long weekend!

So due to some unfortunate last-minute circumstances, Mikey was unable to come visit me. Nonetheless, I'd already assured all my friends I would spend my last "free" weekend in DC being fun. The show must go on.

So my parents and I tried to catch the tail end of DC Restaurant Week, but our reservation (made in the afternoon) yielded a 10PM table. So we went to Gallery Place to watch a movie to kill time and the only movie that fit into our schedule was Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yeah, it was funny. The re-recorded classic songs, namely "The Christmas Song" and "Witch Doctor," brought me back to childhood.

Dinner at Ten Penh was great.

Saturday we went to a memorial service for my great-uncle, Sedfrey Ordonez. Usually respect falls into three categories. First, there is the respect you have for your older, wiser family members. Second is the respect you have for good people. Third is the respect you have for people who have changed the world for the better. "Lolo Sed" fits all three categories. Not many people do. He will be very missed.

The reception, of course, had more than enough delicious food. Love of good food runs in our family. There was a sort of second, more intimate, reception at my aunt's house for everyone who stuck around long enough and wanted to catch up.

I eventually left to meet my friend Jewelyn for dinner. Again with restaurant week, we went to Harry's Tap Room, which was very tasty. She brought it to my attention that we haven't seen each other for almost two years, which is insane. Hopefully that won't happen again.

"don't stop believing"

After dinner, we ended up at Carpool, which she said was "the closest to a Tulane bar you'd find in the city," and she was probably right. Her friend Greg and my friend Patrick from grade/high school both met up with us for a few drinks and some catching up. Jewelyn and I kept watching the NCAA scores looking for Tulane amidst the ridiculous number of Louisiana colleges being displayed. Perhaps it wasn't wise, but we celebrated each Tulane appearance by finishing our drinks at the time.

The next day I met the same Patrick and my friend Tony, another recent Tulane alum, at Open City for a late lunch. Good conversation, good times. It was so cold that day that we didn't really feel inspired to do anything else, so we parted ways. I was on the metro about to call Janet and tell her I couldn't meet her and Mere in time for coffee in Bethesda. But sweet serendipity, I turn around and there is Mere, delayed at the same metro station I was. So we met up for Starbucks like good twentysomethings. I followed Janet's suggestion of a "cinnamon dolce latte," which was perfect for the weather and waking me up. We talked for a while, discussing plans, aging, marriage, babies, dreams, nightmares, free will, and serendipity.

Janet and I had previously set a lunch date for Monday, and on Sunday we decided it best to invite as many people as possible. And to our surprise, almost everyone said yes. When we got to Kramers and asked the hostess for a table for eight, she basically laughed at us. (I had left it to Janet and her delightful accent to make a reservation, but they didn't fall for her charms and told us to just walk in.) We thought we might have to go elsewhere, but they opened up the mezzanine level for us, so our little brunch party sat up there alone. Very VIP.

After lunch, the St. Mary's mini-clique (Ona, Kathleen, and myself) went to go walk around The Shops at Georgetown. There are two pieces of evidence that old habits die hard. Janet, Katie, and Susan all were yanked back to their real lives by, respectively, a return to New York, grading papers, and nursing school homework. Claire and Ryanne went off to delay reality with a viewing of 27 Dresses. The three of us, unsurprisingly uninterested, just caught up on our old friends and the little twists and turns of our own private lives. Always a pleasure.

I probably won't be doing much this week except packing. It is entirely possible my next post will be coming from Florence, Italy!!!

July already?

Yeah, I'm not where the last month went either. I'm back home in New Orleans and am subletting an apartment on Pine. New roommates, both cool guys. Went out with them the other night for a few doubles, carbombs, and games of Foosball. Yesterday was The Fourth, so I went to Mon Mon & Jon Jon's (i.e. Monica and Adrian) little celebration. T'was supposed to be in her yard, but the rain location was his house. Keg, barbeque (burgers, hot dogs, ribeye), frat brothers, sorority sisters, random friends/family, Goldeneye on 64. Good times. Left to go watch the fireworks on top of the parking garage with Stephanie, Sylvia, and Peter. I forgot the view from there rivals the one on top of Stern.

excellent Easter

Easter Sunday

Nicole and I went to Easter Mass and then got a delicious brunch with some friends. Afterwards, she, Amelia, and I went to Whole Foods. I ended up not buying veal for a few reasons:

• Nicole’s humanitarian objections to it
• it's $25/pound price tag
  
• and mainly because there wasn't enough for my stew.

