December 24, 2007 :: Home for the Holidays

I'm coming to you all live from my dad's living room where the Christmas tree is beautifully illuminated with the miniature multi-colored light bulbs, the fire is in full blaze, and our traditional Christmas movie, "The Ref" (with Dennis Leary and Kevin Spacey) is playing on the big screen LCD TV. Today was the 3rd day of Christmas in our family which means my brothers and I arrived this morning and have been playing Parcheesi, eating amazing hors dourves, drinking ;-), and going in the hot tub all afternoon. What a way to pass the holiday :-D

Luckily this month hasn't included too much traveling other than a trip to Boston to have dinner with one of my three best friends, Craig; a trip to New Hampshire to visit my college buddies; and a couple trips home. Every year my friend Craig has a holiday dinner as his way of saying thanks to all of his friends for another excellent year on Earth. I've been blessed to be able to make it out every year even when I lived in Atlanta. I usually would drive out from Albany, stay a couple hours for dinner, and drive back...but this year I took the train directly from Connecticut which saved me a lot of driving. The party was excellent and the feast Craig (et al) prepared was amazing! It's always a pleasure to see Craig, his sister Holly, and the Boston crew. It also makes me happy to see Craig feeling well, looking well, and happily sharing the experience with his partner. I have a lot of love for him.

My friend Matty O moved out to NH shortly after we all graduated from college and has been having an annual holiday party at his condo for the past four years. Unfortunately this was only the second time I was able to go, but on the bright side, I was able to go! Our former band of misfits, the Spades Group (named after the card game... :) drove out on Sat the 8th. We all had a spectacular time at the soirée and headed back out on our separate ways after having brunch on Sun. In true New England fashion, I had lobster for breakfast :-D Talk about très chique. I look forward to these annual events to be able to catch up with my friends, especially now that graduation day is steadily speeding away from us faster and faster into the depths of the past. For a couple nights a year it's like nothing has changed except for the stories we share and the boyfriends/girlfriends that we share them with. Hopefully one day even that last part will stop changing... :-)

The next week, on Fri the 14th, I went back home to Albany to participate in Mama's 4th Annual Christmas Show at the WaterWorks Pub. Mama has been hosting a show there the week before Christmas since the last time I lived in CT and again, luckily, I've been able to participate as a back up dancer every time. Haha, yeah you read that last part right, a back up dancer :-P It's so much fun to go out there and dance on the stage during his numbers. It gets the audience engaged and gives me a chance to feel like hot stuff in front of a crowd. LOL!

Now the holidays are in full swing, it's Christmas Eve, and I've been spending the past several days with all of my family members. This is one of the rare times during the year that we alll get together to enjoy each other's company and regroup to prepare for a new year. Tonight we went around a circle and said what we're all thankful for from 2007. It got a little emotional, but the tears that came out were good, warm, family tears. The best kind.

Tomorrow we're off to mom's house to spend the Christmas holiday with that side of our clan. Last night we spent it with our immediate family on her side and tomorrow we'll get to see the extended families. It's madness really...a very busy couple of days...but I can't think of a better way to spend them. Before long it'll be New Year 2008 and then back to the regular rhythm of work and the daily grind. Cherish the now...that's what I've learned.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

M@

December 2, 2007 :: Welcome to Wintertime

Winter finally struck the Great Northeast this weekend with blustery blizzards dropping a fluffy layer of pretty white snow all over this region of the US. The temperatures had been dropping steadily over the past several weeks so it was only a matter of time before the precipitation turned from wet rain to freezing rain and finally to snow.

A couple weeks ago I went out to Los Angeles, CA to visit Logan and my friends from NBC Universal: Paul, Erick, Jayzen, Michael, and Tim. It was funny to see people in thick winter coats when the temperature there was in the 60°'s (F). I told my friend Paul, who's originally from NY/NJ, that I was disappointed that he had to wear a coat at all in that weather. Haha I guess I should give him a break since he's been in LA for almost a decade. :)

Paul gave Logan and I a tour of the Universal Studios Theme Park and Backlot where several movies and TV shows are filmed. It was great to get a tour from someone on the inside as opposed to the standard tourist tram ride. He was able to tell us a lot more history about some of the rides, shows, and sets that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. We even got to go inside of the house where Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds starred in the "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". It was so neat to be inside of the very house.

Later that night the gang of us went out on the town in West Hollywood. Despite all the times I had gone out there to visit Logan, this was my first time actually going out at night. It was fun. I even got to sing karaoke at one of the bars before having to get up early the next morning to head back to New York. That was one thing I had wanted to do in life, just because...there's extra excitement when you're singing in a city where you never know if an entertainment scout of some kind might like your performance and change your life forever. Haha of course that didn't happen to me, but it was just as exciting!

Since coming back from LA, I haven't done too much traveling other than to NYC, Upstate NY, Hartford, CT (to see Wicked the musical...which was amazing!), New Haven, CT and today I'm getting ready to head out to Boston, MA to see one of my best friends, Craig. I make my pilgrimage to Boston around this time every year, even if it's just for a couple hours, to take part in his annual holiday dinner. It's always good to touch base with the crew out there and especially to see Craig and his sister, Holly.

Before we know it Christmas will be here and then New Years. 2007 has flown by! I've traveled like a maniac both for work and for play. I'll be based in New York City for my first assignment in 2008, so perhaps there won't be as many trips in store at least for the first part of the year. That's after, of course, going to Orlando, FL in mid January to see...January :) Good times ahead!

Cheers,

M@