Caitlin in France Says...

Nothing brilliant really....Friday night was spent with some friends at a wine bar on the River Rhone. It was actually an attempt to hook up two gay male friends, but it was really just a disaster...Saturday redeemed itself with some "Fete de la Musique" which is an all weekend long festival that happens in every spot in Geneva. Some stages are set up and musicians play music from about 12pm until 3am. And there are even spots where people that haven't signed up can go and play whatever they fancy. So, Saturday-- both day and night-- was spent at the festival, in parks, and eating lots of Swiss sausage and beer. Mmmmmm. Sunday? Pretty much the same. So nothing outrageous but a good ol time in Switzerland....This weekend? I have to write a piece for a magazine on vodka and caviar and so I think we know where that is heading...... Okay, will keep you posted!!!

Juliana Says...

Last Friday I stayed at the office…until 11PM. Now, normally not only would that NEVER happen (ok, maybe I’d stay late, but not that late) but I certainly wouldn’t mention it on a public blog – I mean, really, how pathetic is that?? But that said I’m damn proud of myself. You see, my office has been in a state of perpetual chaos for the past three years. With school & then transitioning into new responsibilities but still doing the old ones while we went through 3 different people to take my old job, my office’s organization was the last thing on my mind. However, I just couldn’t handle it any longer. The entire place was made of piles upon piles of mushrooming papers that needed pushing, that had been pushed or that someday might be pushed. I needed to get my act together. So, after about seven hours (I know – that’s insane right… 7 hours??) I’m happy to say that everything’s in order & has a place to be… so, whoo hoo!

Afterwards, I went home & rewarded myself with two movies: LA PUTA VIDA (which was translated as “The Tricky Life” but for the record, is totally wrong – it’s closer to “a whore’s life” but really is like saying “for f*ck’s sake” – it doesn’t quite make sense but is said for the raw, blunt forcefulness of the curse. Not surprisingly, it’s pretty common in Argentina -- & as I've discovered now, also in Uruguay) and THE CLAIM. Both were pretty good actually. “La Puta Vida” was set in Montevideo, Uruguay about a single mom with two kids that starts working in a brothel to make money to open a salon & then gets trafficked to Barcelona. I think it was supposed to be a drama but it was pretty funny. [When the actors’ first started speaking I totally thought it was set in Argentina from their accents – I thought maybe it was set in one of the outer provinces. Completely forgot that Uruguayan & Argentine Spanish are super close in their accents & expressions (Chile’s up there too).] The other one, “The Claim” starred Wes Brentley (or Bentley?? from “American Beauty”) and let me just state for the record, that boy is handsome with a beard! Funny enough, this movie also had women as working prostitutes in a very matter-of-fact way (but this was 19^th C. WA or CO?? Somewhere west…) Anyway, I wanted to see them before returning them to the library. (As nerdy as this sounds, I recently discovered that the NYPL in my area by work has all these cool movies so I stopped doing Netflix until further notice… I’m only sharing that last part because if Artie reads this he might care as we used to send each other recommendations & reviews on it.

Anyhoo, Saturday I woke up late but not too late… organized my place a bit… made myself a kick-@ss omelet… got my dirty laundry together & my rollerblades, dropped off the former & practiced on the latter. It was a gorgeous day out & perfect for humiliating myself in public. Mind you, I haven’t been on these things in TEN (yes, that’s right, 10) years… what possessed me to get back on them? My BF. He’s been getting into them so I figured it could be something we could try to do together. Fortunately, he wasn’t there to witness my humiliation. A couple of things about roller-blades: 1.) what’s up with only having ONE brake?!? Dude, anytime a human being is on wheels, there should definitely be more than 1 brake involved! 2.) And it’s not quite like riding a bike, but you do remember… or at least I thought so until a carriage driver passed me by and yelled, “Just learning?”… Um, wow Sherlock, I wonder what gave that away? Perhaps the flailing arm motion or was it the “Woas” coming out of my mouth as I tried to brake. In any case, it was pretty silly looking but kind of fun. Fortunately, I have very little shame.

