1. Usually yellow is my favorite color, but I’m loving the bright green paint we bought for the front room
2. The super artsy event I’m planning with PODS Houston right now (announcement soon!)
3. Jodi Picoult’s Sing Them Home
4. This new mango smoothie recipe I made up
5. DIVISI STRINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. The way your eyelashes look when you pop open a fresh tub of mascara
7. The new bike trails the guy and I found behind the Cypress Creek YMCA
8. And last but not least… The fact that the Shell Houston Open is FINALLY here!!

And yes. I realize I’ve skipped the past two weeks… but I really like to think that I’m getting better at this whole “blogging with regularity” thing.

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Last Monday I instituted a plan to turn my intense dislike for Mondays around. Every Monday, my plan is to think back on the last 7 days and highlight a few of my favorite things. These things are on no way related to anything important… except the fact that they make me smile. So here is this Monday’s list!

1. Clay Walker at RodeoHouston with my best girlfriends
2. Evening spin class at the Tellepsen Family YMCA
3. The view from my office
4. The fun Houston Arts Alliance I’m working on with MMI client, PODS Houston
5. Researching all things raw: Lesson one… peel before freezing
6. Pre-SXSW and Girl+Guy Party excitement

Now… to get back to snacking on raspberries.

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If you haven’t, here is the low-down.

Inspired by the survivorship story of its Assistant General Manager, Marion Burch, Memorial City Mall has kicked off a month-long initiative to raise funds and awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). Yesterday marked the beginning of the mall’s  “Paint the Town Teal” event and it will continue until September 30. Teal is the color that symbolizes ovarian cancer and the mall is going to great measures to promote awareness. They’ve even painted teal ribbons on the ice skating rink!!

Here is where you come in. The mall is selling “Paint the Town Teal” bags stuff with amazing offers from various mall merchants; including Metropark, Radio Shack AND Chick-fil-a. The bags are adorable and sell for only $15, with proceeds benefiting the OCRF. If you live or work near MCM, stop buy Guest Services and buy one of your own.

The bags have many uses including, but not limited to:

• Environmentally friendly grocery shopping bag
• Tote for all of the random things you bring to work every day
• For the boys, they would make a great gift for your significant other or mom

Why is a mall going above and beyond to promote awareness of ovarian cancer? Ovarian cancer is a very silent and very deadly breed of cancer… in many women, it’s caught way too late for a total cure. Awareness of the disease is key to discovering it, because it doesn’t show up in your normal well-woman exam.

Marion was diagnosed with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer in August 2007 and continues chemotherapy to remain stable. She recently had her 37th round of treatment. She says, “We want to raise awareness so more women will recognize the symptoms and get diagnosed early. The main signs are easy to ignore — bloating, eating less and feeling fuller, abdominal pain, or trouble with your bladder — but, if they occur persistently for weeks, go to the doctor! Experts say that when caught in the initial stages, ovarian cancer has a much better chance of being cured.”

I am proud and humbled to have clients that do such amazing things.

I am an absolute sucker for charities and before the Shell Houston Open became one of my clients, I had no idea how much good the tournament has done for charity in our city. Since 1992, the tournament has raised almost 50 million dollars for Houston charities. Yeah. You read that right. 50 million. The love affair started right there.

Since the Shell Houston Open is one of my clients, I was lucky enough to be the bearer of a media pass and had permission to take photos. The pass got me access to everything from the Shell Skybox to the media room. The view from the Skybox was amazing and there was a never-ending supply of treats. I loved working out of the media building but let me tell you. Those golf reporters are super serious. Snort when you laugh and they will all look at you like you are a crazy person… but I’m pretty used to that.

According to Culture Map, the Shell Houston Open is the nicest stop on the PGA Tour. And while I have never been to another golf tournament, I can attest to the fact that all of the volunteers are super friendly… one even let me stand in front of him on hole 10 while I was taking pictures because “Come here honey, you know you want to take a picture of Adam Scott. Girls think he is a cutie!!”

Maintaining my silence and NOT snorting at this point was almost impossible but I managed.

I could not have had more fun that with the people I was with… Fellow MMIers Melissa, Sarah and Amanda came out on alternate days and two of my favorite people in Houston, my other half Monica and the hilarious Chris Pitre, joined us as SHO social media ambassadors. Special surprise additions to the fun were Paul from the Loop Scoop and James, the fiery famous guy.

