Poshdeluxe

thelma houston: don’t leave me this way –> one of my favorite songs from dancing with meredith in our whiskey bar days

today i present to you an amazing speci(wo)men of the human race: miss meredith borders.

meredith, the punk rock queen of rainbow brite pirates everywhere

destiny brought meredith and i together in december of 2004, when she started working in my office at UT. in fact, friendships were pretty much the only good thing that came out of that job, and the fact that i met meredith (and kc) is the only reason that keeps me from completely wiping any and all memories of that time in my professional career.

anyway!

meredith and i feel in love with each other while watching movie trailers in my office… i mean, ATTENDING TO V. IMPORTANT BUSINESS. she became my dance partner, my alamo companion, my fellow foodie, my biggest source of support in austin. each morning, i’d call her into my office to discuss a “v. important memo” so we could talk about Every Little Detail of our lives. we even took an *amazing* road trip together to celebrate the end of 2005, which was quite a tumultuous and life-changing year for both of us.

i miss those days, but now meredith, along with her fabulous boyfriend, matt, are flourishing in houston, and i’m pleased as punch to report that i still see her quite a bit (i would say she’s pretty much a celebrity when it comes to this blog). oh and did i mention that we email each other obsessively? cos we do. but, you know, it’s about v. important memos. obviously.

meredith is an amazing, wonderful, intelligent, creative free spirit, and i’m so happy that i can share her with you guys today. picture-wise, i’ve mostly selected photos from her past costume parties, cos i don’t know *anyone* who loves dressing up in costumes more than miss borders.

so meredith, let’s start with one of yr obsessions: horror movies. tell me about how it all began…

I think it started when I was watching Nightmare on Elm Street Part One when I was really young, 4 or 5, at my cousin’s house. I was scared peeless, but I do remember thinking, you know, that I kind of dug that feeling. Soon I was watching cable-edited Poltergeist marathons whenever my parents went to sleep and renting Something Wicked This Way Comes and Watcher in the Woods every weekend.

can you describe what exactly you love about horror movies? what separates a good horror movie from a bad one, in yr opinion?

Part of what I love about horror movies is that bad horror flicks are so much more palatable than bad comedies or dramas. They’re still kind of goofily fun to watch. I just love to be scared; I’m also a big fan of Stephen King and other scary books and TV shows. I used to (hell, I still) just lie in bed and think about scary things until I thoroughly freaked myself out. What other people might consider to be a bad horror movie, like low budg B-movies or weird 50s foreign films and stuff, I enjoy. What I consider to be unwatchable are those slick Hollywood teenage movies they churn out every month, like Prom Night or When a Stranger Calls. Although I love the Jeepers Creepers and Final Destination series, both of which I assumed would be total crapfests, so I try to be open-minded until I hear something about the production.

costume birthday party 2006: meredith as marla (from fight club), mandy as margo tenenbaum.

say you had a friend who was a total pansy and had to close her eyes during a movie like, um, maybe “gremlins.” what movie would you choose to give her a taste of yr horror movie love?

Well, you might recall that when I realized I had a friend who was a total pansy who closed her eyes during Gremlins, I recommended Devil’s Backbone (and you’d already seen it!). That’s one of my favorite movies, hands down, and it’s definitely scary, but it’s also poignant and shot in this gorgeous, haunting way and kind of…elegantly atmospheric rather than the jump-out-and-grab-you kind of horror. Also, it has cute kids, and you’re into that.

tell me about yr future as a horror film critic.

I have this idea that I could ideally make some sort of a living reviewing genre films (including comic book, fantasy, and sci-fi flicks) and have a website that would put the endlessly obnoxious and aesthetically displeasing Ain’t It Cool News to shame. Of course, that’s never going to happen if I don’t manage to put my lack of motivation/ terror of having someone read anything I’ve written issues to bed!

you and matt have big plans that involve germany and brew pubs. tell me all about it!

