Tuesday, September 06, 2005

katrina relief events

Tuesday, September 6
The Gentlemen of The Cadre are joining forces with the Wild West, The Red Cross and The Lutheran Disaster Relief to raise funds and collect needed emergency relief items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans. Join us for our own "Hurricane Party" Tuesday September 6th beginning at 6 pm til 10 at the Wild West on Richmond just west of Fountainview. Receipts will be provided for your generous donations. What to bring? Cash, bottled water, personal items, canned goods, individual meal items, cereal, peanut butter, jelly, tuna or soup And I am sure you can think of other items that might be needed. 6 to 10 pm

Wednesday, September 7
Hurricane Relief Ride Mark Blackshear of Cyclone Cycles and his wife Rosemary are organizing a Hurricane Relief Ride for next Wednesday evening, September 7th. Rice University has already agreed to permit the use of their parking lot as a gathering spot. Mark and Rosemary have already collected an impressive amount of new clothing and are hoping cyclists will show up with gently used articles and canned food. Rosemary (nadler2004@yahoo.com) is looking for volunteers to help with traffic control at a few of the intersections, and help with a few other tasks. Collections will begin at Rice University at approx. 4:30 pm. The bicycle ride will begin at approx. 7:30 pm. http://www.bikehouston.org/content/view/270/2/

Thursday, September 8
Houston networkers, our friends from the Gulf Coast region need our assistance! We are calling on all Houston networking professionals to join us for a fundraiser benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Come out Thursday, September 8th beginning at 5:30 p.m. to Tribeca (2707 Fountainview at Westheimer) and network for a good cause, minimum of $10 at the door. Please note: ALL proceeds will go to the Houston Chapter of the Red Cross. We are asking that you please inform your friends and associates about this event. Email to rdyoder@houstonnetworkingnews.com or http://houstonnetworkingnews.com

Friday, September 9
Brennan's of Houston at 3300 Smith is hosting a fundraiser/open house Sept. 9 from 10 a.m to 8 p.m. Stop by for hors d'oeuvres and wine for a minimum donation of $40, benefiting the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Disaster Relief Fund. http://www.brennanshouston.com/

Saturday, September 10 & 11
Houston Rock for Hurricane Katrina Relief, a 16-band event 7 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, and 3 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11 at Numbers, 300 Westheimer; suggested donation $8-$12. Performers include Arthur Yoria, Camino, Hellfire Revival, Spain Colored Orange, Sharks and Sailors and New Orleans band the Last Saints.Door and bar proceeds benefit fund. Donations of canned goods, bottled water, hygiene products and toys also welcome. 713-526-6551. The McCormick Tribune Foundation Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and the American Red Cross. The McCormick Tribune Foundation Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund is currently matching cash donations $0.50 on the dollar. http://houston.MyCityRocks.com

Saturday, September 10 & 11
Traders Village Country Roots Music Festival, Sept. 10-11, is now a fundraiser in support of the American Red Cross and its efforts to serve evacuees in the greater Houston area. Still a free music festival, attendees will be encouraged to donate cash (no other items will be accepted). http://www.tradersvillage.com/events/hn/05-bluegrass.html

Monday September 12
Get a spiritual lift from the new film "ONE". "ONE" asks the big questions of life to people on the street and to many of the world’s most renowned and respected spiritual leaders, authors, icons, and celebrated masters including Barbara Marx Hubbard, Father Richard Rohr, Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Father Thomas Keating, and B.T. Swami, with comment from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. This backyard film from the Midwest that has been called a "deeply moving film" may just help unite humanity. One time screening in Houston on September 12th at 7:30pm at the River Oaks Theater. Tickets are $10 each and proceeds will simply pay for the grassroots effort bringing the film here. www.onethemovie.org.

