Humidity, Porta potty’s, LCD Projector’s, and Gumbo

Saturday night I thought I was going to a regular old back yard barbeque until I found myself smack dab in front of a “door” girl. You know the girl who collects the money after security goes through your bag or gives you a pat down. I think it was the Hostess who first noticed that there was also a porta potty there near the “entrance”. I use the term “entrance” loosely because the party started in the alley way. (Note: DC is full of alleys and most houses/apts have alley’s behind or beside them).

I guess they needed the extra room since the evite had at least 500 invitees and when I checked the address right before going to the party almost 300 people RSVP’d yes. The party was outdoors but I swear I could feel the humidity engulf me when I joined the crowd at the bar. Yup in the alley they set up a Tiki style bar. Oh and on the back of the hosts’ building the fight was being projected by an LCD projector and on the side of the house next to their building the same fight was being projected by a 2nd LCD projector. Apparently that’s how they roll. I guess we’re going to have to scrounge one up for next year’s birthday beach bash.

When we got there the food was pretty much gone since we waited around for these late broads before heading out to the spot. After one of the hosts told a tale of being burned while making gumbo but we didn’t have any sympathy for him. There was a tale of gumbo but we didn’t see or taste any. No sympathy from me, for all I know the gumbo wasn’t real or it wasn’t good. Either way we went out for Ethiopian afterwards to feed our addictions.

Friends

You ever talk about the people whose blogs you read as “someone you know” because you don’t know what other category they’ll fit in and you don’t want to let on that you read blogs because the next question people will ask is “Do you have a blog and if so can I read it”? The Hostess and I read some of the same blogs and often when we’re with the crew we might mention something someone blogged about or a situation someone who blogs was in and I always feel a bit awkward when trying to explain the person I’m talking about.

It appears that Friends and Friendship is the topic du jour on blogs (the Hostess’) and on GMA. It’s made me reflect a bit about my own friendships and how they’ve evolved over the years as my friends and I grow older, relocated to different cities and are living our adult lives.

When I was a kid, my best friend was the daughter of one of my mom’s friends. Although she was 18 months older then me we played together and hung out from the moment I could walk until my freshman year in H.S when our friendship just drifted apart. I was the nerd, the goody two shoes who got good grades and didn’t do anything to get in trouble while she was the rebel, the one who hung out with boys from around the way (i.e; thugged out drug dealers). We started drifting apart when we were still in the same junior high but when she moved to H.S we stopped hanging out together period. My mom would always wonder what was wrong and why I never called Mickey and I didn’t know what to say. In reality Mickey stopped returning my phone calls, or when we chatted she made it obvious with her attitude that she didn’t have time for me. I was extremely hurt but realized that it was probably for the best because I didn’t care for the ghetto folks she started hanging around. A few years later I finally told my mom why Mickey and I were no longer friends. Mickey died in 2002 rather unexpectedly and I do regret not even at least trying to keep in touch when I returned to Brooklyn after college.

When I was in H.S and even college I spoke to my friends every day, several times a day. I remember my mom asking me in H.S if I didn’t see a friend at school because I was on the phone with them for 3 hours several times a week. I don’t even remember what was so important or what we even talked about for so long. Now I don’t expect to spend so much time with friends on the phone, we all have busy lives, work, relationships etc and all that takes up time. I have a few good friends some I’ll even consider best friends scattered around the country and at times I don’t talk to them for weeks and when I’m traveling it’s even longer then that. I don’t get upset when I haven’t heard from them for a while because I can always pick up the phone and call them. These are people that I know will do what they can if I need help. They also understand when I can’t accommodate their wants or needs and understand that I will when I can. I feel that friendships should be a give and take relationship and should also be easy. It shouldn’t be a burden but a blessing.

Good Times

This weekend I continued the birthday celebration our third annual Birthday Beach Weekend. We went to “ssshhhh” can’t disclose the location for fear of folks discovering it’s greatness and ruining it. You know how people do J. We had about 23 city people show up although the forecast called for thunder storms. Other then the wind messing up our tent set up and the monsoon that occurred in the middle of the night the weekend was a great success. For some reason it gets better and better every year. Next year we’re going all out two nights in a row!