“Don’t eat no meat??? Oh, that’s okay. I make lamb.”

Ten points if you know what movie that’s from.

Anyway, when Miss Vegetarian and I made it to the cashier, we were playing Price Is Right. (For the record, I would have won if he had bothered to look up the price for cippolini onions instead of just ringing them up as scallions.) Anyway, when the price went over Nicole’s guess, she said “SHIT!” really loud. The poor cashier looked terrified until we explained it wasn't the result anything he did.

Our Easter Potluck Dinner was extremely delicious.

• egg salad tea sandwiches
• salad
• my lamb stew
• corn pudding
• pasta salad
• roasted potatoes
• sweet potato fritters
• miniature brownies
• funfetti cupcakes
• strawberries dipped in chocolate

We watched the end of an America’s Next Top Model marathon. Storey and I had a great experience trying to decipher the ins and outs of female debate, both on and off screen. That segued right into the end of The Sound of Music and an episode of The Girls Next Door. I would never have guessed I’d be in a room with four girls who had such positive review of Hef’s girlfriends and their show.

Speaking of reality, Bravo needs to learn that not every occupation needs its own competitive show. They’re apparently releasing a new haircutting series, which I’ve dubbed Project Top Hair Design.

Anyway, we ended the festivities by dying eggs since the two Jewish girls had never had the fun if messy experience. One of the Christians misspelled “Easter” on her egg by leaving out the T.

Easter Monday

Adrian called me up and we went to the UC for lunch. Black Angus on Rosemary Parmesan Bread sub from Quiznos and “Mexican Pizza” and soft tacos supreme from Taco Bell. I finally figured out of the "Royal Hospital, Panama City Beach" charge that showed up on his VISA. My mom was very worried even though I assured her a $60something hospital charge couldn't have been anything that serious. Apparently Hospital is short for "Hospitality," as in charge-it-to-my-room, as in charge-the-drinks-I'm-buying-at-the-hotel-bar-to-my-room. Zoinks. S'okay, Scooby gang, mystery solved!

I spent happy hour drinking with Conrad at Bruno’s before going to the (actual) Whitney Bank on Carrolton.

I tried to go to Ninja to sit at the sushi bar and grab a quick dinner, but I forgot it was Monday. (Ninja is closed on Mondays.) So I went to Philip Chan’s Asian Cajun Bistro, which was on the walk back. I’d had my doubts and never been, but I figured I’d give it a try. I’m glad I did. Asian Cajun is “marriage of... friendliness and generosity of Asian culture... warmth and sincerity of genuine Southern hospitality.” Now that sounds like bullshit, but they made me a believer. And I hate the term “fusion,” but this place actually is. Basically the restaurant is local ingredients cooked in an expert Chinese way. I guess now I can no longer say there’s no good Chinese food in this city. Chef Chan, who I got to meet briefly, is from Hong Kong, which I consider to be not only the origin of my favorite style of Chinese food but also the Mecca of non-sushi Asian food.

I was apparently not thinking because I forgot that such an authentic restaurant would serve dishes “family style” (as opposed to fake less authentic places like P.F. Chang’s) i.e. massive portions. So I ordered an appetizer, an entrée, and some rice.

While I was waiting, they served me a salad with a dressing that tasted like a sweet faux-kimchi. Awesome. The massive appetizer was your requisite cornmeal fried Louisiana oysters, but then they were wok-sautéed with a sweet peppery sauce with sliced onions (both red and green) and garlic, served with a creamy dipping sauce. The combination of tastes and textures was almost overwhelmingly good. The “num tong” chicken was tender cuts in a Szechwan sauce served over crispy rice noodles and sliced eggplant. The fried rice was also amazing: Shrimp, crawfish, and smoked sausage tossed with eggs and scallions in rice with a gentle touch of curry flavor. The waitress set down the plate and said “Let me know when you need a box.”

I don’t usually admit defeat, but I had to surrender. On a more positive note, my fortune cookie told me “You wield more influence than you know.”

