I realize I am probably the last person to get around to posting about New Years, but here it is anyway.

For New Years, ED and I decided to host a little get together with a few of our closest friends. It was thrown together at the last minute, but somehow we were able to pull off one of the best New Years parties I have ever been to.

My sister Staci recommended we make it a formal mascarade party, which meant not only did we invite our guests less than a week before the party, we also requested they come up with some sort of a mask too!

Are we the best hosts or what?

I feel incredibly lucky that so many of our friends were able to make it. Some ran into babysitter issues and some had already made plans, but I think it is safe to say that those who came had a great time.

Here is my mask. I originally got it on a trip to Austin, TX to visit my dear friend Ellen. I added feathers to the side for some "pazzaz"! Also, because Heidi was making her mask and I like to use hotguns.

Me, Karina the Russian and Staci.

Group picture of all the ladies at the party!

I should clarify that there were actually men present at this party. But none quite as dashing as my darling ED.

Hilarious, no?

Although he looks  like a superhero here, he didn’t come to my rescuing until later on. Before everyone started arriving to the party, ED decided to shine up the hard wood floors. He sprayed the floor with Pledge and mopped over it with a flat dusting mop. The floors looked beautiful, but were slicker than an ice rink! Even after we tried to clean the Pledge off the floor we had to tell all of our guests to walk carefully — especially the women in their high heels!

However, it was not until right after the stroke of midnight when we went outside to watch the fireworks, that I slid on the actual ice and landed right on my ass! Not to worry though, my masked hero came running to sweep me up.

Best New Years kiss ever!

Happy New Years everyone! Here’s to an amazing 2010!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

ED is not Emotionally Disturbed, Holidays, Out and About

Last week I ignored much of what was going on in the real world after I found out Zach had died. I was caught up with my own personal mourning, viewings and funerals. When my friend Heidi asked me if I was still planning on going to the Paint the Town Red party–an AIDS benefit held at Hotel Monaco–I had all but forgotten.

I lied and told her I had been planning on it.

On Wednesday I went to the mall and shopped half-heartedly for an outfit to wear, still dressed in black from the funeral I had attended only five hours earlier. I found a red top, figured it would work, and called it a night.

The next night I wrote, “Tonight the red lipstick comes out” on my Facebook status. The responses I received were overwhelming; everyone cheering me on and encouraging me to live life.

Feeding off of that energy, I put a smile on my face, painted that smile with my brightest shade of red lipstick, and met up with Heidi and Tammy for a night of fun with a good cause behind it.

At Tammy's, getting primped to go.

Tammy looking smoking HOT!

Heidi looking adorably sassy!

Group picture taken at the event. I have no idea who the guy in the picture is, but his boyfriend was the one taking the picture, so whatev.

I freaking love this picture.

While I can’t say that big ‘ol smile remained the entire night–I ran into friends who asked about Zach and I may have cried just a tad at dinner–it felt good to have a night devoted to fun and to spending time with my girls. I am so thankful to them for taking me out and showing me that life still goes on.

I think Zach would be happy to see me smile. Although he is, he never would have wanted to be the source of pain or sadness for anyone. I’m sure, if he was here, he would have loved to hear the stories from that night. He probably would scold me when I told him I walked by myself three blocks, downtown, in the rain, to get the car (we were all in heels, but my feet were holding up the best and I refused to get a taxi for such a short distance). He would have told me I need to be safe, and that I better have had mace on me! He was always so protective…

*sigh*

Man I miss him.

The next morning I woke up and saw lipstick on my pillow case; I guess I didn’t wash it off before going to bed.

It made me smile though, as I remembered the night. It was the first morning I had woken up and smiled in over a week.

Oh the power of red lipstick.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Out and About

Chicago and the BlogHer convention were basically awesome, and by awesome I mean it kicked my ass. Both the city and the mass amount of estrogen was enough to leave me feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and unprepared most of the time. But hell, what’s an adventure without the anxiety?

Getting from the Chicago airport to the hotel was the first leg of the adventure. My lovely, independent and resourceful traveling companion, Sarah, and I decided mass transit was the way to go. One surprisingly non-scary train ride and a bus in the wrong direction followed by one in the right direction but dropping us off a mile from our hotel forcing us carry our over sized luggage through the crowded streets of Chicago (because we sure as hell were not going to ask for directions or call a cab) later, we arrived.

Matching travel outfits not required.

Oh, you mean buses go in both directions?

