Put 'em All Together and What Do You Get...HOOOOT DOG

Saturday night we saw The Bangles at BB Kings. Antigone Rising opened. To put it simply, they were awful. They ended with a cover of 'Midnight Rider' though which was a bit redeeming. Lucky save.

I am not kidding, The Bangles rocked it. They played most of their classics (did you know that Prince wrote Manic Monday?) opening with my favorite, their cover of 'Hazy Shade of Winter.' 'In Your Room' was most excellent and I got excited when they played 'Watching the Sky', a song I used to love but forgot about. I had to do some research the next day just to see how old they are and it turns out that Susanna Hoffs is 50! FIFTY!!! Cute does not begin to describe this girl. I mean, she was always cute, making the eyes at the crowd and in videos and everything, but still looks like she's 25, it's amazing!

Sistas

Hottest 50 year old I've ever seen September Girls

I didn't want to film this one but I was running out of chances, so here's 'Walk Like an Egyptian'

I went a little hot dog crazy this weekend. Friday night we went out on the LES for $3 happy hour (I didn't even know that still existed) with a stop at Katz's in between. That was hot dog #1 plus a knish for luck. On Saturday I went to RK Bridal with Heather and Liz and under the latter's influence, went to Gray's Papaya (which I should mention I NEVER frequent.) That was hot dog #2. On Sunday, after The Bangles, we went to Rudy's. Those were free so I had hot dogs #s 3 and 4. Yesterday was a BBQ where I had to have one simply out of principle, but there were none! I had a sausage instead. I also had grilled haloumi for the first time ever. Hi, umm why did no one ever tell me to eat this cheese before? It was like heaven in my mouth.

I'm finally catching up on the first episode of The Bachelorette. They upped it to 30 guys from 25 and there isn't even a single cute one! Men must produce this show - are they kidding me with this selection?!

On Saturday I went for sushi in Forest Hills with peeps and on the way to the restaurant with Heather, a woman came out onto the street with her dog. I put my foot in my mouth and just blurted "That is a WEIRD looking dog!" I tried to cover it up with "I mean it's so different looking, I've never seen a dog like that before," asked the offended woman what the type was, didn't understand what she said and then complimented it's hair/fur because I didn't know how else to save myself all while being distracted by the dog. I told my dad about it because I couldn't get over how weird looking it was. So this morning I find this email from my dad in my inbox:

Subject: ugly dog !!

Meredith, I think the dog you saw was probably a Bedlington Terrier( looks like a lamb) . The other breed may be a Miniature Bull Terrier , big head like a torpedo !! Look at them on Google, tell me if I am correct.
Dad

That made me laugh the whole way to work! Retired people are too funny. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was a Bedlington Terrier. The one I saw was a golden blonde/brown but here's an image from one I found on Google:

Somebody missed the evolution boat...

So, a bomb exploded 3 blocks from my apartment. Nothing new for me. Next blog I'm going to give a rundown of how trouble precedes or directly follows me everywhere I go.

The White To Your Left, The Red To Your Right

On Friday night I walked almost 80 blocks after work just to avoid going back to the apartment. When I got home Meghan had started cleaning and I joined in (we were on such a mission that we didn't even cook dinner till after midnight.) As I was sitting eating unevenly (high stool eating off a low table to avoid the critters) Meghan found the source - ready for it? Breadcrumbs baby! Eggs, ants, and all. No bites since then but we've caught a few strays. Hopefully that's the end of it and I can stop having random conversations with people at the gym who approach me asking about my bites.

For Liz's 30th birthday we took a limo out to the wineries in Long Island. You may have known this from the book of face photos already.

Big Pimpin' Multicolored light action On the way to Lawngisland Birthday Stuffs Some Asti Spumanti Dance Party: Begin Liz, Graham, Andy, Me , MeghanSoda before the storm Winery #1 Line-Up Serious tasting Winery #2 It was cold, they gave us blankets More wine seriousness Followed by frollicking Pizza breakPoland Spring PosseWinery #3 where I discovered that Port is DISGUSTING Poseurs Winery #4 Riesling Damien and Erica came tooThis is how we act after 4 wineries Happy birthday Liz Cake cuttin' When Erica misbehaves Oi Obligatory choking photoIndie club in the limoContinued dance party back at the apt

Totally blah on the ride home

Yesterday was brunch-a-licious. Blockheads unlimited mimosas + too many tortilla chips = good Sunday. Some of the group went off to karaoke (yes at 3 in the afternoon.) Not quite sure if the bar actually allowed them to sing but I'm assuming so since I didn't hear otherwise.