If there was a blemish on the weekend it would have to be the fly that kept creeping into my boy’s truck on the way home. I haven’t thought about it until recently but what is the purpose of a fly? Besides flying by your ear and causing folks to start flinging their arms all over the place what is their purpose?

Hustle and Struggle

Hustle and Struggle that’s what I heard for five minutes as I tried to contort my body into a position designed to work my ab muscles. Damm it hurt so bad! Have you ever tried doing sit ups or ab exercises when you’re out of shape in that area? It feels like someone is trying to rip your guts out. Power through the trainer yelled out. I’m seriously trying really hard, no pain no gain right.

I’m on a mission to get this 32 year old body back into shape. I don’t want to be that chick; you know the one who let herself go after she turned 30. I want to be in shape and get my metabolism back on track so I’m not huffing and puffing after climbing a few flight of stairs. I want to get myself together so I feel confident and can stop cursing myself in the mirror because my clothes are tight.

My goal is to loose 20 pounds in 3 months, can I do it? I believe I can, if I put my mind to it and not use my constant business traveling as an excuse to not exercise or eat well. The only depressing thought is that I’ll need to do this for the rest of my life.

Celebrating!

Yesterday (July 16th) was my birthday so I spent the weekend celebrating and just enjoying myself. I got lots of well wishes and calls from friends and family and they all reminded me that there are people out there that love and care for me. Next weekend the crew and I are heading to the beach to go camping. It's funny to imagine a bunch of city/suburban dwellers descending on a national park to go camping and fishing but we clearly love it since we keep going back.

It's amazing but no matter how old I get (32 this time) I still feel like a little kid when I get presents and am treated to Happy Birthday wishes. Although I don't expect gifts from anyone other then my parents, it's still nice when I receive them. One down note is that I didn't receive that talking Geico Gecko I asked for. It would have been great for us to chat about pie and chips all evening.

Waving to EJ the DJ Happy Birthday!

It's Official!

I got promoted....yippeee!

After being on an airplane every month (except for December and March) over the last 12 months, I'm getting official recognition. I've also moved up to a deluxe (not so much and I'm still sharing) office with a view of traffic on Rt 7 in VA .

Romance

I just finished watching Bride and Prejudice for the 100th time I think. I watched my netflix copy of Pride and Prejudice last night and then had to whip out my copy of the Bride and Prejudice movie, much better. I think it’s once of the best movies out there. What more can one want, there’s love, romance, conflict, fights, song and dance. The best of what Bollywood has to offer.

So instead of crunching numbers and trying to get profitability get well plan in place for work I’m sitting here dancing along to one of the most romantic movies ever. Hell this has made me miss my dose of Law & Order for the evening so you know something’s up. Maybe I’ll watch it again.

I heart Romance

Grimace / Vegas

Grimace

I woke up this morning and snarled. I was up when I didn’t want to be and the first thing I thought of was that my internet wasn’t working at home after I’d spent 2 hours on the phone with the router people, my car was in dire need of an oil change, my house was a mess, I need to buy new blinds, and the seal on my back door is cracked so every time it rains heavily water leaks into the kitchen. I learned all of this when I returned home from Vegas on Tuesday.

Just bitching and moaning to myself, I turned on the news and realized that today was the first anniversary of the London bombings and stopped. This time last year I was happy go lucky excited to be back in London on my way to the Tate Modern to see the Freida Kahlo exhibit, wondering why there were so many sirens going off near me. The news coverage reminded me that I should be thankful, I have my health, my family is well and I need to stop and just power through life’s little inconveniences.

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Vegas Recap

Vegas was great! But not so crazy that I can’t talk about it. I actually went to visit a friend that moved there about 2 ½ years ago. I’ve wanted to get out there to visit for a while so I just made it happen last weekend. We went out my first night there but I was so jetlagged and exhausted from my work trip overseas that my girl and I pretty much hung out and chilled the rest of the weekend. It was great, seeing what people who live in Vegas really do. Funny thing is that they do the same stuff we do. We hung out at her condo complex pool, went out for breakfast, went to her friend’s BBQ, went sightseeing on the strip, and went to a movie at one of the “locals” casino.