First party foul of the trip: Aer Lingus (/that's what she said - (hi Madge)) did not serve Guiness as they had when he went 8 years prior. I thought Mike might cry.
They served Tiger (a flat lager), Bud, and Heineken. Blech.
I'm now at the Holiday Inn, Mike has his 1st Guiness in hand, I a cider, and we wait for the airport shuttle to take us to Dublin Airport for our flight to Barcelona.
With that I bid you a Adios, muchachos!
About 2 weeks ago I spent a long weekend with some friends at the Cape in house that we've rented before. As is the norm with our crew, there's usually one night that gets slightly out of hand. One innocent Sunday, when faced with the choice of playing good natured charades or the slightly evil flippycups to start off our evening's entertainment, I am glad to report we decided to go a few rounds of the latter.
And even though my team lost, for you see we are not a pack of cheaters, we had some extremely funny, heartwarming moments that I know I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. Or at least the next month.
Here are a few of them.
(It is also my recommendation that you should really head over to Jessica's place for the audio. Priceless.)
This weekend will all be about the babysitting my niece and nephew, ages 3 and almost 1 respectively, all. weekend. long. Did I mention the nephew just learned to crawl Wednesday? Great, now I gotta watch the kid.
It should be quite the adventure. I know Sarah can barely contain her excitement (and yeah, I am boasting. let me have this.) as I am in the know of the following:
1. First question out of Sarah's mouth Tuesday and Wednesday, "Is it Friday Yet? Jennie come over?"
2. Kate has explained to her that she will be gone for 2 days and Sarah's response, "Two days? You can go for 10 days if you want."
3. Kate asked her Thursday if she knew what tomorrow was, when she took a blank on that, Kate reminded her "Friday" to which Sarah responded with Elvis-like hip movements and pointing the the sky, "JEN-NAAAAY COME OVER!" and proceeded to "whoop-whoop".
This last part scared Kate a little bit. Not that she is jealous of mine and Sar's bond, but wondering what it is exactly she thinks she's gonna be able to get away with on my watch. Donuts and soda for dinner? Midnight bedtime? Kiddie porn (I mean, "Dora the Explorah")? Finger painting the walls? I do not know.
Anyway, it should be interesting-- especially as I know Owen can't go 2 days without a "Code Brown" and I can't hand him off to a parent at the first smell of trouble. Which means ...I'm gonna have to ...good God, I'll think about that later.
Anyway, here's is what Miss Responsible-and-in-charge-of-2-of-America's-future looks like (taken 1/28/06).
Believe it or not, despite the following conditions:
a. I had just quit my job the prior day and was beginning a 2 week stint of no work for the first time since I was in high school.
b. The fact we were out celebrating my birthday which would arrive a few days later and
c. the trough of alcohol in front of us...
I was here, and would continue to be, the only remarkably sober person of the night.
Yeah, I can barely believe it either. But it's true.
The connah store where I get my coffee every morning has this sign by the register:
"Try our new
SICK
potato skins appetizer
WOW
bacon cheddar"
I think the fried mozz sticks get the "wicked sick" props.
A few months ago, over 18 bottles of wine at this party, Jess and I secretly hatched The Great Birthday Plan of 2006. As our birthdays are about a month apart (mine January 31, hers February 26) and the plan was to "get our mens" to throw us this joint birthday party sometime mid-February. Nothing crazy or ostentatious, just a group of the usual suspects at our favorite restaurant to celebrate the 2 coolest people we knew. (that would be us)
And the plan worked perfectly, like, Jess sent out the e-mail invitation with 5 days advance notice (totally on behalf of Jeremiah and Mike), I called the restaurant for a reservation (ditto) and this took place the night before Jess' birthday (still technically in between our birthdays).
In what had to be a Birthday Miracle, everyone made it out.
Because I am lazy ass, the story is told thru Flickr here. Though it should be said that Jeremiah is one photogenic fox (you will see what I means). Suz running a close second.
When you're lazy (like me) and are seated near a vending machine < 10 steps from your cube, you will find yourself with a renewed relationship with said machine. As the kids would say, "we're back together again." I'm feeling pangs that I might want to make a committment. Maybe we'll renew our vows or something. Who knows?
A bag of Lays, a bag of Doritos, and a Snickers bar (thanks a lot, Shan) for lunch today (so far, as of 1:30 EST, 2:30 EST).
I am never going to lunch again unless I am dragged out the door kicking & screaming by someone, am I?
