Happy Birthday, Mom.

In a million years, and a thousand Facebook walls, I’ll never be able to tell you what you mean to me. But I can try. Everyday.

I love you.

Happiest of birthdays, and many more.

Love,

Monica

p.s. Drop my mom a line today to tell her happy birthday: DD@hellocolab.com

I spent the day at the beach with my sister, her BF, Matt, and his boys, Matthew and Jacob.
Matthew spent the day capturing jellyfish.
Jill spent the day getting stung.
Jacob spent the day peeing in a bucket and pouring it on Jill’s stings.
We all spent the day laughing.

tumblers, by slightclutter

It feels as if this post is way overdue. On the other hand, it also feels to be entirely immature.

I’m going to cram a lot into this post, so for you ADD readers, here’s the short version:

• Update on Baby Kailey: she’s doing great!
• I moved in with my parents to help with the baby!
• I still have my place, so there will still be a Christmas Tree Viewing Party 3.0!

• I quit my job!

• I’m freelancing! (yes, read above: i quit my job!)
• I’m really, really happy, excited, and scared as all hell!
• Wedding Bells

Whew. That wasn’t so hard?  Now what took me so long to write this post? (Besides painstakingly searching for the exact right image. Which I will always obsess over.)

First things first. I’m doing GREAT.  In the last 4 months I’ve made some of the biggest decisions of my life, and I couldn’t be more excited about everything. The recession be damned! I know it’s a very real thing, but I’ve decided to not participate in it. ;-)

Secondly, there is entirely no way I would have been able to make any of those decisions without the wonderful friends and family who have surrounded me with support and encouragement. I’d be about 2% of a person without you all.

Update on Baby Kailey + Home Again

Before I get into too much detail with my new career direction, I wanted to give an update on Baby Kailey. Many of you have asked about how she is doing, or who that cute baby is popping up on my Flickrstream.  If you didn’t read my original post on Kailey, it’s here. Short version is…since November my parents have had custody of my cousin’s baby girl. She was 2 months old when she came to stay with us, she is now a healthy 7.5 month old.  Mom has since started back at work, and I have moved in to help out with the day to day awesomeness of having a baby around. I swear, everyday I wonder how single mothers do this. There are 3, sometimes 4, adults in this house, and we are all exhausted! :-)

In February, after the awesomely successful Mom 2.0 Summit, I made the decision to move in with mom and dad to help out as mom started back at work. I was a little worried about leaving my place, but I found a friend who needed a place to stay for 6 months, and it just worked out perfect.  I only had to move my clothes, and he lets me visit whenever I want. Thanks, Trae!

I made the decision so quickly, that I really didn’t have time to think about what a big transition this would be.  Barring a few post-college months, I hadn’t lived with my parents since high school, nearly 12 years ago. In one day I went from being an independent, single, urban, museum district-highrise dweller, to a diaper changing, baby-talking, suburban daughter living in my parents house in Jersey Village.  Head spin!

But every moment’s been worth it.  I’ve been here nearly 6 weeks and I haven’t missed my apartment once. Due to an open invitation from Trae. :-)  I’ll never forget what the wise Laura Mayes said to me when I was contemplating this decision: she said to me, “You’ll never regret spending this time with your family.”  And that really stuck with me.  And has continued to. What is 6 months in my life? A time to be there for my family, to spend time with my mom and dad, and most importantly to experience the first year of a child’s life. There really was no decision to make.

Independence Day

After a few weeks of being home, it started to occur to me what a financial benefit this was becoming. I had not intended on moving home for the sake of saving money, but it was certainly an ancillary benefit. I quickly came to the realization that the time was here and now for me to make another decision I had been struggling with for years.

Most of you know me in one capacity or another, and at one time most of you have asked the question, “So what is it you DO?” A question I’ve struggled with answering, usually with a chuckle.  It usualy starts like this, “Well, my day job is _____, but I also do _______.”  About 4 years ago I made a decision that my traditional (well-paid) Oil & Gas marketing career would never fulfill my career passions.  I tried many companies, much to the dismay of my resume and friends’ skepticism. Over the last few years, I’ve reached out for ways to explore my creative passions in the form of PR, event planning, design, and most recently, social media. As a result, I’ve built up a network of amazing people, dream clients, and many, many new friends. It’s always been a means to an end, as I knew that one day I would make the jump from corporate employee to self-employed. And last Wednesday, that day came.

