Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Oh Glorious Day

Some of the Ed's Shirt photos have been uploaded and I got a big thumbs up from my doctor today. And I have no time to revel in it because I have so much on my to do list. So y'all enjoy Ed's Shirt and I'll go weep softly in a corner. With my lunch.

Go buy Bernankular shirts before Muppet goes insane and cuts me.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Rock Star Living is Too Exhausting for ME

A coworker just canceled on a piss & moan dinner with Lovey and I tonight and I am so excited. I'm doing a happy dance right now at the though of going home, cleaning the cat box, putting on my comfy pants, heating up some soup and putting on hot water for tea. So I can snuggle down on my sofa with the kitties and the TiVo. Though I really do want to update Ed's Shirt (if you have photos of the shirt - send them to ME!!!) between now and the weekend and have to work on a couple other things so. Eh, screw it. TiVo, kitties & sofa for me.

I have been having a fabulous time though.

On Thursday Lovey and I headed up to
Alice's Tea Cup for dinner. And tea. Iolanthe was going to join us but get held up by her boss and some labor strike. Poor thing. We missed her but still had a great time. The tea was divine and we ate way too much. I had tea with a vanilla caramel thing going on and Lovey went for the Christmas blend. We both ordered the fancy-pants grilled cheese. I wasn't sure if I would love it as I feared the raisins and fennel, but it was so tasty. I really got the full effect of the fennel on the first bite but then it was all good. We hadn't planned to eat as much as we did, but then we heard they had pumpkin scones. And we thought we'd share one of those while drinking tea and waiting for grilled fabulousness. And there was some excellent crème brulee I had to get. As I'm not one to ever turn down a chance at crème brulee. I am my mother's daughter. I hadn't realized how stuffed I was until I got onto the train and thought I might just explode. And, on top of the good food & drink, Lovey and I had excellent conversation about families and childhoods and a smidge of religion and boys. Good times. I love that we have so much in common even though in some ways we're so very different. Makes for good talking.

Friday was Halloween at the office. Lovey and I wore tiaras as a few folks in the office have nicknamed us the Princesses. We thought it appropriate. And then we went to a horrible party the department was throwing. These things are always so odd. Nerdy finance folks don't have much in the way of social skills so they don't understand small talk. So, work parties are pretty much the same thing as working. Except you're standing up. With food. And beer. And, in this case, a few folks wandering around in strange costumes. So we fled. Lovely, her sister, Muppet, Mr. Muppet and I were all supposed to hit the
Chip Shop for dinner before Dr. Muffy's 30th birthday party (she's very old - "one of us" "one of us") but... it was not to be. Lovey's sister really wanted no part in anyone's birthday or Brooklyn or anything. And technology decided to bite Muppet in the ass. It affected my Friday report slightly so I stuck around the office for a while, but not nearly as long as poor Muppet.

I showed up a little grumpy at
Floyd for Dr. Muffy's party but tried to shake that off. Dr. Muffy was turning 30, after all. And with Steph running to the Chip Shop for take out and Charlotte showing up as a pregnant prom queen (looking GORGEOUS) all was soon right with the world. And Dr. Muffy looked very foxy on her 30th. Which is really how you want to do that. It was a fun night. Dr. Muffy seemed to have a good time. Big D was working his Ron Burgandy schtick hard. And I got to talk to some fun folks. As well as eat fried food and drink vodka. What more could a girl ask for? Possibly a bed time earlier than 3:30AM, but I can't resist a drunk and adorable Dr. Muffy. Nor the opportunity to take ridiculous photos in a bar late at night.

Saturday I was going to get up, go for a walk, do some chores around the pad and run some errands. Oh yeah, that sooo didn't happen. Bloomberg's campaign woke me up JUST to ask me if I planned on voting for him (I'm thinking no now) but I went right back to bed and overslept by about 3 hours. Good times. So I had to scramble and get ready for Maggie's birthday brunch at Dr. Muffy & Steph's house. Maggie's friend Nano baked a cake and brought truffles and Steph did a yummy egg thing. There was salad and I think I ate about a pound of cheese. So it was a lovely brunch. That I stayed at way too long. But I was having a good time. What can I say?

I left with barely enough time to get home, shower and change for Iolanthe's Halloween Party. She's invited me to two birthday parties and a couple others and I've always had to bail at the last minute for a variety of reasons. "Sick mother" met with a lot more sympathy than "we spent longer gambling at Mohegan Sun than I thought we would" did. Anyway, since Dr. Muffy was spending the night of her 30th all quiet and snuggled with Steph I figured I MUST make this party. Big D wanted to hit a costume party and Maggie decided she wanted some party time as well so we all banded together. Which is good as Iolanthe is up in Inwood and Maggie drove us from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side to the party and back again. Not only is she fun, but she's handy!

