September + First half of October = I'm a loser

No post since August? Really, Nikki? You're lame. Lame for not updating your family and friends with what's going on in your life. Sorry dudes. Does "My dog ate my homework?" count as an excuse?

Whew...where do I start? Last post I mentioned UNT Homecoming...yes, that's this weekend. I'm planning on rolling into Denton tomorrow afternoon and staying in a hotel (weird, never thought I'd do that there) because there will be lots of boozing. Apparently Kappa Kappa Gamma's Zeta Sigma (layman's terms: UNT's chapter) is having their 20th anniversary, but I would feel totally weird going so I'm going to skip it. But Megan Mississippi is in town and I'm overjoyed to see her!

Right now Kevin is in the 'burbs of Philadelphia visiting his BFF Rob, and they're spending a boys weekend full of beer, football and gosh knows what else. Actually, do I want to know? Probably not.
Okay, time to rewind. Since last post, the job has become less hairy and I'm getting my bearings straight. I'm actually finding time to check my personal email and Twitter regularly again...woo hoo! It's a step, so I'm getting there. And I'm learning as I go most definitely. I told Leigh earlier today that this job has help me overcome so much already - from fears of selling, public speaking and coming out from behind my office door, I've grown so much in just 5 months. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me, because if it's this good I want to suck it all up like a sponge.

The first week of September I was blessed with the opportunity to go to San Francisco and visit Yelp HQ. All of the Community and Regional Managers from the US, UK and Canada came down for a week of training, camaraderie and debauchery. I learned so much and it was just plain fun to meet everyone that I work with. Finally...I felt like I was part of a company, not just by my lonesome self in Dallas! I won't go into details, but let's just say I was both ready and not ready for it to end come Thursday night. Oh - and I got to meet Darwin, the office dog! Shadow was grateful to hear there's another dog who goes to work every day. Not like there's actual work involved, though.

UK Laura, Dallas Nikki, Miami Maria

Chicago 'burbs Jelena Z and I cracking up

Austin Kevin and I - reppin' Tejas

East Bay Ligaya and I: pwetty girls

Minn-StPaul and I giving Chicago Colleen some Yelp lovin'

After Thursday night's company-wide party, Kevin flew into town and met me. I'm not gonna lie, we started drinking at 4pm after a loooong week and I was blasted by the time he rolled into town. I met up with him and he made the decision to walk me next door to the hotel, because obviously I couldn't walk myself there. He dropped me off in the lobby, and what do I proceed to do? Walk across the street and go get champagne, of course. He didn't know until the next morning when I pulled a bottle of Freixenet out of our mini bar and screamed, "Who wants a MIMOSA?!??!" Oops. Bad Nikki.

We spent the next day roaming around SF - we went to out to Fisherman's Wharf, saw Alcatraz by the bay (which is a hell of a lot closer to land than I thought), smelled the nasty sea lions (talk about mounds of lazy flubber...eww) and Kevin bought me a new watch!

On Saturday, we rented a car and drove down to Napa. We thought that "winging it" would be a cool spontaneous option, and it worked out semi-well for us, but knowing what I do now; there will definitely be a plan next time around. We found a room at the John Muir Inn, but who gives a crap where you put your head when it's swimming in wine, right? Saturday we made it to one vineyard, and Sunday we spent a big part of the day in Sonoma. We found a cool cave-like vineyard to kick off the day, then ended up in Napa later. The only vineyard we missed that I really wanted to see was Cakebread, but it's by appointment only. Lesson learned, but we'll be back.

Cave vineyards -- barrels dated back to 2004

Oh, it's noon? Time for a bottle of vino!

Don't judge. We're in Napa...it doesn't count.

A week after I got back, I left again for Austin to help the Austin CM (Kevin) with his Elite event at a liquor store. He spoke at a social media panel at UT -- that was interesting; definitely a good learning experience for me.

Intermission: work, work, work.

Mid-September, Kevin's sister Teri came into town for Jeremy's birthday and we spent most of the weekend at Oktoberfest with them. I don't have any pictures, but it was more than fun. I wish she would come down more often...she brings the par-tay!