Yep, in the midst of an economic depression turned recession, on tax day nonetheless, I finished my last day at Halliburton. For 3 days now, I’ve officially been self-employed. And I can honestly say, I haven’t been this happy in a long time. And of course everyone says I will eventually say, why didn’t I do this a long time ago.  But I disagree.  This was the right time.  I had to be ready.  All the elements had to be ready. And this was the time.

I’ve have the amazing opportunity to work on some dream projects over the last few months. Starting with the Mom 2.0 Summit, where I met so many amazing folks.  One in particular, author and wife of Houston’s Mayor,  Andrea White. Since then, I’ve been working with Andrea, and with the Bill White for Texas Senate Campaign on social media strategies, and it’s been a wonderful experience.

COLABorate

So that brings me to my plans. The number one question I get these days is no longer “what do you do?” but rather, “so what ARE you gonna do?” And it seems like an easy one to answer. But it’s been difficult.

I’m not a graphic designer, a web developer, or a traditional public relations person.  Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Psychology. Go figure. And most of what I do relies on the collaboration of those within my network.  I can take a decent picture, but I know a helluva lot of incredible photographers. I can open Photoshop and tell you what color looks good next to pink, but I am friends with some incredibly talented designers who can design circles around me. I can Google CSS lines of code, but call some of the best programmers around friends. Where I’ve found my strength lies is in the communication of an idea with a client.  The development of a strategy.  The execution of that strategy with a team of creatives. This is where I excel.  Bringing my network of talented people together. And it’s taken me 10 years to figure that out. So here I am.

I’ll have much more details in the coming months of my newly formed company, COLAB, and about the projects I’ll be working on. For the sake of cohesion I’ve dubbed it “interactive creative services,” which includes PR, event coordination, graphic design, web design, and social media strategy.  Website launched soon, and planning a networking event to officially announce the start of COLAB. I’ll post all the details here on my blog.

So here I am.  Back in my parents house.  In the suburbs. Eating my words. Remember “Midtown Monica”? I haven’t forgotten her. My new found independence, undoubtedly dependent on dependence of my family, who has never once wavered to help me get to where I want to be.

Wedding Bells

Hahahaha, GOTCHA! Knew THAT would get your attention. No, no, I’m not headed for the alter!  Leading a double life for the past 4 years or so can really take it out of ya. So I’m also looking forward to getting back to some of the things that I so love, but haven’t had the time for. Like writing.  I have a few projects I will be working on, that you will hearing more about soon, including more blogging and a few books I am working on.  One book that is super imminent, A Single Girl’s Guide to Weddings. Why so?  Well, as of today, I have 15 this year. Yep. FIFTEEN weddings. I’m in 4 of them. And 3 are out of the state.  Not only do I have 15 weddings. I have 15 bridal showers. and 15 bachelorette parties. Couple’s showers. trips to Crate & Barrel. In all honesty, I LOVE weddings.  No pun intended. I thought this would be a fun way to share my experiences and observations on love, dating, marriage, and (to borrow a phrase from MagsMac) the ultra important debate between taupe and off-white. I’ve attended 3 already this year, and have 3 chapters so far.  Very excited to see where this goes.

I’m still blogging over at Houstonist, and on my design blog, Design Junky, which recently got a facelift, and of course here on Cosmopolitician. Will be blogging for a new fun blog, deets on that soon!

There’s More?!!  Dang.

Thanks for lasting to the end of this post.  I know it was a bit of a marathon, and I promise to be more brief in the future.

I can’t tell you how much all of your support, encouragement and confidence has meant to me. This community is my world and my backbone. I hope this doesn’t sound to Grammy acceptance speech, but there are a few people I REALLY must thank for helping me get to this point.

Maggie McDonald for your huge smile and constant determination, you inspire me;

Laura Mayes who’s infinite wisdom and grace pushed me to quit my job (so that she wouldn’t be alone in her self-employment!);

Ed Schipul for pretty much everything: every token of crazed wisdom, every vote of confidence, and every “what the eff are you waiting for” speech;

And last but the very UNleast, Mom and Dad, who never let me believe for a second that I could fail at anything.  Even when I have. I love you, I love you, I love you (now what day does the maid come?) :-)

No, I’m not a mom, but I have a pretty great one, as I’ve pointed out many times on this blog.  I think being a parent is the greatest, most important job in the world, and both of mine have managed to do it with flying colors.  I would be so lucky to be half the woman that my mom is. Which brings me to another reason why I truly believe my mother is a saint.

A few weeks ago, my parents were awarded custody of my cousin’s two month old baby girl, Kailey.  Baby Kailey had been in and out of the hospital since she was born on Sept 8th.  Without going into too many details, CPS stepped in and held an emergency hearing for Kailey’s welfare.  While a few of  Kailey’s caregivers are being investigated, the baby was to come live with my parents.

