Meaghan McClenny

Kate’s Sweet 16 & School

29Jan10

How terrible am I at blogging? But I can’t say anything TOO interesting has been going on – work is still good, marriage is still awesome, my apartment is still the coolest.

We went down to Charlotte (why do I always want to say “up to Charlotte”?) this weekend for Kate’s 16th birthday (which was actually last weekend, but whatevs). On Saturday morning we left at the ungodly hour of 8:00am, meaning I had to get up at SEVEN. No one should EVER have to see 7:00am on a Saturday.

When we got there, we ate lunch at Lupie’s, which was this really cool joint outside of downtown. You can read my review of it on Yelp here. Afterwards, Kate, Scott and I got coffee with Allie. I miss that girl! It was so good to see her, and I’m glad she seems happy (and still crazy).

That night we had a birthday party for Kate (with fajitas!), and we gave her 16 presents for her 16th birthday. My contributes were the Fail book, a book of Mad Libs, and THIS:

It’s a STICK. And she loved it, which is how I know we’re family. The stick came with a manual with 200 different ways to use it, and our favorite was “jumping over the stick.”

In other news, I started my first class at NC State! It’s Intro to GIS, and it’s online, which is great because I can work on it whenever I want. It’s a lot harder and a lot more work than I thought it was going to be, but I’m really enjoying it! I took an Intro to GIS class at UNCG that I wasn’t TOO crazy about, but I think that’s because it was a mandatory class, so I immediately disliked it. But then I realized, computers + geography = something I should like. I have no idea what I’m going to do with this certificate, but I definitely feel that it’s a step in the right direction.

Nothing else to report! Kbye!

Filed under: Life | 1 Comment
Tags: Family, Photos, School, Travel

Christmas and New Year’s in Florida

26Jan10

Since I had a pretty busy Christmas and I also went on a trip to Florida the week after, I had planned to make a few epic blog posts recounting everything that happened, but then I realized that it wasn’t that exciting and I could cut it all down into one post – bullet list style. You know you weren’t going to read all that anyway.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23

Annual dinner at Meema’s!
We played Dirty Santa for the second year in a row, and it turned out nicely! I managed to get lucky and ended up with a nice new suitcase, but other people weren’t so lucky. For instance, Matt wound up with a wooden, hand-painted “WINTER WELCOME” sign, and Julia opened her wine bottle holder to find some rotten oranges.
The most epic scandal of all took place during this Dirty Santa game as well. Cheri opened her present to find a fuzzy new blanket, which Great Meema immediately stole. Then Great Meema gave it back to Cheri (because she knew that Cheri would end up giving it back to her afterward), but SCOTT STOLE IT FROM CHERI. You should have seen Great Meema’s face – I’ve never seen so much shock and disappointment in my life. She later said the blanket was “too small,” but you KNOW she wanted it.
My mom has this tradition where she’ll give my Uncle Dan a joke gift every year. My uncle HATES my dog Sam, so the giant poster of Sam that Mom gave him was pretty awesome.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24

Thursday night we went over to my parents’ house to open presents and eat dinner! And we had SAUSAGE BALLS, which for some reason only show up around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Are sausage, flour and cheese unavailable during the rest of the year?
As we do every year, we all settled down on the couch to watch with some eggnog to watch “A Christmas Story,” and as he does every year, my dad immediately fell asleep.
Do you remember this post? Well, I got that chair. And I got a Snuggie. So now I’m the laziest person of all time.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25

Christmas day! We ate breakfast at my parents’ house, which was tasty as always, except there were no grits! NO GRITS! I’ll forgive, though, because the bacon was burnt, just how I like it.
We went over to my Papa’s house to eat lunch and open presents. We got this huge, awesome gift basket full of candy, which was all eaten within a week.
Scott and I got on the road to head to Florida around 3:30.
We stopped at a Taco Bell for dinner in South Carolina, and while we were eating, I looked up and saw a guy with a TOENAIL on his jacket. I laughed so hard that soda came out of my nose, which is the first time this has ever happened. Scott was very concerned for a second, because apparently he has never seen this happen before.
The rest of the drive went pretty well, and we got to Aunt Debra’s house in Mt. Dora, FL around 2:30am.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26

