Gotta Find Something Else to Do Tonight

Lovelies, I was supposed to go on a 3rd date tonight, but (tear) he just called last night while I was in class & canceled. He has to work, has to tie up loose ends because he is leaving on a 3 week family vacation this week, yadda, yadda, yadda....

He called again this morning to see if I had gotten the voicemail. He sounded disappointed on the phone and asked when I was leaving for the Hamptons this week. When I told him I was heading out there on Wednesday morning and coming home on Sunday and he said in his cute Australian accent "Well, that's not good news Miss Musical! I was hoping to see you before I left on my trip! Can we get together when I get back from vacation?"

The scary thing is lovelies - I didn't realize how tightly I have screwed the cap onto Miss Musicals "jar of love". I turned off my heart, so to speak, and was quite happy for the majority of the time! But now my world has been rocked a little and now I am sad that we aren't having date number 3. Sigh. Still stuck in my 2 date rut...

But who knows, he could actually follow through with asking me out for date number 3 when he returns. (Do men still do that? Follow up on stuff that they said they'd do? I sure hope so, lovelies!)

ANYWHO - I think I'm going to treat myself to see 9 to 5 on Broadway tonight. I've heard it's actually a pretty good show and that there's some cute & memorable songs in it! I love Dolly's writing and will throw my money at anything she lays a finger on! :)

Oh, God - I've turned into a Teenage Girl!!!

Lovelies, two things I'm obsessed with:

1. True Blood

Amazing show. Amazing writing. Amazing cast. Love the whole thing - although I'm having trouble finding where to watch it illegally on the net. Sigh.

My computer runs so slow when I try to upload the season 2 episodes. Why can't they just put it on iTunes week-by-week like they do with all the other shows? Why we gotta wait for the whole season to come out on DVD? WHY?

2. (gulp - I'm embarrassed by this one) TWILIGHT

Yes, yes, it's another vampire thing, but I just love it! I read all four books over a month and they were fantastic! The writing is not War & Peace, but it serves its purpose and it's really quite addictive. I used to tell my friends that I couldn't hang out with them because I had to get high with the Cullens. Cullen crazy, friends.

Although, I love Rob Pattison, I still want another actor to play Edward for the movie -- which aren't as good as the books... But I think the dude who plays Jacob is great! And the chick who plays Alice is as cute as they come!

Overall thought: I never dreamed that I would turn into a fang-lover, but here I am, watching True Blood and coming off of my Cullen high from Twilight. If I start listening to the Jonas Brothers, I'm a lost cause... Good thing they don't interest me.

PS, lovelies - It's been almost 2 years since I've had a 3rd date, and I've managed to get one with this really nice & charming man! I mustn't get too excited about this, my lovelies - but I think it's kinda fun that a dude wants to spend more than just 1 or 2 dates with me! One day at a time this time...

Sweet Home Minnesota!

Lovelies, at this time last weekend I was watching the Cake Eater, MN 4th of July Parade - complete with veterans, floats and many pro-lific Minnesotans. There were more kids there than at a Dora the Explorer: Live concert! Guess that's who goes to parades... the breeders....

So here's what I did when I was home:

- Promptly got a Caribou Coffee the second I walked off the plane! Mmm... Gotta love the Vanilla Lite Coolers!

- Hung out with the family and went to the Saints game! I love the St. Paul Saints! And the mascot pig "Mudd-onna". Just freakin' brilliant stuff! We got to see the Klondike Kate's sing the National Anthem & some other goodies and they honored all these Women Veterans! One woman was even a pilot in WWII! Amazing - she was sprightly too! Jumping across the field!

- Went to Target to look around. God Bless it, I love my Target!

- Hung out with the Espresso Genius - we went to the new store Aldi. It's kind of like a ghetto Costco, but they had some good deals.... And you can totally tell it's a German run store - they're very efficient & economically friendly. And you have to return your cart at the end of the shopping trip! You HAVE TO! ...Germans and their rules. Sigh.

- Went to Macys/ Room & Board/ Pottery Barn & Restoration Hardware to help my parents look for a leather chair. My mom, the real Mama Musical, was deciding between the super cute Room & Board chair and the ugly old-mans study winged-back chair from Macys. She chose the Macy's one. I told her not to put me on the inheritance for that chair. If it was the Room & Board one, I might re-consider... I hate that I let my own mother buy ugly furniture because it made her happy.

