Blackberry’s and Bowling

Today at work was monumental. I am getting a Blackberry, but I have to get a company issued one. In order to do that I also have to apply for a corporate credit card. Is it worth it? Not sure, I’m still deciding, but I have the approval, so that’s half the battle. It will probably be an old school one like this though.

Kate and I had a client meeting during lunch. We went to Jackson 20 in Alexandria. It’s in a Kimpton hotel, but in all honestly the service was poor and the food was okay. I had this fried chicken salad that sounded yummy, but the lettuce was impossible to eat politely and the honey mustard dressing was pretty much just honey mustard right out of the bottle. After lunch we did a quick stop at two cute little boutiques and I bought a necklace that looks like a Van Cleef & Arpels piece. I wish.

This evening Michelle, Jess, myself and a boy named Ryan all went to Lucky Strike. I have heard mixed things about the place, long wait, poor service etc. However, Jess was smart and made a reservation, so we went right in and got our bowl on. Can you guess which player I was, also, notice my speed. I’m in middle school, I am aware.

I probably have not bowled since 1999, so Michelle had to teach me what to do with the balls, she was great. The balls were smooth and I liked putting my fingers in the holes…

After a few rounds I got the hang of it again, my strategy was to focus on the floor when I threw the ball, rather than looking far away at the pins.

Ultimately I was victorious with my strategy. I won the first game - BOO YA. I need to call my Grandma ASAP, she holds the record at her alley for bowling a perfect game. It runs in the family I suppose. Note my winning score!

Here I am in all my  glory with my new friend Ryan. I think I will bowl again sometime.

The night cost $30 total, $20 for bowling and $10 for 2 Cuervo Margaritas. It was totally worth it. I would not say I shall bowl every week. But definitely a few times a year.

 

Dinner Parties

Today at work was busy busy busy. I have not been to PerezHilton.com in at least 4 days. Is Ashley Simpson Pregs, did Amy Winehouse OD yet? Don’t ask me. During lunch Katherine and I walked over to Trader Joe’s and then ate outside, the weather was springy and breezy. In the afternoon I got to talk to my boo for like 40 minutes. He had some travel troubles, but gets to stay in his hotels jacuzzi suite for a night. That should be fun!

Once home I did a quick clean and prepared for my dinner guests. Laura and Katherine came over to dine/watch Gossip Girl. We started out with some baked brie and ate the whole thing. Laura has a wonderful recipe. Then we had chicken and salad, with my angel food cake for dessert.  Gossip Girl was awesome. Lisa Loeb was a guest-star and was wearing a dress by Karta that I’d bought and Neiman Marcus and returned. The one in the picture is blue, but I had black.

Glad I didn’t keep it. I would not want to be wearing the same thing as a has-been 90’s rockstar! After the ladies left I did a mound of dishes and watched an episode of The Office. Michael and some of the gang were at a high school career fair, while our fave Cornell grad and Jim were playing golf with a client. Cornell boy drove the golfcart too fast and crashed in the sandpit, it was the hardest I laughed all day.

 

Blast from the Past: Kickball

Today at work was busy, save a long lunch at the Italian Store. I got the usual Roma and only ate a little more than half before wanting to barf. So worth it. It was a beautiful spring day so I even decided to walk home.

Around 4pm Tommy asked if I could play in his kickball game tonight. The team is mostly gays and they didn’t have enough girls for tonight’s game, go figure, I wonder why. I volunteered. Though I did not want to commit to a team this season, a game with WAKA is always fun. They play at the filed right next to MINT, very convenient. I went and had a good workout, met the males at the Gay Diner across from MINT for some beers (actually I was the only one having a beer, the rest were drinking cosmos etc), and then we walked across the street to the field for our 8:45 PM game.

Their team name is the Swamp Donkeys. According to Urban Dictionary this means a fat girl who goes and finds wasted dudes at the end of the night and takes them home to have her way. Sadly we lost, but I did score a point for the team, making it home. It was probably the 5th time in my kickball history that I actually did that. After the game I went to the Diner again for another drink. Absolut Ruby Red and soda. My fave. The owner of the Diner is friends with Tommy and his boyfriend and they all love Hillary, so I had to put on a Hills sticker, sorry.