Afterwards, I headed back to my apartment, fixed myself up & headed out to Park Slope for a friend’s b’day who I hadn’t seen in ages at some bar whose name I forget. I haven’t been in Brooklyn in quite some time & forgot how freaking long it takes from my place by subway (1hr & 35 minutes!!). The girl of the hour was looking lovely in red, chatted with some of her very lovely friends & had a less-than-mediocre Bloody Mary (I’m picky though). After a bit, I noticed the hour & realized I had to head back to Manhattan for my dear friend, Andreas’ 40^th b’day at the B Bar where my BF was to meet up with me. We had said 9PM & since I've turned over a new leaf in my old age, I knew I had to jet. Beforehand though I changed into a fresh cute red sundress for the evening festivities in the not-so-cute-or-fresh-bar bathroom… aah, the things a girl does for beauty! Got to the bar (on time) & lo & behold I was the only one there for quite some time… As folks slowly started trickling in fashionably & not-so-fashionably late, I had to wonder what is it about NYers always being late? I mean, I can understand fashionably-30-minutes-late either -- but what’s up with the 1-1½-2 hours late! Did a memo go out that I wasn’t aware of?? The thing is I can't say this out loud to anyone because I've always been late in the past (although I don’t think always that late) so it would be the pot calling the kettle black, but still… I guess I’m getting old & want my bed earlier.

Anyhoo, haven’t been to the B Bar in ages either & was surprised to see that they now have all those tables in the outdoor area for dining only which really kind of sucks actually. After being forced to get our eat on if we wanted to sit at a table, we all then headed back to the limited standing room space there was out back & got our drink on. If you're wondering I've noticed that my drink of choice lately has been vodka tonics with extra lime – feels summery to me for some reason – it could also be because there are no danger of spill stains, its low in carbs [or that’s what I’m telling myself] & are quite refreshing – what effects it may be producing on my liver I do not want to know… After several of them and a couple of witty (& one not so pleasant) drunken conversations (aren’t they always witty though when you're tipsy??) it was time to head home…

Sunday woke up late & hung out with the BF – he watched Bruce Lee movies while I talked on the phone catching up with friends on the west-coast. Eventually, I headed back to my place where I went to my fancy local “gourmet” market to re-stock the fridge (I love that place but I buy like 6 things & end up spending $50!!!) & then just chilled for the remainder of the evening. (I realized later that not only was it Pride weekend, but the Coney Island Mermaid-or-whatever-it’s-called-Festival – I totally missed it!! I think it’s the last year they're doing it now that they're going to develop C.I. no? Anyway, wanted to catch it before it disappeared forever, damn it! Hopefully next year it’ll still be around after-all…)

Kinkle (from Glasgow this week) Says...

Ok here is my weekend. I've been in Europe for a couple weeks now. The hubby is working on a record in Hamburg for a band from Copenhagen and we flew into Copenhagen before leaving for Germany. Got it? Anyway after a nice few days adjusting in Denmark once I got to Germany I realized I really don't like it at all. German people are kinda remote and the place they set up for us to stay was to put it mildly a dump. After a few days there (and a couple days obviously being in the way at the studio) I was really dying to leave.
My friend from Glasgow and her husband offered to pay for part of a ticket for me to visit them and I jumped at the chance. On Friday it was finally confirmed and I took the baby around the neighborhood to see this crazy German baroque church, did about 5 loads of laundry (up & down 3 flights into the basement where you have to use this crazy key to turn the machines on & can only wash OR dry one load at a time) and bought the obligatory cheesy souvenirs.
On Saturday we woke up at the crack of shit to go to the airport which was a major drama.. apparently I needed to print OUT a ticket for the baby even though I could be eticketed.. something the guy I talked to on the phone didn't mention. The unorganized ticket counter girl was like "this is a REAL problem." and "They TRIED to call you" despite the fact that I never gave anyone a number! Add to that typical terrible two behavior for the child plus ANOTHER drama about the fact the baby's last name & mine aren't the same on the passports (so much for not changing your name, ladies!) I FINALLY got on the freakin flight. DJ Spooky was boarding the same time as me which, because he is from NYC & I had met him briefly at a party, vaguely comforted me. The stewardess was really nice (she said any time you travel with a toddler you lose 5 lbs & she's right!) and I sat next to this totally awesome guy from Norway who is in the band Data Rock & had just played a festival. He both had a kid and was in the music industry so we had lots to talk about & he was really chivalrous & carried my bags after the flight.
We had a layover in Amsterdam which had a great airport where you can drink and smoke easily then I went on to Glasgow (another nice seatmate) & my friends picked me up. We just kinda hung out at the house & ate & I met their kid who is now 7 (i saw him last at 4) so it was fun and nice.
Sunday we dropped their kid off at a birthday party and Kingsley, my boy, had his first taste of cotton candy. He was enamored of the bouncy castle they hired but the kids were way too old and active for him to jump in. We left and went shopping because I packed a bunch of shorts for him and it's been really chilly here so I bought him these cool khaki cargos with embroidery on the back. We left to pick her kid up and then took him home with a big ol' goodie bag from the party.
Sunday night my friend's husband announced we were gonna go to Devo but they had a plumbing emergency so she ended up going with me instead. We spent quite a bit of our youth running around the concert circuit so it was like old times, even if we had no interest in making out with anyone in the band. We got kicked out from sneaking upstairs and when it was over (we got there pretty much 1/2 way through) we went to some random pub where we smoked hash off two old Glaswegians and had a pint before going home. SO much better than staying in Germany, believe you me!