Jenna and Shannon both called me. The former stopped being a mountain-whore (ah, my affection for my friends who graduate early and I miss dearly) to come down and visit, and the latter spent the night in Houston for a free airline voucher. Jenn was tired from the drive, and Shan was MIA. So everyone apparently went to bed, which was good because I was exhausted too. We’re going out tonight.

happy Easter!

Just want to say a quick HAPPY EASTER to everyone. I had a chill Saturday. Around midnight, I met up with Mike at Harrah's. We got a few drinks at Masquerade there. No serious gambling; Chad Michael wasn't there. But we thought of him as soon as we walked in. My parents called around 3:30 in the morning, scaring the hell out of me. (Whenever someone calls too late for it to be a drunk-dial and too early for it to be a wake-up call - e.g. ADRIAN - I automatically assume someone is dead or something is very wrong.) Anyway, apparently a drunk or disoriented driver wrapped their car around a tree in a neighbor's yard and woke them up. No fatalities luckily. On the bright side, it's Easter... seems like it'll be busy in a good way!

spring break part 1: NOLA

Two thirds of my break were spent here in my beloved New Orleans.

SATURDAY

Saturday I missed ALL the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is quite different from last year. I thought I slept through the first two, but I was wrong since they ran so late. Tully drove Whitney, her friend Brittany (heretoafter referred to as "The -Ittaney's") to Babylon for dinner. Chicken tecka. Yum.

Adrian came over to use the kitchen to flex his culinary muscles. Whit, Keenan, and I went down to The Quarter to close out St. Patty's. We went to Pat O'Brien's, where we celebrated with carbombs, hurricanes, and Bailey's. Whitney and I danced to Flashdance's "What A Feeling," which I guess is "our song" now. When that died down, we went to The Palms, which was dead. Whtiney passed out, but I woke her up with the smell of sirloin steak quesadillas. Adrian and Monica were very finished with dinner by then, so I went with them to The Boot for a little bit.

SUNDAY

Tully, The -Ittaneys, and I took a Sunday Drive around the city, which may have lasted a little longer than we planned. We showed her uptown, the quarter, the marigny, and some of the destruction in mid-city. We grabbed a late lunch (mmm, chirashi sushi, salmon, yellowtail, tuna, crab, shrimp, mackerel, octopus, etc) at Mikimoto. We stopped by Blockbuster to pick up DVDs for break. I borrowed three that I forgot about and almost didn't watch.

Later that night, I went with Shannon to pick up her friend Ihita, visiting from Maryland, from the airport. Those two will be hereafter referred to as "Shanita." We met up at Port O Call with The -Ittaneys and Tony for monsoons and burgers.

Shanita was tired and frustrated with the loss of luggage, so they went home. The -Ittaneys and I went to The Pub, which rocks on "Sing-A-Long Sunday" because they play old music video, particularly from the '90s. We bought several rounds and David (my favorite bartender in the world because even though I'm never there he always remembers) gave us free shots. One was an Absolut Pear Kamikaze, which Whitney loved because its main ingredient is her favorite liquor. Then she and I chased whiskey with beer 'cause Garth said so.

After that, we went to Harrah's to play slots and Blackjack. Chad and I texted a bit. He would've been proud since it was an economically productive night.

MONDAY

Monday began with the Harrah's breakfast buffet. (bacon, andouille, smoked salmon, eggs/omelets made to order, fresh fruit, etc) We all ate too much.

After a nap, I went with Shanita to The Daiq Shack to get daiqiris (Starbucks Mudslide to wake me up) and Hana to get lunch (seaweed salad and spicy tuna, crawfish, and California rolls). We took our drinks and food to The Levy for a picnic.

The -Ittaneys and Tully met up with us, armed with daiquiris, and we played Circle-of-Death/Kings until the sun went down.

Shanita and I picked up Wes and Steve and then met up with Sam at Saltwater Grill. I love that place, but be prepared to WAIT if you order oysters. But we felt Ihita needed to try them raw. She approved. The owner gave us a baker's dozen to make up for the wait.

We met up with Josh, The -Ittaneys, and Tully and went to both old and new Bruno's for more drinks and C-o-D/K. I forgot my waterproof cards, but the bartender lent us some. Good times.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I mostly recuperated before a French Quarter afternoon with Shanita. We got dinner at Arnaud's Remoulade, which doesn't serve the largest portions, but they're tasty and filling. I recommend a Taste of Nola: Seafood gumbo, stuffed crab, and red beans and rice.

