I am an over-packer

This sounds like such a "white whine" but it is hard to pack for multiple climates in one trip. See, I'm heading to Philly tomorrow for my Cousin's wedding then Boyfriend is meeting me in Orlando for WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!! on Monday (can you tell I'm excited?) So, anyway, I'm attempting to pack for a place that hasn't decided if it's winter or spring, plus I need a dress for the wedding and the rehearsal and whatever other family events that are planned.  And then essentially summer in Orlando, which was easy: a summer dress, sandals, and my "This Guitar is a Horcrux" shirt.

I got overwhelmed and brought out the big guns, so to speak.  But the problem is once I decided to use my Europe suitcase, I didn't have to limit myself... So in went everything I think I might, maybe wear over the next week... and probably a bunch of other stuff.

And finally, I've been trying to decide if I should bring my MBP and my iPad AND my iPhone, but that seems too much - so I'm testing this blogging app for the iPad. Really, I just think I need a MacBook Air to solve all my problems. 

So my next post might be from the air or Philly... Who knows! It will be exciting tho. :)

Fashion Friday: March 28 – April 1

Sorry for the radio silence, folks.  And I was doing so well with updating last week. And then I woke up Sunday morning with a itchy throat and was knocked out for the next two days.  Super lame.

 So, I have no style photos from Monday or Tuesday because I figured no one would want to see me in my old pajamas two days in a row.  But I do have a picture of the view from my sickbed.

That's my quilt, my movie collection, and you can kind of see my record collection (at least the 45s).  You can also see (from the left) the complete Harry Potter series & Percy Jackson series, a bunny with a mustache, Clerks Animated & Oscar Wilde action figures, a severed foot autographed by Chuck Palahniuk, and two years worth of Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club EPs. There is a whole lot of awesome (read: nerd) going on here.

My first day returning to work I did the unthinkable: wore jeans and sneakers... But I still felt like crap.
The jeans are Rock & Republic – hand-me-ups from Bear; the shirt is J.Crew and you can't see it but there are sequins on it; the shoes you can sort of glimpse are Puma and are usually reserved for my hip-hop class :)

You can tell I was starting to feel better by Wednesday because I have a skirt on.  And also, while I was sleeping, it suddenly turned into spring.  I swear I only own like 4 things from Anthropologie and I'm wearing two of them here – the shirt and the skirt, both on sale; the shoes are Me Too from Nordstrom, which I'm breaking in cousin's wedding next week.

The shirt is Forever21 and it's too bad you can't see the super cute flower details on it; the belt is my mystery brand belt from Nordstrom Rack; jeans are Genetic from the aforementioned Blue Jean Bar; the shoes are Lucky Brand also from Nordstrom Rack (I love that place); earrings are from the communal jewelery drawer in my home and who knows where they originated from.

I'm so happy it's spring now.  Can't wait to break out the spring/summer dresses!
Is there something you can't wait to wear this year?

Little Things (and Robots)

Yesterday at work, someone sent me this.

Please note: this is how to make my day.

Fashion Friday : March 21 - 25

Don't worry, Dear Readers.  This isn't turning into a fashion blog (yet).  I fairly certain that I am too lazy for that at this point, inasmuch as I don't have the ability to a) pick out a nice outfit, b) take a picture of me in it, and c) write about it every day – but, gosh, I admire those who can!

I have been wanting to keep a record of what I wear to work – despite the fact that Big Computer Company is casual, I consistently wear skirts and dresses, and other more business-y attire while most everyone else wears jeans (in fact, the first time I wore jeans to work, it caused quite a ruckus).  After 13 years of wearing a uniform and then working a number of jobs that required me to put a t-shirt over whatever I wore, I'm embracing the fact that I can wear whatever I want.  And I want to wear cute skirts and boots, usually.

But see, the other reason that I'm not sure if I want to turn this into a daily showcase of what I wear is that 90% of my daily choice of clothes is based on what can be thrown into a gym bag and not get totally wrinkled. Which also means that my clothing choice is either picked out right before I fall asleep the night before or at 5:00am the morning of.  This has resulted in a lack of accessories, strange colour choices, and one time, wearing what I thought was a dress, but was actually a shirt that was inappropriately short for work.

