Popcorn

I decided to waste some time last night and search for funny and awesome videos. Due to the amazing-ness of the internet I found a plethora. Enjoy.

Dog Feels the Groove
Boxer Excited to go on Walk
Got to Dance
Dance All Night Long
Tron-ish Dance
Drive Thru Folk Song
Kung Fu Monkey Tries to Attack Guy
Super Cat

and last but CERTAINLY not least, my favorite:
Hula Hoop... Well, Not Exactly

I assure you that all of these videos are worth watching. At least I thought they were :)

I just walked in the door from work and this is what I found

This decision is more important than who will be president

My wonderfully talented and witty brother came up with some awesome names for our blog. I'd like everyone to let me know what their favorite is and I'll go with that one. I was going to stick with what I've got but Joe gave me such awesome ideas, I decided to have everyone help me decide.

Meine Matters 
Kicked in Meine
Meine Meets World :) 
Not yours but Meine 
The grimey Meines 
The mighty fine Meines
Eenie Meenie Meines
Making Meine Memories
Meine Memoirs

That's what makes you beautiful

This week for mutual we taught the Young Women how to dance. I've chaperoned one of the stake dances before and it was a sad sight. No one was dancing, everyone just stood around singing the words to the songs to their friends. Did I do that when I was 14?...probably. So that's why we wanted to teach them how to do some simple dances. We want them to actually DANCE when they go to the youth dances.

It was a really fun night. I got in there and learned the dances with them, and most of them were lame, but that's okay. One of my Mia Maids was the teacher, so you can bet things got a little crazy.

But by the end of the night everyone was in such a good mood, they decided to turn on one last song and go crazy

Can you see the fruits of our labor? Me neither. That's okay, they had fun and that's what matters.

Ander was walking out of the room and I was begging him to bust some moves for the girls, but he told me he didn't do it on command... he just had to feel it. What a bum.

Madison Smith was the first girl that ran up to the camera, and the one who said I was her favorite. That warmed my little heart. Next was Jordan Roberts, then Jordan Freeze, and last was Mary Kelley. Incidentally, these girls are all Mia Maids of mine.

After this song was over I had a great conversation with two of my Mia Maids, Jordan and Mary. Jordan and Mary are both 14 years old.

Jordan: "Mary, can you believe that I've actually met some people who don't know who One Direction is? Ugh! That's like, so crazy huh?"

Old Sister Meine: "Uh... I don't know who...O-o-one Direction is..."

Jordan and Mary gape at me.

Jordan: "YOU don't know who ONE DIRECTION is??? Sister Meine!!!"

Old Sister Meine: "Well... I don't exactly listen to your music Jordan... I'm ten years older than you."

more gaping

Mary: "I bought my tickets to go see them. I'm so excited!!!!"

Jordan: "You're going to see them!? I'm like, so jealous!!"

Really Old Sister Meine: "So... One Direction is to you guys who N'Sync was to me, right?"

even more gaping

Mary: "Sister Meine, you don't understand. I've NEVER been this obsessed with a band. EVER."

I wasn't like that at 14, was I?

Oh wait. Yes. Yes I sure was. And it was glorious.

Say "no" to romance novels

This trilogy was by far the WORST trilogy of books I have ever read in my life. Romance novels are terrible, terrible pieces of work. Don't ever pick them up. Ever...

Although you're probably wondering why I read all three? My friends, this is a good question that I frequently asked myself while reading these books.

The main character, Christian Grey, was a very interesting person. Lots of money, dark past, yadda yadda yadda. The reason I finished the series was to see whether this man's life had a happy ending or not. I wanted him to be happy because I want everyone to be happy. I wanted to know that this man could find some sort of relief from the demons that plagued him. I'm pleased to say that the ending was happy, but at such a cost to my psyche!!!

I wanted to find out why this man had such demons and why he was so sad. But there were too many sexual scenes, too many bad words, and the books were very poorly written.

I will admit that I was smitten with Grey, but then I remind myself: SELF! THESE BOOKS ARE NOT REAL. No relationship is that way. No person thinks that way. That could never happen.

Another interesting thing... this book gave me bad feelings. I felt like I was peeping on someone else's relationship and I felt quite guilty. Only when I got down on my knees and prayed did I realize why I had these bad feelings: these books do not come from my Heavenly Father. Marriage, family, and intimacy are sacred and should not be taken lightly. This book threw them around as if they were nothing, and I hated that.

So... needless to say, I will never read anything classified as a "romance" ever again. That is all.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS!?!?

