Meganastout.com

I turn 24 today.

It’s weird, I feel like there is no way I’m already 24. When I was a little kid, 24 seemed so old, so mature. An age where things had fallen into place. An age where you had a great job, you had your own house, where you were dating the Ken doll. Where everything was glamorous. Not to say my life isn’t those things, but it’s weird to feel nothing like I dreamed I would.

This past year has literally flown by. I know things speed up as we age, but holy freaking cow. I  just remember being in elementary school praying for Christmas and all my presents to come faster, in contrast to now when I wish we could skip it all together because I don’t have time to shop. That’s been my life this year.

This past year I started commuting an hour each way to work, I met an amazing guy, I moved in with one of my best friends, I live near downtown, I traveled (North Carolina, Iowa, San Francisco, Louisville, Philadelphia, Indiana, Chicago, Los Angeles, and up to the mountains of CO), I climbed a fourteener and I got back to my roots and figured out what I believe. It was busy to say the least.

With that said, here are a 25 things I want to accomplish before I turn 25… before I’m a quarter of a century.

1. Spend a week on a beach. Any beach. Unplugged.
2. Re-work the design of this site.
3. Read 12 books, one per month.
4. Post 100 times… 30 will, hopefully, be cranked out in November.
5. Be healthy. Get back to working out and eating well.
6. Try yoga.
7. Take cooking classes.
8. Schedule time for myself each week.
9. Find a classy purse that suits me. And buy it.
10. Be able to do 10 push ups.
11. Attend Canvas and Cocktails.
12. Smile more often — especially at strangers.
13. Fix Charles. Surgery and all.
14. Be happy. So much of it is in my control.
15. Pick a cookbook and make all the recipes – except the ones with mushrooms or other inedible objects.
16. Tell everyone I love, why I love them.
17. Send more mail. Cards, packages, random gifts.
18. Stay up late drinking wine and talking, even though I have to work the next day.
19. Buy a pair of *perfect* boots for winter.
20. Spend a weekend in the mountains with friends.
21. Buy something from Etsy for someone and for my house.
22. Develop my favorite pictures and hang them up.
23. Be a positive impact. Be aware of what I do, what I listen to and how I behave. You never know who you’re impacting.
24. Eat locally and naturally. Try to buy local and eat out at local restaurants.
25. Stop to smell the flowers. This year flew by and I was constantly caught up in the day-to-day. I want to remember to take it one step at a time and pause to enjoy it!

Here’s to a great year ahead and a great year behind! Pizza, cake and vino tonight. The only way to celebrate!

A lot of days I get caught up in the little things about life. The errands I have to run, the clothes I have to wash, the barf I stepped in barefoot that I have to clean up (thanks Charles). So today, in an effort to keep looking forward and remember all the great things coming up, here are a few things I’m looking forward to!

1.) Making something delicious for dinner.

2.) Going to the pool this weekend.

3.) Going to the beach in a couple of weeks.

4.) Disneyland.

5.) More summer BBQ’s.

6.) The leaves changing.

7.) The annual library book sale this fall. In which I get hundreds of books for next to nothing.

And just for fun a few things I’m not looking forward to:

1.) Buying Charles some dog surgery.

3,) The end of summer.

4.) Stepping in more barf. Or poop. Or other dog business.

What are you looking forward to?

*Photo Credits: Let Ideas Compete, Martin Cathrae, Visual Panic

Today is a big day. Meganastout.com is having a birthday. I’ve blogged for many years, but more privately… and not here. So for celebration’s purposes today is my Meganastout.com blogging birthday! Hooray! Cupcake anyone? Eh? I’m having one so you might as well cave… I’ll toss in champagne if you can say something witty? Eh, eh?

I have to say thank you to all of those that inspired anything I’ve written. My family for always being undeniably quirky and wonderful, my friends for their ever adventurous and changing lives, my dog for being so absolutely bizarre and for Furbys and peanut butter — because the number of searches that are generated with those two topics is absolutely shocking.

