orlando

melissa and i

i think i can count the number of nights i've spent in my own bed in the last three months on one hand.  needless to say, i wasn't that excited about having to end my fun conference weekend early to get on a plane for another work event in orlando (one of my least favorite cities)

but lo and behold - i had a blast!  it was my first show of the year traveling with my group sales co-workers, and i realized how much i had missed them!  the group consisted of one of my closest office friends, three sales guys and a sales girl, and i had forgotten just how much i enjoy being on the road with them.  always laid back, drama free, and up for a good time - and that is exactly what we had.

even the exhibit hall hours flew fast with the catching up, the visiting canine companions for independence dogs, and the general camaraderie of the team.

after the hall closed, the girls and i donned swimsuits and took advantage of the lazy river boasted by our hotel (hilton bonnet creek - one of my favorite new properties) while the guys grabbed some snacks poolside.  it was a moment of complete and utter relaxation -- something extremely difficult to find on a business trip.

after getting dry, we joined the guys by the firepit and enjoyed dinner in our outdoor chaises before calling it a night.

the following day was more of the same, with a short reptile break (oh, the things you find on a trade show floor!) but i had talked the group into trying one of my favorite travel traditions, a movie at a 'dine-in' theater.  amc has several around the country (though none in california).  there are two types of theater, one, the fork & screen, the other, cinema suites.

melissa & i, eli &
kevin, eric & jeff

the fork & screen theaters offer super cushy chairs and each row has a bar in front of it, which comes in handy when you order your dinner or snacks from the full menu.  there is a button on the bar and you simply push it when you need something...a diet coke refill, more popcorn, a caesar salad...the cinema suites take it one step further and while there is no bar, you are in a full recliner, in pairs of two, with a table between you for your delectables.

the movie choice for the evening was 'avengers' (my second time) and was in one of the fork & screen theaters.  my co-workers were blown away by the experience (the movie was pretty awesome, too!).  they have come to trust my penchant for creating/finding unique experiences, but they were still impressed. and the best part for me is that these 'special' theaters cost about the same as a 'regular' theater in california. score!

looking forward to exploring atlanta with these guys next month!

(last) weekend update

every year my ward hosts what has become the largest mid-singles conference...anywhere.  when i first joined the ward a few years ago, i was asked to co-chair the event, and have not attended since.  my excuse is that i have been out of town for work or other prior commitments, but for the sake of full disclosure, it's been a relief to have an 'out'.

ben h & i -reunited

it may be an age thing or a tolerance thing, but my dislike of large social events has increased exponentially in the last several years. give me a dinner or activity with 3-10 people and i am happy to socialize.  any more than that and my comfort level plummets.  i think people behave differently in larger groups, and i just don't like it!  conversations are superficial, eyes wander, engagement suffers.  and here's where the lack of tolerance comes in. 

ben b & i - also reunited!

in my mind, it serves no purpose to invest in someone with whom the conversation will be superficial, the eyes will be wandering, and the engagement will be questionable. rather, if i am going to spend valuable time getting to know someone new, i want to believe there is a possibility that we will give each other a chance to be real...maybe not immediately disclosing our lifetimes of hopes and dreams, but at least getting past the 'where are you from?" question, and assessing whether there is any sort of foundation for building a friendship.

my new friend rod & my old friend jamie

so, when i started feeling like i should attend this year's conference, i also started fighting that feeling.  and i had an excuse. i had a work event.  i couldn't do it.  then i was asked to be on one of the planning committees, and i was happy to be of service--particularly since my travel often prohibits it.  and then, i realized, while working with some fabulous people that i hadn't known very well before, just how disconnected my travel schedule had made me.  and all of the sudden i stopped fighting the feeling that i should attend, and embraced it.

jamie, pete, and i

of course, it meant jumping through a lot of hoops to get my work event handled, and a very early flight out this morning to be in orlando by the time the event actually begins, but, i felt good about that.  ...then i started developing expectations.  i mean, if i was having to do some massive maneuvering to attend this thing, it better be worth it. right?

it took me a full two weeks beforehand to get my attitude adjusted. and, ultimately i decided that i wasn't going to let the possibility of meeting a guy or not meeting a guy determine the success or failure of the experience.  i would consider it a success if i had a good time.  

perfect day for some sunshine - with nicole

even that was slightly questionable however, and with some trepidation, i joined my friend jamie, and her friend kirsten for the opening friday night activities at a local bowling alley.