The week after, I went to a GNO dinner with Jammi, Nicole, Erin, Jackie, her sister Apple and a few others came along as well, and it turned out to be a great Girls Night Out! A few days later, my dad came to town for a dental conference which was canceled last-minute so I got to spend a good part of the day with my daddy! I drug him along to a press preview at the Nasher and treated him to a breakfast buffet by Wolfgang Puck. Tough life, I know. Then he treated me to lunch at Hacienda on Henderson! Well, the dental conference did...damn right we expensed that shit!

The following weekend, I got to see Jammi, Nicole, Erin, the mens and Jackie and Mark! It was Jackie and Mark's wedding and they were so nice to invite me to the after-party. Weird seeing some people I hadn't spoken to in almost 2 years, but still a welcoming environment. Erin took pics with her camera, then it was stolen...big bummer. So no pics, just a memory snapshot.

Next comes Yelptoberfest, my Elite event for October. A monsoon kept a majority of yelpers away, but those in attendance were rewarded with a retro Yelp lunchbox. Oh yeah.
And Kevin - Austin and I dressed up in lederhosen. You will only see this once, ladies and gentlemen, so take a mental note.

Sweet Yelp swag

The mustache brings in all the ladies

Kevin - Austin and I as the Lederhosen Twins

Lance-pants likes to party

A few days later, Kev and I left for Austin City Limits music festival. We didn't prepare at all for rain because we're dumbasses, and spent most of Saturday tracking down ponchos, our tickets and water bottles for our backpack. Then we sat in the rain and mud, drinking beer and eating tacos, waiting for Bon Iver to come on stage. I wasn't going to admit this publicly (in fact, I hoped at the time that the rain would hide both of them), but two things happened: A) Ask Kevin about his "I've waited 40 years to do this in public" deed and B) I was so moved by Bon Iver, I cried. Just a few single tears...first time ever due to a live concert. And it felt so good.

That night, we left after Bon Iver and cleaned up, then met Kevin CM and his wife Allison for dinner and drinks. They took us to a cool ACL after-party at an old power plant with free booze, music and a cool lounge vibe for we VIPS. Yeah. That's how we roll.

Ooh...a logo background. Where's the damn red carpet?

This past week, we needed some chill time. I flew out last Wednesday night to surprise my dad for his birthday...he was, well, sort of surprised. The skim milk in the fridge gave me away. Dammit. I ate lunch with his staff on Thursday for his b-day, then worked my butt off so I wouldn't have to over the weekend.
On Friday, I drove back with Shelbi and Russ and Kevin met us at the lakehouse for weekend of fishing, drinking and no makeup. Yup, Russ and Kevin didn't put on their blush. Gasp!

Russer, Noodle & Nikki-Poo

You can take the girls out of the country, but you can't take the county out of the girls

His new pose is to hide behind me. Clever.

Whew! Now you're all caught up. Like I said, I'm gaining my personal bearings again so hopefully I'll update again soon. Until then, thank you for reading my novel. Sorry for any grammatical errors -- it only took 2 hours to write, and I'm not in the mood to proof my own writing.
I'll leave you with this -- he was NOT happy with us for treating him like groceries.

Holy cow, where has summer gone?

Geez, I turn around for one second and it's August. Teachers have already gone back to work in preparation for the school year...holy toledo, summer is nearly over!

At the end of July, Jammi, Nicole and I (but missing Erin!) got together for a much-needed GNO (Girls Night Out). Since I moved down south it's been a little harder to find "things in the middle" so I usually end up going most of the way or they come down into my 'hood. After dinner at Carolina's, they drug my hungover ass (the night before was my first Yelp Elite event) to Austin Ave. for more boozin. Kyle and Derek came and picked up baby Brayden from dinner so we decided it was time to party.