So to all of you out there looking for Furby’s, thanks for stopping by and making my day. Hopefully you find a Furby… and that will make yours! And to the rest of you… non-Furby readers thank you, thank you, thank you. I heart you all and if I could personally deliver cupcakes and champagne (if you’ve earned it) to you I would. But… in all honesty I’d probably eat each cupcake and drink all the champagne on the way over; so, my presence would have to suffice. Still interested? Thought so.

Some of my favorite things from the past year? Completing Nablopomo, making people laugh, being more honest with myself and my writing, keeping Charles alive, traveling (I know I’m behind on writing about it), crazy shenanigans with those I love, all the food I ate and cupcakes that met their maker… oh how the list could go on and on.

Again, thank you! And, here’s to many more blogging birthdays to come!

*”Birthday Cake” photo by Theresa Thompson.

My friend Kaitlyn lives in Indiana… and she has brought to my attention the art of Wassailing. Now, I live in Colorado and have never heard of such, Wassailing, in all my years (except in a few select Christmas numbers). Ahem:

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

- Here We Come A-Wassailing

For those of you that don’t know (I was one of you only a day ago), how Wassailing works , according to Kaitlyn is “we go to a house, sing and then go in for an hour and eat/drink/socialize before moving to the next”. This may not be the “classic” definition, but it’s there’s and I like it. Kaitlyn’s night went a little something like this:

House 1: Wine! Good Start!

House 2: Singing “Deck the Halls” and shaking Jingle Bells. Lots of food, Lindt chocolate and bubbly or beer!

House 3: Singing “Jingle Bells”… more food and a variety of alcohol.

– Updates sent via text message throughout the night for the sole purpose of making me insanely jealous.

Seeing as the Christmas spirit has all together skipped me this year, I think the one thing that could have saved me was Wassailing. I mean, really, I’m not so into public singing, as dogs are the only ones that can hear me and occassionally a window shatters. But really, on Christmas, who cares about the details. I’m sure I could be persuaded with a glass of wine and some Lindt chocolate to do just about anything, including sing. And, if by chance I won’t sing at the first house… a glass of wine will surely have me singing by the second. Right? Then a glass of bubbly and I’ll be belting out “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by the third.

Now, don’t go getting all crazy here. I’m not planning or dreaming of  singing songs about Christmas intoxicated. Not cool, being Christmas and all. But you know a glass of wine here, a hot toddy there, can’t hurt.

So, here’s to Wassailing, the lost art form at Christmas that I believe needs to be re-instated. Looks like I have a WHOLE year to plan. Food, drink, social festivities and singing like an idiot. All things I enjoy. Wassailing 2010 here I come.

I’m a big fan of comfort. I could live in sweatpants, shorts, pajamas, running skirts amongst a few other things. So soft, flowy, amazing. Now imagine my delight when I discovered that Christmas 2009 was going to involve a tacky sweater party. Because who doesn’t love a party that is based solely on comfort and tackiness? I have been elated and probably overly excited for the past month and a half. Part of this joy came from knowing my tacky sweater was going to put many others to shame. Shame I tell you. Not only was it tacky (because tacky it was), but it also played an array of Christmas tunes. I made everyone listen… which apparently looked like I was making them smell my sweater. Not awkward at all.

I decided that if you’re going to a tacky sweater party you have to do it right. No half-assing it for me. I decided to let Christmas throw up on me for a night and call it sexy. I’ve personally never been so attracted to myself. Amidst the madness and mayhem I forgot to get a full body shot… so you’ll have to do with the top half. In addition to the upper body amazingness I also had on knee high red/green striped socks with pom poms hanging down the side and fuzzy Christmas slippers. I realize that my description may cause some to feel intense feelings of attraction, but please try to restrain yourself. Check me out:

Ashlyn, Me and Jacqui (Schmacqui) getting tackified!