though i was highly doubtful that i would actually have any fun at this event, i was quickly proven wrong, when, from my anti-social-suck-on-a-soda perch, i saw an old virginia friend walk through the door.

in the hot air balloon at great park, irvine

one of many things i've learned over the last five years, is that as much as i appreciate california's perks and pleasures, i'm still really 'east coast'.  i don't know exactly what it means or how to explain it, but i know it makes me different from the west coast people.  i've struggled to find meaningful friendships here as a result (and forget dating a local!), and on the few occasions i have met someone with whom i instantly 'click', they have been from the east. so you can imagine how excited i was to see an east coast friend! and he wasn't the only one.  ben b. was also in town for the conference, and between the two of them, i felt like i had a little of my old home in my new home for a full 48 hours, and it was WONDERFUL!

after that, i had the weekend in the bag.  i enjoyed making new friends, getting back on my beach cruiser for the first time since my knee surgery, spending my first afternoon at the beach in almost as long, and just generally enjoying the positive energy of a weekend at home!

so glaad to be me - la

i'm watching jay leno right now, and jesse tyler ferguson, from modern family is on, talking about saturday night's event. WHICH I WAS AT.

the los angeles event, for me, was all about the jjjs (try and prounounce that in your head).  jesse is darn funny, but there were a few other jjjs i was weak-in-the-knees for: gilles marini (pronouced like 'jill'), josh hutcherson, joshua jackson, and jason mraz.  see what i mean about the 'jjjs'?

gilles, may be best known for his role as the naked neighbor in the first sex & the city movie (which, by the way, i did not even realize until someone told me) but i fell for him more recently. january, in fact -- when i netflixed the entire season of 'brothers & sisters', in which he had a fairly prominent role for a couple of the later seasons. and i came to adore the role, and the man in it, and could not believe it when he appeared on the guest list.

josh brought to life an amazing character in an amazing book, which, incidentally, i read long before there was even a rumor of a movie.  though he is not the peeta mellark i imagined when i read hunger games (nor most people i suspect),  i just don't think there is anyone on the hg bandwagon who WOULDN'T be excited to meet him.

joshua. oh joshua.  i love joshua.  but i love fringe joshua.  i never watched dawson's creek,  on principle, really.  i'm pretty sure the 13 year old girl that still lives inside of me would really really enjoy it, but i just have to make a stand about something and this is where i have drawn my line in the sand. but fringe. i love fringe, and i love him in fringe.  based on his character, i made assumptions that he was smart and sardonic - traits i appreciate in an actor, and well, really, just in people.  i was hoping to have the opportunity to test those assumptions.

jason, is a singer/songwriter i have followed for years, and who, if i'm being honest, may well be my favorite singer (with jason aldean making a close race of it).  since he is from virginia and used to play lots of small local shows (many of which i had the privilege of attending) i had seen him before.  but not in awhile.  something about when you knew someone 'way back when' and i just haven't being able to bring myself to go see him now, in a giant arena, in nosebleed seats, when i used to be able to touch him from my regular spot on the (old) 9:30 club floor.  i was excited to see him perform again.

in los angeles, unlike new york,  the red carpet area takes place inside what they refer to as the 'private celebrity reception'.  basically, it's one half of a ballroom, separated by pipe and drape, in which, only the really super special people can go.  except that it always seems that there are A LOT of super special people.  but i digress.

our sponsorship of the event grants us these super special golden passes, so i took up my position behind the stanchions, to see who i could see coming through the press line before i began my hard core stalking. my co-workers slowly joined me, and i was relieved when mike and his wife celeste arrived.  mike and celeste had proven themselves worthy companions at the 2011 event.  i knew i could say 'come now' to mike, and he'd be behind me, no matter how fast i was elbowing people out of my way, with camera in hand to capture whatever moment i was sure i was about to have!

mike, celeste & i with max adler (glee)

we saw grant gustin and mas adler from glee come through the line, and stepped out of our position briefly to grab a pic with max.  then came chaz bono and tabatha coffey and madison hildebrand from million-dollar listing.  then came sarah gilbert and ali larter, and oh! my! goodness! gilles flippin' marini.

i'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that a i emitted a squeal.  an actual squeal.  my knees actually went weak, and i am actually retarded.  i know. and for the sake of gilles, i do not care (see reference to 13 year old girl in previous post).