We got our palms read by Jerrik and tarot done by his daughter. He was amazing. I really do think palmistry can reveal a lot about a person. Her predictions were good to; the forecast is cloudy, with an occasional storm, but beautiful real soon.

We walked down to Frenchmen, which was chill, to grab a few rounds at DBA, and we gave part of the Brangelina Tour by showing Ihita their street, Whirling Dervish, and Angeli.

Then we hit up Tropical Isle and Pat O'Brien's so she could try hand grenades and hurricanes. She prefers the grenades. I (stupidly) combined hand grenade leftovers with hurricane leftovers and chugged it. We were all drunk, so we barhopped some more. We stopped by The Pub, where it was apparently lesbian night, so that was kind of funny, and then went to Cat's Meow. I was supposed to sing "Get Ready" with Shannon on back-up vocals, but they played "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" instead. All the drunk people told me I was "the best," but consider the source. Ihitia bought a little pizza (8 inches in diameter?), and we drove home.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday we took Shannon's RAV4 to the Toyota dealership to get it checked out. We cruised the mall, like teenagers. Ihita and I hiked over (gasp) grass, her nemesis, to the Aveda Institute. She got a facial and, since it was the first day of spring, I chopped my hair off.

We went to Vietnamese lunch at Tastea Caffé. We all got bubble tea and beef. Grilled, vermicelli, and pho.

We stopped by the quarter again so Ihita could get some souvenirs.

We met up with Sam at Dick and Jenny's for dinner. I had an "escargot-boy" (a garlicky snail po-boy with creamy mushroom sauce) for an appetizer and a sampler entree (pain perdue, fried oysters, and crawfish alligator sausage cheesecake). We split a Nolamisu (tiramisu with local ingredients, Mom) and creme brulee for dessert. It's really good, but it's similarities to Jacques-Imo's invite comparison. My heart (aka stomach) still belongs to Jacques.

Back here, I went over to Whitney's to watch LOST and Saw 3, which we'd borrowed from blockbuster.

Mardi Gras '07: part two

liftin' Lindsay to get more beads

with Ben between parades

with Carter and boas

piano man at Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar

apparently it'll be a huge party. see y'all there!

H.R.M. King Okeanos '07

Stephanie, Peter, and their sunglasses

Mardi Gras '07: part one

H.R.M. Queen of Oshun '07

big-ass unicorn float at Pygmalion

decidedly my new favorite picture of Whitney and me

Maids of Sparta

H.R.M. King Pegasus '07

Miss Molly and me at New Bruno's

Esteban and his bull's-eye

roommates - and everyone over our shoulders

Nicole, Mike, and the gold people at One Eyed Jacks

Hermes float and riders

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

I'm sure it'll be no surprise that actual Mardi Gras itself was anticlimactic. Well, it always is for me at least because everyone is intoxicated and exhausted. And at that point I don't even care anymore. I don't even call for beads or Zulu coconuts, let alone catch them. I just kind of bat the flying objects away from my face, so I don't get bruised by eager throwers. (It's happened to others.)

On that topic, the best beads I got this year were not the ones that were signature to each parade, not the Christmas ornament size ones, or not even the must-catch clay medallions. My favorite were the fiber-optic Muses beads that light up and changes colors.

Anyway, despite being drained and drunk, Mardi Gras was tons of fun.

After Nacho Mama's, we hit up "The Daiq Shack." They had a special on large daiquiris, so we got those.

At Stephanie's apartment, we hung out with Sarah and watched The Butterfly Effect (which was on TV) and Mean Girls (from my DVD collection). I was able to find a drinking game for the former and had long ago concocted one for the latter, so we played both.

After those, we got ready and headed out to "Tequila Sunrise" at The Boot. (I'll just say at this point that almost everyone local went to Zulu, so I won't even bother dropping names.) We saw two awesome guys standing outside. The first was wearing a nice blazer but eating french fries out the trash can, and the second was making out with two different girls next to the porta-potties. Some of us stopped by The Palms for a bit. I guess they got tired of being classy, so they replaced their pool table with a stripper pole? Then a handful of us went to Jackson & St. Charles early to stake out our spot.