Yay! Well, some of you may know that my boyfriend is an utterly rad brew master and gourmet chef. We’ve both always had dreams of owning a business, and the plan came together quickly when we first started dating, and we’ve stuck with it. We want to open a brewpub/restaurant in possibly Portland or somewhere comparable, named Skull Creek Brewery, and we’ve completely designed and decorated it in our minds. We want a next door bar (sort of like the B Side of Bitter End) called Cellar Door, and you actually walk down through a cellar door into the full-scale bar.

I also want to have a big outdoor area w/ a movie screen so we can have movie night and show old movies and have themed food (uhm, that idea might sound a little familiar to some of you Drafthouse fans). And just several different theme nights, like karaoke and beer tasting dinners and open mic night, etc.

I’ve always promised myself I’d take a year off to write and also that I’d live in another country for a year, and Matt wants to go to the greatest brew school in the world, located in Berlin. So we’d like to combine those plans in three years (as the budget dictates), and we save almost all of our money every month in honor of that dream. However, if the US dollar continues to crap out everywhere, Matt may have to settle for the excellent brew school in Chicago and we’ll just hang on to our foreign country plans for now, b/c we don’t want to throw away our hard years of savings due to a blow-worthy economy.

The nice thing about these plans is that they’re definitely going to happen. I’ve got a lot of pipe dreams–you might say I’m just one big pile of pipe dreams. But this isn’t one of them. We work hard, plan endlessly, and we’ve both made significant personal sacrifices for this goal, and it’s important enough to both of us that I just know we’re going to do it. So in 5 years or so, everyone come get a friend discount at Skull Creek Brewery!

meredith with her beardalicious boyfriend, matt, enjoying the houseboat life.

i would like more details about the food you will be serving at the brew pub, cos i need to start planning my first meal there now.

My pleasure! The food’s going to be really eclectic, because we ourselves have a lot of variety in our munching. For instance, I want to offer a lot of vegan/vegetarian options, since we eat veggie about 75% of the time. I definitely don’t want to advertise ourselves that way, b/c that scares away the carnivores, and we’ll have plenty of meat, too! But Matt’s got a vegan lasagna that I defy anyone to dislike. I love his turkey meatloaf and jalapeno mac and cheese, and that will absolutely be on the menu. For our first anniversary (heh, can you tell I liked this meal, since I’m remembering it 4.5 years later??), he made these blue corn crawfish enchiladas with saffron rice and garlic spinach, and we drank it with his out-of-this-world prickly pear mead, and that day I said we had to put it on the menu. Basically, every time Matt makes any dish, I fall in love with it and insist he put it on the menu. We’ll probably have to rotate. I want to have a brunch w/ the best idea ever that *I* invented: bellini jello shots! Peach jello made with champagne. And Matt’s eggs benedict over crab cakes and…well, this could go on for awhile. I vow that Matt will create a super fancy mac and cheese dish that we’ll name The Posh. Take THAT, Alamo Drafthouse!

YES!! i will finally have a mac ‘n’ cheese named after me!! talk about a pipe dream coming TRUE!!!

as i’ve mentioned before on this blog, you and i like to play “fantasy restaurant,” where we pick out our favorite foods and put them under one (imaginary but amazing) roof. tell me what would be on today’s menu, please!

Today’s special is the lobster risotto from Magnolia, my step-dad’s chicken and dumplings, Matt’s crawfish empanadas with dirty rice, and a crème brulee from, like, anywhere, b/c that’s hard to mess up and it’s one of the few desserts I can’t refuse. So, it might be a weird meal, but that’s what I want right now and it’s MY fantasy restaurant!

you are one of the most avid readers i know. if you could play the part of any character, who would it be? (and it’s ok if you want to pick more than one)

My first instinct was to say Elizabeth Bennet, b/c, duh, Mr. Darcy. But, you know, I like voting and owning property, so no thanks. I’d love to be Gandalf from LOTR, or Susanna Dean in the Dark Tower Series, or Jonathan Strange from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

you and matt have definitely become fans of h-town in the time you’ve lived there. what parts or places are yr favorite?