We woke up and ate a really good breakfast, then Mackenzie, Betzy, and their kids Betzy (I’ll call her Little Betzy) and Jack came over and we opened MORE presents! I feel so spoiled.
We got all decked out in our fancy matching hats (I have no idea what they were for. No one ever explained it.) and went on a vintage train ride
around Mt. Dora. And I saw an orange grove for the first time! It was really cool!
Also, I’ve gotta mention that Jack is CRAZY. This kid was such a ham in front of the camera and it was adorable, but he’s really loud, so having him on a small train car with a lot of people might not have been the best idea ever.
After the train ride, Jack proceeded to give Scott a wet willy (with encouragement from Jeff) and then made Scott give him a piggy back ride all the way back to Aunt Debra’s place. Scott informed me afterward that we’re never having kids.
We had a really good family dinner with turkey and sweet potatoes and all of your other basic Christmas dinner foods. Mmm.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27

We went for a walk around Mt. Dora, which is really cute (think Charleston or Savannah, but less impressive).
I got a cupcake from Cupcake Delights! It was a tough choice between chocolate chip cookie dough and peppermint, and I ended up going with cookie dough and was not disappointed.
We had a cookout at Mackenzie and Betzy’s, which was a lot of fun, even though one of their dogs decided to give me a kiss in the mouth. Yum.
Went to a bar where I beat Scott at air hockey AND darts. I must mention that the darts were electronic, though. Who KNOWS what kind of damage I could have done with real darts.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28

Drove down to Tampa to go to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
The slot machines were a serious failure – they get you by not providing any instructions! I lost $40, but I won $1, so it’s really only like I lost $39. And that’s what’s helping me sleep at night.
Afterward we went to Ybor City and ate at Mema’s Alaskan Tacos, which was really good.
We went barhopping and hit up a few places, including this place that Jeff’s friend repeatedly told us was “really alternative” and “edgy.” It wasn’t.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29

We went to Kennedy Space Center! We saw:
- The Vehicle Assembly Building
- The launch complexes
- The Apollo/Saturn V Center
- The Astronaut Memorial
- The Rocket Garden.
We missed the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which wasn’t really at the main complex for some reason.
Overall, I thought it was really cool place, and I’m so glad I got the chance to go, but it’s totally Disney-fied. I felt like it catered more to the uninterested tourists than it did to the people who are really interested in this stuff.
BUT, I caught Hawaii AND Alaska plates on the way home, which was AWESOME. (I still didn’t win the license plate game, though. What a waste.)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30

Left Aunt Debra’s and made the drive up to Jeff’s place.
Stopped at a Wendy’s in the middle of nowhere, and this woman came in and demanded to know, “WHAT’S THE BIGGEST BURGER YAW GOT?” And then she ordered a “Frosty-seeno.” Needless, to say, she is my favorite person of all time.
At some point during the trip, Jeff informed me that I’m lame because I’m a homebody, which I know is true, but still. So I tried my hardest to prove that I’m not lame by acting all excited when Jeff suggested going to Destin to see a blues band even though I secretly really didn’t want to go at all. So I was relieved when Scott immediately said no. Did I mention we’re soulmates?

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31

Jeff has a drive-thru convenience store by his house. Like, there’s a giant hole in the middle of it that you drive through and they’ll walk up to your window, take down a list of what you want, then bring it to you. You can also park and just walk inside. It’s awesome and I made them drive through it.
Jeff threw a party at his house for New Years Eve, and it was a lot of fun! We:
- Played with sparklers.
- Made a bonfire.
- Melted a glass bottle in the bonfire then poked at it with a shovel.
- Ate mussels and barbecue (it had South Carolina-style sauce on it, but whatever, it was still good).
Jeff shot off a bunch of fireworks that were about a million times better than all the other fireworks being shot off by all the rednecks on his street.
Celebrated the beginning of a new decade! Omg!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 1

