The Best of Friends

I spent 4 hours watching "Friends" on a laptop in Kelsey's new apartment today with Kelsey (duh), her roommate Becca, one of Becca's friends, and Emily. I had forgotten how primo season 2 is. The lobster/Prom video episode, Rachel and Ross bone in the museum, Chandler's new roommate Eddie, TOM SELLECK!, Dr. Drake Ramoray...Jeez. Anyway, it was a lovely morning/afternoon with friends watching "Friends". Here's the season 2 blooper reel to tide me over until I decide if I will be purchasing "The Best of 'Friends'" DVD.

Watching these, who ever thought Jennifer Aniston would become like, the sad-sack of all media? She's adorable!

Here's season 3's bloopers just for giggles:

I like the last part where Ross gets cereal dumped all over his junk.

Oregon Trail

After many miles of metaphorical diphtheria, coxing the wagon, and shooting birds, my little pioneers are close to returning to the promised land: Oregon. They had to throw out several boxes of bullets and foodstuffs between Missouri and here, but they've survived! Lots of family and friends are coming home for summer/forever, and I'm stoked! I'm especially excited for my cousins E and C to be here--adventures here we come! They are very silly and enjoy boardgames and the Gidget series as much as me, so it should be a good summer. C is back after 5 years in Brooklyn, and E is here for the summer between graduating and starting a teaching job on an army base in Brussels. Or Bruxelles. Whichever you prefer.

Pretty much the entire East Coast is making the migration out west this summer: L & MDawg from NYC, two friends from DC, one from Connecticut, one from Louisiana, and one from Georgia (not Paula Deene. Dream!). I can't wait to have you all back in the land of plenty, taking manifest destiny by the reigns, tending your tracts of land. Jettison your extra clothes if the oxen are slowing down, but for god's sake, don't take any rest days!

Wedding Skanks and Mullets

Yesterday Kelsey, Emily, Emily's roommate Mandy, and I spent the day at Laurelhurst park, where we engaged in some heavy people watching. Laurelhurst has a wonderful mix of normal families, young people like myself, and freak-a-leeks. Obvi the weird people are the best for people watching, but it's fun to watch families parade around in their smugness, too. One particular family had a ginger baby. It was terrifying. Which led us to wonder WTF gingers look like when they start to go grey. Do they just look like albinos? Do they retain their red eyebrows? Mind-boggling.

Other great observations from yesterday:

1. A skanky wedding!!!! A D-Bag was marrying a Trout Pout skabimbo (skank + bimbo, if you were wondering). He had frosted tips, she had orange skin. It was obviously a match made in heaven. The wedding colors were teal (like pool-blue teal) and brown. Did not work so well with the groom's platinum highlights. The wedding party were all shot-gunning Red Bulls while the groom and bride were getting pics taken. I can only aspire to this state of perfection.
2. A super hot step-dad/partner/boyfriend there with his lady-love and her daughter. His name was Asa. Kelsey thought he was Jewish, Emily thought he was Brazilian, and I just thought he was really good looking. We spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out their family situation and staring at him. Oh, Asa.
3. Lots of dogs in ridiculous outfits. WHY?
4. A lot of mullets. For whatever reason, mullets are still popular in pockets of Portland.
5. Have you ever noticed that sometimes it's hard to tell the height of an adult when s/he is next to a child? It's really hard to tell if they're super tall or just with a kid. Which is why we were contemplating the idea of a blog called "Tall or With Child?".
6. Weird old guy practicing tai chi across from us. He also had a mullet.
7. An Andrew Dean look-alike. I hope all of you SU readers can appreciate how amazing spotting this creature was for K, E, and I.

That was pretty much it for people watching in the park, although we did get in some more top-notch observations while drinking in the McMenamin's outdoor seating of their Hawthorne Blvd. branch, The Bagdad. We practically had to cut a beez for our prim-o seats, but it was so worth it, because Hawthorne was full of crazies last night, like a woman wearing tie-dye and acid washed jeans, and rocking a mullet. Oh, Oregon.