Austin Ave with my girls

That following weekend, we had Jeremy and Stephanie out at the lake. The usual debauchery went as planned - staying up until 4am, going to RCs for Two-Stepping and hitting the beach. We got caught in a knarly storm and braved through it like a couple of sailors, although Captain Shadow hid under our feet when it thundered.

Country people

Last week I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to go home for a few days. I wanted to surprise everyone, so I got into Muleshoe around 9:45pm on Tuesday night. My mom freaked when she opened the door, and my dad came stumbling out from the bedroom with a confused look on his face. He kept asking me if everything was okay; I just told him I quit my job, broke up with Kevin and was moving in with them. I kid, I kid.

They were overjoyed to have me there, and I got to see my dad's parents while I was home...they really liked that. I realized I need to start seeing them more - my Papaw just turned 80. I also got to spend time with Shelbi, and Jordan Pool (separately, of course) who I don't see enough these days. Jordan even picked some sweet corn for me...yay!

I drove back into DFW with them on Thursday night caravan-style (they were headed to the lake), but I made a last-minute detour and went to Granbury to stay one night with them instead of go into Dallas. Then Kevin pulled a Nikki and showed up at my parents' house, surprising me. And yes, I stayed with him.

This past weekend, one of my very best friends from college, Lyndsey, got engaged to her longtime boyfriend Lane. We hang out with them once every few weeks so Kevin's familiar with them now. They just bought a house together and are in the process of redoing most of it...makes me want a house with a yard!

Lynds and I at a Rangers game for her 21st birthday, June/July 2005

That's all for now I suppose. I just heard from one of my other college friends, Megan (remember her from our NY trip?). She's coming to town for UNT's Homecoming in October and I'm planning to go support my Alma Mater, hit Fry Street like I'm 21 again, and see her all in one whack. Don't worry, I'll document the madness.

Catching up for July

Whoa! Summer is dwindling away right before my eyes. I can't believe we're rolling into August this week. Cuh-razy.

Let's see. Week one. Pretty much tried to frantically get work organized before we left for Florida for ten days. That didn't really happen...work stuff fell through and I left in a frenzy, so the laptop came with me of course.

We left bright and early on Friday, July 3rd. After dropping the black mess off otherwise known as Shadow at Dee's Doggie Den, we hit the road. Kevin drove the entire trip and I either read about Edward or worked. We hit the outskirts of New Orleans around 4pm. Our reservations were at The House on Bayou Road, but it was in the middle of the ghetto and took us a while to find it. Frank, the bank employee managing the house since it has been foreclosed, greeted us. Turns out our cottage was the VERY SAME cottage that my friends Candace and Curtis had stayed in a year ago to the date and where he proposed to her. I think Kevin felt a little discomfort over that because I nudged and winked at him as I told him about it, but it was all in fun and games. Sort of.

House on Bayou Road

That night we went out to dinner, strolled Bourbon Street and went home fairly early. It was Essence Festival, so the crazies were out (or is that NOLA in general) and we didn't want any part of the late-night festivities. The next morning, Kevin insisted we have breakfast at Cafe du Monde...a mouthful of cafe latte and powdered sugar later I thanked him. Delicious, I wanted to stuff a whole order of beignets in my pocket and take them on the road!

At Fritzels on Bourbon St.

Now here's where the fun REALLY begins! We drove into Florida mid-afternoon on July 4th. The condo that we had rented was phenomenal.


That night we met up with Mike, Holly, John, Melissa and their two boys, Chase and Austin. They all rented a bigger house a few blocks away. We all watched the fireworks go off from different towns along the beach for a while, which was totally neato. The rest of the week was a blur of movies, beach, wine on the beach, seafood, beach, sunburn and food. Lots of food. We rented a beach cruiser bike, because that's the mode of transportation for most of vacationers there, and rode up and down the coast a lot.

Watching the 'works

Trust him. He's Lifeguard Ken.