I’ll never forget the night at Texas Children’s Hospital with my mom and Aunt Barbara. I’ll never forget the look on my mother’s face, a look of concern, sadness and determination to get this baby to a safe place. The next morning an emergency hearing was held.  The baby was appointed an attorney, and the case was assigned a case worker from CPS.  My parents were identified as potential candidates for custody, pending a house visit from both the baby’s lawyer and the CPS worker.

That day, I got to work, contacting all of my amazing friends, who I called on to help us get my parents’ house ready for the site visit that weekend.  Before I knew it, the place was looking like a Babies R Us, with bouncers, and pack-n-plays, bathtubs, and cribs coming out of our ears!  My sister and I’s friends, in one short day, had supplied us everything we needed to welcome home this dear baby girl, and everything we should need for the next year of her life.  (Of course, irony set in, as I usually am the one hyperventilating as i walk though the baby department in Target.) :-)

Throughout all of this, baby Kailey was still recovering in the hospital, 5 broken ribs, and a broken collar bone.  Her little bones were healing well, and she was ready to be discharged, unfortunately before the site visit occurred. Kailey was taken to a foster home for what seemed like the longest week and a half EVER, before we finally we back to court and got to go pick her up.   We couldn’t be more happy to be able to have her in a safe place with family.

So, for the past 3 weeks, mom and dad have transformed their lives to care for a now 3 month old.  Mom took a leave of absence from her teaching job, and has become little Kailey’s angel on earth.  Or as I now call her, the REAL Mom 2.0!!  If you know my mom, you know she was born to do just this.  She never for a second even flinched when asked to take on this role.

Jill and I help out as much as we can,  after work and on the weekends, and during the holidays. Jill’s boyfriend, Matt, and his 2 boys, Matthew (8) and Jacob (3), have been very helpful, too.  Matt put the entire nursery together, schooled us in formula, and is a pro at getting Kailey to sleep when she’s fussy.  The boys ADORE her, and love to hold her when she sleeps.  Jacob whispered, the first night he saw her, “I bet she thinks we’re her brothers!” And sweet Matthew said to me, “Monica, Kailey is my little angel.” :-)

We don’t really know what will happen next.  As they continue the investigation, Kailey will continue to stay with us, until we return to court in January.  We are just glad to have her in a safe, happy place.  She is such a joy to be around, such a good, happy baby.  I’ve taken her to her first party at Shekara’s, to the Mall, and even to Taneka’s 30th birthday party this past weekend.  She was a doll the whole time, and everyone just falls in love with her when they meet her.

I’m constantly updating my Flickr page with pics of her here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropolitician/sets/72157609075569204/

Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who have let us borrow all of your baby stuff! Jen, Ashley, The Whittons, Adriane & Aunt Mary, Shekara, and Kerri. And for those of you who have offered to help.  She’s a little chunker and and is squeezing right out of those 3 month outfits!  I swear mom comes home with a new outfit for her everyday.

So, I just wanted to give you all an update.  If you haven’t seen me around lately, this is why.  I am simply amazed every day by my mom (and dad) who have taken this on without a second thought.  I’m trying my best to help mom out every chance I get.

Thanks for all your love and prayers for Baby Kailey (and for mom and dad!).  We feel we are the lucky ones getting to spend this time with her. I’ll update as soon as we know more.

Happy birthday to to most wonderful mother anyone could ever dream of having. A woman who has taught me compassion, manners, leadership, respect, how to care about other people more than yourself, and most importantly, how to not take yourself too seriously. (TOO proud of self!)

I’m so happy to share my mom with all of my friends. And she loves all of you just the same.

I would be so lucky to be half the mother you are.

I love you, Momma. Happy Birthday, dude!


i think this pic is around 1969, her junior year of high school.

This was taken by my dad on my parents’ honeymoon.

My Maw Maw, Sybil Floyd Danna, gave birth to 10 kids from 1950-1968.  That’s nearly 20 years of having kids, folks!

Eight girls, 2 boys. 8 granddaughters (i’m the oldest!), 2 great-grandsons, 1 great-granddaughter and one on the way!

You can see most of us here, at a recent baby shower for my cousin Elizabeth, who is expecting Caley Rose Isaacs in less than a month.

Over the years, she has taught us all how important family is. And I don’t know what i would do without mine. (probably die. :-) )

Happy Birthday, Maw Maw!

The night was a blast.  We even ran into Cousin A and Matty.