posted by monica @ 5:46 PM 9 comments

Monday, September 05, 2005

tha wrap up: week of aug 29

monday 8.29

well, as some of you know, i've recently been presented with an opportunity to make my passion my career, and in a way i owe it to all of you for keeping tha mo down going strong. For those who don't know, my current career is in engineering, and tha mo down is simply an excuse to exercise my hobby of writing and graphic design. a few weeks back i was contacted by a marketing agency who had come across a copy of tha mo down. they asked me to do some freelance projects with them, and i did, thinking it was just a great way to have some fun doing what i loved and making some extra cashola at the same time. little did i know, they had other intentions in mind. Last week I was offered a full time position with them. their office is in Midtown, literally a mile from my house (sa-weeet!). I accepted on Monday and begin my new career with Mikel Marketing on Monday October 3rd. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time, and I'm so thankful to all my friends and family for helping me to make this decision. I think i'm going to be very happy finally being able to do what i love. Will keep you posted on how everything goes.

wednesday 8.31

Today was our first day of ballet class! Kasey, Jaime, Ashley and I have signed up though Leisure Learning to take ballet! It's a beginner class, of course, and we were all very excited about it. ok, ballet is HARD!! I'm a fairly good dancer and I was NOT expecting it to be this difficult! But it was fun! and we all laughed at each other, ashley even got hit by the teacher with a noodle! I'm not going to even try to spell all of the things we learned, my french is rusty, and by rusty i mean non-existent. i'm sure this only the first of amusing stories that will come about from this new venture! oh, and totally the week of new jobs!!! Jaime got a job offer with Foley's as an assistant buyer!!! and Ashley received her second offer from one of the 2 law firms she interned with this summer. I believe she has accepted with Baker Botts and will begin with them next year following her 3rd year at U of H Law!! So of course we all went out to celebrate. Jaime's husband Brian met us at Berryhill Tamales in the Heights for some dinner and 'ritas. and our muscles needed it after those demi plies!!

thursday 9.1

We started off a birthday celebration for new mom and good friend Kerri at midtown's Thirsty Cactus. Formerly Casa Manhattan (i say this because i liked it much better then), the place was nearly empty all through happy hour, but the 'ritas were good, and at $3 i couldn't resist. After dinner we walked over to Pub Fiction ( i swear i should be getting my frequent flyer card in the mail any day now). You've all heard me say it the last few weeks, I love this place on thursdays (ahem, and fridays, and saturdays...). It's always packed and you can't beat the drink specials (retro drafts, $2 all nite) plus where else can you dance to Aha while watching Miami Vice on the big screen? At least this thursday I made it home before the lights came on.

friday 9.2

ya know, sometimes i don't even know why i waste the brain power on convincing myself that i am "going to stay home and take it easy" for a change. i promise friday night began as a chance to stay home, relax, get some things done around the house; and ended at 3 am fours bars later. my roommate knows me way too well. he knows how to push my buttons and he knows that the best way to appeal to me is #1 tell me that i can be in charge, and #2 show off this wonderful city to out of town visitors. in the rare case of friday night, both of these collided. Dave had friends in town from NYC and Ogi had a friend in from L.A. Jackpot! a chance to represent to these fellow metropolitan residents that H-town can hang with their cities! (well at least that Midtown could!) Dave and I picked up his friends, Zach & Erica (from NYC), from their hotel and met Ogi & his friend, Kate (from L.A.), at Drink Bar/Barfly (Main and Alabama) for a drink. Needless to say, they were probalby pretty happy to see us, judging by the fact that before we walked in there were only 2 other people: the bartender and the door guy. and knowing that Ogi starts getting the shakes if there are less than 100 people in the place, we knew we wouldn't be there long. After much debate, mostly among Ogi and I who can never agree on where to go, we compromised on trying out Light again, and then walking over to Red Door (this was a true compromise for me as you all know my feelings on Red Door). Light was cool, a little more crowed than the last time we went. And for only being open for 3 weeks, we were all surprised to find a bachelorette party had arrived and parked on the upstairs loft. Chris, Ennis, and Pernaz joined us and after few drinks and some good conversation with Ogi's friend from L.A. (yes, she loves houston! score!), we walked across the street to Red Door. I will say, the only reason i conceded here was to show our out of town guests the view from the upstairs bar, truly is one of the good things about this place (ok, only good thing). After a few drinks, even Euroman himself admited it wasn't somewhere we wanted to end the night, so some took off for Bond and Dave, Erica, Zach & Chris opted for the ole (new) stand-by, Pub Fiction. The place was packed, and now that I think about it, it may have been the first Friday night that I have been here. I had a great time getting to know Erica & Zach, and was so excited that they left with a good impression of Houston nightlife! Score one for monnie mo!