Dinner at Fire

Holly and Mike

John and Melissa

Or should I say, Lifeguards Skip and Ken

On Thursday, John and Melissa and their boys rented a pontoon boat to take to Shell Island, and they invited us to come along. I thought Rosemary Beach was white and blue...it didn't even stand a chance to the waters of Shell Island. We sure do live in a beautiful country. On the boat ride back in, we stopped at several spots to anchor and enjoy the wildlife. John caught a few angry crabs, starfish and hermit crabs. Testy little sons of bitches!


On Friday night, we went out to Seaside to have a date night, if you will. It more or less turned into a night of drunkenness, celebration and food. No different than any other date night in our book!

Shrimp Shack in Seaside

We were sad to leave on Saturday, but the vacation was long and relaxing. We drove straight through and arrived back in Dallas around midnight.

Three days later, I left for Phoenix for another 3 days to help Gabi (the Phoenix Yelp CM) with her July Elite party. Her style was very different than Farrah's but I definitely enjoyed the fresh outlook on Elite parties and picked up some new tips.

Since then, I'm trying to get caught up before the month ends. Tomorrow night I'm throwing MY first Dallas Elite party at Fuse. I've booked some fabulous entertainment that I'm sure I'll be sharing in my next post, so look forward to pics and a full-on review of how I did. Kevin, the Austin CM, is in town to lend a hand...which I will definitely need.

I supposed that's it for July. You probably won't hear from me again until August. I know...life's tough. Right, Mom?

Has it really?

It has. It's really been a month since I blogged. Gawd, I'm terrible! I never thought I'd be that when-it's-convenient blogger.

You must understand, so much has happened to me in the last 30 days. No excuses, but I've never had my life whirlwind in front of my eyes quite like this before. Wait, let me back up...that's a lie. When Kevin and I first started dating it was exhilarating, much like this. For those of you who know me...

I started a new job.

Not just any job. The one job I prayed for every night and day for 45 days straight. Thankfully I'm extremely cocky when it comes to applying for anything I truly want, because I always get it. Maybe that showed through my personality and that's why I landed it. Just sayin'.

I'm now the Dallas Community Manager for Yelp(.com).
Perks: I work from home, travel for the job and set my own hours and have my own freedom. However I'm learning with passion for a job comes dedicated commitment, no matter what time of day. Example: Right now, I'm sitting the Houston Magnolia hotel lounge working (well, blogging..duh) and probably won't go to bed before 2am. But most days I get to "sleep in" until 8:30am (HEY, it's sleep in to me), so I consider it a trade-off in my favor when compared to the usual 5:45am rise time at my old job so I could get to the gym before work.

No cons. Really.

Just a recap:
- I started with Yelp on my birthday (June 1st), in Chicago for a Regional meeting for the week (wooo! I even got cupcakes!). But was third in birthday present rankings...1st was my mom coming down for a weekend to spend time with me, and second was the Tiffany's ring from a certain someone.
- My boss, Andrea, came down to Dallas from Chicago for the second week of June to show me the ropes of my new job. My head might still be swimming in information...
- This week I've been in Houston, helping out the Houston Community Manager (Farrah) for her June event. It was an awesome time, check it out at http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-elite-squad-event-flemings-prime-steakhouse-and-wine-bar-houston#hrid:TguZHDigGEJHM81uIXQI7A/src:self
- Next week we head to Florida for 10 days for vacation. Shhh...I'm taking my laptop. Can't live without it now.


I PROMISE promise PROMISE not to let my faithful readers down again like I have. I'll make time. I swuuuur.

Here are a few pics from Chicago's Regional meeting. I like my coworkers :)

Andrea, Collen (Chicago CM) and me at Yelp Eats: Tapas Valencia

Crazy Collen, you and your champagne! Oh wait, I'm holding a glass too...

Kevin (Austin CM) as the surprise birthday boy

Gor-ge-mous: Mariah (Detroit CM), Farrah (Houston CM), Sarah (Minn. CM), Maria (Miami CM)

Running for beer

Katy Trail is a 3.5 mile-long concrete sidewalk-sort path that runs from the American Airlines Center and up through the middle of Uptown. Kevin introduced it to me when I moved down, and we frequently take walks or runs on it. It's often crowded with walkers, runners, dogs, bikes and rollerbladers getting in some exercise, and is mostly funded by private donations made by residents. Every year, they host a 5K to raise money for the Trail - and the race is followed by a "picnic" with free beer and food by local restaurants.

