Sometimes, Melissa runs her legs. Sometimes, she runs her mouth.

Author: melissa (Page 5 of 40)

2013 in review

I can’t lie. This year was hard for me personally and professionally.

The perfect metaphor for my year could be the story of my cellphones

First, I proved to the world that I could not be trusted to talk on the phone and pump my gas at the same time. I ended up leaving my phone on the trunk and drove off. The phone didn’t fall off the car until I was on the road and managed to get run over by many cars in the process. It turned out that I was eligible for an upgrade anyway so I got a replacement phone.

PHONE TWO: I got mugged within two weeks of having the replacement phone. I got insurance to send a replacement for that phone.

PHONE THREE: The phone store didn’t have an otter box for it at the time. My cat decided that he needed to be snugged RIGHT NOW and jumped on my shoulder as I was talking on the phone. I dropped the phone. It managed to shatter in a way that I couldn’t even turn it off. Somehow the second number on my account (and the phone my mother uses since she never actually talks that much or uses “smart phone” technology”) was eligible for an upgrade.

PHONE FOUR: That is the phone I have now. I got the biggest most bodacious Otter Box on this thing altogether.

So yeah I got knocked around a lot but ultimately nothing permanent.

I managed to go to a dinner party that turned into an urban legend– complete with its own entry in snopes.com.

I completed the Little Rock half marathon again.

I managed to start up the Arkansas Governor’s School Alumni association. I got people to be on the board. I got Doug Shipman to come speak to the current AGS class.

But yeah I am ready for a new year. Come on 2014. I am waiting to see what’s in store.

A Christmas Eve Miracle

2013 has not been a good year for me and the experience had left me quite morose and misanthropic. This Christmas snuck up on me like a viper. I ended up buying all my gifts on December 23rd. I still haven’t sent out Christmas cards and my apartment was a complete mess when I finally cleaned up enough not to create a biohazard in my absence on the 24th. I left the house around 3 p.m. and this was after a phone call from my mother around noon asking where I was.

It is a tradition at my Grandma’s house to eat ham sandwiches. The ham is homemade cooked ham and not deli meat. It is usually served with white bread and pimento and cheese. I am not a fan of pimento and cheese but it is always there. We also open presents on the 24th. This is a leftover tradition from the days when Santa still loved us: we would open our gifts from the family on Christmas eve in order to make room under the tree for Santa to do this jolly good thing.

Now with all this tradition, my leaving at three meant that I was not meant to arrive at my Grandma’s house until 6 or so. I called the cell and told my Dad I was leaving. He was grumpy but he told me not to speed because the police were out.

About an hour into my trip, I heard this thud and them this “whomp whomp whomp” with my car slowing down at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, I had heard this sound before and knew what it meant: a blow out.I wasn’t near an exit with a service station and I wasn’t quite near an actual town. By this point, my parents were over 100 miles away from my car.

I managed to pull over on the shoulder and it is sunset so there is still light but it is fading fast. I call my parents to let them know that I will be even later due to the car that misogyny bought. My Dad gets on the phone and reminds me why we have the terse relationship that we do and I hung up the phone in tears. I knew my Dad was calling the State Police for them to do something. I contemplated not even going to my grandmother’s house.

I have an autoclub membership but it is pretty slow and I was dreading how slow it was going to be on Christmas Eve when I heard a tap on my passenger side window. There was a 30something woman on the other side,”Are you alright? Do you have someone helping you?” I tell her my story and by this point, a man had stepped up beside her. He asked if I had a spare and yes, yes I did. Unfortunately, the car that misogyny bought did not have the jack. Oh the I told you so’s on this one. Fortunately the man had a jack in his car and he managed to unload what must have been Santa’s stash to get to it. There was a bunch of stuff on the ground. That is all I am going to say. And before I could say, “well now that I have a jack….” He was carrying that tire to the front of the car and unscrewing those leg nuts. [Do you unscrew lug nuts?]

I talked with the lady. She was a middle school teacher. She taught sixth grade and they were going to be having a quiet dinner with a Christmas celebration later.