saturday 9.3

saturday night kristy and i attended the tori amos concert at the hobby center. it had been a few years since i had seen the fairy queen (i never miss her when she comes through town) and this marked my 5th show. it's crazy the diversity of her fans, and kristy and i both agreed that there was an unusual amount of guys at this show, besides the usual "drag along boyfriend" and gay tori fan, one of whom i had to commend for his blunt honesty. he wore a shirt that simply stated "I love dick." think about how much easier my life would be if all guys could partake in this statement of sexual gravitation? brilliant. highlight of the show for me was "tori's piano bar" where she would take requests from the crowd. she attempted bonnie sommerville's winding road serveral times before giving up, only to come back out and nail it on her 2nd encore. she also dedicated a sultry house of the rising sun to our new orleans neighbors, and to us, their "great commrades." a tori amos concert is truly an experience that i would only recommend to either true fans or extremely open minded music fans. even i, a life long fan, still leave the show confused sometimes, delighted always, but still confused. after the show we headed to meet my sis and midtown mike & mags at, where else but, pub fiction. come on, why not make it 3 nights in a row??? there was a freaking line to get in! but thanks to Al, we didn't stand in it for long. I've never seen it so packed. and realized that the reason that i never saw a line before is because i'm usually here for happy hour. afterwards, we met my roomie and chris up at komodo's, another one of my midtown favs. granted we got here near closing, still was a nice looking crowd and always great music from the jukebox. and thus ended my 3 night marathon. so much for taking it easy this weekend. there's always next weekend!

posted by monica @ 5:52 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Diddy-ot Generation

Friends, we've had Generation X and Generation Y.

After seeing Sean "Diddy" Combs host the MTV Video Music Awards, I guess we can all agree we've arrived at the age of the "Diddy-ot."

Combs is a likeable personality, with a lot of drive and incredible marketing success. Nevertheless, he cannot sing or rap, or even dance.

When he tries the latter, he looks like a whooping crane. But fill a stage with dress-alike dancers in white suits, throw in some fancy editing and voilà! Combs is Fred Astaire.
If you're over 30, you know that the Video Music Awards look calamitous when they're broadcast. They also look over-packaged, with no spontaneity and little talent from the show's performers.

The other night's show was so creepy that even Mariah Carey had the good sense to put on her garish, overwrought water nymph-a-thon from another location. She conveyed exactly what the VMAs felt like: You wouldn't be there if you had to.

By the way, The Who's Roger Daltrey must have agreed.
Backstage at Live 8 in London, MTV's Van Toffler approached him about singing with Green Day at the show. He obviously declined, and that was a good thing.

In the end, the show was all about Combs. The Diddy-ot Generation is so lacking for any kind of leader that I suppose MTV couldn't think of anyone else to hang its Moonman on.
Combs got to promote his boy band, B5, and pretend to conduct a group of classical violinists over a Notorious B.I.G. video.

This is all a lead-up to his new "album," which is due from the new Warner Music Group in November.
Will it work? Did dropping the "P" from P. Diddy create enough interest to sell the CD? Or will he cut it all the way back to Iddy? That remains to be seen.

But what made his usual comic self-parody cross the line into something more disturbing was his assertion during the show that "tonight, anything can happen."

To demonstrate that, Combs unclipped his diamond-studded platinum watch, gave a product plug to its maker (Jacob the Jeweler) and tossed it to a stranger in the audience.
That's because, with kids their age fighting in Iraq, and all the other serious issues affecting their future, all the Diddy-ot Generation is interested in — at least, according to the Video Music Awards — is brand-name stuff.