Stephanie and David had found a great little market next to Igor's (where we get Bloody Marys) where we could get hot breakfast. It was beyond awesome to have eggs, bacon, sausage links and patties, hash browns, grits, and biscuits all fresh and ready to eat. Zulu was fun. A few of us left before Rex. Sarah, sober sister/hero of the day, was nice enough to pick us up.

When I got up after the most glorious pass-out ever (no fire alarms like last year's Mardi Gras pass-out), I went to dinner with Lauren, Evian, and Stephanie. Apparently Mardi Gras coincides with National Pancake Day this year, so we went to IHOP for dinner/breakfast.

I've been putting the Gras in Mardi Gras all break as any avid reader would know by now. So I had the chicken fried steak dinner, which came with corn, onion rings, garlic bread, and a side salad. And of course I took advantage of the free pancakes for NPD.

I'm going to justify all those carbs with the fact that carbs soak up alcohol, and it was the end of Mardi Gras. Do the math.

My mom asked if I had "a picture or two" I could show her from this Mardi Gras season. It's more like "a hundred or two hundred." They'll be up eventually. Here's the very last one. We're laughing because Lauren had just shoved David to the side and said "I'm the girl. I get to be in the middle!"

HAPPY MARDI GRAS
AND HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY TOO

Lundi Gras

My day began with wakeup by Peter and a phone call with Ben. All our newly awakened, hoarse-from-too-much-partying-and-drinking, Tara Reid voices sounded exactly the same. A shower fixed that.

Lauren, her friend Evian, Stephanie, and I went to Mother's Restaurant downtown for lunch. It was amazing. Evian doesn't eat red meat or seafood so she got a chicken poboy, but the rest of us formulated a plan of attack that would get us what I consider the best stuff Mother's Menu has to offer: Ferdi's Po-Boy, a dressed po-boy of roast beef, ham, debris, and cheese; the combination plate (Jerry's Jambalaya, crawfish ettoufee, red beans and rice); a fried oyster plate; and an absolute overload of potato salad. Then we split some delicious peach bread pudding for dessert.

After that we walked down bourbon so Evian could see it, showed her Pat O'Brien's, bought drinks. and had a sang the afternoon away at their Piano Bar before walking to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and by the river.

We went back uptown to Ben's place for Proteus and Orpheus where David and OMG Sylvia(!!!), with Jack in tow, joined us. We went out to dinner at Nacho Mama's after and pretty much dove headfirst into some guac. I highly recommend the shrimp and bacon quesadilla.

We left dinner at eleven to finalized plans for our last Mardi Gras.

some overdue new year's pics

Kamikaze shots all around

Jägermeister... dirndl and all

Cranberry likes the aviators.

Aaron also likes the aviators; Eliza likes Aron.

Ona's and my annual new year picture

Nate is drunk-dialing his mom, and Mere is of the opinion he shouldn't.

Suze4Booze & Rew4Brew at the end of a long night of drinking.

yeah, I know...

I've been pretty bad at updating since the new year, but I promise that will change when I get back to school. New Year's was fun. The theme was "come as your drink." (We each brought the appropriate ingredients, and theoretically, dressed like the cocktail.) So far the quest for a Wii to play the Zelda game my brother gave me for Christmas has been unsuccessful. I let Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic take over my life for a few days, but I've beaten it. I've been hanging out with Ludovic a good amount, I went Georgetown barhopping with the Pats the other week, and I got to catch up with Marguerite (I was her prom date in senior year of high school) at a small get-together my brother had for her sister and his other ex-girlfriends and friends. Good times. Tonight is back-to-back Top Chef episodes that I haven't seen, packing, and then going to bed for my rather impromptu trip to Chicago tomorrow morning. There will be, at the least, pictures of the past month when I get back although I'm not sure if I'll update from here Saturday night or from back at school Sunday or Monday.

2007

The End of an Era Party was fantastic. Pictures and anecdotes coming soon. Happy New Year!

last post of the year

Instead of packing I went to get sushi for lunch at Ninja with Lauren then flew home. (I travel light.) Back here I've gone out to eat a lot, done last-minute gift shopping at malls and been unsuccessful, watched Casino Royale a second time with my mom, saw The X-Men Trilogy again with Adrian but out of order, been searching for that Wii thing, and gone to a few Christmas parties.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

'06 was pretty much The Best Year Ever...
Let's close it with the killers' new single.

