Once Again..

I've taken a serious vacation from blogging! I thought over summer break I'd stay on top of it, but this summer vacation is making me a lazy bum!



I've been having a fabulous break though. It started out with a lovely day trip to see my Little and her little cuties who just light up my life! Then I had a perfect trip to Chicago to see two of my best girls for six whole days. We laughed, we cried, we drank lots of beer - what more could I ask for?! Following that I just had a mini summer concert tourin Orlando with my Femme Fatales to see Britney and NKOTBSB! We couldn't have asked for better concerts to see!! In about a week and a half I'll be headed to New York to see two more of my lady loves.

I'm a very lucky lady to be so blessed with amazing people to spend my summer with!!

Countdown to Chi-Town

It's on!

I'm so excited to have a little summer fun in the Windy City this June. I'll be heading to Chicago to see two of my favorite gals for six whole days of love and laughter with them!

The agenda so far consists of a Cubs/Yankees game, the Lincoln Park Zoo, and a day of bridesmaid dress shopping!

Spice World: 3 Weddings and a Baby

2010 is sure to be The Year of the Spice. In our little circle of friends, we've got a lot to look forward to in the coming year! 3 weddings and a baby. None of which directly involve me, but I'm excited to share these special moments with the women who hold my heart.

I am lucky enough to be a Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid to three of these ladies, all in a 4 month timespan! (Little married up a year and a half ago before everyone else to be sure the spotlight was on her! I was blessed to be her Maid of Honor and I'm happy to say all went off without a hitch!) ;)

Best Friend is getting married in April in Boca Raton. She has chosen an eggplant colored dress for us which I absolutely love! It's a dress sure to be worn again.


LDub will be hitched in June in Orlando. The color dress that she chose for us is hot pink; my favorite color! I can't wait to be pretty in pink to see her on her big day! (This is the dress but it will be in pink and a different fabric)


And finally to top them off, Roomie will be tying the knot in July in New York City! It will be a fabulous wedding in the City and our dresses are a gorgeous cobalt blue.


I can't wait to see these blushing brides on their big days and share in their special moments!

But before these special moments, we'll be having a little baby entering our Spice World! Little is preggers and is due in February. I can't wait to meet her bundle of joy and spoil it for all of my days! [I only say 'it' because she's keeping tight-lipped on the sex!]

Ready, Set, Don't go

Once upon a time two girls joined a sorority to have their lives forever changed. They didn't interact much until one day the enchanted kingdom gave them a castle to live in (well 28 girls moved in a dorm style sorority house, same diff). The two girls lived two doors down from each other and became instantly inseperable.

Over the past four years, ICE and I have become amazing friends; growing up together even more after college. We relate on a level that perfectly compliments our bitter, bitchy sides with a mix of girliness and love. Our favorite past time is drinking Natty Light and smoking cigarettes while talking shit about those deserving of shit being talked about them.

For the past couple of years, ICE has talked about getting out of this city that she's called home for 24 years. Everytime she mentioned it I selfishly wished that her own wish wouldn't come true and she'd be by my side forever and ever. The closer the time came to her boyfriend graduating from college meant the closer the time came from her moving away with him or her going to grad school, wherever that might be.

Would it be so bad to hope that you didn't get into any grad schools and your boyfriend didn't graduate college and you stay at the same shit job so we can never part?

Well the time came on Sunday for us to say our goodbyes. They were packing up to move to Chicago on Monday. Stupid Chicago.

I tried to be the hard ass that we both pretend to be at times but when in the end there I was sobbing over the the beers, cigarettes, pool time, shit talking, back-to-reality checks, "come to Jesus" talks and friendship that I'll miss so much. Of course there is the phone, texts, emails and letters we'll send but it's tough not to be a five minute car ride away anymore.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
As you already know.
You'll get mixed up
With many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step,
Step with care and great tact
And remember that life's
A great balancing act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you'll move mountains!

So...
Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
Or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
You're off to great places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So...get on your way!

Miss you boo.

Soul Food

This coming weekend couldn't come at a more perfect time. Little, Best Friend, Dub and I will be getting away for a couple of days for a much needed reunion and some girl time. After a rough week and a broken heart - which is entirely too fresh to discuss, unfortch - this will be good for the soul! My best girls, drinks and the beach. I don't think it could get much better :) I'm sure there will be some exciting stories to come...

Firefly Lane

So Best Friend started a book club and the next book we are going to read is called Firefly Lane. From the jist of the description I think it sounds like a great read. I read the first four chapters last night and am excited to read more this weekend. Apparently it is supposed to make you want to call your best friend, and from hearing about the book I can see why.

In the first chapters that I've read, it discusses how the characters meet. It reminds me of the way Best Friend and I met - not in any similar circumstance or even age of the characters, but I think we were both kind of lost at the time in our lives when we met and without knowing it we gave each other a purpose and sense of belonging in a place that was still confusing and new to us. We became inseperable and every memory from 3 years of my life will forever include her.

