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Rock Stars in Madison
There's no way that anything I write about this past weekend is going to do it justice - so you may as well stop shaking your head at what a huge nerd I am and just get to reading. Friday One of my oldest, dearest friends got married in Milwaukee on Friday. I've known BV since we were in 4th grade (and that's something like 16 years y'all...) and she spent her lunchtime recesses running around the playground asking everybody and anybody if they'd be her friend. I guess she offered me enough money or something, because we did become friends and there was a time in my life in which she was my very best friend. We're not as close as we used to be, but we're still in touch fairly regularly and she even came to visit me when I was living in North Carolina. We've settled into one of those childhood-to-adult friendships that, while not as intense and close knit as we were in our younger days, it's as comfortable as a pair of old shoes and a ginormous flannel shirt. Her wedding was gorgeous. I spent most of the afternoon feeling rather emotional about it. It's not often that I'm just happy for someone - that happiness unfettered by...anything really. The wedding was held at a decorative arts museum right on Lake Michigan. The weather, as we drove towards Milwaukee, threatened rain almost all day, but when the actual ceremony rolled around the clouds broke and the sun shone and the temperature warmed by 10-20 degrees. I was honored to spend some time in the bridal dressing room before the wedding, and then I, of course, snurfled my way through the ceremony. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. They were beautiful. I have such strong, positive feelings about this marriage and that never happens with me. It's refreshing. It's good for my soul, and it's good for the sometimes (usually) bleak outlook I tend to have towards relationships in general, marriage specifically. Anyway - I know, nobody cares about my schmoopiness - bring on the drunken debauchery! Right? Right. I left the reception (which, by the way, was also lovely) and headed back west towards Madison where the plan was to ring in my l'il sister's big 2-1 with style and pizzaz. It was pouring rain as we pulled out of Milwaukee and needless to say, that got us off to a good start as I do not drive well on roads I don't know...in the dark...in the pouring rain. My sister? Doesn't do so well with me snapping at her. Luckily the rain let up about 30 miles outside of Madison and I was able to say something stupid enough to get my sister to smile again. I may have vowed to never drive in Wisconsin again. Um. I know I did, actually. Repeatedly. Once in Madison we took deep breaths in an effort to calm our jangly hearts (because 18 loops around the capitol without ever finding the street you're looking for doesn't really do the heart any favors...) and proceeded to ring in the big 2-1 at my kinda bar (read: off the beaten path, relatively uncrowded & user-friendly) with pitchers of Blue Moon with orange (Mmmm) and my new boyfriend, the bartender. Bear got busy making a new boyfriend of her own while my sister and I mostly tried to act sober and not make our comments on the guy's tapered jeans which were tucked into his hiking boots loud enough so his friends at the table behind us could hear them. Needless to say he was H-O-T-T and we were both very impressed with Bear's "skillz." We concluded the evening at Perkins (sigh...Perkins...swoon...) where we feasted on quesadilla's (or in Bear's case - bites of bread) and were unceremoniously dismissed by a fat guy in sweatpants who "passed" on us as we walked by. We were heartbroken. 4:00 a.m. found us back at Bear's apartment lunging for our jammies and flopping into bed, exhausted. My sister, in her drunken stupor, passed out almost immediately. Bear and I shared refreshing girly talk and giggles until we too passed out cold. 4:00 a.m. People, I'm too old for this. Saturday I am up at 7:15 a.m. For the mathematically challenged, that is roughly 3 hours after I finally fell asleep. 3 hours. When Bear and my sister woke up finally...some 3 hours later, we made our way back to Perkins (and you may as well keep your mouth shut about that because to say anything bad about it would practically be sacreligious) where my sister and I feasted on omelets and french toast while Bear ate...bites of bread. Bear wasn't feeling so good and had mistakenly put her crabbypants on that morning, so our trip to the zoo marked the most tension between us all weekend. S: Oooh! Lookit the flamingos! B: Ooh. Fucking hooray! Fucking Flamingos! Rah! That's not a direct quote, but it illustrates my point quite eloquently. Bear laid down on a park bench while my sister and I had way too much fun in the children's zoo. While wiping the crud off of our hands after feeding the goats, we saw Bear approaching us with RR in tow. RR introduced himself to us and then ran willy nilly about the zoo. Willy. Nilly. Me: My first impression of him was [my ex boyfriend] Adam. Tall. Lanky. Killer blue eyes. Sister: Yeah, I can see that. Me: Yeah, but the more the day progresses, the more I see it's not so much Adam as...[my dog] Oliver. Sister: Yeah, I can see that too. In any case, whatever magic RR uses seemed to cure Bear of her crabbypants and we all made another tour around the zoo. Several hours (and a short nap) later began our night out. We had a fabulous dinner wherein my sister and I stuffed our faces and Bear ate...bites of bread, and proceeded to get busy. Bear's friend EJH met us out and RR reappeared and there was suddenly a flurry of shot buying and drink swapping. Unfortunately, drinking immediately following a ginormous meal is wildly ineffective. My sister almost exploded. We are not easily cowed though, and we pressed on and somewhere around midnight we found ourselves on State Street having our picture taken with the most random group of people ever in the history of the world. Three thirty-something men, an enormous guy with dreads and his itty bitty girlfriend, my sister, Bear & I. RR was, again, running willy nilly on state street. It was at this point where it became clear that we had had too much to drink. So we pressed on. An hour and a half later found us on the dance floor of a techno club dancing our little drunk hearts out to a song without lyrics, pausing for a breather and finding my sister being patted on the back by a group of drag queens who heartily wished her "Happy Birthday." Good. Times. All in all - it was fabulous. It was what I wished my 21st birthday had been. It was what I wish any of my birthday's could ever be ever - and that's exactly what I had wished for my sister on her birthday. Sunday evening found me in bed before it was even dark outside. Too. Old. That is all. ************************************* Reading: I finished the Nanny Diaries yesterday. It was good. Better than I expected actually. Not as hysterical as Bridget Jones, but good in it's own right. I'd definitely recommend. Recently Saw: Most of 13 Ghosts last night and...man. That movie is wack. I heart Matthew Lillard. |
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