'tis the season

This is by far the longest entry I've written a while. Mad props and a little extra holiday cheer if you get through it all.

Wednesday night Rachel (Kinks/Prudence Rachel) and Wes convinced me to take a study break from my last final and go to Celebration Under The Oaks in City Park with them, Tara, Alison, and some other friends.

It put me in the holiday spirit! We roamed around Storyland with all the fairy tales, bedtime stories, and nursery rhymes and took pictures like we were little kids.

They had all sorts of fun including Christmas trees decorated with ornaments schoolchildren made, a Cajun night before Christmas, a living nativity scene (that we missed), rides, Santa, and a laser light show. And if you like little light-up villages, you'd love the miniature New Orleans city, with distinct neighborhoods and streetcars even.

Thursday morning I took my last exam of the semester. Freedom!

To celebrate, Rachel, Tara, Becky and I went to Nirvana and over-ate as usual. Well, Becky didn't but whatever.

That night I got to see Alifun for the second night in the row! (But not in her actual home of course.) Since her boyfriend Frazer was getting kicked out by his landlord for no good reason, she decided to host her graduation shindig there... aka "The Loudest Party EVER" and give that landlord a good reason. Alison... always stickin' it to the man.

After that I met up with Shannon AND Jenna to celebrate J's last Thurs before she graduates college. We hit up Bruno's and Miss Mae's. I'm glad Jenna takes the "calcium" - She must have meant vitamin C. - in her screwdrivers so seriously.

Then those two decided to go home and talk to/about their long-distance boyfriends or something, so I stayed out and hit up Grits (ugh, very briefly) and then F&M's with Audrey, Aurell, and Dalia. A blast from the past, Jason "Delt" Talley, was kind enough to give me a lift home. (We ran into each other outside F&M's.)

Friday I got up by sheer will power alone (and David surely would've woken me had I not) to go with him to Dunbar's for some serious artery clogging. We both got gumbo, red beans and rice, and their perfected fried chicken. That was entirely too much. We went to Winn-Dixie right after, so he could pick up the applesauce and sour cream for Lizzie's Christmakkuh Party. It was hard to walk.

Back on campus, while David entered cholesterol-induced-hibernation, I went to wish Tara happy holidays since she was leaving early the next morning. I miss my JigglyJuggs already. It was SO hard to walk the two blocks to her office.

That evening was the Christmakkuh party! Lizzie decorated her apartment with lights, two-dimensional-tree, faux-fire, and blue stockings. She also served her guests latkes and kugel. Delicious. There were also several kinds of holiday cookies, chocolate coins, and a butter/cheese/caramel popcorn tub.

Drinks were not lacking either. My contribution was hot apple cider, and Chris' was eggnog. And... there was Manischewitz. Then for some reason Rachel (Virginia Rachel) suggested we play Drinking Dreidel. (I abbreviated it to "Drinkel.") And for some other reason, David and I thought it would be a great idea! The three of us (with just a little help from Jon and Graham, who each played 5-10 minutes of the game) finished two battles of Mani.

Drink(ing Dreid)el was not a good idea. And neither was the rum that followed when I decided to meet up with Conrad, Ben, and Katy. But hey, I had to see them before they left for Christmas.

Saturday I was actually productive and cleaned my room and some of the apartment. Miss Molly called me in the afternoon to tell me about her Catholic Center Christmas Party at her house and how I HAD "to bring Whitney!" It made my afternoon.

Too bad Whitney left the other day. The party was still fun. Lots of friends and some friendly, familiar faces. A million kinds of cheese with crackers, jellies, and vegetables. Bottle beers and fine wines. Some amazing chili with sides of rice, corn, salad, coleslaw, and rolls. And too many desserts (if there is such a thing).

I love family parties because meeting people's parents, children, siblings, and other relatives is one of my favorite things.

An assortment of pastors, both past and present, were there too. As I was leaving, Fr. John said "God bless you," Fr. Jose said "Be good," and Fr. Carl said "You must be going to another party with maybe food but surely drink." Which do you think knows me best?

I went to "Welcome back Dooner, Cya Later Brandi" (in reality spelled "Brandie" with an E) at the Nashville House to celebrate Dooner's homecoming and Brandie's departure.