I have you to thank for several of these, b/c you introduced them to me on our Greatest Hits of Houston tour we took when Matt first moved here. I love 19th street, I love the museum district (which is a good thing, since I spend a LOT of time here), I love Art Car Parade and International Festival and Montrose. But I’ve really grown to love living downtown. I love walking or riding the train everywhere. I love Warren’s, which is a great bar with strong, cheap drinks and the bartenders recognize us, which is always a plus. I love walking to our favorite restaurants and getting the same server. I freaking ADORE the new Discovery Green park they’ve just put near our apartment, and I can tell we’re going to spend a significant portion of our lives there. I most love it on the weekends when it’s completely dead and I feel like I own the city.

at the apocalypse, wow! party: meredith scared my pants off as evil willow.

one of my favorite things about you is yr “star jones” quality, i.e. you tell it like it is. where do you think this trait came from? how do you balance being honest with being kind?

It’s nice that you like that about me, because I’m sure it gets tiring! I’ve never thought about where it comes from, but I’m pretty sure it’s not genetic, since my entire family is all about beating around the bush. I think that may be part of it, actually, because I just sort of grew up being the counselor/advice-giver/caretaker for my whole family, even when I was young. My childhood was kind of, er, unconventional, so I had plenty of opportunities to drop truth bombs on my family, even my parents.

But balancing honesty with kindness is definitely a trait I got from my mom. (Heh, readers, she’s also where Sarah got the phrase “star jones quality”, b/c once my mom said, “I just love that Star Jones! She really tells it like it is!” Which was both cute and embarrassing to hear.) She’s got the gentlest way about her, and she taught me (by doing rather than saying) that it’s best to bookend harsh truths with kinder truths.

you truly have a fabulous zest for life, which i think is part of the reason you’re such a great friend, such an amazing party planner, etc. what’s yr secret?

I don’t really know, I guess I just decided a long time ago that fun is better than tedium, adventure is better than safety, trying something new is better than the same old routine, and I don’t like wasting time. I’m quite decisive, which can be a bad thing b/c I don’t think things through, but it helps me to just grab the fun wherever I see it and hang onto it, rather than sitting around thinking about it. I’m also pretty good at shrugging stuff off and not letting the little struggles get to me, b/c that’s not nearly as awesome as…starting a dance party, for instance.

now, just to indulge myself, a few pop culture questions:

who’s yr favorite character on buffy?

Oh, Giles, no question. Brilliant, kind-hearted, and YUM. I love an authority figure. I always crushed on my professors and teachers growing up, which is why it’s no coincidence that my boyfriend totally looks like he should be teaching chemistry or something.

felicity: ben or noel?

Ben, Ben, a million times Ben. Noel can shut it with his whining and his judgey. I’m going to Prague with Ben!

if you could work with anyone from “the office,” who would it be?

Well, Stanley’s my favorite character to watch (”But on pretzel day? Well, I like pretzel day.” Me too, Stanley!), but he’s kind of a grump and I don’t think I’d enjoy working with him. Kelly Kapoor, all the way. It would be just like it was to work with you! We’d just talk celebrity gossip and boys all day!

you and i share a love for celebrity gossip… got any predictions for me? blind items?

Funny you should mention it! My current theory is that Ashlee Simpson’s not really pregnant. Her gross dad is just telling everyone she is so there will be some interest in her sure-to-be terrible upcoming album, and then after it drops, she’ll stop hinting and being coy, and just tell everyone, “Nope, I’m not pregnant. Why do you ask?”

halloween 2007: malificent mistakes jem for sleeping beauty.

what is yr secret power?

I’m gonna go with party-throwing. Dance parties (which I can conjure from thin air), themed parties (why, yes, you do have to wear a costume in July), movie marathons, upscale parties w/ champagne and canapes, keggers in my generous unnamed friend’s jungle-y backyard… I’m a pretty rad hostess, if I may say so.

do you sleep in jimjams? what kind?