Once home I read my latest book: Year of Wonders and went to bed.

 

Rainy Monday

After going to bed around 1am I awoke 4 hours later at 5am. Readied myself in a flash and drove over to our annual conference downtown. It was raining and I am very glad I opted to drive rather than cab it, as everyone who did cab had a lot of trouble, even when they called ahead. I helped with registration from 6am to 9am and then snuck out.

On the way home I drove down 14th St and made a stop at Whole Foods on P. It was amazing, the Moms weren’t even out yet and the butcher repackaged some chicken for me since he didn’t have to deal with any 30-somthing yuppies. Grocery shopping bliss. I bought some Butter Chicken simmer sauce, that was our favorite dish at Gautham’s Indian fest a few months back, so it will be interesting to see how this compares.

Once home I buzzed around and had a very early lunch at 11:15 am, but when you get up at 5, that’s when you’re hungry. After I took a two hour nap. It was MUCH needed and I was lucky to be able to rest for that long… I also used up the rest of my cream cheese frosting on an angel food cake from Whole Foods. I felt kind of like Sandra Lee from Semi Homemade, eww.

I headed back to the conference at 4ish for the closing reception, mingled with clients and chatted with my co-workers over aps and wine. It was rainy and yucky all day, so once home I snuggled on my couch and watched some shows. It’s rainy days like this that I miss my boo. I wish we were snuggling.

Shopbop.com was having a 20% off sale, so I looked at pretty much the whole site, but didn’t buy anything, even after trying so hard! After all the online browsing a I took a bath with my new Cinnamon Buns bubble bath and called it a VERY early night.

 

Southern Sunday

There was a HUGE storm around 5am that most likely woke up the whole city of Charleston. Thunder and lighting were going non-stop, and the rain was pounding at the window. Needless to say, I didn’t have the best sleep. Genny and I woke up at the same time and headed to Bruggers Bagels for some much needed coffee and egg and cheese bagel sandwiches. After talking about celebs for awhile and munching we went back home, lounged and then made our way to Mom and Dads hotel to give Momma our Mother’s Day wishes.

After some family hangout time we went to King Street again and hit up the usual haunts. I got a shirt at Banana Republic that they didn’t have in my size in DC, score. We all walked around and went into a bunch of art galleries on East Bay Street, along the water. I also had to stop by my Boo’s fave store for a pic.

Mom bought a painting by a lady named Reina, she already has one that she bought last time she was here. Both are beautiful little oil paintings depicting Charleston scenes.

We all ate a light lunch at the Charleston Brew Pub, the beer wasn’t cold enough. Afterwards Genny and I got gelato while I talked to my booboo far away in the Greek Isles, my little travelling Odysseus (yes I prefer the Greek terminology to that of the Roman genre), so far from my bosom. Once we were good and full Genny and I watched Lifetime and dozed. Obvs a teen was pregs, who doesn’t get pregs on Lifetime?

My flight leaving Charleston was delayed, and I missed my connection in Atlanta. So, now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my 11pm flight to leave. It gets into DC at 12:30am and I have to be at our magazine’s annual conference at 6am tomorrow to help with registration. Wahoo. Tomorrow will be a looonnnggg day.

 

The Graduate

DISCLAIMER: I left my camera cord at Genny’s house. Pictures are forthcoming and will be posted when she sends me the cord. Dilemma

Another Disclaimer: CORD IS HOME WITH ITS MOMMY! Enjoy the pictures!

This morning Genny and I slept in then went to meet Mom and Dad at their hotel. Genny hung out a bit then left us to get ready for graduation. We headed to King Street on a shopping mission: dress for Callie’s wedding. I found the perfect black dress at the first store we went to, Luna. Actually my Mom found it. Since it was the first stop I didn’t want to buy right away, so we put it on hold and hit up the rest of the King Street stores, and when we didn’t find anything better I went back and got it

After our successful shopping mission we all got ready for the graduation. College of Charleston holds their ceremony on the Cistern, their version of a quad. It is beautiful and southern, with Spanish Moss hanging from the trees and the college’s first building, as a backdrop. We had to wait in line for at least 10 minutes and then sit for about 2 hours in the heat.