Today I was illin' due to sinus awfulness all through the night. I alternated checking emails with watching the Grey's Anatomy season finally (OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE IT), Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and 4 Prison Breaks. Still on the list to watch: 2 Prison Breaks, 2 One Tree Hills, 2 Desperate Housewives, the Lost finale, and The Bachelorette. Last night I only watched 4 hours of Survivor. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself after the shows all end this week (except twiddle my thumbs until Big Brother starts.) Hello loser central.

Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space

Quote of the night -

I just came back from seeing Star Trek which was excellent. I told Meghan that the contest for tickets through work was part of the celebration for Asian Heritage month. Response from Meghan: Oh right because of Spock. (HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!) Me: Spock is half Vulcan half human! For the record, John Cho, aka Sulu, talked via video recording prior to the movie starting. And I kind of want to watch more Star Trek now.

Yesterday was just plain silly. These are the silly things that happened in the span of two hours:

1. On my way out of work I got stuck in the elevator. It was on the 38th floor with the inside doors open but the outside doors closed. There were 11 of us in there, most from the Nickelodeon softball team who were overly concerned about being late for the game and having to forfeit. Julie called me while I was in there and I was explaining to her that no, I was not "in" an elevator, but I was in fact "trapped" in one, garnering laughter within. We were only in there for 15 minutes or so but I found it to be really funny.

2. On the subway home, I was standing in front of a guy who was sitting and had his eyes closed for most of the ride. He suddenly requested that I take my earbuds out and then asked if I had a relative in the military, perhaps a father or brother? I told him that my dad was in the army in the '60s if that counted (for the record my uncle and grandfather were also but I didn't mention them.) I said why, do I look like someone you know in the military? And he said "No, don't take this the wrong way, I'm just trying to drill my intuition." HUH? Do I look like some stringent, upright bitch? Well, possibly yes, considering a guy tried to pick me up last week by telling me that I look like I belong in The Plastics from Mean Girls (...but I'm probably sweet on the inside.) Do I need to change my facial expression or something??

3. When I went to get my stuff from the locker room at the gym, there was a notice taped to my locker saying I had to see management because I locked someone's pants in my locker! I guess I hung my black jacket up inside of my locker, and when I went to put my bag in, I saw black clothes hanging in another locker thinking it was mine, and locked my stuff in it. I returned the pants to the manager, totally embarrassing.

--This is not part of the silly stuff, but as I was walking home from the gym, I was laughing to myself about the elevator incident, and I bumped into Kristine. She told me she almost didn't want to say hi because I was so smiley and happy and she didn't want to interrupt. Apparently I don't just look like a bitch, but I look like a crazy bitch!--

4. I almost made the rest of the walk to the apt. with some normalcy, but I stopped into Duane Reade to buy soda and some old woman was sitting in one of those folding camping chairs with a drink in the cup holder, just chillin in front of the ATM. That's it! She was just hanging out there, it was so weird!!

Sometimes we just need silliness to get us through the week.

It's the Springtime of My Life

I thought I was in the clear the past two days and then I woke up to 4 new bites (three near the elbow where they usually tend to be) and one on the ankle. In case you don't know the back story, as of last week, we have biting ants in our apartment. I know for a fact that they are ants because I've caught them in action. They are definitely not typical NY ants (did the biting part give that away?), but they are also light-colored and these bites are really fucking itchy! Meghan and I have some theories on where they came from but they've all been disproved (brought in from the park? No, because that was over 2 weeks ago; they live in the couch? (where we usually get attacked?) No, because we bought that couch last June and had no critters till the other day.) My dad thinks they came from someone else's apartment and the people brought them in from South America (huh?) I called maintenance to report it on Tuesday evening but the exterminator (who I keep calling the Terminator unintentionally) only comes on Tuesdays, so I'm living for a week with these monsters. So if you see me with massive bites you know why. Oh, and don't come over.