The rest of my years will also include her, obviously, but in different ways. It's fun for us to be able to experience completely seperate things through each other's lives. Unfortunately we're unable to be physically 'attached at the hip' (per the sorority award we won in 2005, thank you very much) because we're grown ups now. We have two completely different lives, which may make it hard for some to understand why we are still 'best friends.' But something that so many people will never understand about the two of us, we'll never be torn apart. We'll never fall out of love with each other. We may be different, but we know each other in ways and were there through experiences for each other than no one can ever understand. And although we may have grown differently, we grew up together - which creates an even stronger bond.

I've realized a few things:
1. You don't have to have everything in common with a best friend, that gets extremely boring.
2. Other great friends will forever be in the picture of you and your best friend, but they'll never compare.
3. No matter how different two people can become, when love and compassion is at the center of it, they will not grow apart.
4. Being best friends isn't something that you need to confirm all the time; you just know.

"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." ~Elisabeth Foley

Success

A good friend and I were chatting about life the other day, sharing our pearls of wisdom, and she brought up something that a friend said to her that was extremely offensive. We'll call this good friend of mine Pearl.

Pearl is a 25-year-old working girl who put herself through college (and finished in four years might I add) and continues to fully support herself financially. She has an infectious personality and is a wonderful friend. In my mind, these are characteristics of true success in life.

I will say that although Pearl is working, she's not 100% happy in her job. It's well paying and she's a good employee, but it's not what she wants to do with her life. She's still in the midst of finding exactly what it is she wants to do.

Pearl and I have this in common, which I think is one reason we relate so well. We're both in jobs that are "fine," but it's not what we want to do forever and it's more of a stagnant place in life rather than one in which you can grow.

So, Pearl's friend - a spoiled brat who, at 24-years-old, still lives off of her parents money, with no current job, and recieves "good luck on your interview" Coach purses from her daddy - made a rude, ignorant comment to Pearl about not being successful. Rude Friend is one of the most selfish, shallow people I've ever known. She's not someone you'd like to call a friend.

While we were discussing the comment, Pearl made a great point: If she was happy in her current job and wanted to be there and stay with the company, then she would be considered successful. But since she is unhappy with where she is at the moment, that is considered her being in an unsuccessful job to some. This doesn't make sense, and it's not fair.

Apparently, Rude Friend consideres herself successful because she's just finished her Masters Degree, yet still doesn't have a job, is not financially independent (and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon) and thinks she is better than anyone that she knows. This is success?

I've been financially independent from my parents for three years, have moved to a different city on my own, have fully supported myself, made decisions for my own life without the approval of anyone else, and dealt with life's blunders ON MY OWN, yet because I have a job that I am unhappy in and not sure of the direction of my career, I'm considered unsuccessful to many people.

Personally, I think there is nothing more successful than a woman who can do anything on her own - including without a man. That includes financially, mentally and emotionally. I really believe that it doesn't matter what your career path is or may be or how unsure you are of where you want life to take you; if you can take care of yourself, really do it on your own, and be a great friend and know how to be selfless for others, that is true success.

Just a regular Sunday afternoon

This post is dedicated to my very best friend, who still loves me despite my shenanigans.

Sunday was finally the big day of S + T's engagement party and after weeks of talking and somewhat blowing him off, Stage 5 Clinger and I decided to go together. After all, he is the Best Man and I'm the Maid of Honor - wouldn't that be just darling?

Days before the party, S5C was getting entirely too excited about our 2 hour roadtrip together. I was recieving texts, Facebook messages (ending in "xoxoxoxox!!!!!!!" and even one picture message of a note that said "Can't wait to see you! XOXO!" (Anyone who knows me knows that the use of 'xoxo' and excessive exclamation marks from a boy will rule him out immediately in my book.)

So it was Sunday morning. I was about 20% hungover and had only had a few hours of sleep when I got up at 8:30 (at another boy's house, who only slightly uses excessive exclamation marks) to go home and get ready. As I was doing my makeup I recieved a text message and all I could see were way too many '!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'s.

"OMG!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! What are you wearing? We should match!!!!!!! OMG THIS IS GOING TO BE SO FUN!!!!!!" I responded with, "OMG. Stop."

Whoa, buddy. It's not even 9 a.m. and you're already bombarding me with the OMG's and the !!!!!!!!!'s. At that moment, I realized the day would not be as laid back as planned. I had to be on guard in case he started throwing too many punctuation marks at me in the car.

So I put on my purple and white sundress, print out the directions and I'm on my way. To go pick him up. Because his car currently is hardly functioning enough to drive 2 hours there and back. Awesome.

I'm at his house and he gets into the car, wearing a blue polo and khaki pants - which I basically had to pick out for him from all of his questions about jeans/khakis?, tie/no tie?, button down/polo? He proceeds to ask me why I didn't tell him that I was going to be wearing purple because he would have gone out and bought a purple polo so that we could match. No thank you.