All the girls wore white dresses and carried roses, all the boys wore white jackets and bow-ties, it was elegant and southern to say the least. All those northern colleges could learn a thing or two from College of Charleston. I mean come on Bates (etc). Even though it was hot and sticky, it was still fun to see Genny walk down the aisle and get her diploma. She didn’t trip!

We left the ceremony a little after Genny’s name was called and went back to the hotel to hydrate. We then met Genny at her house and took the requisite family pictures. Minus Paul. Tear

After our photo shoot the family piled into the PT-Loser (our rental car) and went to the Pavilion Hotel’s roof bar for cocktails. It is probably my favorite bar in the world.

Yup, Genny’s tan is real, and yes, Dad is pale.

Once we had done some champagne toasts and gotten good and liquored up we met more people at Tristan for dinner. The food was delish per usual. I had the red snapper with vanilla foam and butternut squash risotto, WOW. We all paired our choices with a cork free California chardonnay. After dinner we left the parents and me and the graduates went to an array of Charleston drinking establishments, including Social, Wasabi and Mad River (in an old church, we felt bad).

It was a lovely day shared with lovely people.

 

Charleston: manis, pedis and tanis

Red Top Cab came to pick me up at 5:30 am. We drove to National and I boarded my Airtrain flight only a few minutes after getting through security. I timed it perfectly. After connecting in Atlanta I arrived in Charleston around 10:30. Genny picked me up and we headed straight to Grandpa’s to meet up with Mom and Dad and, of course, spend some time with Grandpa. We all told about the same amount of stories, and did not mention Mexicans once, quite an accomplishment if you ask me.

Genny and I then headed to the pool. The beach was getting clouds on and off, but it was nice and sunny inland. So, after grabbing a sandwich at Bull Street Gourmet we headed over and tanned for two hours of sunny bliss, with intermittent dips throughout.

After our tanning extravaganza we stopped at Nail Palace for some Mani’s and Pedi’s. We both got French manicures and shades of pink on our toes.

Once home we lounged, read people, watched Food Network and readied ourselves for dinner at Circa 1886 at the Award winning Wentworth Mansion - the beautiful hotel my parents are staying at. Before entering we had to snap a shot to capture our southern beauty.

The hotel was just amazing. Built in the 1880’s it was the home of a wealthy Charleston merchant and became a hotel almost 30 years ago. No detail has been spared right down to the hinges on the doors. We went up to our parents enormous room and lounged for a bit before dinner.

Mother also presented me with a pair of Tory Burch flats she had gotten for me at the latest Bloomies sale. I am forever indebted to her for this most illustrious gift.

Before heading down to the restaurant we went to the rooftop cupola and admired the city views.

Dinner was absolutely delish. I had a pecan roasted pork chop of goodness and a lobster salad to start. Others ordered the sea bass, grouper and the steak tasting. We all were highly satisfied. For desert I chose the tropical sampler complete with coconut ice cream, key lime torte and a passion fruit pot au creme which was pretty much just a party in my mouth.

After dinner Gen and I asked Mom and Dad if we could trade rooms with them, they said no, so we headed back to her house for a sister sleepover.

 

Get Me Outta Here

The words of the day were boring and uneventful. All I wanted was for work to end, so I could go shopping and get to Charleston (tomorrow AM). During lunch I did go to our twice monthly public speaking club called “Headliners.” I was even put on the spot to answer a question. I think I am going to join the club and improve my public speaking expertise. It should be a good way to shake things up. I can even write my speeches in my blog, WOWie.

After work I went to Bloomies and Neimans, both were having sales and I was hoping to get a dress for Callie’s wedding. No dice. I did find two numbers by Milly that were over $300 and absolutely beautiful, but I think I should keep looking. Hopefully I will find something in Charleston this weekend.

Once home I packed and cleaned (my house and my self) and when I got a headache I sat on the couch and watched more Top Chef and a little South Park. On South Park Cartman got AIDS, is there anywhere they won’t go?

My cab for the airport comes at 5:30 AM tomorrow, UGH. But honestly, all I have wanted to do all day is GET TO CHARLESTON, so I don’t mind a bit.