Let's just hope that the parents of the kid who got the watch, if he was really an audience member and was really allowed to keep it, have at least sold it by now.

And can we all vote to keep R. Kelly Trapped in a Closet?

posted by monica @ 7:38 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

tha wrap up: week of aug 22

tuesday. aug 23
Began the weekend extra early this week!! I met friends Tye and Lori at Berryhill Tamales on Buffalo Speedway for some 'ritas and conversation. It's funny me how different all the Berryhill's are. Every one of them has a different atmosphere. This one was pretty mellow on tuesday happy hour. $3 Frozen Ritas kept us occupied though! I'm obsessed with the baja chipotle shrimp quesadillas, if you haven't had them you're missing out on a gastronomic delight! www.berryhilltamales.com

wednesday. aug 24
tonight i hung out with some of my favorites kiddos!! the condaras! this is a family from my mom's school with six kids! they are so super cool, and I help thier mom out from time to time, she pays me but i don't even need it, i love these kids! Andrea, 18, just started UT, very artsy and mature (that's why i was watching the kids, their parents were moving Andrea up to UT!) Erin, 16, junior at St. Agnes, typical teenager, a grea swimmer and cheerleader, we've gotten very close this last year. Susie, 14, just started high school at Memorial High, she is the dancer of the family, such a cutie. Christopher, 12, 7th grade at St, Michael (my mom's school) what a sweetheart, i love this kid, he's the coolest 12-year-old i've ever met. chris & I hung out all night and watched Rockstar on CBS (LOVE IT-go marty!)benjamin, 10, 5th grade at memorial drive elementary, the soccer star! and cameron, 7, 2nd grade @ memorial drive, this kid will steal your heart, he is the cutest! So i hun gout with the 5 while the parents moved andrea into her dorm. It's so good to just slow down (yeah right, with 5 kids!) and just get out of my normal world and into someone else's. the kids are great, i had a lot of fun.


thursday. aug 25
Today was my mom's b-day and thanks to everyone who sent her an email! She LOVED it! My sis Jill, dad, and taneka went up to mom's school to surprise her! She was so happy to see us and her kids just loved it. My dad is a constable and he brought his motorcycle to show the class. They were so excited! THey began talking about what their dad's did for a living and would shout out "my dad's a doctor", "my dad's a lawyer", one kid in the back shouted "my dad is lazy and lays on the couch all day! We died laughing! It was fun to hang with the kiddos and to see mom in her classroom. I could never be a teacher, props to those great people who are! Thursday night I met some friends at Sherlock's on Westheimer for happy hour before checing out the newest Midtown spot, The Light. Elizabeth and I met up with Dave & Ogi, Taneka & D Bash, Midtown Mike, Maggie, Ruth & Janell, and Ashley and Andrew. The place was nice, but small. You walk in a feel like you are in a cardboard box that once held a refrigerator. The ceiling is high, with a loft in the back. The bar was small with some seating areas. The upstairs loft was almost a waste of space, probalby couldn't fit more than 20 people up there. The best part was the wrap around patio outside. Was a good chill spot for some pre-night drinking. We hopped (literally) over to Pub Fiction (my fav Thursday spot) and proceeded to partake in the $2 drafts for which I come for. Stayed for awhile, then departed. I was tired from being out eince happy hour. I need to get it in my head to do Happy hour OR out later, not both!! A pretty uneventful night, although I'm glad i got to check out Light.

Friday. Aug 26
Tonight I played house for the second time this week! I babysat for my great friend Jennifer's baby Carson. Sweetest thing in the world, and such a cutie. Jennifer has just begun her first year residency at St. Joseph's as an OBGYN. and this was her first night of in 28 days!! That girl amazes me. She seems to do everything with such ease and success. She is literally my oldest, dearest friend and it's so surreal to being holding her child. It's awesome. It's so great to get some kid-time in. It really relaxes me and makes me realize what is TRULY important in life.