- I sunned myself at the pool with the Da-zizzle sisters, Hols & RoGo! Was a BLAST to hang out with some of my nearest & dearest from Cake Eater High School! (and the 10 year is coming up in December... gulp)

- Went to see Star Trek with my dad in the theatre! Was AMAZING! And hot dudes... I loved it! It was so funny how they put so much of the TV show into it! My dad really liked it too - was great to spend time with Pa.

- Went to lunch with my Grammie Musical and Mama Musical at Perkins- always something fresh & new). Grammy Musical is 90 years old, people - still jumping around and with all her wits about her... And still gossiping about all the other old bitties that live in her retirement community!

- Had dinner with the fam. at Granite City Brewery. Even Bro Musical was home from the air force seminar he's doing in Georgia (the state, not the country - thank god.) I sang "Leavin' on a Midnight Plane to Georgia" to him before he left for the airport. He promptly punched me in the arm & told me I was dumb. Such a kind brother, no??

- Visited to the Mall in Cake Eater, MN a few times.

- Helped Mama Musical organize the linen closet. (can you believe that she had queen sheets & full sheets interspersed with one another - wha?? They should each have their own shelf.) I may have used the labeler to tell my near sighted parents what shelves are for what sheets....

Overall, I ate way too much, saw way too many friends & thoroughly enjoyed myself! Now I can't wait to go home at the end of August!

You Can't Get Your Heart Broken if You're Not in a Relationship! (and other goodies...)

Lovelies,  I just spend a fantastic 5 days at home in Minnesota.  The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and I had a grand time overall.  (I will re-cap further on in future blogs my purchases & events I attended...)  

But for now, I just want to say a word about singleness.  Ah, yes, I'm bringing it up lovelies... The ever-constant single state of my life.  And I didn't think so much about it until I started reading this book.  

(Damn you, literature! -- shaking angry fists!) 

Now this is not one of my normal Shopaholic or Twilight Chick-Lit Books where the characters are so far away from my real life that I can laugh at their problems whilst thinking "Gee - I feel bad for them!" or " Look at all their relationship issues/ flaws/ problems!" and finally the ever calming  "Glad I'm not like that!"

But lovelies this book is smacking me across the face again & again.  It's called Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single and it's by a Minnesota native named Heather McElhatton.  I swear, this book hits so close to home it hurts!  (In fact sometimes I end up crying I'm laughing so hard & then I realize I'm laughing because I relate so well... Le Sigh.)

This gal in the book is a normal gal who doesn't always say the right thing, dates online and usually ends up going home alone to her cat & a bottle of wine.  And she's funny!  A funny, normal sized gal who has trouble with men... Frighteningly familiar.  

The book is a great read for summer & I highly recommend it! 

But it got me thinking how much I crave a relationship and also how scared I am to actually be in one and be open to having someone be such a big part of my life!  Uugh, love.  

Why can't I just have a matchmaker say "Miss Musical, in 2 years time you will marry Motel the Tailor and live in a 2 bedroom co-op on the Upper West Side."  Oh, Fiddler on the Roof, if only life were as easy as your witty lyrics.... 

Favorite Painting

Lovelies. Something I enjoy doing year round is visiting museums. I love the rush I get when I walk through the doors - eager with the anticipation that my brain will be a little more expanded and the hope that my world view will broaden.

So, I was recalling today my all time Favorite Painting. It's probably not one that many people would call their all time favorite, but also you have to take into account how I happened upon this painting...

I was 20 years old, a junior in college and studying for the semester in London. We were so lucky to have an art history class right at Tate Britain. (That's not Tate Modern people, it's the old school museum.) So we had this lovely old man who was a professor that toddled all around the museum and showed us various works of art. But my favorite part was the fantastic stories he told us! Just amazing stuff!

Sometimes they were stories about the artist's tragic life. Sometimes they were about the subjects in the painting. But my all time favorite was when he brought us around a corner and there was a big (10 x 10) beautiful oil painting. It was John Singer Sargent's "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" and it was magnificent.

And then my teacher told us how Sargent tried to capture the twilight everyday and how he spent the two whole summers at his friend's home and waited everyday to paint by that light.

Also, the children who were his subjects were his host's children.

It's not much of a grand story, but it intrigues me.

That part of day is so beautiful and as I sat & stared at the expansive painting way back when in Tate Britain, a nostalgic feel washed over me. I was brought back to my memories of my own summer evenings when I was a child.