And then it was done. My car was fixed by these strangers who just saw a car on the side of the road near Christmas time. They didn’t know me. They did, however, know the State Trooper who finally pulled over about the time the tire was completely changed. It turned out he and I shared the exact same birth date. I thanked them profusely and was on my way.

After having time to inspect the tire itself, I am surprised that I didn’t lose control of the car. I am also surprised that no one hit me. There were a lot of people making a mad last minute dash for Christmas. I am also surprised that I wasn’t on the side of the road for 10 minutes before someone pulled over. I know from past experience that the autoclub would have least taken an hour even on a good day. For the first time in an awfully long time, I smiled and believed in people. It was a Christmas miracle indeed.

Sadness

“Anne, I don’t want to live. . . . Now listen, life is lovely, but I Can’t Live It. I can’t even explain. I know how silly it sounds . . . but if you knew how it Felt. To be alive, yes, alive, but not be able to live it. Ay that’s the rub. I am like a stone that lives . . . locked outside of all that’s real. . . . Anne, do you know of such things, can you hear???? I wish, or think I wish, that I were dying of something for then I could be brave, but to be not dying, and yet . . . and yet to [be] behind a wall, watching everyone fit in where I can’t, to talk behind a gray foggy wall, to live but to not reach or to reach wrong . . . to do it all wrong . . . believe me, (can you?) . . . what’s wrong. I want to belong. I’m like a jew who ends up in the wrong country. I’m not a part. I’m not a member. I’m frozen.”

? Anne Sexton, Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters

Roy Lichtenstein - Hopeless, Pop Woman Crying - Online Art Gallery -...

As hard as I try, I can’t seem to shake the malaise. It is stuck to me like tar, burning my skin. I scream and no one hears. I know I won’t be the same after this. It seems so all encompassing. I am forgotten. Somewhere there is a me who knows how to handle everything– Who feels young and smart. Maybe she’s a figment of my imagination. Maybe I am too broken to be repaired. I don’t want to burden anyone with my incessant whining over insignificant things. People want fun and positivity and I am not that person anymore. I may not have been that person ever.

Social Media Pow Wow

My friend Stephanie is a connector. She is the person who knows everybody. She also wants all her friends to become better people by learning from each other. She has turned her house into a salon by having these casual parties where we learn something. I went to a book club discussion of Lean In. Last week, I went to learn about social media.

The talk was titled “How to market your business, self, cause in the digital age.” Emily Reeves works at Stone Ward, an advertising agency in Little Rock, gave a presentation. She helps companies implement social media for a living. I took notes like I was in school. I learned that the shelf life of a tweet is 3 minutes. I learned about websites and messaging. It was an honor to have someone take time out of their day and provide their expertise for free. I was also inspired to start posting here more often and get other projects off the ground.

I was also inspired by the other women who attended. It was a community of dreamers and doers. I met a woman who is helping Arkansans get more energy efficient homes. I met a woman who is going to change the law involving heir property. I met a woman who is part of a start up making 3-D printers. It was a place full of intelligence and passion. The people wanted to learn but they also wanted to support each other in their endeavors. I was honored to be a part of it.

oh Emily was wearing a fabulous outfit.

Thanksgiving Gratitude

The turkeys are thankful to not be dinner

The turkeys are thankful to not be dinner

Tomorrow is the day of the Turkey. The day to give Thanks for all your blessings and a time to spend with friends or family. For the most part, I have spent Thanksgiving with my family. When my Dad’s parents were alive, I would spend Thanksgiving on their farm with many of my Dad’s five brothers and sisters and their kids. It was a large event with at least twenty people in attendance. The food cooking duties were shared among the various family members and we would come together to eat and play. In many ways, this was the only time of the year we would all be together.

Time marched on. My Mamaw died and my Papaw got Altzheimer’s. For a couple of years, we would go to the farm but it wasn’t the same. Mamaw was the glue that held us together and without her big heart, we scattered across the State. One of my Aunts had five kids of her own and when her kids got to having their own kids, she started having her own Thanksgiving at her house.