Over the course of the tournament, I got a chance to hang out with Mike and Mike from ESPN, get autographs from both Emmitt Smith and Adam Scott, and high-five the President of Shell, Marvin Odum. Have I mentioned lately how much I really and truly love my job? Without MMI, I never would have had this opportunity.

If you didn’t get a chance to come out this year, you missed out and you better be there next year! Why wouldn’t you want to hang out in the sun with a frosty beverage… all for the chance to help out Houston children?

And since I know this post has convinced you that you MUST be at the tournament, here are some things to remember before you head out to the course:

1. When everyone is silent, “That’s what she said jokes” sound a lot louder.
2. People who wear jeans to golf tournaments are just asking to be shunned.
3. But eople who wear purple pants to golf tournaments are awesome.
4. It’s Phil Mickelson. Not Paul.

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without pictures…

Adam Scott:

Adam Scott’s Signature:

View from the Skybox:

The awesome purple pants:

And you know what? I am really okay with that. So rather than going into a long rant about how much I suck at blogging, or making a promise to myself to blog more or even writing something thoughtful at all, I’m just going to tell you in a nice, neat, numbered list, what my life has looked like over the past two months.

1. I lost my happiness
2. so I quit my amazing job
3. I spent way too much time in my PJs
4. and watched too many sappy movies
5. but then I read a really amazing book about happiness
6. I started running again
7. and got organized
8. I spent a lot of time with my best friend Monica
9. which involved TONS of laughter
10. I started finding happiness all around me
11. and started wearing high heels again
12. And then out of the blue I got a wonderful job offer
13. I took it
14. and my first project was Mom2 (hooray!)
15. I changed a tire wearing a yellow dress
16. and fell in love with the Mom2 Crew all over again
17. I spent some time by a campfire
18. and did some more organizing
19. Today I woke up…
20. and discovered a peace in myself that I never knew existed

I would say that as tumultuous as they have been, the last two months have been two of the most AMAZING months of my life! And it all boiled down to figuring out how to solve my own problems… with a ton of help from my beloved friends of course.

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without it (and because it totally cracks me up every time I see it)…

Photo evidence of Jenny and I changing a tire in evening gowns. And in case there is any confusion, I totally stole this picture from Jenny’s blog. So I am Maggie and Me is Jenny… if that makes sense.

And because I think this post needs a picture of Jenny and I looking like ladies (ie, without our asses in the air), here is this one with she and I and Gwen that I love just as much as the tire-changing one.

And because why not? BANGS:

Well once upon a conference, I forgot about my blog because “things just got too busy.” Now the conference has come and gone and for the first time in two months, I find myself without an excuse not to visit this quiet place again. It’s home and it’s nice. But I haven’t actually been present here to enjoy it.

But once upon a conference, I found myself inspired again… and wishing I had never neglected writing at all. Oh how I wish I had a record of some of the hilarity that ensued when Ed said “Sure Maggie. You’re an event planner. You can plan the conference.”

Hold the phone please. Didn’t he realize I had been a wedding planner? At a country club? The difference between taupe and off-white is quite different than the difference between having wifi or lacking it (as I would later learn).

Well… The First Annual Schipul Web Marketing Conference (SchipulCon09 for short) was last week and thanks to the super smart crew I work with, our speakers and our sponsors, things just went fine. 200 people had a chance to come together at the Houston Zoo to learn some pretty amazing things… And I managed to avoid incorporating the wedding march into any intros.

So today is Monday and once upon a conference, I have realized that for the event planner in me, the most important lessons were not learned on stage.

And it is those things that SchipulCon inspired me to write about.

So what do I wish I had known before I started planning this conference?

1. The quietest person on your team will be the one who is always there when you turn around and need help.
2. Trucks are great for many things, but not moving popcorn machines when there is a chance for rain.
3. You can never have too many power strips.
4. Blogging Panels are ALWAYS better with Sharks.
5. When help is freely offered, take it with grace.
6. Check your speaker flight times… at least 36 times.
7. If you invite Ziv, you will do shots. No matter how many times you say no.
8. And no matter how loudly you say no, for that matter.
9. If you say “y’all” 40 times in the closing remarks, people will giggle.
10. Have someone outside of the team you can bounce ideas off of. This person will be your savior and one of your biggest cheerleaders.
11. Have confidence in yourself. But make sure you have a back up plan in case a meteor hits your venue.

And in case you were wondering… we went with white linen.