A week ago, my friend Brook and I ran the Katy Trail 5K together. We ran it last year, although not together...she ran with her friend Shannon, who is an ex Nike runner, so you can only imagine the time they clocked; and I ran with Kevin but couldn't drink afterwards because I had a kidney infection. But this year, Kevin couldn't run because of Shadow so he and Brook's boyfriend met us after the race at the picnic.

We shot for a ten-minute mile (hey now, the humidity was at about 95% and it was 98 degrees outside) and landed at the finish line at a little above our expectations. Whatever though, we didn't care...we made a bee line to the beer stand.

Next year, Brook, let's stick with our new plan: run a mile, turn around and head back to beat everyone to the free beer and food.

2008: Shannon, me and Brook

2009: Brook and I

Guns up, you ole Raider you

Before I start this next weekend, I think it's only fair I should blog about the last. Especially because it was a BIG one. My little brother graduated from college. Gawd, I feel old.

But first, let me back up to the weekend before...as you recall, we had a long one so Shadow had to go to camp so Mommy and Daddy could play. When I picked him up on Sunday, they told me he had been accidentally bitten out of excitement by a fellow kennel mate. By the following Wednesday, it wasn't getting any better and he was licking it like crazy so we decided to take him to the vet. Our boy didn't come home happy.

I think we found a way to leave Shadow at home and he not tear up things

The bite needed some extra care and attention, and we certainly didn't want to leave him at the kennel again for another weekend. Kevin decided to stay home with Shadow and I flew to Lubbock bright and early Friday morning where my mom picked me up and drove me to Muleshoe. After a much-needed prophy and Invisalign fitting (thanks Dad!), my parents and I headed back to Lubbock for graduation weekend. I stayed at my brother's house for the entire weekend, because I didn't feel like shelling out $200 to stay in a hotel with my parents. Besides, the Value Place made his couch look like the Shangri La.

That night, both sets of grandparents (minus my mom's dad, he was at his flying club dinner), my parents, Shelbi, Jordan and I went to On the Border. My stress level was already high from running around and organizing all day, so I decided a nice strong margarita (or three) would do the trick. And it sure did.

My dad and his parents

My mom and her mom, Jordan and the back of Shelbi's head

The next morning, we had to get up pretty early because his graduation started at 9am. The speaker was actually very entertaining, and the overall graduation ceremony wasn't as long as I had anticipated. To see my brother walk was such an honor -- I'm so proud of him. He made it out with a very commendable GPA after taking the course load that he did (BS in Biology), and maintaining a job throughout most of it. I'm anxious to see what he makes of himself out there in the real world, because I know it will be great.

Jordan's high school graduation in 2005

Texas Tech graduation 2009

We ate at Cagle's for a late lunch afterwards, and all of the family left soon after. I stayed in Lubbock to spend some time with my brother and see a few friends. That night, I went out with Shelbi and Russ to a few bars and ran into more than a handful of old friends...it never fails when I come to Lubbock, it's like a small high school reunion. It was nice to see everyone again, but being there further reminded me why I chose to live in Dallas.

Would you believe I used her old ID to get into bars as a minor?

Old friends - I hadn't seen Kyle in over 7 years.

Here's a tale of just how trustworthy the South Plains are: I rode to last bar of the night with another party, and I left my purse in her trunk so I wouldn't have to take it inside. Welp, she left early...with my purse. Thankfully, we got ahold of her and agreed to stop by her house on our way home to get it. When we pulled up, there was my purse...on top of the trunk of her car. In the open. For anyone to grab. And guess what was gone? NOTHING. Never would have been so lucky in the Big D.

The following morning I woke up with a knarly hangover and decided that some Whataburger would do just the trick. I called up my friends Candace and Curtis and they took me to a much-needed greasy breakfast. My flight wasn't supposed to leave until later that night, but I called and jumped on an earlier plane, so they took me out to the big Lubbock airport and I got back home just in time for a late lunch.