All that being said, this is my attempt to keep track of what I wear each week, and maybe through that process figure out a bit more what works and what doesn't. . . Also it give me an excuse to take silly pictures with Boyfriend, who is the official endlessmeg photographer. Observe.

The sweater and tights, which are footless and the BEST thing in the universe if you have long legs, are from Target; the skirt is J.Crew and the boots are Miz Mooz (from Nordstroms) – both things I picked out and then were gifted back to me in the original shopping bag from The Queen for Christmas; sunglasses are BP and the ring is vintage – my Grandma had the best costume jewelry.  

The dress was surprising find at Forever 21 and the belt is an unknown brand from Nordstrom Rack.

I had been wearing the same boots from Monday, but this was way late at night and I hate shoes, so I had switched into Uggs (which are an annual purchase for me since the days of swim team).

This is one of my most favourite outfits ever.  The dress and belt are from Anthropologie – I used to live on the same street as one of the stores and I walked by every day on my way to work.   This dress was in the window and I tried it on 3 times before I finally broke down and bought it.  The tights and sweater are Target; the boots are Benetton and were a birthday gift 3 years ago (and kind of a long story...); the earnings are from a Gem & Jewelery show.

And some days I like to dress up for no real reason.  The skirt and top are H&M (which I tend to find is very hit or miss... maybe that's what it stands for... hmmm); The jacket is Kensie from Nordstrom Rack; the ankle boots are Steve Madden.  Also, yes, those are bowls on my ears – it was my cone of silence.

First off, I'm dancing in my head to Hall & Oats in these pics.  Now, let me tell you about these jeans.  There is a place on Santana Row in SJ called The Blue Jeans Bar.  You must go there.  First you tell them your size, then what style you are looking for and it's like personal shopping.  These are DL1961 which I had never heard of, but LOVE; the sweater is Banana Republic, from an after Christmas sale 2 years ago.

So that is my week in fashion and silly pictures.  What do you think?  Too many pictures in one post?  Should I try to do every day or every other day rather than once a week?  You tell me.

In which I talk to my Rock Star Crush

Josh Freese is a fucking rock star.  And I mean that in every sense of the word.  He's literally a rock star: drummer for The Vandals, Devo, NIN, A Perfect Circle, and Weezer (to name a few), and he's probably drummed on your favourite albums (and you had no idea - sad).  But he's also a rock star in the sense that he is totally cool and awesome.

I've been a fan of Josh since I saw the Vandals play SF when I was young and impressionable – an amazing, cute drummer in one of my favourite bands?!  Love.  I followed his career and was able to catch him drumming with some of my other favourite artists.

So, when he ended up standing right behind me at Weezer's Memories tour this past winter, I kinda freaked out.  I tried to wordlessly communicate to Boyfriend that Josh Freese was standing right behind us.  He didn't get what I was saying and when I finally got the nerve to talk to him (and I'm sure it would have been an amazing line like, "Hey, You're Josh Freese.") he was gone.  I kicked myself for not seizing the opportunity.  So, the next night, same theater, same seats, he's there again!  Just as I gathered my confidence and turned around, he left.  TWICE!  Twice I missed my chance.

I went home that night and, because I'm a nerd, I Tweeted at him (@joshfreese) – and he replied! – but I felt so lame for missing my chance to talk to someone I've been a fan of for such a long time. 

And, of course, I wouldn't shut up about it.  When we were playing Rockband, Boyfriend started drumming more like Josh's style, and I was like, "If you think that by drumming more like Josh Freese you'll get me to love you more, well, that's where you're right." I was kidding. Kind of. 

So, for Christmas Boyfriend bought me a package deal from Josh Freese's website that included a 5 min phone call.  I couldn't believe he would do that for me!  But I kinda forgot about it because time passed and I didn't get a call.  Then this week I started to get these missed calls from a blocked number.  I wasn't getting voicemails, so I figured it was a scam or something. Then the other night I got a voicemail: some noises from a kid and in the background I could hear, "tell them who your Daddy is" followed by "It's Josh Freese. You aren't answering your phone." So, when I got the blocked call today, I answered. . .

I TALKED TO JOSH FREESE ON THE PHONE FOR LIKE 15 MINS!

I kind of panicked when I found out he would be calling me because I had no idea what to talk about.  I shouldn't have worried.  He was the easiest person in the world to talk to, like an old friend you're catching up with, except he name drops famous people the way I talk about my family and co-workers. . .