 

Cupcake Madness

It was so wonderful to wake up nice and cool instead of sweaty, ick. I love AC. Today was pay-day and not just any pay-day, commission pay-day. I kicked ass last quarter and was 29% over my goal (bitches), it was all in this paycheck. To make things even better, the government taxed it at much less than usual. Though I’m sure I’ll pay for it come tax time. All I need now is my “stimulus check” and I’ll be high rolling.

During lunch I went to Trader Joe’s to buy supplies for tonight’s dinner with Michelle. On the menu is either stir-fry or beef stroganoff (TBD) and banana walnut cupcakes with Ina’s cream cheese frosting. I am in charge of the frosting ingredients.

When I was checking out at Trader’s the guy wasn’t double bagging my shizzy. I thought he was going to bag it double at the end, when he didn’t I was like “Ummm can you double bag it.” And he was all huffy and like “I have to re-pack the whole thing.” He did so with a SUPER negative Nancy vibe the whole way through. I think it was the first time in the history of Trader Joe’s that an employee has been pissed at a customer. I gave myself a pat on the back for this groundbreaking achievement.

I left work a little early and headed home. After getting my things together and enjoying the AC for a bit I rode my bike over to Michelle’s. The air in my tires is a bit low so the ride up Connecticut was kind of hard, that or I’m way out of shape…

Michelle made chicken stroganoff, asparagus, and rice. The stroganoff was more of a Brazilian recipe, than your classic beef dish and has a tomato base.

But, the piece de resistance were the banana walnut cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting (oh and the Blue Moon beer). Michelle made the batter and I made the frosting. I was also in charge of putting globs of it on the lil cakes.

Once they were frosted we proceeded to gorge ourselves, and had a lovely time of it. Jess (pictured) was also with us for dinner.

We digested for a bit and looked at pictures on facebook, then packed up a few cupcakes for the road. I biked home, all downhill this time. After watching some Top Chef (I am SO BEHIND) I went to bed dreaming of our little masterpieces.

 

The First Book Club

It was another lovely spring day and I woke early for a morning run. I ran down 18th St to Q St and then down 14th to U. No deer this time, just some post cinco de mayo trasho. On my way to work I stopped for my first Dunkin Donuts iced coffee of the year. Yay for spring. At 10am I had a dentist appointment. I love the dentist, getting my teeth allsparkly clean is the best. They even gave me a full size Glide floss instead of those crappy travel ones that ALWAYS break. Also, I learned that Bob Dole and I have the same dentist, right here in the Watergate. So DC.

During lunch Tommy and I walked to Potbelly. I got a coupon in the mail for a free sandwich or salad, SCORE. So I ordered a salad, great marketing Pbelly, thanks! The rest of the afternoon was kind of fun. I worked on a presentation for a meeting tomorrow that I’m invited to and gave a client some rates, they want to spend a lot, so I’m happy.

Perez had written all about last night’s Costume Institute Gala at the Met, so there were many pictures of celebs in their dresses to stare at, my favorite dress was oddly Katie Holmes (note the alien ears on Tom, courtesy of Perez).

But I thought Giselle looked the sexiest. Youch! Tom Brady looked okay too, I’d do him… mabes.

Someday I too will attend this event, hopefully wearing Missoni. After work Kate drove me to her house on Cap Hill for our first book club.  Once Kim got home from work we prepared some wine and cheese. Five of us sat down and began discussing. We talked a lot about the book thanks to the “discussion questions” Kim printed out and generally girl gossiped. A lot of them work on the Hill which sounds fun and kinda like one big school, however, the salaries, no thanks.

After lots of wine and cheese I headed home to the best  surprise ever. The air conditioning had been turned on!!!!!!!!!! I blasted it on high and watched Ugly Betty. It was the episode from 4/24 and guess what, Willamina had the same lamp as Marc, this cool one. She actually had two.

I am glad Marc has such stylish taste, but I am also glad he didn’t steal his dead husbands sperm or replace his sisters zantax with fat burning pills. After reuniting with Betty and friends I settled into my very own ice cave for a cool night.