As we stumbled through the hotel lobby doors, hot, sweaty and ready to do anything but be social, part of me felt proud that we made it all on our own without asking for help from anyone but Mrs. iPhone (AKA Google maps). That part of me wanted to drop my bags and scream, “We made it! We finally fucking made it! Look out! Independent women coming through!”

Fortunately I refrained.

As for the actual conference, between the session, the mommy bloggers, the parties, the free swag and the whole experience that is Chicago, I think I’ll let the pictures give a small glimpse of the story.

Beauty in the city along the Magnificent Mile.

Napping is crucial to survival.

Meeting Jenny the Bloggess. I'm awkward, she's medicated.

Totally worth waiting over an hour for and almost being denied booze.

Sitting by what I now know is the Chicago River thanks to my twitter peps.

Cheeseburger party sponsored by McDonalds in a hotel suite. Oddly enough, one of the few parties shut down by hotel security.

BlogHer style brown bag found in the lobby.

Who wouldn't want to share a room with these beautiful ladies?

I want to publicly say I adore my roommates Sandi, Loralee and Sarah. They made my experience so much better than I possibly imagined.

Whew!

Going out of town is always an adventure and I am so glad I went on this one. I learned a lot and was forced out of my comfort zone. I made some new amazing friendships and have enough around the table drinking stories to keep my friends rolling for months to come.

However, for me, the best part of this adventure (or really any for that matter) is finally returning home from it. The smile I got on my face when I saw the Wasatch Mountains through the airplane window could only be topped by seeing ED roll up at the airport to pick me up.

Home sweet chaotic home!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

blogging, BlogHer09, Out and About, Story Time, Vacations

My older sister Sara is getting married to a man she is madly in love with!  What comes before a wedding? A Bachelorette party!

Now the rule of any Bachelor/Bachelorette party is there are not supposed to be cameras and everyone is supposed to take what happened at the party to their grave, right?

WRONG!

Bachelorette Party House

I knew I had arrived at the right place when I saw the penis’ hanging from the front door.

Could a More Diverse Group Exist?

The party was unlike anything I have ever seen. They had a live DJ spinning and for entertainment, what else but fire dancers/spinners?

2 Fire Spinners

You know, Just Eating Fire

Much to my great surprise, my younger sister decided to record part of our HOT entertainment! Which is awesome because there is really no way for you to fully understand what these crazy women were doing, without seeing it yourself.

What? You’ve never been to a Bachelorette party with Fire Spinners?

Bride To Be Is In The Middle

Aw! My lovely sisters. What an amazing, interesting, fun night.

Congrats “Sally” I love you!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Loved One(s), Out and About

Over the weekend I disobeyed the doctors orders and it felt great! That is, until Monday morning.

Friday I went to the X96 Big Ass Show with Karina the Russian. I was a lot more behaved than I was last year when I was running around getting my picture taken with every rock star I laid eyes on. But, when you have VIP tickets which give you access to free beer…. it would have been a shame to let it go to waste.

A few of the bands I really enjoyed watching were The Airborne Toxic Event (seriously in love with these guys! If you don’t know who they are watch THIS), Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and of course Offspring. Offspring was the headlining band and they tore it up! It was so funny to watch Karina looking at everyone else sing along to the songs. “You don’t know this one?” I would scream over the crowd. Then she would look at me with her of course I don’t know this one I’m from Russia bitch look. I would of course laugh and she would tell me how she was going to take me to Russia and laugh at me when I didn’t know the bands who were playing.

The next morning Karina and I went to brunch. I had coffee and the most amazing crab Benedict served over cornbread with an avocado relish. I’m drooling thinking about it again. I kept marveling as we sat outside on the patio at how I really felt OK. All of the symptoms from last week seemed to have magically disappeared. How amazingly wonderful for me!

Saturday night I went to 2 barbecues where the food, margaritas and wine flowed freely. I felt great and had a wonderful time. Then Sunday came along. Damn you Sunday. Such a fun wrecker. I studied for over 12 hours trying to make up for all of my play time then I had a stress induced anxiety attack.

So now here I am, back where I started. Taking several over the counter meds and eating bland foods. Apparently when they talk about school being a sacrifice they are not kidding. My body is telling me I can no longer play like I used to plus handle the stress of work, school and finances. I think it sucks. I think I SHOULD be able to handle it all. But sadly, superwoman left the building a long time ago.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Back to School, Bag full of complaints, Concert whore, K to the R stories, Out and About

Sunday I had planned to go to brunch with a friend of mine but at the last minute she had to cancel. I took one look in my cupboards, opened and promptly shut my fridge then grabbed my keys, off to find some “real” food. I spend the most of my lunch breaks eating alone, so what’s Sunday brunch alone, right?

