Highlights Post

Wow, I have so much to cover and cannot do it all justice. Two major holidays and a week of fun in between are just meshing together. I'm going to try and do the highlights of the past week, I might forget a bunch of stuff, I might lie a couple of times, but it should give you a good wrap up of my holiday festivities

Christmas

-The plague had hit me hard and left me unable to tell up from down. I stumbled downstairs on Christmas morning and sat in a chair staring at Christmas gifts for an hour while I waited for Caroline to get up. By an hour I mean 20 minutes max.

-Santa Claus was good to me. The recession is hitting him hard as he has had to take up a second job. He clearly moonlights at the Forbes College of Princeton University gift shop as I somehow received a sweatshirt, track jacket and knapsack from there. This is to be added to my collection of another sweatshirt and countless t-shirts from there. The new sweatshirt is indescribably comfy and has been worn for a week straight. Random....but usefull. 

-We had a secret Christmas brunch and a secret Christmas dinner. Holidays are more fun when you have secret parties and don't tell other people about them. That last sentence is a complete lie. 

-I got a beautiful new sweater and promptly spilled red wine all over it at dinner. Luckily Mom is a stain mastermind and got it out with a bottle of Perrier and a strong will to succeed. 

-I blacked out from the ick at around 7 on Christmas and don't really remember anything else from the night. I think it was a success, however.

Day after Christmas

-I think I went to the movies with Ch'nel and her sister. We went to three different theaters, each of which disappointed us in some way.

-I am now boycotting the Oxford Valley Mall theater. They tripped me with their obscenely large curb and rolled their eyes when I limped my way in. They also wanted 12.50 to see a movie. We did not stay.

-They also had a pothole outside their theater that broke my tire. Thumbs down.

-We ended up seeing Role Models which was surprisingly funny and adorable. I recommend.

-Ended the night by playing "How many donuts can I get for a dollar" at Dunken Donuts (or as the girl behind me on the train says, Dunkies). This game is the single reason I am glad that I was friends with Kelsey Cunningham at some point in my life. Hours of entertainment come from bringing a single dollar into a Donut shop and asking how many munchkins it could be traded for. Answers have ranged from 4 to 70. This night we had to play through the drive-thru, which added an extra challenge. We ended up with 20, a reasonable haul if you ask me. 

Dec 27-28

-Eh, stuff happened

Dec 29

-Went to Massachusetts

-Stopped at Wrenthem Premium Outlets on the way up

-I was still feeling sick and angry that my sister wanted to shop

-When we left she had no bags and I bought a 4 dollar shirt at White House Black Market and a 20 dollar dress at Barneys. I win!

-Got to my grandmothers house and was subjected to hours of Jon and Kate Plus 8. I hate that show. Hate it so much. Everyone in the room hated it, you could tell, but everyone thought someone else wanted to watch it so no one changed the channel. Bad move, family, bad move.

Dec 30

-Went to Marshalls, bought two dresses and a pair of boots. Apparently I think I have a social life that requires party clothes. Even the fact that I consider myself to have a social life is a stretch

-Went up to Boston to play trivia at this bar near my aunts house. We've been wanting to bring OMP for years as he is a human Wikipedia. We were convinced we were going to thrash the competition. Unfortunately the theme was 2008 and every answer had happened in 2008. He was good for the political ones but was unable to tell us that Katherine Heigl was the highest paid actress or identify a scene from Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The MVP of the night turned out to be my 11 (12?) year old cousin Will who pulled answers out of no where to score massive amounts of points. It helps that he does absolutely nothing but watch television. We came in at a respectable 4th out of 12 teams. We were in second for the whole game, but fell hard on the first final question (I am aware that that is a contradiction, let it go) and were too timid to wager enough points on the final final question (which we got right) to pull ourselves back. Oh well, we beat my cousin and her boyfriend who were awkwardly on a double date with another couple at the table next to us. Thats always awesome when your entire extended family shows up to play trivia at the table next to you when you're on a date. They claimed it wasn't a date, just a get together, but I claim any gathering of couples counts as a double date and want to portray this as an awkward adventure. My other cousin brought her boyfriend to sit with us and he had to sit next to her father and across from OMP and my mom. I'm going to reconsider this whole situation and name that the more awkward experience.

Dec 31

-NEW YEARS EVE!

-I was going to go into the city to meet two friends from school and go out with them at around 7. At 10 am I woke up to find my parents missing, along with the car and no note as to their whereabouts. They do this frequently when we're up in MA as they have a normal sleep schedule and my sister, grandmother and myself often sleep until the smell of lunch wakes us up. I went for a walk on the beach and carried on my merry way.