I've just been guilted into cleaning up my crap so that "we can stop living like slobs" blah blah blah. In the meantime, here are the pictures from NYC friday night. I wish I had busted out the camera earlier in the evening, as these are missing a few friends of mine. And the 2 for 1 happy hour drinks. Boy, those were good.
P.S. it has been suggested by 'the roommate', "hey, you post everything else on the blog, why don't you post pictures of the room and ask your readers if you should clean."
Um, yeah ...no.
For those of you local to Boston, The Globe has started a new feature today called "Plonk of the Month". This feature is to find good wines cheap. Which knowing some of my friends, this should be a Godsend.
"The word plonk began as British slang for the cheapest drink served." Now we refer to the $10 and under set as "inexpensive".
Today's "plonk" is new wave Spanish reds (Antano Rioja 2004, Castano Yecla Monasrell 2003 to name a few).
If this is something up your alley, you can check today's Globe (Food section) or go to this link where they will keep at least 2 months worth of lists at a time.
[Last Friday night, as we headed to our favorite restaurant, The Texas Roadhouse]
Him: So, lemme guess, you're gonna get the slab of ribs, loaded mash potatoes and the green beans with bacon?
Me: Yeah. Oh, and a water. I don't wanna get fat.
========================================================================================
Tale of Em's Mams and One Goofy Drunk (and for once, not me)
[At Em's house, Monday night]
Me: Oh my God.... MY EYES! MY EYES! Em, holy cow, those things are HUGE. The circumference alone...put those things away, willya?
Her: Yeah, I know. Definitely gives another level of meaning to the phrase "dinner plates".
[Later, on speaker phone with our Dad and stepma, Kris]
Me: Kris, I sent you and Dad some pics on Kodak Gallery (of Elizabeth)...to his work address and your hotmail account.
Kris:Your father is trying to get them as we speak...(to my father) what? you can't get them? (to me) Hold on, here's your father, I'm gonna check...
Me: Dad? What you can't get into HOTMAIL ...
Dad: We can't get them with the Mac, so now we're trying with the IBM...
Dad: (as he realizes he's on speakerphone) Who's there by the way?
Em: Just us, Dad. Me, Jen, Kristof, the baby, ... the dog.
Em: You run a LARGE COMPANY and you can't get into e-mail?? what do you do? Run to Claudia (his assistant)at the first sign of distress? "Oh, CLAU-DEE-AAAAH? CLAU-DEE-AAAH...can you do this for me? " Jesus, Dad, it's just hotmail for chrissake.
Jen: You got dueling computers? Wait, you're telling me you can't get into hotmail on a Mac? Dad, just type in "H, O, ..." (this conversation now taking on Mom proportions, mention same to Em. We mock quietly).
Dad: Ah, she's got them! Okay, let's see what we got here....
Dad: She looks just like you, Jen! (sees next pic) Yep, she looks just like you, Jen!
Em: You are aware that I'm the one that had the baby, right Dad?
Dad: Awww, so cute. She looks just like you, Jen!
Em: You realize I just spent 36 hours in labor and am very hormonal right now, right. Dad.?
Dad: 36? I thought it was 24. That sounds about average.
[about now I think Em's about to spontaneously burst into flames as Dad is at Defcon 5 busting Em's chops]
Em: Um, no, it was closer to 36 actually.
Dad: So, who's there by the way?
Em: Still just us Dad...me, Jen....
Me (whispering to Em): I think Dad's drunk.
Dad: Jen, gimme a "What- EV-errrr".
Me: (weakly) What-ev-errr.
Dad: No, "What-EV-errrr"
Me: (slightly more enthusiasm) "Wha-EV-errrrrr"
Dad: No, you're doing it wrong ...it's....
Me: What. Ev. Errrrrrrrrr!
Me sidebar to Em: When have I ever been known to say this? Even when it was popular to say, I don't think I really used this. What the??
Em: Yep, Dad's definitely drunk.
Dad: So who's there?
This is not a Thanksgiving post. This is the Post Thanksgiving Post. It's the latest thing in posts. Really. You can look it up.
For starters, Friday I visited my local salon for a bottle of their Blond Be Gone and a haircut. Note, my instructions included "matching it up to my natural color" but that I "DID NOT WANT ANYTHING RED". Or REDDISH. Or RED HUED. Nothing in the Red fam. Don't even THINK about sneaking an auburn by me. I'm sure the stylist's head exploded because the two aren't exactly mutually exclusive. This will be come to haunt me later.