we watched as gilles s-l-o-w-l-y made his way through the press line.  far far too slowly. dinner time was coming much to quickly, and every second was counted by my pounding heart and my nervous breaths.  i was desperately afraid that we would be forced to leave the room for dinner before he had finished the press line and exited into an area where i hoped i could tackle him.  while mike, celeste, and i waited, we ran into our old groupie friends, whom we had met last year.  one of them, who we will call 'd', is a brash, in-your-face, get what she wants, when she wants it, FORCE of a woman.  this was good news for me, because i wasn't actually sure i would be able to speak to gilles if an appropriate moment to do so arrived.  which, eventually, after what seemed like 100 years, finally did.

as he exited the line, d simply said 'gilles!  this is my friend tara and she has been D-Y-ing to meet you.'  he  turned to me, took my hand, kissed my cheek, and with his french accent said:

'ello tara.  it is a pleasure to meet you.  how ARE you tonight?

i think i said something to the effect of having a great night, really excited to meet him, did he know there's a 13 year old girl that lives inside of me?

okay, i have NO IDEA what i said.  but we stood there chatting for a good two minutes before we posed for a photo together. and when we were done.  he put one hand on my arm, holding my hand with his other one, while i told him that i was kind of shaking right now and could he feel me shaking? he laughed that beautiful french laugh (yes, even his laugh sounds french) and said:

i'm sooo glad you came tonight.  i am so glad I am here tonight, so that i could get to meet you.

the fact that i managed to stay upright is nothing short of a miracle.  i thanked him, he gave me a hug and another kiss on the cheek, and i bid him adieu, only then realizing that there was a crowd of about 20 people who had followed the whole exchange.  while some were clearly excited about my obviously unique exchange, others were clearly annoyed that he had spent so much time with me.  i did not care one bit.

i will admit that i was curious, in that 13 year old girl way, whether he would interact with others in the same fashion, so i hung back for a minute to watch. suffice it to say, he did not, he was warm and gracious, but had none of the effusiveness i had experienced.

i was a moron.  but a blissfully happy moron. so happy that i have even posted a couple of truly terrible photos of me here to better convey the experience. and, while that would remain the absolute most thrilling moment of the evening, there were other great ones.

after the gilles experience--that's what it's called now, by the way, 'the gilles experience', tge for short --we hustled to the ballroom as the rest of our group had already started on dinner. we sat down but could see that there were still a lot of seats to be filled.  we, again, had an amazing table, and while i was chatting with my event contact, celeste pointed out that joshua jackson was standing behind me.

anybody who has seen me hop out of a chair with lightning speed for a photo with a 'desirable' celebrity would think i was lying about ever having had a knee injury or the fact that i still can't walk up stairs in high heels.  if only i could find myself in a constant state of 'adrenaline rush' maybe this knee would finally heal right!

my event contact instantly sensed my desire to meet aught on quickly that i wanted to meet him.  in a split second, mid-conversation, she had turned around and introduced herself,  then me.  it was flawless, and i later thanked her for the assist.  unlike tge i was soooo cool with joshua.  we took a photo first and (warning: fringe spoilers ahead!!)  i casually mentioned that i had just seen the latest episode.  he asked me what i thought and i told him i thought it was great (which it was), that i was happy to see him out of the amber, and congratulated him on being a new father (on the show).  he joked that he too was happy to be out of the amber, and that it tended to have a negative effect on the skin, as he rubbed his scruffy chin.

i later learned that he had recently attended coachella, a ginormous music festival here in california, which explained the scruffiness. and what i learned during our interchange, is that he is smart, and he is sardonic, and my greatest hopes and assumptions about him had been confirmed.

but my evening was not over yet, oh no.  here comes josh hutcherson, walking by our table. and yes, the leaping was in full effect again!

i realize and appreciate that in some ways i live a charmed life.  here i was, 'doing my job', eating a delicious meal, with milla jovovich, joshua jackson, benecio del toro, and molly shannon eating the same meal at the table next to me.

the only disappointment of the evening was that jason mraz had a cold.  so, while he did come out and chat with the audience a bit, he did not perform. that WAS a disappointment, but the rest of the evening had so far exceeded my crazy warped non-expectation expectations, i didn't begrudge him his cold.  and there was ellen, and betty white, and more gilles, and a surprise appearance by CHER, and i really didn't have any right to do so anyway.