Saturday. Aug 27
With ambitious intentions of making it to SIX paries this night, I started off early at 6:00 pm at our neighbor's housewarming party, Andre & Vikki. Their house is gorgeous and they are super cool. Dave and I def want to hang out with them more often. Even ran into Patti Hatton! She's a friend of VIkki's, small world! I departed and headed to good friends Lauren & Reagan's couple shower, a Hawaiian Luau! The spread was amazing and lots of friends were present. Lauren looked amazing, as usual, it seems everytime i see her lately she is just glowing! Must be love! Oh, and her house jsut got picked to be on the Garden Oaks Home Tour!! Congrats Lauren, not can i get an invite??? I was heading out for party #3, RIchard and Kelli's cocktail contest/housewarming just when the deluge began. IT must have rained for an hour and a half non-stop, we were all stuck at the party, but no complaints! There was plenty of food and drinks to go around and I had the chance to talk to some really great people that work with Lauren, Thanks to Nicole, Tim and Aaron for all the great advice (psstt I TOOK IT!). By the time the rain subsided, it was near 1 am. Soaking wet, I decided to call it a night. Sorry Richard! I guess 2 outta 6 ain't bad!



posted by monica @ 6:27 PM 1 comments

Saturday, August 20, 2005

spring cleaning for charity

well, it's been awhile since i last posted. it's been a busy week. school starts soon and i am trying to get organized before the semester pulls me into crazy-busy world. for those who don't know, i started my MBA at the Univeristy of St. Thomas this summer. i'm so excited about the program, and it's close to home! St. Thomas has a beautiful campus and a very international student body, which i love. I'll have the chance to study abroad next year, which i am really looking forward to.

in an effort to stay orgainzed this semester, i started some major spring cleaning today. i LOVE throwing things away! i try my best to keep everything really simple. i have a system that i use at work, it's called FAT: File. Act on. Trash. i do it with everything; emails, paper, files. if it comes across my desk, i do one of those 3 things. file it, act on it, or trash it. I have a similar system at home. if i haven't worn it in over a year, i throw it out. i figure, if i lived without it just fine for a year, i don't need it. plus, it's a good excuse to buy new things! :0) also, to keep things tidy, i try to follow the 5 minute rule. if a task is going to take less than 5 minutes. DO IT NOW. hang up clothes, put shoes in the closet, open mail. if it's not going to take any longer than 5 mintues to complete, there's no reason why you can't just do it. it really helps.

so as i was cleaning out old clothes, shoes, purses, i was thinking about a place that could get the most use out of my things. i usually donate to purple heart, or star of hope mission, but i wanted to give to a new place. I had read about the Houston Area Women's Center having a program that helps women obtain professional clothes for interviews and jobs. so i logged on to their website and saw that they have recently teamed up with verizon wireless to help raise money. it seems Verizon Wireless has issued the challenge-if they raise $10,000 online, and register 2,500 people to receive our email updates, they will give us an additional $10,000. They have until August 31st to meet the deadline! As of 11 p.m., Friday, August 19th, they've only registered 263 people - only 10% of their goal, and they still need to raise $4,000 more by the end of the month to reach their monetary goal. I thought it would be a great idea to tell all of you about, and at the very least, just log on and sign up to receive email updates. click here to register or click here to donate. it will only take 5 minutes!!

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to collect gentley used women's clothes, shoes, really anything that you'd like to give, and I will come and pick it up from you and bring it to the donation center. Please make sure everything is clean and gentley used. if you have items to donate, stick them in a trash bag, shoot me an email about when and where and i'll come pick them up from you. click here to learn more about how you can get involved.

posted by monica @ 7:36 PM 2 comments

Monday, August 08, 2005

vacation withdrawl

destination: cabo san lucas, mexico
travel buddies: taneka & shekara

we arrived early thursday morning to our beautiful hotel, Dreams, on the corridor about 15 minutes outside of downtown cabo. after admiring our awesome ocean front suite, we threw on our suits and went straight for the pool. we kept joking that we felt like we were in a corona commerical or something, but it truly was that beautiful.







