Ladies Who…Walk

Posted on September 1, 2009 by MAL

The Ladies Who… Club is international!!!!

My best friend Courtney has officially started a “Ladies Who…Walk” Wednesdays in our hometown of Baltimore, MD. What a great way to get other women motivated to do some exercise and socialize at the same time.

I am so proud of her for getting this started, and look forward to hearing her updates.

If you want to start a Ladies Who… Club somewhere in your town, don’t hesitate to contact me at Meagan@ladywholunches.net . I can get you set up with a ladywholunches.net email address, and I will make sure to include you on my blog. It’s not hard, and all you have to do is pick a theme, the same or a different one every time, and get some women together!

Thanks Courtney for making the club international.

And, I just wanted to send a special thank you as well to Alexa Brandt who was the original inspiration. She started a club in Los Angeles called The Ladies Lounge, and here’s an example of one of their meetings.

“I Am a Lady Who…” Thursdays

Posted on August 26, 2009 by MAL

In hono(u)r of our third monthly “Ladies Who…” Club get-together coming up tomorrow, I wanted to start a weekly blog about just feeling good being a lady! Feel free to post it on your blog if you have one (see bottom of post), or post a comment to say “I am a Lady Who…”. Please be sure to include little known facts about yourself, something to brag about, or even just a mundane task you pulled off today.

It could be anything. It could be “I am a Lady Who… dances to John Denver songs.” or “I am a Lady Who… wears scarves on a daily basis.” or even more obscure “I am a Lady Who… plucks her chin hair.” Then, explain why it was important for you to get that off your chest and what significance it means to you to be a “Lady Who…”

I’ll go first…

“I am a Lady Who… cries every time I watch the movie Hook.”

Yes, there are people who may know this about me. I sometimes watch the movie three or four times in a row when I’m alone. I may not have done this for quite a while, but I’m sure the effect will be the same…Rufio, Rufio, Rufioooooooo…he dies, I’m left feeling like a newborn child naked in the wilderness amongst the wolves. How could they have done this to him?

That’s not the part that really gets me though – it’s when Peter gets back from Neverland and realizes that his business, his drinking, and his cell phone that is bigger than his head are not as important as his family. He crawls in the snow, and still thinks he can fly. He is a changed man.

“Granny Wendy: So… your adventures are over.
Peter Banning: Oh, no. To live… to live would be an awfully big adventure.”

But that’s still not the part that really really gets me. It’s the make believe of it all. The Lost Boys and their make believe food, their make believe lives and their belief in all that is full of adventure. I wanted to be a Lost Girl, and I believed that if I thought hard enough about a carrot cake, then it would actually appear on my plate. I wanted to come up with words that would create a good come back at any moment. I wanted someone to touch my face and say “It is you, Meagan” and when they said that it meant I was the person they always thought I was and hoped I was, and that I could fly and fight and crow and never grow up.

It has laughter, it has tenderness and it has excitement. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time, and I’m proud of it.

Here’s some good banter amongst the boys:

Rufio: Boil-dripping, beef, fart-sniffing bubble butt!
Kids: Bangarang, Rufio!
Peter Banning: Someone has a severe ca-ca mouth, you know that?
Rufio: You are fart factory, Slug-slimed, sack-of-rat-guts-in-cat-vomit, cheesy, scab-picked, pimple-squeezing finger bandage. A week old maggot burger with everything on it and flies on the side!
Kids: [in unison] Ugh!
Peter Banning: Substitute chemistry teacher.
Lost Boy: Come on, Rufio, hit him back.
Rufio: Mung tongue.
Peter Banning: Math tutor.
Rufio: Pinhead.
Peter Banning: Prison barber.
Rufio: Mother lover.
Peter Banning: Nearsighted gynecologist.
Rufio: In your face, camel cake!
Peter Banning: In your rear, cow derrière.
Rufio: Lying, crying, spying, prying ultra-pig.
Peter Banning: You lewd, crude, rude, bag of pre-chewed food dude.
Thud Butt: [with the rest of the Lost Boys] Bangarang, Peter!
Rufio: You… you man! Stupid, stupid man!
Peter Banning: Rufio, if I’m a maggot burger why don’t you eat me! You two-toned zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farmin’ paramecium brain, munchin’ on your own mucus, suffering from Peter Pan envy!
Don’t Ask: What’s a paramecium brain?
Peter Banning: I’ll tell you what a paramecium is! That’s the paramecium! It’s a one-celled critter with no brain, that can’t fly! Don’t mess with me man, I’m a lawyer!
Kids: [chanting] Banning, Banning, Banning is bangerang.
Rufio: Rufio! Rufio!
Peter Banning: Oh, Rufio, why don’t you just go suck on a dead dog’s nose.

Now, who are you?!

Ladies Who…Pamper

Posted on August 14, 2009 by MAL

Our next meeting is coming up, and here is the invitation! Looking forward to a bit of pampering, and gabbing about the book, The Time Traveler’s Wife.

I have just finished the book, and I can see why they made it into a movie. This is one of the few books I’ve read where I have a feeling the movie will be better than the book. Just felt the book lacked a bit of spark that I think the actors can bring to the romance. Will write more after the meeting!

The Only Constant in Life is Change

Posted on July 28, 2009 by MAL

The last two weeks have been eye-opening.