The party was okay. They were playing some sort of drinking game called "What the Fuck?" I think I would've enjoyed it more if I had known more of the people or if I hadn't initially walked in on a question involving poo. But I had a giant glass of vodka, chatted with some fun folks, saw Lovey rock a super girl costume, Iolanthe rock green face paint like nobody's business and Maggie work a last minute Barbarella even as the dress shredded around her. Good times. My last minute, pulled out of my ass costume was that of a
Red Shirt. And either folks immediately got it and laughed, or they just looked confused. This possibly makes me a nerd, yes?

We also found out just how popular Ron Burgandy was around the neighborhood. Ron interviewed quite a few young men and they alseemedmd happy to chat. Which we found very reassuring after one group of guys were able to peg which car was Maggie's while we were still almost a block a way from returning to it. Apparently the guy knows all the cars on the block and that one was a new one. But he, like everyone else, adores good ol' Ron.

After that we drove back to the Upper East Side and Maggie and I went for dinery goodness while Big D went to Karaoke up a storm. Completely in character. So I hear. I was enjoying Grilled Cheese and girl talk. After that Maggie and attempteded to enjoy some Karaoke before admitting we were worn out. Well, I did last about two songs more than Maggie before realizing that I would rather be sleeping than watching Ron get his mack on while other people sang off-key.

Not that I slept that much. I don't sleep so well in other people's beds. And Big D has a TV right there at the foot of his bed. With HBO! My TV is several feet to the right of the foot of my bed and just doesn't make TV viewing as easy. Plus, Ron Burgandy is not as popular with the Upper East Side Ladies as he is with the Inwood Gents so... he arrived home around 5 in the morning babbling about Aqualung and then mumbled around in character for a good long while. That man is very lucky that he is adorable and that he was kind enough to let me crash at his place.

And the reason I wanted to crash at his place is because my alarm was set to go off at 7:20AM. So I could get up and head out to Central Park. Last month Maggie ran her first Big Girl Race of four miles and this month Dr. Muffy was going to run her first Big Girl Race of five miles. And Maggie was joining her. Yes, Dr. Muffy gets her PhD., turns 30 and runs a five mile race all in less than a month. Yes, she does make me feel completely inadequate. Why do you ask? I figure I will be living in a sanitarium with my stuffed cats and imaginary friends when she turns 35 after establishing herself as some kind of crazy super doctor.

So, I got up, weeping. Dressed myself and decided I was going to walk to our meeting spot. Woo. Yeah, I'm a badass. Heh. Met up with Steph and the Fabulous Girl Racers, saw them to the starting line, took some photos, cheered their start and then wandered off for coffee with the man where we could chat and sit in awe at the super fast racers who came tearing around the final curve six seconds later. Give or take 20 minutes or so. Then we cheered our girls to the finish line and were impressed with how not out of breath and
not wet non angry non beet like they were.

Then we attempted brunch. Maggie and Nano wanted to go to this place called Prune and once Steph heard of their Bloody Marys we were in a cab heading downtown. But we were a party of five waiting for super trendy brunch. After about an hour or so, upon learning there was ANOTHER party of five ahead of us, not including the one just called in or the large assortments of 2s and 3s and 4s... I suspected I wasn't going to be able to wait as long as it would take to get in and still make it home before my parents, let along make it home in time to tidy a little. So I bailed. I hear the food was good.

Got home to tidy a little before my parents called to say their flight was in early and they were on their way to Brooklyn. Oh, and there was a brief lecture from the cats about staying out all night after not being home much the two weeks prior and you really don't want to hear it. The cats have potty mouths and they were mad.

The folks arrived about the same time my cold symptoms did. But luckily they were tired and jet lagged after an awesome week in Germany and we all just sat around moaning and chatting before enjoying an evening of Pizza and TV. Then Mom passed out and I made cupcakes. She actually valiantly roused herself at one point with the intention of helping her baby girl ice the cupcakes, but they weren't cooled enough for that. And she went back to bed, down for the count. But, I soon got the cupcakes done and headed to bed.

Monday my adorable father insisted on walking me to the subway platform with my cupcakes as he didn't want me to have to carry them along with my bookbag and purse. Cutest man ever. The office party Lovey, Sheena and I held was fun, but mellow. And much needed after my surreal performance evaluation.

After work I met Dr. Muffy for coffee and had a fabulous chat with her. We were supposed to hit the Natural History Museum with Muppet for some fun Halloween thing, but Muppet had a board meeting and I got stuck late at work and Dr. Muffy was Dr. Science on her own until our coffee time. Then, instead of going home like a sane person I got sucked into helping Monkey Man with a paper he has due today. And the bitch better have gotten an A on it. Dangit. After which I got to ride the F train post parade with all the crazy costumed folks. Most of them were fun but some ho in a prison costume (complete with visitor window & phones) moved someone over so she could take up the two seats next to me and dig the edge of her wooden window ledge into my thigh. Lots of folks taking pictures of her probably have my obnoxious eye roll next to her.

Anyway, this is all to say that I am very happy to be heading home soon to my soup, my kitties and my TiVo. Bliss.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Bernankular

I know only about seven of you read this, but I thought I would try and do my tiny little part to spread the word.

BERNANKULAR

Buy a t-shirt. Magnets and buttons make great stocking stuffers. Support the cause.