One phone call can change everything...

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Today was a pretty blah Wednesday.

While I got my to-do list at work under control, I still had a lot to accomplish - esp. after website updates necessitated three hours of painstaking editing because the formatting was all shot to hell. (I HATE the interface we use and cannot wait until we move that site to WordPress - sorry Blogger...)

Just about the only thing I was looking forward to was Happy Hour. My clock hit five o'clock and I was ready to go.

Then the phone rang. And it was for me.

And we'll all be safe by St. Patrick's Day...

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Valentine's Day.

It's never been one of my favorite holidays - even when I was in elementary school and everyone was obligated to give the entire class Valentine's, I disliked it because I felt like my cool factor solely depended on this one day. And I was definitely never a cool kid. I would carefully pick out the message I wanted to send to each of my classmates, but I felt like no one ever returned the favor.

It wasn't until three or four years ago I started to enjoy this holiday. You know why?

Because I was completely alone.

Journalistic achievements: it's the little things

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Today, I published a photo of a high school wrestling team, and no one in the photo was indecent.

I consider this the greatest of journalistic achievements.

Because yes, there is precedent of publishing an indecent photo of high school wrestlers in my professional journalistic past...

Top Books of 2010

Around the start of the year, my friend Rhiannon asked me to make a list of my must-read books (or something to that effect) from 2010. It's taken me awhile to get around to it, but here are my favorite reads from the past year:

Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress
By Debra Ginsberg
I picked this up at a Half Price Books in Austin shortly after moving back home to Texas. This "part memoir, part social commentary, part guide to how to behave when dining out" intrigued me because I've worked in food service through the years. When I was younger, I also loved the idea of becoming a waitress when I was old enough to work a part-time job...the closest I got were my two jobs in bakeries.

Aside from amusing anecdotes about her wide variety of waitressing jobs, I also felt like I got an excellent perspective of what it's like to be a waitress - the good and the bad. And it definitely makes me think twice how I act towards a server who may not be top-notch. People are HORRIBLE and sometimes as a customer you're just caught in the aftermath. It happens, deal with it.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

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I'm kind of happy 2010 is over.

Don't get me wrong, the year gave me lots of great things: I got to see Conan O'Brien live, I traveled to Chicago to see Hanson and Rooney with my girls, I get to MEET my beloved Alton Brown, aka my Food Network Husband. Oh, and I got a real job back in print, which at the end of the day still makes me very happy.

But the whole year felt like a roller coaster ride as I worked two jobs, cut hours back at job #2 and then left completely to pursue a full-time print position...which I found just when I was about to give up. Between the exciting moments, there was lots of confusion, frustration and some crying. More than anything, I wanted to put myself back together.

And, for the most part, I feel like I have. I work for a beautiful, well-respected magazine. I have an awesome music blog that's just beginning to take off.

I'm ready for you, 2011!