I was beginning to get a bit unhappy and negative about not having a job, not helping to earn money in the house, and I started thinking I shouldn’t really be here in Bristol. I missed the USA like I never thought I would, and the days were boring me to no end. Even though I have this book I’m writing – I realized I was writing it purely out of habit rather than passion. The book club has been great, but that only happens once a month and I needed more than that.

I knew I had to either change my attitude or do something about it. The change started happening last week after Jock and I attended a Theatre Bristol meeting. It was the first time I had stepped into a theatre in about eight months, and as soon as I stepped in, I inhaled deeply. There is nothing like the smell of an empty theatre – the mustiness, the sweat, the emotions all in the air from the last performance hanging there, not heavy, but eager and waiting for the next moment to be alive and have an audience cast their eyes on the experience that only live theatre can provide.

Over a hundred people showed up to the meeting to just discuss what was happening in the theatre world – that’s it. They all met to have a chat.

After the meeting, I wrote to the leaders of the evening, and this is part of what I said:

“I attended last night’s meeting and was blown away by the openness and clarity imbued in the format from which you decided to lead the discussions. Thank you for holding such a meeting. Coming from Los Angeles and New York, I have never known such a fully all-encompassing theatre get-together to exist – well, except within the unions and I would hardly call those meetings warm or open.”

That night stirred something in me. It wasn’t a desire to run back to the stage and it wasn’t a change in mind about leaving acting behind. It was my acceptance of me as an artist. I would never be able to hide from the fact that that’s who I am and I need stimulation unlike non-artists. Even just being around the other actors and writers fed that desire to create.

What am I doing differently now?

1. I am reading several inspiring books, including New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
2. I wake up every morning about an hour earlier than I was before to meditate and put into focus what I want from the day.
3. I journal for fun every night.
4. I am entering a writing contest a week so I can become a published author before my book is finished.
5. I am researching grants for writers in order to bring in some money to help me finish my book.
6. Yoga
7. Being conscious of the thoughts I let into my mind – boy, that ego is a tricky character!
8. Applying for an internship once a week in the theatre doing anything (that was part of the email I wrote to Theatre Bristol).
9. I sit up straight when I write instead of slumping – it makes a difference.

10. And my favorite task I just finished – entering the Ladies Who… Club into a contest being held by Glamour Magazine! You can see my entry I submitted here as a PDF or below (and notice my English spellings):P.S. Our book for this month is The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

I can’t believe what a difference all these little changes make. I found that, although running and writing were great ways to keep busy, I need a well balanced and well rounded life of activities.

And, how lucky am I have to have this opportunity? The other part of me thinks – you were crazy to not take advantage of all this free time! This is the time in my life when I can dedicate myself to ANYTHING I want to do. When else will I be able to have this time? (Hopefully from now on if I’m careful). Like Jock said, this is my time to be the best I can be.

Jock and I are better than ever too – even if my cheeriness is very anti-English (not really!).

On another note, Jock and his football (aka soccer) team won their championship this weekend – I was a proud girlfriend who stood in the rain and cold for four whole hours with her pom poms and skirt (nope, again, not really!) while they played game after game and won. Please mind the blinding uniforms!

One year ago…

Posted on July 15, 2009 by MAL

The Bristol Wine and Food Fair was last weekend, and a certain tea company was celebrating their one-year anniversary. Jock’s good friends, Kate and Neil Gover, run a loose-leaf tea company called Lahloo Tea. Kate’s passion for tea led the way and she named it after the famous tea clipper her great-great grandfather sailed on. They were promoting their products at the festival, and were able to snaggle us a couple of tickets to which we were greatly appreciative. It’s unbelievable how well she’s done in a year – getting her teas into michelin-starred restaurants, Liberty department store in London and PUREbliss in the Cotswolds.

Honestly, I have to say it was the best tea I’ve ever had. Being an American, we’re not known for being huge tea connoisseurs. However being a partial Californian, I have figured out that we might know more about the herbal varieties than perhaps the average British English Breakfast tea with milk drinkers. The freshness of their teas compared to cheap store-bought ones is so obvious.

The White Mulberry and Mr Aoki Green tea was my favorite, especially paired with these burst-in-your-mouth chocolates they put out. Tea and chocolate?! Yup, it actually works.

And who knew you could make alcoholic cocktails with them! I’m hoping to snatch Kate for a meeting of “Ladies Who…” and learn her recipes for these cocktails. I know what everyone in America is getting for Christmas this year! Their booth was adorable, although my pictures don’t do it justice. I love the colors she picked and the packaging is so unique.

Other than the tea, there was wine. We did taste a lot of it. I may have gotten tipsy. The cheese was to die for, and although we didn’t actually buy any cheese or wine – we did manage to purchase a few quiches, a couple of cupcakes and lots of ice cream. You pretty much had to roll me out of there.

On a more personal note, this weekend Jock and I are heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon where I plan to meet Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway and maybe Juliet (if she hasn’t already killed herself). Jock is taking me there for our year anniversary. This time a year ago, I was packing my bag, saying toodle pip to LA, bring it on Chicago, and wondering if Jocko was everything he was in real life as he was on paper. Courtney was helping me decide what to wear for our reunion, and trying to reassure me that this was indeed a good idea. It’s weird to imagine that I had only met Jock for eight hours four months earlier, and thought jumping on a plane alone to a place 1500 miles away was a good idea. Daddy, you should be ashamed for letting your daughter out of the house!

It turned out alright after all! Here we are in the early days.