And besides those two parties I managed to go to Snake & Jake's Christmas Club Lounge with Lauren and Sarah. (Decorated for Yule all year but Lauren had never been and Sarah and I thought it a perfect time to go.) And somehow some of the Nashville House die-hards and I went to Bruno's before calling it a night an hour or so ago.

Sunday. It is SO time for bed.

December?

I suppose it's time for an update.

The rest of Thanksgiving break I spent with my mom since my dad left on a well-planned trip the day after Thanksgiving and Adrian was seeing all his friends back from college for the first time. We shopped, cooked, played with our dog, saw The Prestige, saw The Departed (again), and ate a lot.

Since coming back here it's been the usual weekly stuff... grocery shopping, visiting Tara at Cafe Luna, going with Lauren to Cooter Brown's, having Bubble lunches with Rachel, going to classes, and studying. Ugh. But the semester's almost over anyway. And I saw Casino Royale, and, very minor nitpicking aside, it was awesome.

The Phi Sigma Pi "pick your poison" party was this past weekend, and the lovely Lizzie asked me to be her date. She was a Bahama Mama, I was an Irish Car Bomb, and everyone else was costumed as another alcoholic beverage. After the party at Grits officially ended some of us wound up at F&M's and then utilized Tulane's wonderful Safe Ride back to The Big Easy for late night food.

Mixed Drinks: Screwdriver, White Russian, Long Island
Iced Tea, Irish Car Bomb, Dirty Girl Scout, and Muff Diver

Last night Becca made chili and of course served it with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. AND she made brownies with frosting. Dinner was awesome, and the lucky group she served sat around watching (critiquing) Wife Swap and Supernanny... mostly because I think everyone was too busy talking to get up and change the channel.

feast for four

a very Marin thanksgiving:

• turkey
• stuffing with oysters and ground pork tenderloin
• cranberry sauce with Grand Marnier
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potato casserole
• corn pudding
• baked green beans
• butternut squash soup
• white wine
• pumpkin pie
• peach pie
• ... a la mode

Thanksgiving Pre-Game

Warning: This entry is entirely about food.

This weekend has been spectacular.

Friday afternoon was the "Aron Block Party" which basically meant a few hundred pizzas and a few hundred beers. All free.

Right after that was Thank God It's Newcomb which meant free cookie cake, cheese and fruit platters, snowballs, and of course, pizza.

And there was the architecture Thanksgiving/auction thing also, but I was too full to walk over there and eat more.

Last night was the best on-campus dinner ever.

Some friends and I did an early Thanksgiving potluck. We had a thirteen-pound turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, the stuffing, roasted potatoes, sweet potato fries AND sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, four kinds of pies (apple, pecan, chocolate and pumpkin), and wine and beer. Stephanie opened the night with a spinach crab dip appetizer (that felt very "Maryland") and and closed it with hot chocolate "flavored" with mint schnapps. I was the taste-tester and thought the proportions were ideal even though some thought the hot chocolate was a bit strongly flavored.

After that Lauren and I went to Cooter Brown's, which was fun even though my stomach was too full to hold any significant amount of beer. A few friends came and went, but we had fun. Because we were so full, we actually did not get cheese fries even though we felt we should have them for the sake of tradition.

For dinner today, Stephanie suggested Raising Cane's. It was amazing. No surprise there.

As Amelia has quoted me (correctly!) in her away message:

"We should have Thanksgiving every week!"

pictures worth 861 words

"Virginia" and I completely sober - ha - at Boot happy hour

Tara and I at Uptown Cajun during her birthday celebration

the end of the pub crawl

Lizzie doesn't remember this picture at Phillips.

Matt, the newest member of Cowboy Mouth

after a night of drinkin' and dancin' at Vaughan's

seemed mandatory at the time

a women of Walmsley weunion:
Tara as matador, Alison as Kelly Kapowski, Jacque as Jacque, and Rachel as bellydancer

how we dressed for Rocky Horror

Wes on Frenchmen St. = Andre Agassi

Stephanie the Roller Girl found someone else wheelin' down Frenchmen St.,
Joe, a Mighty Duck CAPTAIN even