Now we have Thanksgiving at my Mom’s Mom’s house and the best dog in the world. It’s a tiny intimate affair and my Grandma cooks way too much food. I could probably eke out leftovers until Christmas if I really wanted to do so. She is my last living grandparents and she is getting older. She is noticing her aging and it frustrates her. She goes to many medical appointments but she, at 82, is still able to live alone and tell me a good tale. I am grateful that she is still with me, body and spirit. She is pure love.

50 things about me

Yeah yeah. well I noticed that Foodie Esq. did this. I also haven’t blogged in a while. Obviously I love lists.

  1. I am named after a soap opera character but my Mom doesn’t remember much about the actual character now.
  2. I don’t look my age. (or so other people tell me. They always guess younger)
  3. I started getting gray hair in my late twenties
  4. I used to be an investigator — like Veronica Mars
  5. Veronica Mars is one of my favorite TV shows of all time.
  6. Yes I sent some kickstarter money to get the Veronica Mars movie made
  7. I am tall for a woman
  8. I used to be thin but now I am obese
  9. My grandparents have a family farm/deer camp with no electricity, no running water, and an outhouse
  10. I am from Arkansas
  11. I live in Arkansas now
  12. I spent a little over 5 years in the DC with a summer in NYC.
  13. I still miss the East Coast
  14. I miss the diversity of big cities, especially one chock full of embassies
  15. I was a legal observer (think poll watcher for protests) at the 2000 IMF/World Bank protest in DC. It was huge
  16. I play piano
  17. As a kid, I wanted to grow up and become a concert pianist.
  18. I was inspired by a cartoon of Bugs Bunny playing Listz’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2.
  19. I made it pretty far. I got to college with a music scholarship but ultimately didn’t desire to be music faculty at a college
  20. I have a box of piano trophies in my closet.
  21. I have seen every episode of Six Feet Under
  22. I have also seen every episode of Dawson’s Creek
  23. My two favorite books of all time are Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
  24. Strangely enough, they are both studies about how a person’s views and personality alters his perception of the world.
  25. I think cell phone typing has totally fucked by ability to write grammatically correct sentences. I have to edit like a Mother fucker now.
  26. I curse like a sailor
  27. I like the idea of cooking but I don’t cook that much.
  28. i am a twitter fool
  29. I am a crime magnet
  30. I’ve been mugged
  31. I have had my car stolen
  32. I have had another car broken into
  33. Someone burglarized my apartment
  34. My apartment was broken into on the date of my first law school exam as a 1L.
  35. Seriously that was fucked up.
  36. I was so wired about exams that I was more upset that the burglars had ransacked my notes and outlines in the process of going through my stuff than the actual taking of my stuff.
  37. They did take my alarm clock
  38. I almost missed my second law school exam as a 1L because I set the clock wrong.
  39. I woke up 40 minutes before the exam was to start.
  40. How I managed to wake up, put on clothes, get my papers together, get a cab, and make that cab take me from Adams Morgan to the law school in that short period of time, I WILL NEVER KNOW!!!!!
  41. I like to run.
  42. I have completed the Little Rock half marathon four times
  43. I, unfortunately, due to a cranky calf a little bit of laziness, have fallen off the running wagon and am hopping back on.. like now.
  44. I think Capital Hotel pens are the best pens in America.
  45. I think boiled okra is the grossest food ever.
  46. If dinosaurs had boogers, they would look like boiled okra.
  47. When I was a kid, I would “tromp cotton” with my cousins.
  48. I am fascinated by the Allen House
  49. I have raging insomnia.
  50. I am extremely critical of myself

My big fat BBQ weekend

The House of Gee

The House of Gee

Several months ago, Kelly Gee and his lovely wife Erica started a Kickstarter campaign to procure a super duper mega BBQ smoker. The real name of the super duper mega BBQ smoker is the “Boca Roto” smoker. It is a BBQ machine. It has platforms that rotate above the flame. It is large enough to smoke a human body. Not that I advocate that sort of thing but it is feasible. I am pretty sure that is illegal so don’t point to this blog as permission. Leave human bodies alone.