Happy to see a Carolina Liar video on the TV, though the singer looks super-mannequin like.

Songs I like right now:

Little Boots - New in Town

La Roux - Bulletproof (kind of obsessed with that one)

Noisettes - Never Forget You

Hockey - Learn to Lose

Marmaduke Duke - Rubber Lover

Jack Penate - Be the One
ljih

I just got motherflippin Bangles tickets!! They were the second concert I ever went to (Jones Beach with my dad in 1980something.) When I was a kid, I used to set up my room to give it a "concert feel" - put a cover over my lamp to dim the lights, set up my little Casio keyboard, and next to it was my pink Barbie guitar. Either myself, or with a friend, I'd act like I was the band, playing their albums for my fake crowd. For the record, my faves include "In Your Room" and their version of "Hazy Shade of Winter."

jug

The above show is at BB Kings Blues Club where I haven't frequented yet. I'm looking forward to the caberet-style atmosphere. When I was buying the tickets, I noticed that En Vogue are playing (first physical CD I bought - don't worry, I had plenty of tapes before that.) I kind of want to go but it's tonight so I doubt I could wrangle anyone in time (or in general.)
kjg

Nerd Alert: Friday was a good day - not only did I have a coupon for free Red Mango plus a topping (and it was ANY flavor yogurt, hello Green Tea) but I won two tickets to see Star Trek through work too! Although I've never seen an episode of the show, nor do I plan to ever do so, this is the second time it's popped up for me in relation to work. When I worked at ICSC, at the last Spring Convention in Vegas, we had our department dinner before the conference kicked off, and our VP gave one of the Meeting Planners Barry Manilow tickets for her birthday. I was joking around about wanting Star Trek Experience tickets (just because I wanted something for free, and the conference was in The Hilton which was Star Trek headquarters.) A few days later our VP pulled me to the side all serious and was like, I got you the Star Trek tickets and was like keep it on the hush, haaaa. Very nice of her but I really had done it for the principle of getting something for free. Immediately after the conference ended, I dragged Laura M. with me to the simulator and whatever else the "Experience" consisted of. The best part of that particular trip was following Star Trek, we went to The Sahara next door to ride the forwards-backwards roller coaster and screamed our faces off in relief that the whole thing was over. Not sure why it never occurred to any of us to do that in previous years.

jg

So, I'm doing one Fire Island weekend this year with my friends. When push came to shove, I couldn't resist. Plus it's at the end of the summer so fingers crossed Dave will be here and he can experience Ocean Beach in all it's glory.

kj

Yesterday, I went home for early Mother's Day. I went with my momma to get her dress for the wedding, which was going fine until I freaked out over a speeding car as I was merging onto 135 in Long Island and swerved and scraped the curb or whatever and got a flat tire. I will say that AAA is amazing - they logged my problem at 2:36 pm, and I was already driving away at 3:01 pm. Friendly service guy as well. Afterwards, we went to look at flowers for the wedding. Bouquets are pricey but boutonnieres clock in at $12 a piece - man flowers all around!

ljh

When I got down to the subway, my watch said 8:32 pm (I like to time the trip back from Queens), and I opened my book which was bookmarked at page 832!! Told you I was freak-ay.

jj

I finished reading I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb last night. That book was da bomb! I've never seen so many bad things happen to a character. Seriously, like every chapter something worse happened! Awesome book.

klh

Thursday night was Franz Ferdinand at Roseland. The openers, Born Ruffians, did not do it for me. Franz on the other hand, well, were awesome of course. They played a great mix of old and new stuff, and although I'm still waiting for the new album to grow on me, I really enjoyed those songs live. Good background images as well.