My jaw was on the floor. What a performance!!!

click here

Beats Susan Boyle, I'd say.

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but I kept forgetting. We were able to make this small video about The Lash Lounge and put it on yelp.com. Take a little look-see!! Click here

Things are going to change

We put a new sign up at the front desk this morning at work.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I found these cute little St. Patty's Day treats online and made them for a bunch of my clients. They all about died. Isn't it fun!?! Hope everyone had a safe and fabulous St. Patty's Day!

Never let your child have your iPhone

I was texting my friend Tracey the other day when all of a sudden I started receiving strange text messages from her. They didn't make any sense.

After getting about 10 of these messages I realized her son, Sam, who is three years old was playing with his mom's phone. I told her to take the phone away from him.

I feel a change in the air

I've changed my blog's name! Adventures in Meineland was:
A - too long
B - annoying
C - I like the M alliteration of Making Meine Memories

Tell me what you think. Any suggestions?

Quarter of a century

I have been alive for a quarter of a century!!! As of February 22nd, anyway. And so many of my sweet, sweet friends came to celebrate with me. It was a fabulous night!

First and foremost I have to give and thank you shout out to my two wonderful coworkers, Brooke and Jamie. This table was completely their doing. They showed up at my place with the tablecloth, matching cups, silverware, napkins, and plates... not to mention the FOOD! Chips and a seven layered dip, Subway sandwiches, and all kinds of fruits with cinnamon and chocolate dips. I was totally blown away with their support for my birthday. It meant so much to me. They also brought cute little lanterns that they hung up all over my apartment. It was quite celebratory.

Ander got the cake, some different chips, and we decided to make Teriyaki meatballs in the slow cooker. Those went FAST!

 Nathaniel (Jamie's husband), Jamie, and Brooke making lanterns

 Brooke and her boyfriend Justin. He's huge.

 My two Tracys. Tracey Hanson is the VERY pregnant one on the left, and Tracy Graff is in the middle. I am in Young Womens with both of them and they are wonderful.

 my friends Erica and Steve Middleton from my ward

 This is Kirsten (KIR-sten) and her husband Nephi. They are in our ward and they live three buildings down from us. This picture was taken six days after Kirsten had her first baby. She looks amazing. I hope I can be like that...

This is my darling client Michelle Weinstock. I couldn't believe she actually came to my party. I sent her an invite because I wanted her to know I was thinking of her, and she and her husband totally showed up!! They had a great time, and Michelle told me later that she was very impressed with all of my friends.

 Megan Peterson is in my ward too. She stopped by for a little while and partied it up (as you can see with the orange SOLO cup) Pretty sure she hit the Dr. Pepper.

My salon owner Teresa. She is such a wonderful woman. I admire her a lot, and I'm very thankful I have her in my life. I was so honored that she came to my birthday party!! (and my cute, wonderful, DARLING hubby in the back there)

Jacqui and Kraig Webb. They're also in our ward, and Jacqui and I are in a book club together (Megan Peterson from above is also in it with us) and we are obsessed with reading. And I love that!

I brought my giant bear out for people to sit on but no one wanted to sit on it, they all just wanted to marvel at it. So when it came time for me and Teresa's picture she opted for the bear.

Nathaniel, Jamie, me, Brooke, and Justin. What a great crew, huh? They really made that night special....hmmm... I think I still have some of their dishes. I should take care of that.

Andrea Coles and Gabby Turner. Andrea isn't in our ward anymore, I actually do her eyelashes so I see her a lot. Gabby is in my ward and is an amazing woman. Home-schools three little boys. 'Nuff said.

Doing what I do best: talking.

No really. I'm thanking everyone for coming. I was so filled with gratitude that night I had to publicly say something.

 Delicious ice cream cake of Ander's choice. I think it was an Oreo-something-something. Anyway, it was delicious.

 Winding down for the night

 And of course the highlight of everyone's night was when Ander brought home a bag of goldfish to feed his pet Guadalupe Bass. Everyone crowded into the guest room to watch that fish eat. It was hilarious. Ander can be such a nerd sometimes.

And at the end of the night, both the May-Merz and I were pooped. Ander told me I was never going to have another birthday party every again.

Me: "What!? Why!? This party was great!"

Ander: "Because I'm exhausted!!"

Me: "Well I hate to bust your party bubble buddy, but it's not your birthday. It's mine!"

People give me energy whereas people suck energy out of Ander. You can see the dilemma, I'm sure. Oh well, we balance each other out well enough.

Here's to being 25!!!

