Sweet Set-up and OMG how can my trip be only 2 weeks away??

Labor Day. The supposed last hurrah of summer (except it will stay hot for a good 4 weeks around here). The time of BBQs, festivals, and being stuck in traffic. Although hopefully I'll be able to avoid one of those this weekend.

The highlight of this labor day weekend, other than not having to go to work on Monday, was going to Doug's new pad for a housewarming/pool party. And this place is SWEET. Since Doug works way the hell out in BFE Manassas, he needed to find a place out there. So he ended up renting a room out of a house belonging to an older couple (maybe in their 40s?). But it's not just a house. It's a freakin MANSION. This place is so huge, their rec room is the size of my entire condo. And it comes with a super nice pool with a diving board. And a hot tub. And a landscaped patio, huge flat screen tv, and bar. Yeah, this place was nice.

And it comes along just in a nic of time, since my pool is officially closing for the season after this weekend. So at least someone I know will have a pool! Now I just need to work on the art of inviting myself over in a casual, yet manipulative fashion. Hmm.

Best quote of the party:

Me: It's all girls in the pool! What's the opposite of a sausage party?
Selvi: A clam bake?

Oh, and here is a fun pic from the party. After the sun set we moved inside and listened to music, which ended up with all the girls dancing around, because that's what girls do when they have been drinking and someone puts on AC/DC. We eventually convinced some of the boys to come over and pose for a picture with us, but some of them clearly tried harder than others.


And here's me and Carly in the pool. Nice!


The other thing I realized this weekend is that my vacation cruise through the eastern Mediterranean is only two weeks away! I have been planning this trip with Chris and Kent for almost two years, and the idea that it is almost here is mind-boggling. We're actually going to do it. And I have so much to do to get ready! There are lists to be made, things to procure, Italian phrase flashcards to learn (I am so not kidding about that one), and a myriad of other details to sort out. But the fact is, the day is almost here, and it has totally snuck up on me.

I hope our cruise ship doesn't get attacked by pirates.

Cruise countdown: 14 days!!

Clue, Daleks, and an Oxford Comma

This past weekend, Kristin and I journeyed to Charlottesville to visit Selvi and meet up with Jeff, Andi, and Pete. It was a regular bridge club reunion! Except we didn't actually play any bridge.

What we did do was visit this huge bookfair that is off of I-81, just south of JMU. It's held in a warehouse, and we found new releases and some old favorites at huge discounts ($6-3 for hardback books!). Check it:

Jeff and Andi outside the book fair warehouse.

Here is one of the rooms (the smaller one). Look at all those books!!

Andi was tuckered out from the book shopping.

After returning from the book fair, Andi and Jeff had to hit the road and head back to Salem, but Pete came over and the four of us (Selvi, Pete, me, and Kristin) played Clue and Yahtzee, drank, and discussed the Oxford Comma. We are a wild bunch, aren't we? But it was good times. I definitely got my ass kicked at Clue, but nobody ever believes me when I tell them I am bad at deductive reasoning. You would think lawyer = good logic skills. And you would be wrong.

After some gaming action, we embarked on a cooking project, making dalek-shaped cupcakes, take 2. And by "we" I mean Selvi, because the rest of us were basically too lazy to actually make the cupcakes. Here are the results:

DEC-O-RATE THE DAAAALEK.

If you don't know what a dalek is, this is not the forum to find out. Suffice it to say, they are evil and need to be destroyed. As Selvi so helpfully demonstrated:

EXTERMINATE!

In honor of our daleks, we watched the Doctor Who episode Blink, which actually doesn't feature daleks, but is so freaking scary, Selvi and Kristin were screaming and almost fell off the couch. I am not kidding.

The next day, we lazed about, walked through the grounds of UVA (which is pretty, but cannot compare to WM, of course) and ate at a Charlottesville staple, Littlejohns Deli.

Adorable.

It was a fun weekend all in all. But who the crap decided it was a good idea to shut down part of 29 South on a Saturday morning in the middle of summer? We had to drive a good 25 minutes in some lame detour through Nowheresville Virginia. At least gas is cheap. Oh, wait. Shit.

Me in Manga!

At this website, you can create your own avatar self, as you would appear in Manga/Anime. Here's me!

Pretty cool, huh? I think everyone looks better in Manga.

Out of control rainbows

Ok, this is getting kind of ridiculous. I don't remember there being this many rainbows last summer. For some reason, this year, they are out and they want your blood!

Just kidding. But they are definitely out.

Here's another set of double rainbows (the second one of the right is hard to see) from last weekend.

Games of a Trivial Nature

My law school buddies and I are always talking about how we should hang out more. So this month instead of just saying it, we decided to do it. Usually, us girls have a poker night once a month, but in addition to that, we decided to bring back the old law school tradition of trivia night. I'm talking balls out trivia smackdown here, people. For the most part, this month's trivia night was a gentleman's game, except for that one little argument over the difference between polygamy and bigamy in Utah law. I wish I was kidding.

It was a close game, the lead switched back and forth in the beginning, but the team comprised of me, Arista, Todd, and Monique ended up taking the lead by two pie pieces. We made it to the center several times, but missed the last question. Because of some lucky rolls and (in my opinion) easy questions, the team comprised of Mike, Lori, Dave, and Dori ended up vaulting to the win at the last minute, snatching victory out of our hungry maws!

Ok, maybe that was a bit dramatic. The point is, we were winning until the very end when they won.

But the highlight of the night was without a doubt, my discovery of the ultimate party snack. Rolos on top of square pretzels, stuck in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Juuuust enough so that the rolo gets all gooey, but it stays on top of the pretzel. And when you bite into it, the rolo is all chocolatey and caramely....awesome.

Much like Friday night, Nate's fashion choice was again the source of much amusement. He's clearly waiting for a flood. It makes me feel bad for teasing him, I mean he's really tall, but maybe he should look for some longer pants? That's all I'm saying.

Sitting around, having a good time, playing some Trivial Pursuit. Ok, maybe really just chit-chatting, but the board game was definitely set up.

Monique had brought over a car seat for Mike and Arista (since they are expecting their first baby in January), and if you look really carefully, you can see how uber excited Mike is to get it. Aw, bless him.

Inaugural BVA Game Night

Last weekend was a weekend of games. Not the bad relationship kind, but the good kind with cards and dice. In an effort to make work seem more fun (yeah, good luck there), Chris and Stephanie have organized a Board of Veterans Appeals game night the first Saturday of every month. We started things out last month with a rousing round of poker! Here are some pictures to document the evening:

I think Kent is really enjoying the cookies I brought. But who can resist the lure of peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies?

See, I'm doing my best Blue Steel here, but remember what I said about Kent enjoying those cookies? Yeah, looks like they were a hit.

The big joke of the evening was how short Nate's shirt was. He has to be at least 6'3, and when Stephanie and I went to pick him up, he was waiting in the street, wearing this shirt, and looking like an overgrown kid. He stands by his shirt-length though. I'll leave it up to the public to decide.

Stephanie REALLY liked the pizza from Costco.

Todd flexes his muscles and the power of the big stack.

I'm playing the dealer in some heads up action between Todd and Chris. Who will come out the winner?

Yeah, Chris totally won.

All in all it was a fun night with games, great food, and good friends. See you crazy kids next month when the game of choice is euker. Oh, yeah. We're wild and crazy!