What Did I Do Last Week?

Some of you let me know that you didn't send your weekend posts to me because I didn't call out for them as I usually do. First of all, I am glad I am on you guys' radar enough that you are thinking about it even if I don't mention it. That warms my brittle heart. Second, in the future, take it one step further and send them anyway even if I don't ask. I ALWAYS want them, no matter if I find a minute to ask or not. Ya hear?? Third, let me tell you about my week last week and you can learn why I didn't shout out to you to send me stuff.
Last week I had a friend come over to do computer stuff with me as a barter for some of my expertise (YES, I have some!). I had hotly been anticipating his visit, so of course once he arrives at 9am we discover that my computer has died. All his efforts to resuscitate it were for naught. That tower is OVER. Then I went to work. Upon my return around 7pm I saw some blood on the floor in my hallway, and began to notice other spots of it around the apt. It did take me a while to stumble upon a large pool of dried blood and to notice it was coming from my cat Mapo, in her rear section. EMERGENCY! I took her to the expensive emergency vet in Carroll Gardens and $1000 later I learned she had a rectal prolapse, plus may have asthma, or cancer, how wonderful, and additionally a mass was found in her sub-abdomen. Do any of you know I am going to Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay in July? THIS is no time for the forces of nature to overwhelm me and my cat. She came home with a plastic funnel on her head. Poor tiny baby.
My subletter for my room who was going to both water my plants and feed my cats decided around this time to pull out of our deal, and has yet to be replaced. Did I mention my computer died, making it difficult to get on Craigslist and re-post? Wow. Then guess what!! I developed laryngitis, so at this point I could not email anyone OR call anyone on the phone. My cat went back to the vet for round two and they decided to open her up to fix the prolapse, remove the mass, and bill me another $1000. Does anyone need any health counseling or professional organization, because I need some extra diz-ough! Jumping back and forth between problems, as I have been doing all week, the people at Mikey's Hook-Up in W-burg are going to back up my files so when I return from South America, I can buy a new tower and get all my stuff transferred onto it. At press time, my laryngitis is cured. I must say, I handled myself remarkably well during this shitstorm of troubles. I didn't get terribly stressed out; I just applied myself heavily to reaching solutions, leaned on a few friends, and learned that Burger King will sell you five full minutes of internet access for a dolla.
So that, friends, is why I did not reach out for your weekend details. I will accept sympathy cards and nominal donations.
Now then, about my trip. I am going to have my friend's laptop with us and I would like very much to have you all continue to send me your weekend reports each week in July, and I will contribute my own, except mine will be about Latin weekends and not NYC ones. Deal? I really want to keep in touch with you folk whilst I am away and this would be a great way to do so! So please write to me, send me info, and I will post it in between spanish class, tango lessons, winery tours, and bites of steak!
Adios!!!

Nicole

Put On Blast

Come to Sedona, Arizona, see, do, experience heaven on earth and then YOU WRITE ABOUT IT!