Had dinner in Destin. This place had the saltiest hushpuppies EVER, but my meal more than made up for it.
Jeff’s friend Doug’s mom was having a party at her house that we stopped by, and it was the first time I’ve ever used a “your mom” joke that was funny and worked.
- Doug: “Where are you guys going tonight?”
- Me: “Your MOM’S.”
We went to this bar called the Funky Blues Shack, and when I saw that a 14-year-old boy was headlining that evening, I was fully prepared to do some polite clapping. But he was awesome! And not just for a kid! Never underestimate someone because of their age. Or for any other reason, really.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2

Headed home. :(
We tried to find Flea Market Montgomery, but we failed.
We did stop by the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House, which was the very first Chick-fil-A ever! It has regular Chick-fil-A stuff, but also diner things like burgers and waffles and whatnot. I felt weird ordering a burger at Chick-fil-A, but it was really good!
Arrived home. Our cats had no idea who we were.

I had a lot of fun, but it was good to get home! It sure was hard coming back to frigid 30 degree weather after it being in the 70s in Florida all week. Siiigh.

Filed under: Life | Leave a Comment
Tags: Family, Friends, Holidays, Pets, Stories, Travel

2009: In Review

03Jan10

Have I mentioned before that 2009 was the best year of my life? Well, I just did. Here is a brief overview of what happened:

JANUARY
-Spent New Year’s going to Times Square right at midnight (AFTER the ball dropped).
-Started my LAST semester of college, eek!

FEBRUARY
-Decided to stay in North Carolina and not to move to NYC. A decision that I still feel was the right one.
-Found out that I made Dean’s List for the Fall 2008 semester!

MARCH
-Found our apartment that we would eventually move into!
-Said goodbye to I Drive a Dodge Stratus.
-Went to Washington DC for spring break with Britney and Bryan.

APRIL
-Finished up my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE.

MAY
-Finalized our decision to move into our apartment.
-GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE (still can’t believe it)!

JUNE
-Spent my last weekend in NYC as an unofficial resident (the next time would be to move Scott, so that doesn’t count).
-Found out that I made Dean’s List for the Spring 2009 semester!
-Took the very last class of my undergraduate career.

JULY
-Moved into our cool new apartment!
-Adopted two kittehs.
-Annual family beach trip!
-Met Scott’s family.
-GOT MARRIED.
-Went on an awesome road trip around the Southeast US with my sweet husband.

AUGUST
-Celebrated Scott’s 30th birthday!

SEPTEMBER
-Spent Labor Day weekend in Charlotte!

OCTOBER
-Received my diploma!
-Spent a weekend in Atlanta with Scott and Jeff.
-STATE FAIR.

NOVEMBER
-Turned 23!
-Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.

DECEMBER
-Had a wonderful Christmas with my family in Durham.
-Took a road trip to Florida to celebrate Christmas with my cool new family!
-Visited Kennedy Space Center for the first time.

In summary, 2009 was the best year EVER. My only resolution for 2010 is to try to top it.

Filed under: Life | 3 Comments
Tags: Family, Friends, Holidays, Pets

Why THIS reminds me of THAT.

31Dec09

When I was in Israel, my iPod and ear buds were my best friends on the long bus rides (mostly because music relaxes me, but also because I was tired of listening to the Rochester kids running their mouths). I was also going through a pretty big Jeff Buckley phase at the time, and at some point during the trip we were stopped at a rest area and I sat on the bus listening to “Hallelujah” and dreamily staring off at some cactus (Jeff Buckley tends to have that affect on most people).

After the trip, my Jeff Buckley crush died off after listening to him constantly and becoming tired of his songs. He got skipped over so much on my iPod that I eventually unchecked his songs on iTunes so I’d still have them, but they wouldn’t show up on my iPod. It’s kind of sad thinking about it now.

Anyway, a few days ago I was in the car with Scott and Jeff and “Hallelujah” came up on Jeff’s Blackberry that he had plugged into the stereo, and the first thing that came into my mind was that cactus. Not how beautiful this song is or how much I used to love his music, but this half dead cactus on the side of the road at a rest stop.

So, Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” reminds me of a cactus.

I think it’s interesting what certain songs remind me of because they’re usually not the things that I would expect for them to. Here are some other examples:

Modest Mouse – “Float On”: Another cactus in Israel.
Journey – “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’”: A yuppie in a convertible in an Arby’s drive-thru.
Simon & Garfunkel – “The Boxer”: This guy I dated for two weeks in college’s roomate’s cousin’s boyfriend.