Things I Like # 16

Perfect Sundays

Sometimes Sundays suck, like if you hate your job and know Monday is eminent, or if you're a student and have a term paper looming over your hungover shoulder. But if you don't hate your job and you're out of school, Sundays can be pretty great. This weekend I had a perfect Sunday:

My blinds in my bedroom are super dark, so when I opened the blinds to sun it was a wonderful surprise! Anyway, woke up late to a sunny day, toasted my pre-brunch slice of toast to a crispy perfection, did a crossword puzzle, showered for the first time in a day or two, picked out a cute dress, and got picked up for brunch by K (I didn't even have to drive!). We went to the Laurelhurst/Belmont area to eat at The Screen Door , which has delish modern-Southern fare. We had to wait for an hour to get in, but spent that time outside chatting with young men, so even waiting was pleasurable on my perfect Sunday, you guys! Once seated, K and I pulled our usual brunch scheme of ordering the two dishes we can't choose between and splitting them evenly. We missed our third musketeer, M, who usually orders the healthy dish and gives our meal some substance, counteracting our orders of like, strawberry and mascarpone stuffed French Toast or a fatty Cinnamon roll. So what I'm saying is that K and I ordered biscuits and gravy and a praline and bacon-strip covered waffle. Yeah. Therefore we spent the rest of the afternoon waddling around Laurelhurst ooh-ing over cute babies (sidenote: I wish I could wear children's clothes. I would kill for this dress) and adorable houses. And then we found the fruits of K's labors:

K literally spent half of her first year of real-world work figuring out what streets had potholes and deciding where on those streets to put up signs addressing that problem. God bless her little Enginerd heart. We were pretty thrilled when we found one of her signs. After our adventures in NE Portland, we went to my house and passed out on our patio in deck chairs until it started to get cold and we started to get cranky from food-fatigue. Once K left, I pulled on my ratty yoga pants and watched "Cruel Intentions". PERFECT SUNDAY!

Easter

Every year my family goes to midnight mass, as do all our friends, and afterward the parish holds this gigantic feast. Picture Beowulf's Mead Hall scene, but with less bloodshed and more suits and ties. There are like, 4 cafeteria tables worth of goodies including caviar, marinated shrimp, homemade meatballs, smoked salmon, sushi, ham, souvlaki, and more ham. And then in the "Fireside Room" there are 5 tables full of desserts. I'm not joking. Best of all, there are two tables of champagne bottles. There's basically one bottle per person. The first time I got drunk was because of this event, ahh memories!

Anyway, almost every kid I grew up with is there, so it's a crazy reunion party, too. We all get to meet new boy/girlfriends (and judge them), hear about someone's annoyingly perfect younger/older siblings, and complain about that one chick's creepy dad who almost ran one of us over in the parking lot one Easter (true story). We all consume a shit ton of the stuff we gave up for Lent (ie booze, chocolate, candy, meat), feel ill, walk around outside for awhile, then eat and drink some more until we're kicked out by the priest around 1am. It's pretty epic, and I don't really know of any other church that goes as balls-out as mine does for Easter.

Anyway, the Saturday night feast means no one in my family eats (excepting Easter Bunny candy, duh) until Easter dinner with the whole family, at which we consume pretty much the same amount as we did the night before. Except this time we don't have to make small talk with a family friend who used to drive me to soccer practices. This year there was a family contest to see whose Peep could be microwaved the largest. Exploding Peeps are disqualified. We also did a Peep battle, aka Peep Jousting, in which you insert toothpicks into the chests of each Peep, face the Peeps toward each other in the microwave, and see which Peep expands enough to poke the other in the chest with its toothpick first. Mine got second place.

And that was my Easter.

Lime Time

We had a fun, sexy time celebrating Lauren's bday

What a Gleeful Weekend

Well friends, this weekend was full of glee--in the sense of happiness and the seminal musical-television dramedy, Glee.

Friday

Breakfast and hanging out with my cousin, home for spring break

Spring cleaning

Chillin in the sunshine

Saturday

Dog walking in the sunshine

11 year old cousin's birthday dinner BBQ with extended family

Reunion with Roommate and Roommate's Sister

Portland bar

McFlurries

Glee soundtrack sing-a-long in the LaraMobile

Sunday

Run in the sunshine

Family brunch

Bartini happy hour with all the Portland girls

Milling around NW 23rd and trying on kinda skanky dresses at 3Monkeys

Looking at all the cute houses that we want to live in

Singing to Glee soundtrack with said Portland girls in the LaraMobile on a drive around NW

So, in keeping with the theme of this weekend, here is one of the best songs from our beloved Glee:

"Gimme Your Best Gnome Face"

...And with those words a beautiful photo was taken. It took me months to get my hands on this pic, but now it is finally mine!

