Small Joys

Not much explanation needed to share these little nuggets of joy!

Please listen to Ray LaMontagne's new album, "God Willin' And The Creek Don't Rise". .."New York City, you're killin me..." while I politely disagree, it's classic Ray and I can't be anything but thrilled!

Also, as a former Beyonce impersonator, I feel a personal obligation to post this. Sara B's new album is coming out (and she's touring with Greg Laswell!) in September so she's doing some fun things to help promote it. Check out her cover of Single Ladies for Billboard. She has a style that is much more fitting to me that the original beat's heels and leotards.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

When autumn comes, it doesn't ask
It just walks in where it left you last
You never know, when it starts
Until then there's fog inside the glass around your summer heart
- JM

8. Anticipation

I'm wrapping up my favorite summer things because the weather started changing and I'm already in a fall state of mind. There are so many great things that only take place in the summer, but about this time of year I am always anticipating the fall. The boots; the jackets; the football; the colors – I just can’t get enough. But, since God didn’t think Texas needed anything but a hot summer and a mild winter, I’m forced to look elsewhere for my autumn enthusiasm. These are the things I just can’t wait for!

Battle Studies

The last time I was this giddy was September of 2006…anyone know the significance of that month? Yep – that was when John Mayer’s last album, Continuum was released. I consider myself to be a person who is excited by the simple things in life, so when the big things come along – I tend to lose my grip. The day he twittered the official date for his new album, I quickly installed a countdown widget on my blog – which proved to be dysfunctional and ugly. So you’ll just all have to mark your own calendars, or stick with me and I’ll send out a group text from whatever store I’m standing in at midnight. I kid. Seriously though: November 17, 2009. Write it down, it’s gonna be a good day. He recently twittered "the end of my experience is the beginning of your's..." it's about time.

Glee

Tell me you caught the teaser pilot episode following the American Idol finale in May…or at least jumped in on the season premiere last week. This show was made for someone like me (and probably you too if you’re reading my blog). Dancing, singing, high school drama, sarcasm, awkwardness! You can sigh a deep breath of relief that Fox TV producers have heard our cry. You can also check out the cast’s newly released single on iTunes, On My Own. As if I didn’t already love this show enough, they go and release possibly the greatest Broadway tune of all time – also the only song I’ve ever publicly auditioned with on a stage, solo. (Hallelujah, that’s one thing that can’t be found on YouTube!)

New York

My heart has had an Empire State shaped hole since I left the Big Apple in April. Unemployment left me destitute for the summer, but fall has arrived alongside a steady paycheck…New York City here I come! I’m going up for a 4-day Fall Fest that involves lots of shopping, friends, fall clothes wearing, brunching and a girls trip to Philly to watch Meg run her first half-marathon! My New York coffee cup runeth over…

Let's Get Physical!

Leaving New York was like turning over a new leaf for me. When I finally hailed that last cab and headed to LGA, I played a really sappy mix of Cat Power's The Greatest and Puccini's "Nessun dorma" on repeat because it was just about the most dramatic thing I could find. I was rushed through security and put on an earlier flight to Houston, so before I had time to be sad, I was up in the air (and I stood next to Jerry O'Connell at the airport - like I was going to cry in front of him!). It had been so gloomy the days before I left, but suddenly, we climbed up through the clouds and it was sunny and beautiful just.like.that. It was all very symbolic. I decided the playlist I had arranged for the flight was all wrong and immediately switched it over to Taylor Swift, which eased me into the Texas state of mind!

My final days (let's be honest - my final month and then some) were jam-packed with brunches, happy hours, pizza and late night trips to Magnolia. Now that all that fun has been added to my thighs and I'm starting over down here in God's Country, I'm left with only one option: detox. I hit the West Texas ground running, literally.

Day One: No carbs, no sugar and a brisk 3 mile walk/brief jog

Day Two: No carbs, no sugar and an even more brisk 3 mile walk/jog with some brief sprints

Day Three: Maybe a few carbs, no sugar and a round of tennis

So I'm off to a decent start, but I had to call the tennis game a little bit short on day 3 for the sake of my killer shin splints. For now I'm spending my nights rotating the ice pack for the heating pad and then rubbing them down with icy hot before bed. I'm updating my work out playlist with a few new tunes to keep me going:

The Virgins - Rich Girls
The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
Solange - I Decided
Demi Lovato - La La Land

Any other suggestions?