-I got home and at around 11 a phone call comes in from the parents "Get your stuff, you're going to the train station". Dammit, I thought, it's finally happened, they're finally fed up with me and are sending me away. I looked out the window and saw that it was snowing...heavily, white out conditions. The 'rents wanted to get me and my sister into Boston before we were snowed in. It was a very valiant gesture as, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't drive my kids anywhere if there was snow like that. They would be s*** out of luck. (the snow didn't end up being too bad, but in the moment it was looking like we would be having a repeat of 1998 (year completely made up) when my mom, sister and I were snowed in my grandmothers cottage with downed trees and 4 foot high snowbanks blocking our every exit with no electricity or heat). 

-Train to the city was surprisingly scenic, but involved an hour of listening to the girl behind me brag about all the times she's driven drunk "not just drunk, but BLACKOUT, ahahahahah". Never, ever, go on the streets of suburban Massachusetts after dark.

-We got into the city and camped out at my aunts house until it was time to go on our merry way. My cousin, fresh of his all star trivia performance, taught us how to play Guitar Hero and Wii. Caroline is apparently quite the Wii expert, so she claimed, I schooled her in Wii Baseball. I'm going to need to get a Wii, maybe once my N64 breaks. 

-I went downtown at around 5 to meet up with my friends at our hotel. This was a last minute plan when we realized we had no way to get out of the city at 2ish and somehow we managed to get a swanky hotel room in downtown Boston on New Years Eve for 99 dollars. I'm going to take this moment to plug the Kendall hotel in Kendall Square. A converted firehouse that is absolutely charming and elegant. I miss the free champagne hour by 5 minutes, unfortunately, but the news that I was staying at a hotel that offered a free champagne hour delighted me. I cannot stress enough how fantastic this hotel was. 

-Got ready and went out to eat at Papa Razzi. Good food, good times, good friends, good.

-Realized it was 11 o clock already and scampered over to Harvard Square to ring in the new year at Tommy Doyles pub. It was fairly empty when we arrived, which concerned me. But about 15 minutes before midnight the place suddenly filled up to the brim. As the countdown began I got incredibly excited. With each ticking second I realized it was almost the new year. Almost 2009. The year I'm going to graduate. Only a few months until I complete college, I've almost made it. As the clock struck midnight I was filled with total glee, I made it to 2009, this end is in sight, I can do this. 

-Danced the night away for the next few hours. Not one but TWO women (both of whom came with boyfriend like characters) asked if I "swung" and wanted to make out. I'm very attractive to the closeted lesbians apparently. Maybe I'll use that as a pick up line next time I meet a cute guy "you know women find me extremely attractive.....". Nevermind, that will only attract a sketchy breed of male that i do not want.

-I left my ATM card at the bar. 

JANUARY 1st 2009!

-Swanky hotel offered a full breakfast. I love this hotel.

-Tried to get my ATM card, they said they put it in a safe and won't have access to that safe until 9 that night when the manager comes in. That's all well and good, except I'm heading for Jersey at 1. The Irish bartender shrugs. My friend agrees to pick it up and mail it to me once they call to say they've gotten it out of the safe. After numerous phone calls over the past two days, they keep telling me they've been too busy to get it out. Apparently the combination on this safe is not just numbers but an elaborate system of obstacles and challenges. Please, take your time.

-Drove down to Jerz. Car started making funny noises and shaking somewhere around Hartford. Spent the rest of the trip feeling like we were going to break down at any moment. While my plague had gone, Carolines was just starting. As the car struggled to move, she struggled to breathe. My iPod had minimal power left in it and I was unable to page through the songs as that would have killed the battery. So I had a shaking car, a snoring sister and Dane Cook yacking away in my ear as I hoped and prayed that if God really loved me he would make it so that shuffle would play a continuous hour of Bruce Springsteen after Mr. Cook finished describing his trip to the supermarket. I eventually gave up and listened to Harry Potter on tape that my mom was playing, gotta love the Potter. 

Now I'm spending my Friday night waiting for the bar to call me back and otherwise staring into space hoping someone isn't using my ATM card to buy something stupid like coffee. I should take this moment to say that anyone using an ATM card to buy a coffee or fast food item is at the top of my s*** list. If you don't have the cash to pay, then you are unable to get the food item. I will end this blog on that angry note. Happy 2009!!!!