I could remember and recall wonderful detail of running with sparklers (like the young girls here are playing with lanterns) and how cool it got as the sun went down and the sounds of the birds settling and the toads croaking.... Guess that's why it's my favorite. I have a little print hanging in my room, but someday I hope to have a big beautiful replica!

I'm almost two years away from 30.

Lovelies, Happy almost 28th birthday to me. It's a mere 4 days away and I'm getting anxious and also kinda nervous. Not only because I'm doing a folk concert on my birthday, but also for the main question I have:

Shouldn't I be getting more done in my life now that I'm nearly a 30-something?

I don't mean like having a relationship or kids - that may or may not happen. (it's up to the fates to decided that.) I'm talking about the things that are a sure bet, like 401K and owning a home.

Perhaps my worries (which only started today) are totally unnecessary. While I do feel great about moving to NYC at the age of 25... and all that came along with that. Like learning that I am the only one that I can rely on. It's also exciting that I've made so many great friends and contacts along the way. Now if only I can screw my head on straight and start concentrating on getting an agent I'll be set!

I've also become more comfortable with being lonely or alone. And I'm actually (gasp) starting to enjoy my singleness. Something I thought I would NEVER EVER say.

BUT having said all that I look at my boss who was married & preggers at 28 with a stable job and think to myself "CRAPSACK! She was on the boat to Stability long before I was, but even so... I feel like I just need to start holding myself accountable.

Nobody else will hold my hand and do this for me. (although, it's a shame that they don't make jobs like that -- you know -- an accountability angel or some nonsense like that.)

Sigh...

How do I Seal the Deal?

Lovelies, I have a question:  How am I smooth enough to get a fellas card, but not smooth enough to have him call & ask me out on a date??  

I don't stalk.  I don't pry or call them too much.  I just let them be the man and make the first move.  I hate hate HATE it when business cards are exchanged and then nothing happens... Here's some cases in my life:

Remember Opera Hottie?  Or O'Hottie as I called him....  Yeah, so nice with loads of potential - and after 2 e-mails back & forth of very non-evasive brief stuff he never calls?!

AND remember the cute guy I ran into at the airport on my way back from Christmas Vacay this year?  The handsome british one who gave me his card after much flirting ensued in the taxi line.  Same thing.  3 or 4 e-mails back & forth and then nada.  Nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.  

So the latest was on Saturday night there was a terribly attractive man at the piano bar I was at!  He was there with a gal, but then my friend Z. went and asked if he was single, what he did, etc. on my behalf (yes, a little jr. high, but sweet of her, nonetheless..)  So turns out he's single, straight, and works at a respectable job.  I did some follow up questions:

Miss M: Where are you from?

Straight Dude: Texas.  You're from Minnesota right Miss M?

Miss M: Yes I am!  Do you enjoy piano bars?

Straight Dude: Yup! 

Miss M: Me too!  I wish I could play the piano.  Do you play any instruments?

Straight Dude: Yes - I play the violin & mandolin.

(Side note: Miss Musical is insane about the mandolin - HELLO???  Nickel Creek anyone??  Mandolin's are HOT!)

Straight Dude: Here's my card!

Miss M: Thanks!  Hey, I'm doing a show next Sunday night!  You should come!  (I produce a postcard for my show).

Straight Dude: Don't think I've got anything planned for next Sunday- I'll try to be there!

And then lovelies, I did something stupid.  I facebook friended him.  D'oh!  Facebooking someone you fancy is the dating kiss of death.  Seriously.  I know.  I've been facebooked which is another way for a dude to say "Yeah, you're pretty to look at, but I just don't really want to get to know you in that way.  Let's be facebook friends instead!"  

Le Sigh.

A Message to Men everywhere: Do not give a lady your card or ask for her number unless you intend to follow up.  This is not a game of "How many cards can I get in a night?" or "Who will call first?"  

I've decided to start handing out lists to random fellas on the subway & preach about dating etiquette on the N train.  That should reach a lot of people right?  I mean if the homeless people can collect money on there, I must be able to help the men of NYC become a little more aware!  Here's the easy 5-step lingo: 

1. You like a chick.

2. You ask for her number

3. You call and ask her out.

4. You take the time to figure out what you'll be doing on the date 

5. Date happens. You show up on time.

Too much to ask??  I think not.