Heh, oh DO I. I own more jammies than any other item of clothing. I go for the printed lightweight cotton version, with sushi, aliens, baked goods, cowboys, sheep, what have you. I change into a long, fancy pair the second I get home from work. Then, once it’s time for bed, I change again into a short, casual pair for sleeping. I wish I could tell you this is a joke.

what is yr #1 favorite food?

Well, I know most people expect me to say bacon, and that’s certainly close, but I think of your favorite food as the one item you could eat every day for the rest of your life. And that’s a tie between migas and crawfish. Or crawfish migas, which YES PLEASE.

what is yr top restaurant recommendation in austin? what’s the best thing on the menu?

My favorite restaurant in Austin isn’t fancy or foody. Now that I live in Houston where there is a wealth of fine dining options, I miss the casual outdoor funkiness of an Austin establishment. So I guess my top recommendation in that area would be Maria’s Taco Xpress. I used to live next door and it shaped most of my college career. The best thing on the menu would be, what else, the migas.

tell me about yr top area of expertise.

Horror movies, probably. Either that or Victorian literature.

what was yr favorite item of clothing as a child?

I don’t recall a specific item, really. But I do remember that for my entire third grade year I just wore red, all red. Socks, shirt, pants, all of it. My poor mom would try to cajole me into another color: “Mere, you’re so creative, I’d like to see you direct some of that creativity into your clothes. Why don’t you try another color?” But, you know, I liked red.

NYE 2005-06, champ cans in san francisco.

what do you plan on doing when you’re 80?

I’d like to have a bunch of land out in the country, somewhere Pacific NW, with a neat house built to be as green as possible (rainwater collection system, solar panels, etc). But I also want a little cabin on the land that I’ll turn into a B&B. And I want cows, goats, a pig, chickens (I don’t, really, but Matt wants chickens and we compromised, so I can get the pig), a couple of dogs and cats, and a huge fruit and vegetable garden and an outdoor kitchen (for Matt). And I want to (continue to) make my own soap and lip balm and other hippy items, and sell them in the little country store I will own on the land!

if you could assemble yr own ocean’s 11, who would you pick and why?

I’d like to be the first person to actually list 11 people for this question, b/c I’m OCD that way. I will do all of the plotting, planning, and organizing, as that’s my other secret power. Sarah, you can be the mysterious beauty who distracts the security guards. Henri can fund us with his future millions. Josh can be our legal counsel when we inevitably get caught. Erin can be the gadget lady, as she enjoys wiring stuff. Matt can build us the exact replica of the casino’s vault (what? I like heist flicks). My HS boyfriend Charles can be the explosives guy, since he got suspended for owning the Anarchist’s Cookbook. John can be our token guy with an accent. And I’ll also need some fictional assistance: Reluctant Assassin Jason Bourne (with apologies to Mark, who had the genius idea first), Special Agent and Strong Sender Dale Cooper, and Off-Duty Cop John McClane.

what is yr best karaoke song?

REGULATORS! (Mount up!) Both Nate Dog AND Warren G, right here.

do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? who?

Heh, so for this question, I went to that My Heritage website people on this blog keep talking about, and I got some delightful results. I apparently look like Lynda Carter (AWESOME), Vanna White, Billy Idol (I wish), and Tony Danza. I mean, I actually look nothing like any of these people, but you’ve got to love a computer program that claims you look like both Vanna white AND Tony Danza. Fantastic.

tell me something scandalous!

I’m disarmingly frank about a lot of stuff so people won’t notice that I’m actually weirdly secretive!

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thank you for allowing me to interview you, meredith pants!! it’s been a pleasure.

this is posh deluxe, signing off, with, well, a bit of a crush, actually.

p.s. don’t forget, if you’re dying to ask meredith a question, perhaps about her brewpub or a particular horror film, feel free to do so in the comments!

LINKS

ok, i know lions are scary but… lion CUBS? SQUEE PANTS!!!!!!!!

you know how it’s super fun to look at pictures of yr friends when they were small and ultra cute? well, check out this awesome site j. found.

remember that subway vent/trash bag art guy? well, he’s gotten even BETTER.