Out and About

I’m a little late to get this post up, but better late than never (story of my life!), right?

Last Thursday I went to my first Social Media Club of Salt Lake City (SMCSLC) meeting. I had a great time. Actually… I had social anxiety until I recognized some happy familiar faces, Erin (Finding SLC/Poor Penmanship) followed by Susan (Off The Chest).

Most of the time (surprisingly) I understood what everyone was talking about, although I still always end up with a worried look on my face in pictures. Good news was that I sat next to the lovely Roby Storms who kept me laughing and tried to answer my questions on the “harder” stuff like where to pick up the latest Social Marketing fashion trends or why mommy bloggers tend to dismiss other bloggers as unimportant.

Luckily my transition to nerdom has been underway for a little while now. I had my iPhone with me, which turns out is a good thing because it serves as a pass to get into the “cool kids club”.

All kidding aside, I had a great time. I am truly fascinated by the new revolution that is Social Marketing. For my industry, it is one of those ships that comes sailing through and you either need to jump on board or get left behind. I’ve obviously chosen to jump on board and I am looking forward to attending future events and to growing my knowledge which will (hopefully) make me a more marketable/sought after employee.

Cheers! Hope to see you at the next one!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Nerdom, Out and About

I successfully survived the first weekend of my very first Spring Break as a college student! Since I am going back to school later in life, I never fully understood just how awesome Spring Break actually is.
My original plan was to party every night to make up for all the boring weekend nights that I have spent staying in to write an English paper or to study for one test or another. I didn’t really stick to that plan completely for 2 reasons.
1. I am no longer a wreckless 21 year old.
2.I am old(er) and partying takes it’s toll on me. Recovery time seems to take a lot longer.

Friday nights original plans were to go to a Wine Gala, but it was canceled for one reason or another. Instead I went to the gym then over to my sisters house, played card games with her boyfriend and passed out watching Knocked Up. WOO HOO! Party animal!

Saturday night however, I made up for it. My beautifully crazy friend Ariane had the rare experience of having a sitter for her 2 beautiful children and demanded asked me to join her for a girls night out. Everything that Ariane does is in grand fashion so it was no surprise that she was able to get us a VIP booth at Harry O’s in Park City for the Spring bebe fashion show. Since Park City is a good 20+ minute drive up a super winding canyon, she also got us rooms to stay at over night. Not too shabby, right?

I got all dressed up (in bebe of course!) and headed up with 5 other girls. Inspite the the fact that Harry O’s is known to be a bit of a meat market and that ED the boyfriend wasn’t thrilled about me staying over night with a bunch of single chics, I had good time. The fashion show was small but really cool to see, I got to dance my ass off all night which is awesome because I haven’t gone dancing in what seems like forever and last but not least, VIP booth = Champagne!

Girls night out are rarely without drama and of course this night was no exception. But the important thing is that even though we got less than 4 hours of sleep, we made it home safe.
I’ll tell you though, after a night like that I’m fairly positive that I will be celebrating the rest of my Spring Break by catching up on my DVR and snuggling with ED. There is far less recovery time that way!

Blogfully yours,
Summer

Out and About, Posts Grandma won't approve of

Saturday night was an event that I look forward to all year, The ADDY Award Gala. For those of you not in the advertising industry the ADDYS are awards given to advertising agencies as well as in house agencies for their creative work. The award gala is a formal affair and of course I LOVE formal affairs. Any chance to get all dressed up is one I will take! Of course I had to buy a new outfit (yeah, twist my arm right?). I ended up going with a black fitted knee length pencil skirt and a light pink halter top with a ginormous flower at the top.
Only problem was that I am pasty white. I decided to get my first ever spray on tan, just enough to “give me a glow”. Little did I know how serious spray tanning needs to be taken. I ended up with one arm darker than the other, my right wrist looks dirty and my left wrist looks freckled.

Luckily my dashing date ED chose to make the right decision and pretend like it wasn’t so bad. He’s a smart man. We ended up having a lovely time and ED got exposed to the advertising world that I work in, complete with all of the egos that fuel us. I didn’t take a full length shot, but here are the two that I do have.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

Dating debating, Out and About

Dating debating, Emotions get the best of me, Out and About