Congratulations little brother, although you're not so little anymore. I'm so proud of you!

Bloody Mary? Scratch that. I'll take a shot of tequila.

In the midst of all things called life, I have completely forgotten to blog about one of the best weekends...well, ever. It was two Saturdays ago, May 2.

Since joining Yelp.com last fall, I've become a full-blown addict. I'm on it every single hour of almost every single day, watching the Talk threads and reading reviews. Some call it a web disease -- I prefer Yelp nicotine. There are so many users that enjoy the same smoke I do and I've slowly integrated myself into the Yelp community. Which definitely comes with benefits, in addition to come cool friendships.

One of those perks was a certain event posted by a user a few weeks ago, Nickie. I met Nickie at Lota's Goat about a month or so ago, so I only felt compelled to attend the event. What was it, do you ask?

A Good Morning Pub Crawl. Yeah I said it.

About a dozen of us met at EIGHT A.M. (in the morning, just to be clear) at the Goat to start off our morning of debauchery. I met so many faces that I talk to every day on Yelp but had never had the chance to see in person...it was very cool. There were a few familiar faces - Leigh and Lance were there, as well as a few others I had met at a Yelp Trivia Night at Flying Saucer a few days before.

It looks like it was just some dudes and me, but I swear there were girls too

We stayed at the Goat until just before 10am, then we moved on to Ships. If you think the Goat is a dive bar, Ships goes even higher on that scale. It's BYOL (bring your own liquor), and thankfully Nickie was smerht and brought a flask of sweet tea vodka. There wasn't enough to go all the way around, so I continued my Morning Pub Crawl voyage with Miller Lite.

The cool cash register, and a reflection of us playing erotic photo hunt in the background. Classy.

Lance-pants, stealing the show again

Gun show outside of Ships

After an hour or so at Ships, we decided it was time to move on. So we hustled our way down Greenville...


...only to be stopped by Brian -- new owner of Lost Society (the old Suede). He invited us in for a "round on the house". Let me remind you, it's just around 11am at this point. And he's in his PJs, and we're a bunch of buzzed Yelpers running down the street. Not exactly your every day scene.

Once inside, Brian skewed the "free" thing and offered us anything for $1 a drink. Hell-to-the-yeah, pour me a screwdriver! He turned on some tunes, and took us through his newly renovated place and upstairs to the "lounge area" with couches AND another fully-stocked bar. Talk about a private party!

Free drinks! Free drinks!

Megan and Leigh turned this into an R-rated party

Lined like ducks at the bar

After wearing out our welcome at Lost Society, we got back on our original path and headed to Winedale. Time: noon. By this time we had quite a bit of booze in us, and I could tell that the bartender was getting really impatient with us. The regulars at Winedale couldn't stop staring - we were definitely a sight to be seen. Lance, Joe and Grant all took a shot of tequila "rugby style." Was that before or after Kristen jumped on top of the bar to dance?

Showing her dance skillzzzz

Our final destination was Stan's Blue Note, but that was further up Greenville Ave. And required a car ride. Grant, a fellow Yelper, offered to drive so we all piled in and headed north.

Grant's car was smooooooshed

I'm not gonna lie, Katie was attracted to my 'stache

We stayed at Stan's until around 4:30 or so, and even weathered through the storm that knocked down the Cowboy's practice facility. Outside. Yup, under a flimsy canopy on the patio. We're tough mother effers.

The party bus has arrived

Lance and Joe showing good sportsmanship

Kevin showed up!

Nickie and Nikki

Kevin needed some Megan lovin'

Finally, I decided after 8 hours of boozing, it was time to go home and take a nap. What's that you say? A quitter? I DON'T THINK SO.

After a two hour power nap, Kevin and I got back up and hit up the Loon because we were still kidless (Shadow was at camp). That's right, and we stayed out until 1am. Because we're troopers like that. Quitters, ha...