our room had a balcony that looked right out over
the ocean, we kept wondering once we got back how
we'd ever fall asleep without the sounds of the wave
crashing?! it was sick!


each night before we left the hotel for downtown Cabo San Lucas, we would seek out the most amazing looking bell boy in Mexico, Arturo aka Dreamy Smiles, and ask him where to go for the night. The first night he suggested a place called the Jungle Bar, where we found out the drinks were free for Ladies from 9-11!! Our kinda place! After that we headed next door to Sammy Hagar's famous Cabo Wabo. After a few shots Cabo Wabo tequila, we were feeling great! We pretty much followed this pattern every night we were there. Pool all day....party all night. tough life, eh?



me doing a handstand outside the giggling marlin

Friday night we went to see the show at the giggling marlin and a few other bars, including the infamous El Squid Roe: think spring break meets bachelorette party. it was wild in there, dancing on tables ensued. Saturday night we went on a booze cruise and got toooooeeeee up! It was so fun! Plus, some great view of Cabo, not to mention some great views of Fabrizzio aka Crutch! After stumbling off the booze cruise we (incoherently) had dinner at Lorenzillo's and then headed back to Cabo Wabo. We ironically met a group of Jersey guys who were also celebrating just taking the NY State Bar!

taneka & shekara on the booze cruise

We got Taneka to drink her first Dos Equis and now
she is hooked!!I deffinitely had the most tequlia shots,
even entered a congo line for a free one! SO many
new memories made! We missed ours peeps that
couldn't make it, and even "poured a little out for
them!" We all had such a great time, and all agreed
that Cabo is somewhere we want to return to in the
future. I can't imagine a more fantastic time
than spending 4 days in Mexico with my awome best
friends! Can't wait to go back!

posted by monica @ 5:47 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

cabo, cobain

packing sucks. there's no way around it. i just talked to one of my travel companions who just put 10 pairs of shoes in her suitcase..... we are going for 3 days. however, i can't claim innocence. i've spent more money shopping for this trip than on the trip itself, it seems. did i really need that cute, orange diane von furstenburg suitcase? i have 4 at home. my suitcase looks like i've raided fashion week in nyc, and i think i'm bringing enough earrings, neckjlaces and bracelets to set up a small store once in cabo. but oh well, right? better to be prepared, that's my motto. the time i think about NOT overpacking i could spend shopping for more accessories. should be a great trip, stories from south of the border when i return next week.

in the meantime, if you are looking for something to do this weekend do go check out one of the 2 films this weekend, broken flowers or last days. they both open this friday at landmark theaters (broken flowers @ river oaks location; last days @ greenway) www.landmarktheaters.com. i'm a huge gus van sant fan and i didn't go to school for a week when kurt died (not really, just a day) so i'm super excited about this movie. read a great story about van sant's first and only meeting with kurt here.




BROKEN FLOWERS
Dumped by his latest lover (Julie Delpy), Don Johnston (Bill Murray) yet again resigns himself to being alone—until a mysterious pink letter arrives informing him that he has a 19-year-old son. Encouraged by his closest friend and neighbor (Jeffrey Wright), Don embarks on a cross-country trek in search of four former old flames (Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone and Tilda Swinton). Each visit reveals new surprises for Don as he haphazardly confronts both his past and his present. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (Coffee and Cigarettes, Dead Man). Grand Prix award winner at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.



LAST DAYS
Inspired in spirit by the last days of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, writer/director Gus Van Sant evokes the inner turmoil that engulfs a brilliant but troubled musician in the final hours of his life. Michael Pitt (The Dreamers) plays Blake, an introspective artist wrestling with fame and isolation. Expanding on the elliptical style of his Palme d'Or-winning Elephant, Van Sant layers images and sounds to articulate an emotional landscape, creating a dynamic work about a soul in transition. Co-starring Asia Argento, Harmony Korine, Lukas Haas and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

posted by monica @ 2:37 PM 1 comments