We're the cutest woodland gnomes in the world

This Time Last Week...

I was consuming a Red Mill double bacon burger with Roommate and several awesome pals. If time travel becomes possible, I'd like to return to that lovely Sunday and re-experience the miracle that occurred: no hang-over despite drinking a jug of Carlo Rossi sangria. Call the Vatican!

Seattle Weekend events

Friday:

Get into town, Roommate is working, go to birthday dinner for study abroad friend

Have my biannual drink and dance in Belltown with study abroad friends event

Meet up with Roommate at home, and instead of saying hi, tell her, "I'm so drunk" as a greeting

Saturday

Roommate works

Brunch with Neighbs

H&M

Watch "Hairspray" with Roommate

Make dinner with some friends

We suddenly get popular and the apt. is filled with about 15 people

I proceed to get real intoxicated on Carlo Rossi Sangria

Everyone follows my lead

Go to a party at friend's house, and it's actually quite the see-and-be-seen event

Randoms attend party, try to start a dance-a-thon, and I awkwardly decline by telling them I have to get back to the wine

Sunday

We are surprisingly WIDE AWAKE & LOVING LIFE, despite going to be at 3:30am

Roommate and I discuss the epic events of the night before

Trek to Red Mill Burgers with Roommate and friends K, E, and E

Force friends to bear with Roommate and I singing along to the Glee Soundtrack

We realize that everyone born in '86-'88 knows all the words to Paul Simon's "Graceland" album as it was a favorite of every single parent to play on car rides

Everyone waves me goodbye as I drive off into the sunset

Thanks for a wonderful weekend, I miss you already, Capitol Hill friends! And see you soon if I figure out that whole time-travel thing.

Somewhere Out There...

I get to visit Seattle next weekend, and just thinking about it makes me feel all itchy (in a good way) about seeing Roommate. I CAN'T WAIT. Here are some reasons why I'm so amped:

Eliza Thornberry

We were such babies!

This is a pretty perfect depiction of our RoomateLove

Things you find out about someone after living w/them for 3.5 yrs: tucks pants into socks

Patron saint of our abodes. Libations must be made!

Craft time=happy time

And if I was a songwriter, here's what I'd write about our separation:

Prezzies!

Birthday loot (thus far, supposedly more is on the way via UPS; cough KatieLizMarilyn cough)

Gnome birthday card from company whose products I am obsessed with

Twenty three dollars (thanks, grandpa)

Bigfoot: I not Dead, Graham Romieuartwork of Bigfoot: I not Dead

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot, Graham Romieu

artwork of In Me Own Words

The Royal Tenenbaums Criterion Collection DVD

Red Forever21 DB Symbol coat (see previous Forever21 post)

White Alpaca Camargo scarf

Victorian Fantasy candle. Smells like bodice-ripping (thanks, Rachel)

Amaryllis plant (thanks, Enrico)

Thanks, Thanksgiving!

Dear Thanksgiving Weekend,

Thank you for bringing me so much fun, food, and friend-family-time!

Wednesday:

Roommate L and Roommate's sister M came home to Portland!!!! Sexytimes at Starbucks for the three of us. Almost peed my pants when I saw them waiting for me. Around 10pm Best Friend L came home. Greeted her at her house and drank and watched shitty reality TV with her and her mom.

Thursday:

Woke up late, ate my favorite Nancy's Yogurt, watched National Dog Show, made carrot side dish, went over to grandpa's at 2:30, began eating and drinking at 3:30, drank and played cards with cousins until 1 am. 17 relatives in attendance. This was the night my 10 year old male cousin told me that 23 was too old to have a boyfriend; either I'd have to be married or give up and become a spinster. He also said that you peak at 15. Well, shit, I hope children aren't as wise as people claim them to be.

Friday:

Felt disgusting, watched shitty reality TV with Best Friend L. For the second day in a row went over to grandpa's house at 3, had our traditional Leftovers Dinner, drank a lot, played more games with my cousins, watched new Star Trek movie with my cousins and several aunts and uncles. Enjoyed family time, but was happy to escape to grab drinks with Best High School Friends, K and M. Got pretty sloppy, went to VooDoo Doughnuts to sop up all the liquid in us, went to some dive bar downtown and ran into a ton of high school people, got two free drinks from unattractive yet generous gentlemen, and then didn't have to drive home!!!! Thank god for K having some family shit to do the next morning at 8 and offering to be the DD.