back by popular demand

Once upon a time in October 2006, Andrew never actually updated his journal, which has happened before but not during school, so he wrote an entry after the month ended detailing in run-on sentence that his high school English teachers would detest exactly what he did during that month: With Stephanie free of the LSAT, her birthday was finally celebrated and involved a good amount of Harrah's, drinking on the patio, drunk people at the piano bar, and Pat O'Brien,s Tara turned 21 about a week later, and she and Andrew celebrated by making a spectacle of themselves with a spectacular pub crawl that semi-began with margaritas at dinner at Taqueria Corona and pre-gaming at home but really began with Abita Amber at Cooter Brown's, then bypassed the closed Daiq-Shack, and into Madigan's, then Uptown Cajun, then TJ Quills, then past an early-closed Vera Cruz in favor of both Bruno's, and after Phillips was sadly closed as well went to The Palms, and then The Boot, and then The Palms again for a long timg, dancing and drinking and dancing and drinking and then doing five shots each to hit the 21 mark before going to Big Easy to get laughed at by the workers and then taking a picture with the Tulane sign before the sun came up, there were more birthdays and parties (kegs for Curry, Chris' graduation celebration, and the noise-violatin' gettin' shut down Freaky Friday the 13th all come to mind) that were fun as well, and lots of barhopping and picture-taking, some of which the subjects don't remember, but that's okay, and Cowboy Mouth played a show for homecoming (which Tulane won against Army), and Andrew couldn't refuse to go since Curry was in charge of it and it was his birthday and personally invited and recommended that people go, and it was loud but the band basically forced people to have fun and brought Matt on stage because he didn't look like he was having fun, and as a finale brought literally everyone on stage to sing their last song, and Lauren got into med school, so that was celebrated with brownies and champagne after anticipating the victory a few nights earlier by going to Phillips after David and Andrew went to AEPi's Original Sin and Zeta Psi's Bayou Bash and tried to remember how they went to several of these parties freshman year and didn't get tired of them then, went with David and Peter to go see The Departed which was violent but amazing, and everyone should see it, and watching the new mini-season of Lost which will be over sooner than it should be, and random nights of hanging out with Adrian or running into him and/or his friends at various nightlife locations here in uptown (funny that Adrian and Andrew both went to the Jazmine Café on separate occasions without hearing from each other and really liked it and thought it was cheaper yet better Viet food than at home), Halloween was suddenly here and began a couple nights early, naturally, and there were lots of parties, and people madly hunting for costumes last-minute, and most of the girls dressed like sluts because that's what the holiday celebrates, and there were lots of Quail-Men (Nickelodeon's Doug, anyone?) but they were all cool, and there were at least five of them throughout the “long” weekend even though the best costume this year I think was the Two-Face walking around Frenchmen with half a head of make-up, half a wig(?) or half a dye job, a suit half in animal-print and “matching” shirt, tie, and probably hands and shoes even though they weren't seen, and Stephanie and Andrew went to The Rocky Horror Picture show which was disturbing/entertaining as ever and got hooked up with VIP passes (thanks David) and sat in the front and experienced rice, water, the actors, the candy, and all such antics even though Stephanie thought the walk to McAlister was really long because they were dressed funny, and Ted suddenly decided to tell us that he was leaving for Texas but with much less notice and fanfare than last time and apparently this time for real, and conversely Jacque was back in town, so that was fun and it was like old times except with legal drinking and going to the levee with her and Tara and talking about how no one - not even Jacque surprisingly – knows what they're doing with their life, what the Pitt St. Pretties are doing with their Thursday is going to Vaughan's Lounge to see Kermit Ruffins and drink with professors and eat late night red beans and rice, which is fun and they've taught Andrew to go (he goes to Café Luna, their workplace, a lot to visit also), Tara is really into the red wine and split a bottle of it with him and Alifun even though Alifun only really drinks a glass, but it was the thought that counts because red wine is medicinal for tragedy, and then St. Joe's and Monkey Hill and other places twenty-one year olds can go, and pictures that people don't remember. The end.

So if you really want to kill some time, wrestle your way through that. It'll be like reading James Joyce but without the intellect and deftness in the writing or Victor's chapter in The Rules of Attraction without the sex and drugs.

There will be pictures as soon as Microsoft PictureIt repairs itself.

my Halloween costume...

...for the (probably small) percentage of you who haven't seen it yet.

I realize it's November, and I apologize for the lack of updates... particularly to those I've failed to provide with procrastination reading and most especially to those who have voiced concerns. I promise a summary of the month of October 2006 in the very near future.