Since my bartending college days, throwing a great party has been my specialty so you can bet SchipulCon09 is going to be one. It’s this October 15 & 16 and yes…. we’re taking over the Houston Zoo!! In case you missed it yesterday, we announced that our keynote is going to be the lovely Deirdre Breakenridge but rest-assured that is not all the awesome-ness we have coming your way!! Over the next month, we’ll be making speaker announcements and rolling out some fun agenda items so watch the Schipul Blog or follow us on twitter for deets!

Who should you come to SchipulCon09?

1. Interested in Social Media? We’ll be breaking it down.
2. Consider yourself a super online Marketer? Let’s swap knowledge.
3. Want to converse with your audience or members? We’ll show you how.
4. Got a blog and don’t know what to do with it? Let’s talk.
5. Still don’t know what this twitter thing is? Come on!
6. Looking for a chance to Network and tell your story? Then we want you.

Right now we offering a super special registration rate that you don’t want to miss! For 49 bucks you get a two day pass to SchipulCon + all the fun we’ve got planned. Why wait?

And come on. You can’t tell this little guy no…. Can you?

Can’t believe I’ve been writing for them for almost two and a half years now!!Thanks Monica

In commemoration, I though I would re-post my sweetly snarky, first every Barstool Magazine Column here (with a photo of the cover of course!). It’s funny to read and see what’s changed in Houston…. and what has stayed the same. ToC Bar anyone?!

2007 seems to be flying by and it’s only February. Lucky for you scenesters the bar scene hasn’t lost momentum either. With everything from a beaucoup of new wine bars to killer hotel bars, this year’s shaping up nicely.

For a little Dionysian worship, The Tasting Room’s newest edition at West Alabama and Kirby proves once again they still got it flowing on. Saturday afternoons proves to be a great time to have a glass or two… or 12 if you really want to make Bacchus proud.

Barstool can’t go anywhere without hearing about Max’s Wine Dive on Washington. This dive puts the smack down on other wine bars and proves the owners of the Tasting Room know what wine drinkers want. Where else can you order a set of the hot, steamy, succulent “Chef’s Big Balls” with a glass of bubbly? Watch out Midtown, Washington Corridor is the newest player stepping up.

Midtown may have been THE place to be scene for the last few years, but Downtown is back with a vengeance. “Can’t nobody hold me down!” ROC Bar’s leading the Bayou Place rejuvenation and Mosaic is taking their lead. But ever wonder what happened to ToC Bar? They’re about to re-launch, and this time for a younger crowd. Guys, make sure you check out “showstopper’s” ID if you’re going to buy her a drink… especially if you plan on taking her home to do some after horizontal dancing late night; they’re open 18 and up on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Barstool LOVES hotel bars; classy décor, dark little nooks everywhere… and a bed right down the hall? Sign us up! We’re hype about the new Monarch Bar opening in Hotel ZaZa, especially if it’s anything like the Dallas location. Word on the street is this massive opening has already been pushed back once, and we’re praying to our party gods that it won’t be delayed again.

And there you have it!

I consider myself very lucky to have met a lot of amazing people through Social Media…. I have forged some really awesome friendships that transcend Social Networking Sites and make “real life” so much more entertaining.

One of those people is Richard Shaffer…. no one else can Direct Message twitter debates about the benefits of Boxed Wine (you can recycle the box) quite like he can.

And if you know me, you know I feel pretty passionate about how awesome box wine is: but my wine allegiance may be about to change and Angel Juice better watch it’s back!!

Why? Richard is Mr. Israeli Wine himself and he is on his way to Houston to showcase his wares. Until recently, Israel had only been able to export a few of their fine wines due to limited quantity. But that is all about to change… Join The Government of Israel’s Economic Office & Richard Monday the 15th as they take over the Reserve Room at the Tasting Room in Uptown Park to help kick off the launch of Israeli Wines in the US.

Houston restaurants have been stocking up on these wines for months in order to give you a taste of Israel and you better be ready! On Monday, it’s Richard’s job to stuff your brain with knowledge about these fine wines so when our restaurants start rolling them out, you can look like a super sommelier to all of your friends.

And did I mention Richard funny??

If that isn’t enough reason to be there, here are two more:

1. It’s only 15 bucks and it’s a recession y’all!
2. WWJD? (What Would Jesus Drink?)

So when she asked one night if David and I would like to accompany her to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo so she could do a practice Carnival photo shoot, I jumped at the chance (after she promised me I could have a corn dog…. of course).

From the many amazing photos she captured that night, Holly created the following two collages. In them I see a couple of all too willing partners in crime and one very handsome prince charming. Thank you for finding us in the middle of all those amazing lights Holly.