The Walking Dead

Last night after watching the second episode of this show I awoke thinking there was something in my room and I had to get a flashlight. I looked over at the small green light on my nightstand (the indicator that my Kindle is charged) and grabbed at it telling myself that it was a flashlight. Nope. Only my Kindle. My room was empty... my dreams just beginning to ebb away into the darkness.

Sometimes there are just days...

Where you want to scream.

This weekend has been a long time coming for me here in Austin. It's the weekend my brother Joe came for South by Southwest with his band. I have been looking forward to this week for a long time... I'm actually pretty sure I requested yesterday off around Christmas of last year.

Well, some things are just too good to be true. The place that the band has been staying at got mad that they weren't paying rent and kicked them out this morning, so now the band has no place to stay. I offered for them to stay here with us but they aren't having it. The band is leaving Austin tonight, and obviously Joe is going with them. Joe's trip here to Austin was just cut short by two days.

I was supposed to do a wax tonight that cancelled at the last minute... and that was a bummer.

And to top it all off, I had THREE no call/no show appointments today. Three. No phone call, nothing. So my time was completely wasted since I could have been at home hanging out with Joe, and I didn't make any money this morning.

This day just fell apart.

Poop.

February 23rd was a very special day for us Meines. This was the day we got to see my brother Joseph on action with his band. Joe's band A Lot Like Birds came to San Antonio to play and show and we had front row seats!

While the venue smelled strongly of cigarettes, pizza, and badly dressed people trying to be something they're not, I was so excited to see my brother. It was the first time I'd see him in about a year!! And he looks great!

Oops... wrong picture. *Ahem* 

He looks great!!

A Lot Like Birds played at the White Rabbit in a sketchy little part of San Antonio. Joe got us in no problems. We got wristbands and everything!

We also got to stand ON STAGE with the band. We got to see what they see. Lucky for us, really. I didn't want to be down there with all those sweaty people.

^sweaty people^

 Joe can literally set his drum-set up in 10-15 minutes flat. While everyone else is bringing their guitar stuff onstage and testing the microphones, he goes to work. I was impressed.

Classic.

 The kid in the red is Buttars the bass player, and the kid in white is one of the singers Cory (I sure hope I'm not butchering these name spellings...)

This video is one of my favorites because Joe spins both drumsticks effortlessly! I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open. Good thing the camera was recording! I didn't know he could do that!

All the way to stage left in the green shirt is Ben on guitar, and stage right in the red is Kurt a singer, and Mikey on guitar.

 More drumming gloriousness

All these girls out in the audience kept giving the band some serious googly eye action.

Poor Cory. He had the 24-hr flu on this night. He sang and pulled through the show like a pro, but every time he turned around he looked like he was going to cry.

 Crowd surfing at it's best. I was so confused at first when these people would just pop up onstage from nowhere! And of course at the end of this video, it's dark and you might not be able to see, but Mikey the guitar player on the right climbs up onto the ceiling and hangs upside down while playing his guitar for his finale. Crazy kid...

Well, after all that craziness died down, it was time to let the guys air dry a little bit (sweaty sweaty sweaty)

Joe has lost about 37 pounds since he went on tour on January 15th, 2012. He's down to his tightest belt notch. Apparently I just need to go on tour if I want to lose weight...

Dinner of champions 

 Jake the Merch Man

 

This was the merch crowd after the entire show. Apparently A Lot Like Birds sold completely out of T-shirts.

The best part of the night was the fact that Joe actually got to come home with us and stay the night at our place!

 He got to finally meet the May-Merz who loved him right from the start.

Joe got to shower and shave and do all the things he can't do in a van, so in the morning, he was a new man.

 awkward picture posing...

 This has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures of me and Joe. It's perfect.

And a couple of days later, after Joe went to Houston, Edinburgh, and Corpus Christi (yes Dad, there's an Edinburgh Texas) he came BACK to Austin to stay with us for one more night.

 Jobo Baggins with his unkempt beard and curls

 We did some hanging out in Costco, Barnes and Noble, and a delicious French cafe before I had to say goodbye.

 But he'll be back in about a week for South by Southwest here in Austin once again, so have no fear... I'm sure there will be more pictures to come!

I'm so proud of Joe. He's doing so incredibly well! He's thin, happy, healthy, and on top of the world. I watched him perform with my jaw on the floor. I had never seen him in his element before, and he knocked everyone's socks off. I think it's safe to say that Joe is the glue that is keeping A Lot Like Birds together. I believe he's the most dedicated and talented one they've got, and he's my brother. That makes me so proud.