Saturday:

Slept in, massive hang-over, lounged at Best Friend L's until her mother forced us to go pick up the sushi for L's birthday dinner party. FOUND OUT THAT WEST PORTLAND'S WATER HAS E COLI IN IT, ergo did not shower. By this point had not showered since Wednesday*, and probably reek of turkey and alcohol. Best Friend L and I tried to make ourselves look presentable sans water (Jesus H. Christ, are we in Appalachia or what?!!), put on outfits entirely deriving from Forever21, ate a bunch of the sushi before guests came so we got the best rolls, made Lava Lamp Cocktails (pomegranate liquor, champagne, pomegranate seeds--seeds float up and down like a Lava Lamp), childhood friends and all their families attended, which of course meant we drank like fiends, almost puked up birthday cake but continued drinking Cooks, learned disturbing sexual secrets from mothers of childhood friends, drank more to erase those unpleasant revelations, played Yahtzee, picked at leftover cake, drank more, felt relieved when adults left at midnight, put on sweatpants and watched Degrassi with L and two other friends, passed out around 3am for the second night in a row.

Sunday:

Sleep in real, real late. Get woken up by L at 11:30 telling me to get my ass down to her house because her mother is taking us to brunch in NW Portland. Eat scrambled eggs and orange juice because they can't make tea due to the LITERAL SHIT in Portland's water supply. Walk around NW 23rd Ave for several hours. Discover that one of my favorite New York stores, Brooklyn Industries, has its only West Coast location on 23rd. Feel remarkably un-hungover despite, according to L's math, having consumed 2 bottles of champagne by myself. Come home around 4 and nap until 6. Return to L's for dinner. Bum around her house until she has to leave for the airport. Go look at Christmas lights with my parents.

*It is Sunday at 10:45 and I have still not showered. That's right, my friends, 5 days of food and alcohol and no shower. And my hair has never looked better. No joke, totes serious.

Things I Like #12

New (Old) Friends

I've been trying to make more friends in P-town, because although I have some good ones here, there's always room for more, right?! This weekend my friend Kayla was in town for a goodbye party. Because everyone in Oregon knows each other, she's like BFFs with a girl I was friends(ish) with in high school. Much of the night was spent recalling who was a cokehead in our graduating class, who is failing at life, and which kids turned into huge(er) sluts when they hit college. She went to UofO, so she has much more access to fellow alumni, and therefore has lots more post-prep school gossip. Anyway, a large group of us took on Portland and explored NE Alberta St, which I like a lot, but don't spend much time on. Kind of 12th Ave meets 15th Ave vibe. Then we tried not to die in Chinatown. Then we got VooDoo donuts and several free drinks at this place called Valentine. Portland men are much friendlier than Seattle men, I have found. Or perhaps they were just more amorous because we were at a place called Valentine.

AND I got two Friendship phone numbers. Score! Friendship phone numbers, I have found, are almost more difficult to obtain than LoveInterest phone numbers. It's very awkward to ask for a Friendship number. The timing has to be just right, you don't want to seem too pushy, you can't use it right away, and you have to be kind of jokey about it--otherwise the Passive-Aggressive, Shy Northwesterner will become very anxious about why you've asked for their number. Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, new friends and new-old friends are fun, and a thing that I like. Keep 'em coming, all ye Friendship Gods!

Thanks for Wolf-Dogging Me This Weekend

Thanks to all who made my weekend in Seattle bomb.com.

Festivities included:

• Multi-hour happy-hour @ Moe with many of my favorite Ladies and Gentlemen.
• The birth of the WolfDog.
• People mingling at Redwood. And eating lots of their peanuts.
• Extreme weather!
• Booze.
• Snuggles with the Roommate.
• Watching Discovery Channel with the Roommates.
• Presse!Soup!Semets!
• Pumpkin ice cream with roommates and friends.
• Neighbs.
• DEEP FRY ACTION: poutine. mozzarella balls. Home-made gravy. Sexy, sexy times.
• Losing at card games. But I lost to excellent people and with a custom-made cocktail!
• Smith!Glo!Roommate!Frenchtoast!