Our drive begins and I'm tired and hungry, which means I'm cranky. He starts singing and dancing in the car. He tells me about the amount of money he spent on a gift. He texts me to tell me that I look nice (yes, as I was sitting in the car right next to him). It was just all too much for a sleep deprived, hungry girl to handle.

We arrive at our destination. Thank God Best Friend saves me as soon as we walk in the door and I give her a Cliff's Notes version of the drive. We decide it's clearly not what S5C had in mind for what the day would be.

Before anyone else showed up I grabbed a Coke and lots of finger foods. I figured that'd be the best beverage selection for my lack of sleep and my excess of beer the night before. Everyone began to arrive, as did Dub - one of the funnest girls in the world to drink with. We all stuck with our sodas at first but sometime around 1 p.m. I whispered to Dub, "I really want some wine..." and she whispered back, "Me too!" We haul ourselves into the kitchen and crack open the frosty cold bottle of white wine sitting on the counter. After one glass I'm already tipsy. Tipsy enough to want a second one right away. Apparently Dub felt the same way.

We down another glass of wine and end up talking to Best Friend's future step-mom. I'm trying to pretend that I don't think she's crazy as she's telling me entirely too much about her life. Dub is standing next to me, nodding to pretend like she's also interested in the conversation. I look over and Dub is looking down at her wet arm. "I spilled!" She had apparently, for no reason, turned her entire glass of wine over. Spillage on the floor. She ran away so I was forced to clean it up - which made anyone standing around think that I spilled my wine. That was sign #1 that Dub had consumed too much and we should probably stop. But we continued.

I force another glass or two down her throat and at this point all we can do is giggle at each other about how drunk we are in this gorgeous home surrounded by all of these strangers, all the while trying our hardest to pretend we aren't drunk. Dub's fiance also joined in on the fun, encouraging me to have her drink more, which was just hysterical to me.

Time for food! We all herd inside to get in line for food and I'm standing behind Dub, and in front of Best Friend's aunt, who's also in the wedding party. This is where I realize I've had too much. I begin to talk to Aunt and proceed to spill my wine on her. Did I mention she is pregnant? Yes, I spilled wine on a pregnant woman. I then broke the one rule that I NEVER allow myself to break: I told her my baby names. What was I thinking?? Anyone could have overheard and, BOOM!, there go my 2 wonderful names for my future princesses.

Sidenote: It is a strict rule of mine that I do NOT share my future baby names with ANYONE, for fear that they will be taken since all of my friends are getting married like, yesterday, and I have no wedding, let alone baby, in sight.

After eating, and probably talking entirely too loudly and obnoxiously - truthfully I can't really remember - I decided that glass #5 would be it for me. We stayed a little longer and then everyone began saying their goodbyes.

S5C took my keys and we headed to my car. (We didn't talk much during the party because, thankfully, we both had too many other friends to play with other than each other.) On the way home I passed out for about an hour so that killed a lot of time that I had to be annoyed with him. He didn't seem to excited when I woke up either.

We get to his house and he gets out of the car and hugs me and that's that. I think he expected a road trip of love but all he got was a road trip of reality. He also didn't offer any compensation for the drive that used an entire tank of gas - no dinner, no offer for gas money. (I'll also add that S5C enjoys flaunting the amount of money he makes, so this did not bode well for him at all.)

I ended the day with Boston Market and a 9:30 bed time. Too much wine, friends and fun for this little girl to handle!

S5C hasn't called, texted or even poked (which was part of the Facebooking going on days prior) me since Sunday. Which is fine. But I'm wondering if I should rethink my hard partying ways at engagement parties. Apparently they tend to scare others off.

I like boys who like boys

This post is here for 2 reasons: to show my appreciation for some of my favorite people, and to get excited for Kathie Griffin tomorrow night!

I have my main gay. He's my favorite and if I never get married, I'd choose him to be my emergency contact person. He'll come over and take care of my cats when I go on my Spinster vacays. Actually, scratch that, we'll probably take Spinster vacays together (however, not to Vegas). We've even shared a man (seperately), which I think is just fagulous!

Anyway, there's another sassafrass that's trying to get on my hag radar. This started about a year ago. Everytime we're out together he totally hollers at me, not in the I-want-you way; in the I-want-you-to-go-shopping-with-me way. He's even invited me to Happy Hour tonight. Watch out Lovah!

Kidding. My Lovah will forever be my main gay-squeeze.

But I do love the boys that love the boys. Maybe it's their pure honesty and bitchiness. Not many people can match me on the 'tude I can give to a complete dousche out at a bar, but the gays totally can.

A bit of advice

When your friend that you haven't seen in a year is in town for the weekend and you go to happy hour and drink as much beer as you possibly can before all-you-can-drink ends, do not then walk up to the bar with said friend and decide it's a great idea to take a very large tequila shot and then give the bartender $10 each.

More on this later.

T.G.I.F.

My 4 favorite people in the world will all be in one place this weekend. I couldn't be happier!!!!!