City Love

I’ve spent most of my life trying to balance these dueling scenarios in my head. On one hand, I saw myself in a total Friday Night Lights scenario…marrying a good guy like Coach Taylor and being known and loved by all the townspeople. Ha. Because that’s what I knew and that’s how I grew up. But I’ve always had larger-than-life dreams and a larger part of me really craved something bigger. I saw myself living the fact-paced city life through Hollywood scenarios and being swept off my feet by a John Mayer type character. (I know how insane this sounds, but I actually think in these kinds of scenarios.) Do you remember the scene in Beauty and the Beast where she is singing in the field after rejecting Gaston’s proposal? That is a song and a scene that I have related to since I was a kid.

“I want adventure in the great wide somewhere…I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand…I want so much more than they’ve got planned.”

As juvenile as it might sound, these are words that stuck with me and I found myself waving them like a banner just knowing that God had more in store for me. I have never been one to settle…probably to a fault! So I moved cross-country with my best pal and started a life in New York City. I worked for the company I dreamed about in an industry that had seemed untouchable. I lived it up and I made mistakes. I had the time of my life! We conquered the city in style.

I have love, love, loved the life this city has offered me. The friends I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned are immeasurable and I have zero regrets. But I’m choosing to swallow my pride and pay attention to what the Lord might have planned for me. So I’m going to “turn and face the strange ch ch changes”. At the end of the adventure, sometimes you just want to be near the ones you love – and for me, that means getting back to my roots in Texas. I’m deeply going to miss the rat-race; using planes, trains and automobiles just to get out of the city; random celebrity sightings while waiting in line at Starbucks; interesting people all around; Central Park in the summer. But all these little holes will be filled with finally getting to see one of my nephew’s soccer games; spontaneous dinners with family; weekends out with my best friends and getting to be involved as their lives change as well.

So there’s sadness and there’s excitement…both shoes fit and I’m taking a different route than I planned. I guess that will teach me to plan! But I am who I am, and if you think I’ve given up my dreams of traveling the world and being a fulltime groupie, you’ve got a lot to learn. Here’s to the Big Apple and to big dreams and fresh starts.

In the theme of nostalgia and sadness, these songs are so New York it’s going to ache to hear them anywhere else.

Many The Miles – Sara Bareilles (her entire Little Voice cd, actually)
Buildings & Mountains – The Republic Tigers
It’s About Time – Barcelona
Young Folks – Peter Bjorn
Strawberry Swing – Coldplay
City Love – John Mayer
Detroit – Black Gold
Won’t Stop – OneRepublic

“I tell everyone, I smile just because I’ve got a city love…and I can’t remember life before her name.” JM

Live From New York...

So much has happened in the last week, I can hardly keep up.

We started the weekend with a proper Texas sendoff; great friends, great BBQ and a live country band at the best Texas joint in New York City. We cancelled the late-night karaoke plans in lieu of an early start on Saturday…a very early start in fact. Four faithful friends and I left our apartment about 3:30 am, the same time most of New York starts to call it a night, and headed to Rockefeller Center in an attempt to score tickets to Saturday Night Live. It was one last hoo-rah for a couple of us…and a chance for all of us to flex our cougar skills with the beloved tween star host, Zac Efron.

Now if you’re not familiar with Zac Efron, then you’re missing out on some of the greatest made for tv musicals of your time! He is the heart and soul of the High School Musical franchise and has been called the Kevin Bacon of our generation. Now, I think Kevin Bacon is far from attractive…but I do agree that Zefron is extremely talented and adorable. He’s everywhere right now; SNL, Ellen, The Today Show, American Idol, your local movie theatre this weekend and the cover of GQ. Here is a fun little preview of what we got to see firsthand:



The show was a blast; Zac and the cast were hilarious, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played and we all agreed (post-nap) that it was well worth it. Kristen and I rounded out the weekend with VIP tickets to see Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which was great! If you haven’t tuned in since he took over for Conan, you should start! For one thing, The Roots are his house band and they put on a great show themselves. We also got to hear former Led Zeppelin bassist, John Paul Jones, play with Sara Watkins, of Nickel Creek – such a cool collaboration. NBC should pay me for all this shameless promotion.