You could actually say that I had a good time this past weekend – yay for Corinne! We sat in Rittenhouse Park on Friday afternoon (Corinne being late for her own party, might I add) feeling like a bunch of high schoolers devising all kinds of ways for us to drink illegally. We had our “Vandra” water, which was an Aqua Fina bottle with Vandra’s name on it, filled with Vodka of course. And then we had the non-Vandra water, which was an Aqua Fina bottle with no name, filled with Rum. And then we actually had water water, which was a bottle of Poland Springs, filled with
As the Corinne-appointed photographer for the event, I drank water during throughout most of our picnic, trying my damnedest to get “sober” pictures as people arrived to wish Corinne well (i.e. proof that they came, just in case Corinne failed to remember). Eventually I broke that habit, to help Corinne with her vodka tonic and ease the transition between sober Corinne, buzzed Corinne, tipsy Corinne, and “I’m-not-going-to-remember-this-in-the-morning, am-I?” Corinne. It didn’t quite work, as she eventually caught on and took off with the bottle we were sharing, but at least it got me started on a little bit of alcohol consumption.
Eventually, about 15 of us found ourselves at Audrey Claire’s (no one seems to recall how we “found” ourselves there, but so it goes…). Then we broke out the wine – which seems to be more legal in a restaurant than in a public park. Corinne and I played musical chairs, constantly switching tables so that she could bestow her bedazzling presence on all her guests. I kept moving just to keep away from Vincent’s arguments against daylight savings time and for his metric calendar, two of the most ridiculously tired streams of word vomit to come out of his mouth. Granted, I walked right into Erik and Jimmy hissing over George W. Bush, but I staid out of that one (miraculously) by talking over Jimmy’s head to Katherine…
Somehow the bill got paid and we all appeared together again at Vandra’s apartment. That is the location of Vincent’s own version of “couching” and all the other drunken behavior for the evening. I spent much of the remainder of the party waiting for Corinne and Vincent to stop having a good time, and talking to Brian about what an old lady I’ve become. Seriously, my bedtime is about 10PM and I try to wake up and be at the gym by 6AM. So when 1AM rolls around and I am still nursing the same vodka tonic I’ve had since about 9PM, I am no longer the spritely young girl that was snapping photos down in Rittenhouse Park. It is time to go to SLEEP!
Granted, it was extremely pleasurable to see the whole crew together again – Jimmy, Tom, Vandra, Lisa, Courtney, Jason, Erik, Brian, etc. – but I have serious limits these days. I’ve become quite accustomed to my early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine. I haven’t quite decided if that’s a good thing or not though. Most people my age are still out in the bars and clubs until 4AM on the weekends, and I find that I would much rather be hangover-free and off on a long hike by 7AM on Saturday morning. Go figure.
So that was Corinne’s birthday – beautiful dress, illegal drinking, wine and politics, a wasted attempt at playing “Asshole” (Bullshit!), Vandra dancing by herself to 80’s music, Vince getting nippled by Jimmy, and “other assorted activities” (which basically covers all the things I cannot say to such a large spectrum of people). It was a wonderful time, even if I am OLD.
The other highlight of the weekend was sitting down to lunch with Rebecca (for those classical music aficionados out there, she is the partner of the legendary Peter Nero, whom I originally met at Vince’s father’s Harry S. Truman Ball in 2003) and Corinne in Chinatown, about a block away from an anti-abortion rally (yeah, there’s nothing like sitting down to eat while a large truck keeps driving around the block with a picture of a mutilated baby pasted on the side of it). In any case, Corinne and I were nursing hangovers (it seems like it doesn’t matter anymore – one drink or ten, I’m still getting one) and having the most fabulous time! Becca told us all these fantastic stories about her life – she is one amazing woman! She even talked me into trying French Veitnamese coffee (or was it Thai?), which is a real treat – even if it wasn’t made right! The caffeine was just what I needed to get through the day.
So that was most of my weekend.
In other news, Vince and I are beginning to plan out our move. It looks like we will be completely out of New York by July 1st. I will most likely be moving down to the Shore sometime this month, so we’re starting to think of our stuff in terms of “do I need it?” “Do we store it in Philly?” “Or do we pay the movers to store it?” It’s going to be a tight squeeze fitting the two of us in that two-room apartment in Ventnor – never mind all our stuff!!! So we really need to pare things down to the most essential. Whereas I don’t have a lot of stuff, I use everything I own… then there’s Vincent who owns a lot of stuff, who really uses very little. So I’m thinking that, although I’m the master of being able to travel with a backpack (when I want to), I will be the one having the most difficult time deciding what is necessary and what is not. We don’t even know how long we will be living at the Shore. Ergh.
It looks like a job may be on the horizon for me, too. Well, down at the Shore, anyway. I am meeting with a VP over at Caesar’s Entertainment next week and with any luck, she will like me enough to make me her new personal assistant. If that goes through, then I will be heading down to New Jersey within the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!!!
If all goes as planned, then I will start working on getting an internship in editing or publishing. They have a lot of local newspapers and magazines down there, so I’m hoping someone will want some free labor. We will see.
Then I’m going to start working on my tan. Oh, how I miss the sun!!!
The only other thing of note this week is Mean Girls. The movie, by Tina Fey (go Philly!). Vincent and I went last night in support of our girl, and it turns out that Vince was the only straight male in the audience. It’s your basic teenage chick-flick, with a lot of less-than-subtle mockery of the whole teenage world of cliques. I was amused on several levels, especially when I started thinking of my own high school career, when my friends and I decided to make fun of the system and dub ourselves “The Clique.” We thought we were pretty hysterical. (Although, at the same time, I was completely clueless as to who belonged in what group of people. I think I was one of the few people who actually had a really enjoyable high school experience. My guess is that is because I was completely oblivious.)
Well, go see it if you’re into that whole Clueless /Never Been Kissed/etc. movie ideal. I thought it was fun…