Ahem..

So as a “Thank you” for all kickstarter donators who donated $25.00 or over, the Gees threw a celebratory BBQ at their house and provided a jar of the Super awesome Gee spice rub for your own BBQ needs. So this weekend. I took a trip to the House of Gee. Look it even has a plaque on the door. Is that charming or what?

Kelly didn’t hold back. He rubbed and smoked all the meats. There were ribs. There was chicken. There was pulled pork. It all had been rubbed down and smoked until it was JUST RIGHT. There was also a choice of 3 sauces: Tipsy Sauce (A bourbon sauce), Mustard Sauce, and the East Arkansas Red (a vinegar based hot sauce). This was tasty food. The ribs were tender and flavorful. The rub on the ribs was enough flavor that a sauce wasn’t necessary. The chicken was smoky. The bourbon sauce was sweet with a kick. The pork was also tender and made a dang fine sandwich.

Of course, there were sides. There was blue cheese slaw. There was potato salad. There were bacon wrapped jalapenos. There was deserts: cupcakes, brownies, diet coke cake (?)

As you can tell it was a feast.

Kelly Gee knows how to smoke a rib.  Potato salad is at the bottom and to the right is the bourbon sauce

Kelly Gee knows how to smoke a rib. Potato salad is at the bottom and to the right is the bourbon sauce

And there were friends. All the foodie friends I have met at different foodie functions were there. Kevin of the Mighty Rib and Red Lobster Biscuit coma fame was there. So was Dan the writer over at Eat Arkansas. Greg of Rock City Times. Thanh of Red Kitchen Recipes. Joel from Southern Ash and his wife Amanda. It was a good time.

Sweet Love fall cupcake extravanganza

On Tuesday, Kelli, ninja baker and owner of Sweet Love had a “fall flavors tasting” on Tuesday. All the new fall flavors in mini cupcake form for free. It was a tasty treat-o-rama. I got to see many of my twitter friends like Erin, Paul Strack of CustomXM, Kelli the baker, Micca… A BUNCH OF PEOPLE OKAY!..
Here are the pictures.

New fall flavors in mini cupcake form

New fall flavors in mini cupcake form

From left to right: Snicker Doodle, Caramel Apple, Bananas Foster, and Pumpkin Pie

The snicker doodle was based on the flavors of the popular cinnamon covered cookies. The cake is a vanilla base with a cinnamon buttercream icing. It was my favorite.

I didn’t have the caramel apple but I was told there was real apple chunks in the cake.

The Bananas foster was a banana cupcake with what I think was a vanilla cream cheese frosting. My talent of distinguishing between butter cream and cream cheese frosting is non existent. A banana cupcake is very similar to banana bread. The frosting did not overpower the cupcake.

Pumpkin pie. (Sorry I didn’t eat this one)

More fall flavors from Sweet Love

More fall flavors from Sweet Love

From Left to right: Spiced Rum, Pumpkin Latte, Italian Cream, and Some Like it Hot (dark chocolate with a dash of Cayenne)

Spiced rum was with a cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Latte was a pumpkin cupcake base. It was moist and had a consistency similar to the banana foster cupcake but with the cinnamon and nutmeg associated with a pumpkin pie. The frosting was a cream cheese frosting covered in a dusting of cinnamon.

Italian Cream

Some like it Hot is a dark chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate frosting with a dash of cayenne. What can I say but pure deliciousness. The cayenne is not overpowering and merely enhances the dark chocolate.

Grand Prix run run

The Arkansas chapter of the Road Runners Club of America has announced its Grand Prix calendar for 2014.

