Photo Friday

This is my last-minute-change-of-plans costume for a Halloween party last week. My friends threw an 80s theme party. I was originally going to go a "Like a Prayer"-era Madonna, but decided lace dresses and high heels weren't practical in 6" of snow. And thus was born the idea of going as an 80s-era ski bunny.

Please excuse the crappy camera phone photo - when I asked my friends to take my picture with my actual camera, apparently they did not understand the concept of getting a full shot. I know what my face looks like, I wanted a picture of the costume, dammit!

I had the oversized turtleneck sweater, black belt, pearl necklace, and giant hoop earrings. One 20-minute shopping trip later to Target and Dollar Tree for a hot pink puffy jacket, black running tights, knee-high socks with florescent hearts on them, alpine knit booties, pink fingerless gloves, and giant white-framed sunglasses, and I had the rest of the outfit. Not bad for last minute!

How to Ruin an Awesome Night

So you meet up with friends to go out in Beantown for a going-away celebration. Said group of friends includes your ex-boyfriend, but you figure you can handle it for an evening - you've been talking over IM for a while and you've both agreed that this night is about your friend who is moving back home overseas. And secretly, you figure the night will be a success as long as you don't wind up crying in a bar bathroom somewhere.

So you go out, and everyone has a great time. Drinks are had. Food is consumed. More drinks are had. There is some dancing at some point. And you and the ex are friendly, and then flirty, and keep "accidentally" touching each other, and it's wonderful. The night winds down, the band finishes their set, you're all hanging out at the bar finishing last-call drinks. You head to the restroom one last time, and when you come back 2 minutes later, he's gone.

You all head outside, ready to take a cab back to another friend's apartment, and everyone is looking for him and wondering where he is. Finally he texts someone that he left, and texts you, telling you that he finds you way too attractive and so is walking home. Drunk, tired, feeling both abandoned by him and annoyed with yourself, you text back, telling him to F off.

So, what had previously been a fun evening suddenly feels like it has fallen into the shitter. Cab ride back is miserable - hot, lonely even with 4 other people there, and ends as all drunken cab rides seem to: with contents of stomach no longer where they should be. You somehow manage to avoid crying (a minor victory of sorts), but do spend some time outside whining to the only friend of the group who knows that the ex is your ex.

You crash on an air mattress at the apartment, and wake up at 7 and drive yourself home. Where you promptly go back to bed for 4 hours, and then spend the rest of the day alternating between reading and napping. You kind of hate yourself for still feeling this way about the ex, even though it's been 5 months since you broke up. You also kind of hate yourself for getting your hopes up that maybe things had changed. You really hate him for not being the man you thought he was, and for, as typical, taking the easy way out by disappearing on you. And you really wish that there was an off switch somewhere in your heart or brain so you could just get over him and move on with your life already, because missing him this much cannot be healthy.

Love sucks.

How to Crash a New Year's Eve Party

For the first time in 5 years, I have a boyfriend-type person at New Years. And yet, I spent it alone. I knew it was going to happen - Le copain français was at his parents' house and flying back on New Year's Day. He booked the tickets well before we started dating, so, c'est la vie. But not having a specific someone to go out with meant I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had offers from a couple of friends in Boston, and another offer from a friend who rented a house up near Plymouth, but really didn't want to drive. I liked the idea of spending the evening on the couch in front of the fire, watching movies and eating junk food. However, my friend Smalls guilted me into joining him for a house party at his friend H's. Smalls and I both ended up making stuffed mushrooms to take to the party, so we had an appetizer throw-down. After which, food and alcohol were consumed by all, and the hookah was partaken of by most (but not me).

Plan the First involved going for dinner and leaving around 11 to be home before midnight and all the less-than-sober drivers were on the road.

Plan the Second involved sticking around for H's champagne toast at midnight and then leaving immediately so I could go home and crash in bed.

Reality involved leaving H's at 1:30-ish after much food, plenty of drinks, and an impromptu dance party in the kitchen; driving Smalls home; sitting in his parking lot talking in my car for another 45 minutes; and getting home a few minutes before 3:00 AM. OUCH. But also, WONDERFUL.

Scotch + Hookah Smoke = NYE WIN

Let's all blow smoke into our glasses!

Our hostess H, preparing the midnight champagne toasts

Kitchen dance party!

After 1 AM, still going strong

Pi Day Pies

Mmmmmm, pie!On the right: Banana cream pie. On the left: Black-bottomed pie. (Chocolate pudding layer, then rum custard-merange layer) Not pictured: Boston cream pie. (Yes, not really a pie, but still yummy)

The Pi Day party was pretty successful, although there were only 6 of us as several people have been fighting off the death flu. There wasn't much pie left!