it was a delightfully perfect evening, and i am so grateful for it.

check out the full album of pics here.

so glaad to be me - new york

you may remember that last year i attended a series of award shows for work, and managed to have some very cool opportunities.  i met kirsten dunst, and julie bowen, and michael & mondo from project runway, and west wing goddess alison janney was sitting at the next table over, for crying out loud!  it was an amazing experience, largely amazing because every second of it felt like icing.  i was just happy to be nominated *ahem* invited.  and since i had no idea what to expect, i didn't expect anything.  as much as humanly possible, i try to operate under a strict no or low expectations modus operandi.  this has two significant outcomes: 1) it fosters genuine appreciation and gratitude, and 2) it goes a long way to the  prevention of having your hopes smashed into a thousand tiny sharp protruding-edged pieces.

but this year, i had expectations. i am an award show veteran now, after all.  (HAR HAR)  what's worse is that unlike last year, where every celebrity introduction was a cool bonus, among this year's announced celebrity attendees were a small number of people i reeealllly wanted to meet.  and i was certain i was doomed.  i had a very strong feeling that this year, when it actually mattered to me, i would have to resign myself to being in the same room with some of those folks (rough life, i know), because no way, would i actually get to meet them. because i wanted to.  but last year i did! but this year....  you can see where this is going.

at last year's events, i was fearless. i saw someone recognizable, i approached them.  the worst they could say was 'no, i will not take a photo with you', and really, that made them the jerk, not me. and when it came down to it, these were the kind of famous people where i could both be excited to meet them and also not be heartbroken if they turned out to be jerks.  this year however, there were a couple of folks (mostly at the upcoming los angeles event), who, if they had 'rejected' me, i would have been sincerely disappointed.

fortunately, i had a ramp up.  the new york event comes first, and i was genuinely surprised at the bump that this year's event got over last year's.  in 2011 tina fey hosted.  she was a smart funny host, as expected, but we never saw her off stage.  in fact, the only person we saw out among us little people was gail simmons - which only appeals to us top chef watchers.

this year however, cory monteith and naya rivera from glee hosted the event.  i met naya in san francisco last year, so, no big (wink), but the event also included dakota fanning, harvey weinstein, padma lakshmi, megan hilty, bernadette peters, and john stamos, to name a few.  thankfully, when dakota fanning happened to pass by me, sitting on a chair, in a corner, resting my aching feet, i literally hopped-to, aching feet and all, and discovered that my fear had completely dissipated.

the evening was thoroughly enjoyable.  there was a completely unscripted moment where naya and corey were auctioning off kisses and john stamos began 'bidding' on corey.  he then decided to auction himself instead.  this video doesn't quite capture the hilarity, but it was a surprise to everyone.

meeting dakota was of course, a highlight, but my favorite moment was when i ran into megan hilty on my way back from the restroom, and without a co-worker in sight to take a photo, i whipped out the self-portrait stick and handled my business.

i realize megan may not be as 'famous' as some of the other folks, but i saw her play glinda. in wicked.  'nuff said!

so the warm up was behind me, and i could still 'groupie' with the best of them.  i was ready for los angeles.  except, oh no, those dang expectations!

checkout the glaad ny album for all my pics.

salsa

i was craving salsa on monday. so i MADE salsa.

in fact, it's not the only thing i've made in the last week.  for the easter celebrations with the cousins, i made an orange creamsicle fruit dip that looks like this:

and tastes like this:

AND, i made cream cheese corn with bacon:

many factors have combined to incite this strange behavior...  i've been home since march 25th and won't be leaving again until april 20th, my roommate has been on spring break and i've had the house to myself for over a week, and there was a holiday involving a meal.

this is the first time i have had more than a few waking hours to myself in, i don't even know how long.  and despite the fact that i've been sick for days with another cold, just having the house to myself for a little while has been so energizing and invigorating and fan-freaking-tastic.

in addition to all the use i'm putting my kitchen to, i've managed to complete a number of tasks that i have been meaning to get to for ages. by 9am last saturday morning i had started and finished my taxes, cleaned the floors and made the previously mentioned creamsicle dip in preparation for sunday's celebration.  i cannot remember the last time i was that productive, usually spending my limited time at home in my bed, watching tv, trying to get caught up on sleep and energy levels.

even though i was at work all week, i feel like i had my own little spring break. me and the dogs. :)