And so on. It’s just funny to find out that these insignificant things left such a lasting imprint on me.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that a half-dead cactus at a rest stop outside of Bethlehem led me to rediscover how much I love Jeff Buckley, and THAT is funny to me.

Filed under: Musings | 1 Comment
Tags: Music

Question #4

05Dec09

QUESTION:
What did you recently observe that proves what you’ve been saying all along?

ANSWER:
Almost every morning, my cat Bella does this thing that I’ve just been calling “cat voodoo.” I’ll walk into the bathroom right after I wake up, and my cat Bella will be in the toilet. Well, not COMPLETELY in the toilet, but she’ll be perched on top of the seat about halfway into the toilet bowl. And I have NO idea what she’s doing because the seat is so high and the water level is so low that she can’t be drinking the water, and she also never comes up wet. But when I enter the bathroom and cut the light on, she’ll stare at me for a second, and then jump into the bathtub and watch me from the sliver of space in between the shower curtain and the wall. All I can see is just one cat eye completely fixated on me for about 20 minutes until I finish getting ready. I have no idea what she’s doing.

Scott, who has had Bella for about four years, has never seen this. I’ve been living with this cat for about four months, and I see it around three or four times a week (the staring from behind the shower curtain happens EVERY day, though).

I had been telling Scott about this for a while, and since he had still never caught her doing this, I started feeling that I sounded crazy. I tried sneaking up on her and taking a picture a few times, but she always jumped down before the camera could capture it. I’d peek around the door and then rush to get Scott to look, but she was always gone when we got back.

FINALLY, I captured this:

I still can’t figure out what the hell she’s doing, though.

Filed under: Questions | 1 Comment
Tags: Pets, Photos, Stories

Commute from HELL.

01Dec09

Here’s a list of everything that went wrong with my morning commute today:

I walked outside to find my car was covered in ice, and my ice scraper, which is always in the way when I don’t need it, was nowhere to be found. I ended up having to clear my windows with a towel while I was pretty sure the construction workers across the street were laughing at me.
I got stuck behind a school bus which made SIX stops, each of which was in eyeshot of the last one. Can’t these kids consolidate?! (Not into one stop, into one kid. I’m pretty sure they’re all interchangeable.)
Next I got stuck behind the most cautious driver of all time who had to stop and look both ways about five times before progressing through a green light, and also drove at 20 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Got stuck behind another person who would NOT go through a left turn light when it turned yellow. They had JUST gotten to the light and it stayed yellow for like 6 seconds, but they wouldn’t budge.
Had to sit on the side of the road for a few minutes while an ambulance tried to maneuver through the traffic, which was being difficult. I don’t think people realize that sitting there absent-mindedly and making no attempts to move while there’s an AMBULANCE trying to get around them doesn’t help anybody. Especially the person for whom the ambulance is for.
Hit every red light.
Traffic was ridiculous.

I’m proud of myself for not getting as irritated as I normally would in this situation, but GAHHH. I also considered not posting this because it’s just one giant complaint, but sometimes it’s just more fun to be irritated than to try to find the positive in things, amirite?

Filed under: Rants | Leave a Comment

Question #3

24Nov09

QUESTION:
What do you keep in a safe place?

ANSWER:
I have a teddy bear that was given to me the day I was born by my grandparents that I’ve kept very close to me my whole life. This bear has gone everywhere with me, even to Israel! (NOTE: I don’t take this bear with me EVERYWHERE. I’m not THAT weird.) I keep him high up on a shelf in my closet so my cats can’t get to him, but he’s still visible. I’d be seriously upset if something happened to this bear – he’s like my Linus blanket.

I also have several boxes of scraps and things from the past few years that I’ve compulsively saved, such as ticket stubs, brochures, greeting cards, fortune cookie fortunes, etc. I’ve been meaning to put them into albums or make scrapbooks something instead of just having a jumbled mess in some boxes, but I’m so lazy. They’re really fun to go through every now and then.

I appear to be safely hiding some dust bunnies under my bed as well.

Filed under: Questions | 2 Comments

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