Rating: A+. High degree of urban excellence!

Thanks again. I love you all, and I have missed you so much! See you in December for my 23Run.

Halloweekend '09

--Watching Hocus Pocus with Kelsey, Cara, and Emily

--Chillin' like a villain with Cousin Claire, back from NYC for the week, at her at her family's house

--Eating copious amounts of candy that, as my mother kept reminding me, "Is for the trick-or-treaters!". But who can resist mini-Reese's???

--Answering the door for the neighborhood's kiddies who started showing up around 5 to steal my delicious candy away. It's my precious!

--Heading over to SE Belmont with Katie for Halloween night at La Calaca Comelona, http://www.lacalacacomelona.com/AboutUs.html, which has a Day of the Dead theme, perf for Halloween boozing!

Bringing it, Portland-Style

Last night I met Emily and Kelsey for happy hour at a bar called The Shanghai Tunnel, and luckilly it didn't go too overboard with its nod to Portland's illustrious past. Yes, you went down a narrow, dark staircase to get to the main bar, and yes there was red lighting and some Chinese dragons painted on a wall, but they also made my Greyhounds by squeezing a real grapefruit into the vodka, and they only charged $3. Excellent!

Next, Kells, because we wanted food. You can't really go wrong with Kells, even though it's Mecca for the fratty-bro-type (along with old people and high schoolers with fakes). Emily, Kelsey, and I commented on how Bros are far more common (and perhaps acceptable) in Portland, and most of our non-Seattle friends are not too familiar with the concept of "The Bro". We agreed that when we try to describe what a Bro is to said friends, we just end up insulting/confusing them a little. "But that's what all my guy friends are like", seems to be a common response to our explanation of "The Bro". In addition to our sharing our anthropological notes, we enjoyed hamburgers and drinks.

LaraBash

Thanks for coming so that I didn't have to get drunk by myself

Here is a link to the facebook album if you just can't get enough of these gems: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2070230&id=32402525&ref=mf

Things I Like, Things I Dislike

Things I Like:

Saturday: cozy rainy-day breakfast with a friend, eating Ballet's Pad Thai, reuniting with Jessica (recently returned from Michigan) on Saturday night at Harvard Theater.

Sunday: beautiful weather, chillin with Glo and playing Mario Kart, lots of lovely friends over for wine, grapes, cheese, crackers, and smoked salmon, getting tipsy, learning how to play Mario Party.

Monday: not feeling hung-over, watching 3 episodes of Discovery Channel's "A Haunting" with the roommates, eating left over grapes, eating a delish dinner and watching Dirty Dancing with several fellow bloggers (NoPants, GarrettLives, GloJamz, ScenesFromAnItalianRestaurant) and others.

Tuesday: beautiful weather, watching Gossip Girl online, packing for NYC, eating Safeway's version of the Girl Scout's Samoa cookie.

Things I Dislike:

I have to move home to Portland on October 4th. NOT PLEASED about this at all. Blerg.

Thing I Like about Thing I Dislike: we're going to have a SICK send-off event. You fools best be leaving Friday, Oct. 2 open. Or else.

Moment of Glory

Today I was chatting with Glo, http://glojamz.blogspot.com/, and was giving her a little life-update. She interrupts and tells me, "Oh, I know...I read your blog", and proceeds to summarize my typical blog entries. Excellent. Fame is knocking at my door.

Miracle of Miracles!

Just because summer's winding down doesn't mean the fun has to. Last night we celebrated the male-roommate's 23rd birthday with style. And by 'style' I mean Cooks. Male-roommate is friends with lots of people who I used to work with on a daily basis, but who I'm not close enough to see regularly now that school's over, so I got very excited to have a mini-reunion with those fine gents. I stayed up way past my bedtime! But, luckilly, when I was grumpy next morning due to the previously stated lack of sleep, a miracle saved me.

A Miracle of St. Nicholas, to be exact.

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral is on our block, and they were hosting a festival/bazaar called "A Taste of Old Russia". $3 pirogies and vodka shots. A Miracle, I tell you! God was smiling upon me, as pirogies are widely known to be the best hangover food on the PLANET. Yes, I had to endure church ladies and old priests and little grubby kids, but in reward, I was granted a delicious, so good I thought it was glazed, pirogie.