sand made everything round

there is nothing quite like walking in to a room of people over 50 who you know are wondering whose lost child you are, and then to have the chair of the organization say 'and now i'd like to introduce you megan..', and lift his hand to point toward you, standing quietly in the back of the room in heels, sparkley earrings, magic pants and a j crew sweater.. while everyone turns and looks to either side of you, wondering who he's pointing to.

and then, using your practiced teacher voice, you confidently report what you're up to and how well your team is doing in a difficult area. and the faces that a moment ago were saying 'who the hell is this girl?' are now saying 'hell yes, this girl!'

that was my monday night. :)

folks dressed up like eskimos

last night the boy, we will call him C from now on, and his housemates threw a party. it was adorable considering 4 boys hosted it. they range in age from 26 i think to 35 and they throw the kind of parties i suspected people over 30 threw. there were little candle lights up the walkway to their house and they had a christmas tree and stockings hung on their tv unit. the tv itself was playing a fireplace video that C spent hours searching for online. apparently there aren't a whole lot of high quality fire videos on youtube.

anyway then they had hung these big plastic snowflakes from the ceiling and ornaments and lights. there were vegetable trays and homemade salsa and a counter full of wine of all kinds. all of their rooms were as clean as they've ever been. they cleaned the bathroom.

then the people at the party were as eclectic as you'd imagine they'd be. a bunch of astronomers. lots of people who rode their bike there. a yoga teacher. lots of teachers in general. some nonprofiters. it was a lot of fun.

today was kind of a whirlwind. breakfast tacos in the morning. then i went to visit majjy and see how her show was going. did i tell you she's taping a show? it's not going to be on tv until may. there are 2 episodes being filmed in austin and then 4 episodes in other cities. this morning, one front yard was almost finished and one is in progress. i told 'her guys' they should ask for more money to work so hard on a sunday.

this evening i had a cookie exchange hosted by a girl i used to work with. i brought russian tea cakes and the other girls brought and bought coconut orange sugar cookies, macadamia nut white chocolate cookies, cake balls, sugar cookies, blueberry and cranberry cookies. they were all really yum.

and then! one of the guys i work with had a birthday so i went and met a couple of people downtown for pizza.

time for bed. so tired. fun weekend.

ni cong na li lai de

tonight the boy and i went to my favorite sushi place (where i never order sushi), and then afterward we went next door so i could get rose milk tea. the old woman behind the counter confirmed my order 3 times. don't think they sell a lot of that there. 'hot? milk tea? rose milk tea? you want hot? rose milk tea?'

so when i was paying, i asked if she was from japan. there's a lot of japanese stuff in there. but they also have hichew, which is taiwanese candy. and koala yummies. she said she was taiwanese, so i said i lived in taoyuan for a year. she wanted me to take a sip of the tea and tell her if it was like taiwanese rose milk tea.

i wanted to speak to her in chinese, but i just lost my nerve. in my mind, it was so much easier in taiwan because no one expected that i was able to say anything to them at all so mistakes were easily forgiven because they were so happy i had made the effort.

but i guess i got a little embarrassed about speaking chinese imperfectly when i was teaching at that mandarin immersion afterschool program because the main teacher would constantly correct everything i said. so i kind of stopped speaking it around her.

anyway. i want to go back and just sit some time when the store is empty and talk to her about tsong dra bing and rose milk tea and scooters and beef noodles.

pat on the back though: when we were in the car on the way home, the boy said 'you think that other girl in there was chinese or japanese? her skin was so pale.' and i said 'no she's taiwanese because she used the taiwanese way of saying "there" instead of the chinese.' and he made a comment about how it's interesting that my background allows me to know things like that. and it is. i think about taiwan every day.

a merry little christmas

felt a little fancy when i checked the mail today.

my my my

tonight i discovered a little 5 piece gift pack of face wash/lotion that one of my mom's friends had given her. it's all Q10 stuff from japan apparently. what is it about women and skincare regimens? 

my friend marisa wrote a blog post once (two, it turns out) about how she tries every kind of lotion under the sun. i do the same thing, but i'd really like to get to the point where i just use one lotion/cleanser/etc that i love and stick with it. my mom has used noxema forever because her mom used it. the smell of it reminds me of sunburns as a little kid when we would put it on our shoulders. 

a year or so ago, my friend stacy recommended two things that i now swear by. one is cetaphil face wash. the reviews on the website call it 'a great inexpensive cleanser,' but at more than $10 a bottle, it seems pretty pricey to me. anyway a bottle lasts forever, and the pump is so easy in the shower or to use at the sink when you can't open your eyes because your face is all wet. it doesn't foam or bubble, but it works really well to take off mascara and makeup. 

(image from cetaphil.com)

for the record, i've been on the hunt for a non-greasy-non-shiny facial moisturizer foreeever and ever, and after trying and failing with kiehl's and clinique and whatever else, cetaphil's daily moisturizer with 15sph is the only thing i've found that isn't shiny or greasy. 

the other thing stacy recommended is neutrogena's rapid clear 2 in 1 fight & fade gel, which i love. my skin doesn't often go crazy anymore, but this stuff really helps clear up whatever does pop up. it's also kind of expensive at $10+ a tube, but i've had the same tube for easily a year, and there's still 1/3 or so left. 

(image from neutrogena.com)

and finally, i know it puts me in the grandma category, but i love amazing grace by philosophy. it's a little bit flowery and a little bit citrusy. but not overly sweet or overly grandma. it just smells clean and fresh. love it. 

(image from philosophy.com)

last thing: this weekend i had to run out the door to a party but i noticed my nails had begun to chip, so i just painted over the chipped parts and then painted over my whole nail with a clear top coat, and they've been lovely ever since then. you can't see where the line is between old and new at all. 

and those are megan's random beauty tips.

all the colors are changing

the last couple of days in central texas have been uncharacteristically rainy and cold, which has been really nice actually. we haven't really had any good scarf days yet this fall. i think it's still supposed to rain tomorrow, and then it's just clear and cold for the rest of the week. makes me thankful for heated seats in my car and the down comforter on my bed. so toasty.

not much to report. lots of holiday parties. at one party last night i made mulled wine and mini quiche, and based on people's reactions you would have thought i invented mini quiche. i thought they were pretty standard?

aubergine

jeff and i used to watch ina garten's barefoot contessa show together almost every day, and we would imitate her husband jeffrey's voice when he said 'hey ina' and we know all of her catch phrases; how easy is that? how bad could that be? a dog's breakfast. 

but then the day came when jeff no longer loved watching ina. probably because we have seen every episode at least once at this point. 

(image from housebeautiful.com)

but in the afternoon while i'm working online, i still like to turn on her shows and just listen to her in the background as i work. majjy hates her voice, she thinks it's condescending, but i think she's friendly and open and fun. who cares if she tops everything with parsley or tells us the same tips over and over. (add a little bit of instant coffee powder to chocolate baked goods for extra richness, crack an egg into a separate bowl in case you get a bad one, use really good vanilla).

so this week when i had to choose between one million possible colors of speck laptop shells, (and i think it goes without saying, but i definitely found it on overstock.com for $15 less, don't worry), i haddd to choose aubergine just like ina's. i searched high and low on the internet to find a picture of her with it, but came up empty handed.

it's such a deep, pretty shade of blue-y purple. love it. and now i feel that much closer to ina. 

as a side note, i brought a tupperware container of truffles to the office today, and a bunch of people were standing in a big clump so i just held my arm out in the middle with the open tupperware, and 2 seconds later, they had all vanished.