After I got my hairs did, I stopped by my sister Kate's. Her first words were, "wow, there's a lot of red." I emphatically denied that there was, suggested that she must've been blind, stupid or just plain mean because clearly there is no red in my hair....at best, it was "just the light". She would not relent on her claim and I then proceeded to throttle her. No, really, I took her by the arms and shook her until she took it back. "TAKE IT BACK!" said I. "SAY IT'S BROWN! SAY IT'S BROWN!!!!!" I think I worked her down to a "whatever, but it does have red in it." Yep, she is getting a crappy Christmas gift.
I got home, Mike pretty much says the same thing. Hmmm, it appears I will be saving a lot of cake on Christmas gifts this year.
To prove my point of how the people in my life who supposedly love me are in fact, downright cruel, here are a couple of shots of me before heading over to Meg & Tim's Saturday night:
Do you see ALL THIS RED that they speaketh of??? Interesting, me neither.
So off to Meg & Tim's we were - me, Mike and my BROWN hair.
One of the first questions I got was would I like something to drink ("oh, WOULD I!?")and we got the usual selections presented to us and I was gonna go with wine. As I was thinking I was getting wine, Meg asked, "OH! Do you want a poinsettia?" and I'm all, "uh, SURE!" thinking, "hey, that'll spruce up the place for the holidays....boy, this party sure is fancy if they're handing out plants....they must've gotten a bunch when they were selling Christmas tree for the Lions Club or something" I totally spaced that it's "not just another pretty shrubbery" but also a drink that combines champagne and cran. So, to cover my embarrassment, I had about eighteen of them. This is what you do.
The dinner table was very fancy. Almost too pretty to eat at even. Hopefully Meg will post the pictures of it on her site which I "made"/suggested she do (and also made/suggested she light the candles for the full blown Martha Stewart effect).
The "Special Guests" of the night were newlyweds Chris and Tim, who came in all the way from St. Louis and are now expecting a baby in the Spring. This meant we hung out with a sober Chris. Who did things like drink MILK. MILK! To the shock of absolutely no one, she still brought IT. "IT" in this case being her BOOBS (holy crap). Yes, the girls talked of boobs and the boys talked of balls. Just like God and nature intended.
Also, after eighteen poinsettias, you will propose to yourself at the dinner table with the sparkley star napkin ring. And then you will propose to the people next to you. You will say things like, "you make good wife." This is what you do.
Anyway, the party was awesome and we did things like:
Ate
Drank
and be Merried.
And, what was coined a "A Thanksgiving miracle!", Colleen told us about how ComCast has karaoke. Free. A few songs that I can recall being belted out were: "If I had a $1,000,000", "Let's Talk About Sex", "Oh My Darlin' Clementine", the Buffalo Roam song (you know, the usual. if anyone else can remember the songs, help me out here.) By the way, even with the words written out, RAPPING IS F'N HARD. I think Jer was the only one that could keep up. Yeah, the boy from Ohio who didn't even have a TV growing up. Who knew?
Oh, and also the true mark of any successful soiree?
Spillage.
That's salt soaking up the wine spillage (not done by me! At least, I am pretty sure). By the end of the night, both sides of the coffee table looked like this. We are never getting invited back, are we?
I noticed since I've been collecting photos with my big, fancy digital camera, I seem to have amassed a sort of collection of people flipping me off. Lovely.
So, in the spirit of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em":
Oh the way out, the hair subject will come up again, like I said it would, and Tim will say to me, "it's red" and I will repeat "it's not red". You know that scene in Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams is in his office with Matt Damon trying to break him down with his famous, "It's not your fault....It's not your fault....It's not your fault"? Well, we both tried to take on the Robin Williams role to see who'd snap first. Yeaaaaaah, that prize went to me. A little synaptic break, I did. Then I proceeded to tackle a guy twice my size [See: eighteen poinsettias]. Also, don't let the pearl encrusted cardigan fool you. I street. Compton? South-side Chicago? Bronx? A child's Romper Room compared to where I comes from (uh, "yo"). Vernon, CT. You can look it up. It hardcore. Any high school with a Vo-Ag program? For reals? C'mon, "4-H in the Hizzouse", bizyatches. DON'T MESS WITH THE RAMS, FO' YOU WILL GET THE HORNS! (serious, The Rockville Rams. I kid you not). Maybe someone can buy me a Miss Manners book for Christmas. Or maybe a brain. Because if I HAD had a brain, instead of tackling the host, I could have asked for a doggie bag. (some goooood eatin')
Anyway, if you're interested is silly Post Thanksgiving shenanigans complete with hooligans (Irish and otherwise), go to Flickr.