MOM

Doo Dah, Doo Dah

Friday I came home from work, made muy scrumptious beef taquitos, and settled in for an episode of my favorite show, which those of you who read this blog know is INTERVENTION. Tonight we had Ashley, a pierced and tatted daughter of a preacher who was 20 with a 2 year old son, a 47 year old boyfriend with whom she shared a revoltingly filthy trailer, and an all day meth shooting habit. She calls herself a "catch" at one point. Ash doesn't care enough about herself to go to rehab, so the interventionist convinces her to go for her son, who is super cute and loves his mommy even though she left a meth rock on the bathroom floor for him to maybe find and put in his 2 year old mouth. She completes 105 days of treatment but I guess isn't ready to be a mom quite yet bc she stays in the state the rehab is in. But she remains sober to this day. Mazel! One more taquito and off to read a book and hit the hay.
Saturday I went, like poster Matt, to the Belmont Racetrack. What has two thumbs and can bet on horses? This Guy! I had to convince Meg to buy a racing form, and take the time to study it instead of just betting willy nilly on any filly. Well. In all races that day except one, I bet 3 horses to show, and two out of three came in. I celebrated this by waiting in the bathroom line all day. You gotta not drink at the races bc you are in that bathroom line FOREVER. In fact, this is how your time is broken down: The race happens and it is like an orgasm. You work at it, you wait, time passes and then finally you have twelve seconds of pleasure and it's over. Now you have to wait to get it back up, start the foreplay again, etc. Then after all that buildup, an orgasm again. Each time a race is over you have to do five things. Pee, pick a new horse (s), place a bet & collect your earnings, get food, and get another drink to absolutely ensure you get to spend more time in the bathroom line. Also, if you are me you get another job to do. The lady behind the window, Sandra, who was our girl all day, actually sent us to get her a Coke and a pretzel since they don't let the tellers or whatever you call them up out of their seats all day. I didn't mind, she was nice and kept explaining the same betting principles over and over to my drunk ass.
After the races we took four thousand trains to the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. I don't know if this place is for me. It's packed to the walls first of all, and everyone is yuuung and hiiip, except for the fratty types who I also turn my nose up at. In one corner, Flip Cup. In another corner, Beer Pong. On another table, Quarters. But the be all end all was this tableau: while innocently drinking away and sneaking beer out of other people's pitchers, suddenly we heard a loud cracking sound. All heads swiveled in the same direction. What we all saw was a guy bent over the picnic bench being held still by some girl, while her friend whipped this guy across his tushie with her leather belt. Why? A security guard approached to squash this but the whipper was winding up to smack the sub again and the guard had to rotate his neck backwards to narrowly avoid being struck in the face by this errant freakout chick. It gets worse. Minutes later, after the group defiantly laughed at the guard, the loser pulls his pants down partially and hangs it out like that for a while to show the whole garden the welts on his ass. More minutes later, we hear it again and we see he has now removed his pants and knickers entirely and is getting his ass bare whipped by this circus ho. WHY? We were all traumatized. Leave your gross fetish at home, son. Don't put it on me! They were so rude to the guards who were trying to chill them out, the girls were skanks, and I couldn't help but wonder what that guy's problem was that he chose to act out like this, or if he was just so very drunk and would be horrified to hear later on what he did while 3 california king size sheets to the wind. Hours later, after meeting my friend's ex-bf who was both a drummer and a plumber, I arrived home to tuck myself into bed because I had another big fun day planned for Sunday which I will continue with later bc I have spewed enough for now. Check back soon!

Nicole

Brock In Our Nation's Capital Says...

Last weekend was a bit busy. Friday I took off of work to help my girlfriend move into her new apartment in DC. The moving took all of a half hour. Cleaning took about 2 hours. Waiting for her new bed to be shipped took almost 6 hours...when it was supposed to take 3. We were woefully unprepared for this contingency and ended up sitting on a blanket on the hardwood floors, surrounded by nothing but cleaning products and 4 white walls. There is no greater test of a relationship then having to entertain yourselves in a room with just the two of you in it...and no, no hanky panky went on, we were quite G rated.

After the bed arrived, we were famished and headed up to Cameron's Seafood Market in Bethesda, MD to grab a couple softshelled crab sandwiches. The soft shelled crabs are in season and made for a tasty and much needed dinner. After that, we went and watched that movie Knocked Up at the Georgetown cineplex. Not a bad flick, not great either. Sort of a nice comprimise between stupid guy comedy and touchy feely girl comedy.

Saturday, I had to play tour guide b/c some of the girlfriend's friends from out of town came to DC to tour the city. Having lived here all my life, they looked to me for suggestions. I came up with a long long long day of International Spy Museum, Natural History Museum, National Mall, Washington Monument, WW II Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, White House (not going in but walking past it & taking pictures), Drinks at the rooftop bar of Hotel Washingon (great view of DC), Dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill (one of the oldests bars in DC), more drinks at the Big Hunt (home away from home). Then i went home and slept.

Sunday...I rested. Hell yea.

Mom Gives Props

Nicole,

Did you really do all of those things last weekend? If so, what an interesting life you lead.