Topics we covered:

• Brazilian Waxing*
• The Weather in SF vs LA
• The Weezer Memories Tour (and my just missing him)
• The Warfield: Good Venue
• Learning Final Cut Express
• iMovie '06 vs iMovie '08**

The best part was the editing conversations... He casually said something like he was just hanging out and Trent [Reznor of Nine Inch Nails] told him to upgrade to the new iLife... I told him how I was certified in FCP - he asked me an editing question.  The conversion ended with him saying that he has my number now and next time he's in SF and needs editing help (he was trying to figure out when Weezer was playing here again)... I nearly died.

This was seriously the coolest thing to happen to me in a while.  Boyfriend is the most amazing person in the universe for setting this up for me (despite my crush).  And I can't believe how cool of a person Josh is for taking time out of his day to call a fan.


*I was on my way to get a Brazilian Wax when Josh called... turns out it's a good ice breaker to just throw an over-share into a conversation with a famous person you are nervous about talking to...
**this is the point where it was suddenly like giving Josh Freese a One to One in Final Cut Express...

Congrats! You're a dick.

So, I've been trying this new thing when anyone acts like a complete D-Bag in traffic.

It's well documented that I might have some slight road-rage – or it would be documented if this blog was older, but I'm sure my oral biography will be chalk full of references to incoherent yelling and gesticulating while driving (unless my mom somehow reads this, in which case, I don't do any of that).

One of the best compliments I've ever gotten was from my friend maRk, who said he wanted me to teach his daughter to drive because I drive aggressively, but he is never scared to be in my car.  Others would disagree.  I know Bear is not always a fan of my vehicular stylings, but then again, she no longer has a clock in her car and tends to just zen out when driving.  Not my speed (pun intended), but I appreciate her mellow style.

I've also been told that I drive "like a dude," which, I think, is also a compliment.  I feel very comfortable behind the wheel in most situations, possibly because one of the first times I ever drove, it was in a Suburban pulling a horse trailer on a dirt road so narrow that was one-way for the first half of the hour and one-way in the other direction for the second half.  And I feel like I am generally safe, even if I do tend to drive little fast.  I just have my own style, I think, and I am bothered when people interfere with my style.

You know that part of Highway 17 that comes down from Santa Cruz and hits San Jose becoming 880? And then 880 turns and starts heading North along the East side of the Bay? Well, there is this moment, right past Milpitas, where you are no longer in the South Bay, but in the East Bay, and suddenly everyone drives like a complete A-Hole.  This is a proven scientific fact, by the way.  And this isn't the only place.  There are pockets all over, like the Bermuda Triangle of traffic, that cause people to lose any ability they had to operate a motor vehicle in a socially acceptable way.

Because that's the thing – it's not that people are suddenly becoming unlawful (usually) in their driving.  They just lose any respect for their fellow motorist.  They try to exit the freeway from the far left lane feet before their exit in stop and go traffic; they turn in front of you and then stop inexplicably; they come half way out into the street to see if it's clear. . . the list goes on.

Now, the Meg with the little bit of road rage usually wants to scream when drivers act like that.  I want to gesture rudly at them and say something like: "Your Father Was a Hamster! And Your Mother Smells of Elderberries!"  But that was the old Meg (and taunting French guards).

So, yeah, the new Meg has a plan.  Whenever a total dickbag cuts me off, I've been giving them an ironic thumbs-up.  Like, "Way to go, Guy. You're a total jerk!" or "Awesome, Dude.  You just almost ran me off the road. Rad!"

I know what you're thinking.  Because the accompanying sarcastic remarks are in my head, it might come off like I'm congratulating them for their douchebaggery.  Well, thumbs-up to you, too.

Also, in my head, my thumbs-upping is like that awesome scene in Easy A where Emma Stone's character, Olive, suddenly finds herself friends with Amanda Bynes' character, Marianne, and she has no idea what's going on, so she just keeps thumbs-upping.  I love it.

If you see me doing this at you, congrats! You're a dick.

Do you do anything to prevent yourself from flipping out at someone?  Are you going to try my ironic thumbs-up move?  If you do, let me know how it works for you.  I'm stoked on it, but I suspect that's just me.