Now Amber’s in China for the Olympics! You can see some of her coverage of the events here.  Miss you, Amber!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Monday

When your week starts out with an up til 3am Monday night, you know you are in trouble. I had a long day at work, and was looking forward to a night at home. That was until Mark told me about The Tontons last minute show at Notsuoh. Having just seen them on Saturday at Lebowski Bash, I was jonesing to see them again.

So I met Mark for a drink before the show, and he even let me play photog for the night. Hopefully I got some good shots of the band. These guys are incredible. Seriously, if you have the chance to see them live, do it. They’ve been nominated for best new band in the 2008 Houston Press Music Awards.

So after the show, Amber and I stuck around for awhile and hung out with Asli, Tom, and Adam. The old Clark’s, now Notsuoh, has a pretty wicked room upstairs filled with old costumes, records, an old double turntable and music relics from Clark’s and Dean’s. So we hung out up there for a bit until someone yelled, “who are all these people up here?!” We took that as our cue to leave. That was 3am. It was Monday. Dude.

Tuesday

Tuesday, visibly exhausted at work, I was again, looking forward to a quiet night at home. However, I was actually delighted when Laura Mayes and Carrie Pacini called to set up a dinner meeting to discuss a new project. So we headed to Cova in the Village for some wine, cheese, and chatter. We had a great conversation and some excellently selected champagne by the very Italian Carrie. :-)

When we were paying the bill, the waitress looked at me and said, “did you go to St. Rose elementary school?” She was a classmate of mine, a fellow girl scout, from 4th grade. Small world. Reminding me of the time I was in NYC and a girl, Susan, stopped me and Kasey on the street because she recognized Kasey from college, but as we began talking, realized we were in the same girl scout troop. in 4th grade. Crazy.

After dinner I headed over to meet Mark and The Tontons to discuss some styling for their upcoming show on Friday at Warehouse, and a photo shoot that Mark had set up with Jessica Grieves on Saturday morning. Adam ordered a fruity drink. We laughed.

Wednesday

I left work a little early on Wednesday to meet up with The Tontons to do some thrift store shopping in the Heights. We were trying to find them some outfits for their Friday show, and the Saturday morning photo shoot. We first met at Retropolis, where while we had a lot of fun digging, we didn’t really find outfits to put together; unless you count this rhinestone cowboy get up that Justin discovered.

We headed across the street to the new Buffalo Exchange in the Heights and started searching for “glittery” tops to pay off the 3-D glasses theme they were planning for the show. We nixed that idea as soon as Adam almost bought a sequined v-neck cardigan. Not exactly what we were going for. We decided on a uniform look, much like they wore to Lebowski Bash, and headed to Sand Dollar to look for black vests and cowboy boots.

Michelle met us as Sand Dollar to help out Asli with her outfit. Miggy also ripped up the boys old black ties and made new skinny ones for the show. They turned out fab!

After shopping we headed to Onion Creek for a quick bite before the guys headed to practice. Michelle and I headed over to Beaver’s for another successful Green Drinks. Hung out with Ned, Jeff Kaplan, BIll Erickson, Sarah Jones, and of course the uber talented Bobby Heugel. Check out this great article in the Chron on Bobby and his flair for the perfect cocktail. And check out Bobby’s amazing cocktail website, Drink Dogma. This kid is sickly talented.

Thursday

Thursday I made the very tough decision to cancel my scheduled Boulder trip for that weekend. Being that the last month had been so crazy, and so go go go, I was feeling anxious about being away and already feeling the stresses of another weekend of craziness. Also, I was thinking about attending BlogHer in July in San Fran, and I knew I couldn’t make both trips. So I decided to cancel Boulder, and catch up with Gwen and all the ladies in San Fran in a few weeks.

After work Thursday I headed to Big Woodrow’s to celebrate Keisha’s last day at Aker. She’s been there forever it seems! And we are all excited about her new gig at Chevron! Got to hang with MRock, Shek, and my GA, Brian. It was like back in the Ellayess days!

After Woodrow’s I headed to So Vino to celebrate Emily’s bday. I hadn’t been to So Vino yet and was pleasantly surprised. All these new wine bars opening up, it’s hard to tell them apart. So Wino was small, and intimate, and the food we had was great. The waiters were all well informed about the wine selections. I visited with Becky and Seth, and Annie who i hadn’t seen in months and months, and one of Emily’s friends, Paul, who I’m pretty sure I bonded with over Justin Timberlake. JT brings out the best in everybody.