There was also a white elephant  and a plethora of wine to be had. At one point “Mr. Wee Wee” or whatever he is really called made an appearance. I surprised more than a few people and entertained comments about face peeing for the next several hours…

It was one amazing night all the way around.

The holiday season is upon (or up-on) us. Depending on whether you choose to clothe yourself in festive wear or not. I love the Christmas decorations, yule tide tunes, garland and twinkle lights. It doesn’t bother me one bit that KOSI 101.1 starts with the carols on November 1. I like it. I also thoroughly enjoy the cheesy songs that blast through every retailer’s speakers for the month of December. And maybe, just maybe, I aspire to like the mistletoe. We’re not there yet, but someday there may be hope.

Plus, with the holidays comes holiday food. Spiced nuts, peanut brittle, cookies, rum cake, snowman dip, kolaches, kringla, spiced cider, pumpkin spice coffee creamer, pies, and everything else.  YUM. Is it weird that I’m so focused on food? How some people think pay check to pay check… I think meal to meal. And the holidays just amplify that by a hundred.

All this being said, I’m having a little trouble boosting myself into the holiday season. I feel like giving, but shopping not so much. How blasphemous right? A girl, that doesn’t want to shop. The crowds and feeling like a herd of livestock in the mall is what is keeping me away. There is something not all that appealing about feeling like one of the herd in a stuffy, germ infested shopping mall around Christmas. I’m often tempted to squat down on my hands and knees and begin mooing – a cow costume would only add to the effect. If I wasn’t afraid people would think I was either 1.) giving birth or 2.) having some sort of episode I just might try it.

Maybe I need to make cookies and decorate them with festive sprinkles, or sleep with Christmas songs playing so they are engrained in my mind. Maybe I need to pay a visit to santa… though I’m not sure how high on the creeper scale that would rate. Maybe I need to buy a leotard and dance around to the nutcracker, or maybe I need to just give it up this year.

I love wine, and if you don’t love wine… well I’m not sure there is much hope for you. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but someone had to do it. I read this quote on the menu at Earl’s a few weeks ago and, honestly, it’s the best justification I’ve heard yet:

Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved. – Medieval German saying

Makes perfect sense to me.

Today is the official end of Nablopomo. THE END, the very end. I can now enjoy 11 months of posting whenever I want and seriously reduce the amount of swear words that come out of my mouth at about 10:00 each night. Serious freedom. I honestly can’t believe I made it. I’m impressed with myself and anyone else that managed to complete 30 days of posting joy. I would have a glass of wine, or four, but I’m in Louisville for work and I think that my incessant chatter and giggling might be frowned upon. Go figure.

This is exactly how I feel:

I realize it’s Tuesday. But I’ll have you know that yesterday was Monday, which for most people is an inherently no bueno day. Not my favorite that’s for sure. A few things happened… I won’t get into them because who wants to read some Debby Downer post about a lame Monday. I can tell you that I for one am not interested in such nonsense. I will, however, tell you how my friend Lindsey decided to cheer me up. I’ll give you one guess? Do you have it? You think you’ve totally got it, don’t you? Well, you’re wrong.

Unless your guess was “order me a 60 oz. margarita while I was in the bathroom” you are wrong. Don’t believe me? Whatever. It was 60 effing ounces. 60. That’s huge. After drinking it, not only was I a little fuzzy on the details but I felt like a beached whale. FULL OF STRAWBERRY MARGARITA. I also had a rough looking character cheering me on at the bar. I somehow managed to remember that he had had only 3 beers while I was downing the 60 oz. Some call me observant, others call me competitive. I’ll take it either way. I won. Here is my drink.

And here is Lindsey looking less than thrilled with my progress.

My littlest sister is turning 21 tonight. I can’t even believe it. Happy Birthday Sarah!

*I’m allowed one pathetic post this month, give me a break!