January 26, One Hour Track Run, Danville, championship race
February 1, River Trail 15k, North Little Rock, championship race
February 8, Valentine’s Day 5k, Russellville
February 16, Run the Line Half Marathon, Texarkana
March 8, Chase Race 2 Mile, Conway, championship race
March 22, Spring Fling 5k, Cabot
April 5, Capital City Classic 10k, Little Rock, championship race
May 3, Toad Suck Daze 10k, Conway
May 24, Rock Run 8k, Little Rock
June 14, Go! Mile, championship race, also national RRCA 1 mile championship
June 21, Arkansas Runner 2 Mile, Benton
August 2, White River 4 Mile, Batesville, championship race
August 9, Watermelon 5k, Hope
August 30, ARK 5k, North Little Rock, championship race
September 20, Arkansas 20k, Benton, championship race
October 4, Chile Pepper XC 10k, Fayetteville, championship race
October 18, Survivors’ Challenge 10k, Fort Smith
November 1, Midsouth Marathon, Wynne, championship race
November 22, Spa 10k, Hot Springs
December 13, CASA Half Marathon, Pine Bluff

It’s a great way to meet people and run races. Also, you get the opportunity to see the four corners of Arkansas. I had a lot of fun starting this out but then cranky calf and other life things got in the way. I am starting over with my mileage and doing the Little Rock half training program with the small miles (I am at the build up stage) with yoga and weights as cross training.

So for now, I am just working up on building up mileage and figuring out how to not make my calves cranky. Those are my two goals, which ultimately are subgoals to my 101 in 1001 goal of completing a Grand Prix.

101 in 1001 list

I am a compulsive list maker. Part of the reasoning behind the compulsive listmaker is that I have a tendency to get overwhelmed and I have found taking big tasks and dividing them into the manageable small task chunks makes me less frazzled and more productive. Also, my job means I have more to do than I could possibly store to memory so I have to write it down anyway.

I also have been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I believe that the combination of self reflection and goal setting is a good way to keep a girl grounded. I find that I am more focused with clearly defined goals. As far as self help books, I am a big fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. It provides a system to execute your goals — right down to scheduling day to day activities. I might say it changed my life.

I found 101 in 1001 on blogs several years ago. I have thought about trying it out and I am in a place where I

Starting Tuesday, the deadline is Tuesday, June 21, 2016.

  1. Complete this list of 101 things
  2. Make a list of 101 things that makes Melissa happy
  3. Make cinnamon rolls from Scratch
  4. Learn to cook a dinner party worthy meal (or something that won’t embarrass me in front of the foodie friends)
  5. Get a bona fide cooking knife (Wustoff)
  6. Complete the Little Rock half marathon three times
  7. Complete the Arkansas Road Runner Clubs of America Grand Prix (You only have to complete 6 races, I think) I tried it this year and failed. 2013 has not been a good year for me
  8. Complete on marathon
  9. Do the Mississippi River half marathon It is near my grandma’s house
  10. Do yoga two days a week for a month
  11. Drink green monsters every day for a week
  12. Keep AGS Alumni afloat and turn it into a bonafide nonprofit with a speaker every year.
  13. To read all the books listed on the Modern Library 100 best novels list.
  14. To read all the books on the Radcliffe Best 100 novels list
  15. To attempt to learn to speak Spanish Fluently. (yeah we’ll see how this one goes)
  16. To call my Grandma once a week
  17. Go to Kenya
  18. Get a bicycle
  19. Incorporate a bicycle into my exercise routine
  20. Visit Washington DC
  21. See the Dandy Warhols in Concert
  22. Paint my adirondack chairs
  23. Grill something using the Kelly Gee grill seasonings I am getting in October 2013.
  24. Go Sky diving
  25. Make Homemade pop tarts with Nutella
  26. Do the William Faulkner tour in Oxford Mississippi
  27. Visit the Crystal Bridges Museum
  28. Try poutine
  29. Get a professional massage
  30. Get a facial
  31. Buy a classic handbag
  32. Watch 10 classic films
  33. Go to 10 concerts
  34. Donate to random business on Kickstarter
  35. Watch Veronica Mars Movie
  36. Get a crockpot
  37. Get three pieces of Fiestaware to add to my collection.
  38. Host a dinner party
  39. write more often on my blog. (at least one post per week)
  40. Put my day of the dead skeleton set up in my apartment. (yee haww)
  41. Get a cat
  42. Advertise for Bowen 5K every year
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