He didn’t answer, so I stopped contacting him after two attempts.

I get to Brooklyn, I pay the $26.50 cab fare (at this rate, I didn’t care to be on the subway for an hour, so I said fuck it) and made my way to my building.

Sidenote: Because I couldn’t comprehend text messages properly, I was under the impression that a text I had received earlier in the night from Mikey meant that he was staying over the hotel where he worked that night.

Sidenote 2: There are 3 keys needed for my apartment. One for the building itself, and then two for the door. I have only been carrying around the key to the top lock when I go running, because I’m ridiculous and thought that third key was just such an extra burden.

So, I get to my door. The bottom lock is locked, I forgot to bring that third key, and I am fucked. What is a girl to do when she is locked out and the guy with the key is in Manhattan? Go back to Manhattan and get the key, right?

Wrong. If you’re me, and you’re intoxicated, you decide you’re going to break into your own apartment.

So I walk to the street behind my building, I cut through someone’s backyard, I take 10 minutes to find a break in the chain link fence that I can slip through, and I succeed. I get into the dark alley behind my building and realize it’s impossible to figure out which window is mine. It’s too dark. I call Shane, who at this point is aware of my drunken mess, and I tell him I am going to just sleep on the street until there’s daylight. Even through the phone, Shane is wonderful at talking me down and making me get a grip. We hang up with a plan for me to just suck it up, hail down a cab and go to Mikey’s hotel to get the key. But breaking back through the fence wasn’t as easy as breaking in.

It was so dark back there I could not find the break in the fence. After awhile of looking, I have to pee. I pop a squat on the building (classy, I know) and resume my search. Some time later, I really can’t recall how long it took, I find the break, I start sneaking through this backyard and then there were headlights. Headlights of a car that was pulling right into the driveway of the home I was trespassing through.

Now I’m used to the Texas mentality of if you are trespassing on someone’s yard, they have the right to shoot you. I decided my best option was to remain calm, come out from the shadows behind the shed, and introduce myself. When the big white dude came out of his car, I think it went something like this:

Me: “Oh heyyyyy, that’s my building right there. I sort of locked myself out and I’m so sorry, but I went through your backyard. Please don’t shoot me.”

The guy: “I don’t shoot ladies.”

I booked it out of there, hailed down a cab, and went to Mikey’s hotel.

When I got there, after another near-$30 cab fare, I explained my situation to the dude at the front desk, and how I needed him to wake Mikey up so I could get the key I needed. The guy tells me Mike isn’t there, that he wouldn’t be until the morning. Cool!

Mikey called me right around then. It was 1:30am at this point. He tells me he is at the apartment in Brooklyn. Lol, right?

Being the sweet, loving, caring, older brother-like cousin that he is, he put me up in a room at his hotel for the night. What a guy.

The next day, I had plans to meet my friend Rachel and we hung out in the city all day. That evening, when I made it back to Brooklyn, I emptied out my bag. And you know what I found?

The fucking key to the bottom lock. Everything comes full circle, doesn’t it?

That’s my latest (and hopefully last for awhile) adventure in being a spastic hot mess. Hope you enjoyed that one.