Paddy's Day Shoes

About 5 years ago I was shopping with Bear.  This, as some of you may know, can lead to awesome (read "sometimes disastrous") purchases of things that we may not really need.  Most recently, we both bought Betsy Johnson dresses with Pterodactyls on them.  Did we need these? No.  Was it a fashion imperative that we buy them? Oh, yes. There were Pterodactyls on them!

Anyway, 5 years ago we wandered into the shoe department at Nordstroms and I was immediately taken with these amazing green heels.  I rolled up my jeans and I strutted all around the shoe department.  Bear had located the same pair in blue and was also trying them on, which is just shows how awesome we thought they were because Bear almost never wears heels.

"I must have these!" I informed the shoe guardian.

So, I bought these amazing shoes and decided that I should wear them to my College graduation, you know, as a justification for buying them.  Only, I quickly realized that a) the heels were way too high for me to walk into the graduation stadium with out falling because b) there is no ankle support!  I ended up wearing flip-flops and then sitting at my Graduation lunch wearing the heels so I didn't have to walk much.  Fantastic.  Another useless purchase…

Except that they haven't just stayed in the box collecting dust.  I have worn these shoes at least 5 times – I wear them each year on Paddy's Day!  I remember the first time I wore them for this occasion because my friend Siobhan and I went to every grocery store and liquor store in the Monterey area looking for Smithwicks… needless to say, they weren't the best shoe of choice for a park, run into the store, run around the isles, and run back to the car kind of mission.  At least this year, with my desk job, I should be fine…

Also, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make treats for the office (like I need an excuse) and I was excited to try out this recipe, albeit slightly modified to be GREEN!  Judging by the fact that I don't typically like brownies and yet I tried to eat my weight in the batter, I would say these were a success.  My only fear was that they might end up looking moldy… Instead my co-workers asked me if I had any "special" ingredients in them!

And then tonight, I will probably kick back with my favorite Irish beer, the aforementioned Smithwicks (pronounced without the W), and watch either Darby O'Gill and the Little People and/or Father Ted.  And possibly eat some greenish food of some sort.  My shoes will be sitting on the floor next to me, looking pretty.

Not sure how to celebrate?  Want some recommendations on my favorite Irish/Irish inspired media? Check out these gems! Note:  If you're not familiar with the accent, you may want to conceder turning on subtitles for some of these. . .

• The Boondock Saints (1999) :  I can't believe I forgot to add this to the list – this is one of my favourite Irish inspired films.  A uniquely told story of two Irish emigrant brothers who become vigilantes after a rowdy St. Patrick's Day.  Fun drinking game: drink every time they use the F-word.
  
  
  
  

• The Commitments (1991) : One of my all time favorite movies about a group of Working class Dubliners (Northsiders) who form a Soul group.  Amazing music, fun story, generally considered one of the best Irish films ever.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) : A Disney production based off of a collection of Leprechaun stories about Darby O'Gill catching King Brian, King of the Leprechauns.  This staple of my childhood features a ton of Irish folk lore and creatures, plus a young (and singing!) Sean Connery.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Father Ted (1995) : A Graham Linehan (IT Crowd) sitcom about 3 Irish Priests who live on  Craggy Island, isolated off the coast of Ireland.  Very funny and absurd, and though you don't need to be Irish or Catholic to find it funny, being so adds a whole new dimension. 
  
  
  
  
   
• Intermission (2003) : A love story/crime caper set in modern Dublin involving a breakup, a bank robbery, and a ton of Brown Sauce.  As a drawing point, it stars Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell.  Oh, and Colm Meaney – he's in everything (including my flight from Dublin to LA once)!
  
  
  
   
• Once (2006) : I'm sure you've heard of at least this one.  A musical of sorts played out in modern Dublin.  Very low budget but beautiful music and nearly perfect. Fun fact: Glen Hansard was also in The Commitments.
  
  
  
  
• The Quiet Man (1952) : If you've never seen or heard of this, you may be surprised to find a movie featureing John Wayne on this list.  He plays an Irish-American who returns to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm.  Known for it's famously long fight scene, it's a classic that I grew up watching with my Grandparents.
  
  
  
  

Hope you check some of these out. . .
Do you have any St. Patrick's Day traditions?  Any movies that are a must watch for you?