On Friday night, after my triple dork sensation of free Red Mango, Bangles ticket acquirement, and winning the Star Trek lottery, I ran home and changed, made it to kickboxing, then went to Ella with Kat and Heather and peeps for Veronica's birthday (not in my gym clothes.) Got the dancing out of my system so I stayed in last night. While being eaten by fire ants, I watched Grey's from two weeks ago (eh), Survivor (do I have issues for actually crying during an episode of this?!), and then Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was much funnier than I expected, highly enjoyable.

jbb

I forgot to mention that I saw Rock of Ages two weeks ago. Prior to going, I was complaining to someone about how I can't stand 80s music (that being said by someone who had hastily accepted the free show ticket and was wearing a George Michael shirt on the same day.) Well, can I just say that I thought the show was EXCELLENT! Of course it brought back memories of shit songs (some which I enjoyed in my childhood, and some which are just plain comical) but the way they strung everything into the storyline was really entertaining. So much so that I would actually like to go see it again (hello, they played "To Be With You", I almost died in my seat.) Two of the guys from Styx and REO Speedwagon were there and played a song as the encore too.

ju

Today's assignment: buy jeans that fit properly and look cool. I am 99% positive the result of this will be complete failure.

ujg

Currently Playing: Noel Gallagher - Talk Tonight (live)

The Sun Was Just Yellow Energy

Goings on as of late...

Max's surprise party...

We created our own dancefloor. I was in jolly spirits, even embracing the typical corny songs that get played in every generic bar (most likely because I drank too much) We made a new friend to dance with......who we think stole Faith's phone :/

jh

Zoe and Elisa were in town this weekend. We had some drinks at the apt first (hello Pineapple Vodka, YUM) then went to Black and White.

Ryan, Elisa, Zoe Me and Britchicks Enjoying how Max managed to fit his face into this one

After leaving the bar we searched up and down St. Marks for dumplings. Despite there being like 12 Asian restaurants on that street, Heather came away with a $1 slice of pizza and Meghan and I had peanut butter when we got home.

hg

I had a massive headache all last night which made me toss and turn until I finally got up to take Tylenol at 5:30 am. I got up a few hours later and headed down to L'Express with Meghan and Kat to meet Zoe and Elisa, her co-worker, and Gareth for brunch. It was pouring buckets so myself and the upper east siders came back to our territory to see I Love You, Man. It was funny, have some trailer:

I got my nails did and then ran home, changed, and sped to the gym to make it to Step Aerobics. I was hesitant about going to this class because the last time I did, the teacher creeped me out (in general, but also because he was wearing light grey sweatpants and had a very noticeable sweatstain on an area I should not have been paying attention to.) For these two superficial reasons, I had not been back to the class. I hadn't taken Step for a few months though and missed it so I took the risk, showing up to see that he was wearing the light grey sweatpants again (yugh!) Turns out today was his last time teaching this class so I'm in the clear, I do feel a bit shallow about having avoiding him for all those months, but sorry you shouldn't have been creepy and have chosen better clothing to work out in.

Let's talk some TV:

Amazing Race: Yay final 3 - and you really couldn't hold it in? Puh-lease.

Lost: Um hi I hate the writers right now!! Quality episode but you should not have done what you did at the end. At least we got some Desmond/Penny time.
Survivor: Can't believe my androgynous Mormon got voted off! He was my dude I predicted for winner. Kinda pissed off about that.

h

Does anyone want to see Those Dancing Days with me at Mercury Lounge on 5/26?
k

Meghan and I went to see Gavin DeGraw two weeks ago. I hadn't seen him in a couple of years (I went through a phase where I saw him like 5 times in a 6 month period.) The music was terrific - he rearranged every single song he played ('I'm Love with a Girl' was best) but the thing that amazed me was how grown up he looked. I was so used to seeing him in his hoodie and cap, that when he came out looking like a man I was totally shocked. It was a bit weird to be honest.

I'm only weighing myself monthly at WW and I lost 4 lbs. in the last month. Bing Bang Boom wedding dress here I come!

ugu

Speaking of the big W, does anyone want to take over the planning for me? I'm too busy at work to do anything. Flowers are next, if you interested I'm accepting applications.

jg

And finally, can we talk about how it snowed at the beginning of April and then it was over 90 degrees last week? It was so hot I actually went to the beach! And burnt my hairline in the process, doh.

hg

This week's plans: Working late, working late, Dinner with Binghamton chicks, Franz Ferdinand, working late. Is it Friday yet?