Friday

A quick after work nap was just what I needed to get the energy for the big show at Warehouse with The Tontons, The Riff Tiffs and Fat Tony. Michelle came by, we shared a glass of wine (ok mom, girlfriend jokes!) and we were off to Warehouse to get the Tontons dressed for the show.

Met up with Erin and Groovehouse who were both shooting the show. We arrived just as Lisa’s Sons went on. Not sure how to describe them without being negative. Hmmm, it was high energy.

The Tontons were up next, and the place was filling up. Mark helped hand out 3-D glasses to the crowd for a wicked 60′s affect. I grabbed the glasses and placed them in front of my iPhone camera. I was surprised the effect worked!

Eric’s shots from the show here.

The highlight of the show was when 4 members of the Houston Symphony joined the Tontons on stage for “Syrup.” I think someone caught this on video, and if so, I can’t wait to see it.

We stuck around for the Riff Tiffs, who were also excellent, and ran into Christian from Studemont Project, and Hodge and Cornbreadd from TFT, who we watched Fat Tony with from backstage. A great night for local music indeed.

Saturday

Reeling from a killer hangover from Friday, I missed The Tontons photo shoot with Jessica on Saturday morning. But judging from the amazing pics she took, they didn’t need me there. Check out “the morning after” shoot here.

image: Jessica Grieves, Ecor Rogue Photography

After finally pulling myself out of bed, I headed over to Chris and I’s Vinyl Creative meeting spot, Rudyard’s, for a quick VC meeting of concepting new ad campaign and discussing new clients. Oh, and of course black bean nachos.

I left Rudz and headed to Volcano to help prep for the big Houstonist Crawfish Boil. JB bought 500lb of the crawdaddies and we were peeling, cutting, washing, and boxing for a few hours before the crowd arrived at 6pm. And boy did they arrive. We had a HUGE crowd, almost 200 that came out to Volcano to get some dirty fingers and faces. Some great pics of the boil here.

Luckily, the last party of the night was close. Just down the street at Armadillo Palace, my cousin Adriane’s husband Matt was throwing her a surprise 30th Bday party. Adriane and I were raised together, practically as sisters. It was so fun getting to see her and old friends and family. Always a delight hanging with Rachel and Nate, and the adorable Carly, Thomas’ GF, who solidifed her status when she snapped a pic of dance teacher’s indiscretion.

Lauren Levicki was also having her bday party there the same night, so the entire Houston young socialite crowd was in attendance.

Sunday

Well, it’s Sunday now. And I’m headed out the door to my old roommate Dave’s house for some brunch and soccer watching. Also, looking forward to a meeting about a new project tonight with Joe Litzinger of Baby Crow Productions. More deets on that later! Very excited about it.

Here’s to hoping this next week is a little more calm, with more sleep involved. :-)

Sunday before memorial day my sister, Jill, organized a group to celebrate at my parents house.

My dad has claimed that next year is the year we’ll finally be building a pool, so in preparation, my mom went out and bought this above the ground pool. (the last one she bought burst into the house!)

Jill’s boyfriend, Matt, and his two boys Matthew and Jacob, as well as Matt’s parents Tim & Mary, his brother Kevin and sister-in-law, Amy, and his sister Beth all joined us.

Also, joining in on the fun were our childhood friends, the Whitton’s. Ashley and her new addition, the adorable Tyce, and her BF Leo (who we learned will be getting married in the same place me and Michelle are headed to in a few weeks.) Her mom Susan, and brother Patrick, who we grew up with down the street. It was so awesome to see all of them there.

My grandma and her boyfriend, Dick made an appearance, as Dick told me a funny story about my “new employer” Halliburton, and the luggage that Earl Halliburton, Jr. created that would float to help you survive in a plane crash into the ocean. Who knew?!

And of course it would be a party at my parents’ house without Doris and Joe Hinton. Doris made homemade ice cream and, as always, Joe kept us in stitches all day.

Last minute additions included Jason, Tiff, and Shannon, who definitely livened up with party with their washing machine rendition in the tiny pool.

Amber and Brian also stopped by for some yummy margarita concoctions courtesy of Michelle: Miggyritas!

The spread of food was incredible. 4 different kinds of ribs burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, homemade ice cream, and a yummy dessert that my sister made with ice cream bars and butterfingers. YUM-O!

It was an awesome day with friends and family. Looking forward to many more when we get the REAL pool!

More pics from the day here.

I ended the day with a 2nd pool party at the home of Stef and Paul, with all my Dynamo peeps. Flip cup, Beer Pong, and i got to play DJ. :-)

Happy Memorial Day!