Mom


I am frankly amazed she read the blog! Trying to get her to post to it next. She lives in Sedona, Arizona. They've got stuff going on there, so - get on it, Mom!!

Jooolia Says...

What do "Kings of Leon", "Panty Crickets" and "Dirty Gowanus Canoe Extravaganza" have in common??? Well, that pretty much sums up my weekend.

Thanks to my summer Friday (the Baby Jesus' gift to working schlubs) I set about to the Apple store in Soho to get a peek at my favorite band the Kings of Leon for a free concert. Instead of standing in line for eons (eons for Leons) my friend and I milled about the store waiting for our opportunity to see the band on the sly. We snuck into line right behind the arm band brigade that had been waiting in the dirty hot NY sun for hours. Suckas!

Just as the band was getting started Owen Wilson sans Kate Hudson breezed right in front of us. He's little bitty. The band rocked my socks off. Love em.

On Saturday I stayed home. (Boo!) But I believe the Baby Jesus was working his magic again because I caught a mediocre skit on an SNL reply with Amy Poehler portraying Brittney Spears where she coined my new favorite phrase "Panty Crickets" as in:

Fake Brittney: "I been working for weeks on end and K-Feds been partying y'all and guess who ends up with a case of Panty Crickets" (Poehler indicating herself). Comedy gold. I'm pretty sure I've either written the phrase or said it 27 times since watching the skit. I bequeath it to all of you...spread the word.

On Sunday, Nicole (famous Blog owner) and my friend Brie and I strapped canoes to our ass and paddled down the scenic Gowanus Canal. DISGUSTING!!!! But once we got out into open waters it was really beautiful. We will only know the real effects of being so close to the sludge when Nicole pops out a 2 headed baby with an extra large uterus.

Good times...good times.

J. Fruit Says...

So, the weekend was a good one. Here's the recap:
It was DC Pride and Philly Pride and, of course, being the conscientious gay that I am, I made it to exactly 3 minutes of the DC Pridefest on Sunday before I got bored and left. More (or less) on that later...I did make it to a pride weekend launch party on Friday night though. It was thrown by a church-going friend of a friend of a friend (yeah, I'm tight with the community). How'd I know that the host attended church? Well, everyone that I met at the party told me so. Specifically, St. Thomas on P and 18th. The second occasion that it came up went like this: Church-gay: Do you know R___ or D___? Me: Actually I've met R___ when he threw a party for M___ but I didn't even know that it was his party until I walked up to the door and realized that I'd been here before. Which do you know? Church-gay: I know R___ from St. Thomas. Me: Oh, that's cool. I've never been to the Virgin Islands. Church-gay: No, St. Thomas Church on P and 18th. Yeah, the party was alright but I needed to get out of there before I really started to f*ck with people. Saturday, I drove up to Philly to see this guy who I'm "hanging out with"/"fooling around with"/"???" (i.e. we hang out and then have sex at some point). His housemates and neighbors were throwing a block party Saturday and he invited me to it. Having never been to a real block party before, I was really excited for it. There were some local bands that played and a wacky dance troupe. Philly has a bunch of young people (20s and 30s) and seemed pretty cool. The party went on through the night. Sunday, I had some brunch in Philly before heading down for the 3 minutes at Pridefest. Had some tapas with a friend who I met there. Then saw Hamlet at the Shakespeare Theatre Company with another friend from work. It was a decent production. The updated costumes were unnecessary because it added little to nothing to the production. The queen was horrible. I can't say that there were any outstanding performers. And what's with puppetry on stage lately???

Matt from the UES says...

This weekend was action-packed.  On Saturday I went to Belmont
Raceway for a day with the ponies.  Terrific fun.  My friends and I bet
on
races throughout the day while drinking from enormous keg-cans of
Heineken.  My betting performance was middling at best for most of the
races, but then came the big one: "The Belmont."  I am happy to report
that not only did I bet on the winning horse, Rags to Riches (way to
go, girl!)
.... But I hit the trifecta!!  Meaning, I correctly picked the first,
second and
third place horses in order!  So exciting.  Of course I had made a
small $2 bet, so I only won $150 for my efforts (why didn't I bet $10?
Or
$100?  Or $1000!!!  Ah, hindsight...).  But it's really the bragging
rights that count.  Being able to say I hit the trifecta on the Belmont
is way cool, in some circles anyway.  Plus, I'm thrilled that I bet on
the side of history - Rags to Riches was the first filly to win the
Belmont in over a century.  Very cool.

That night, my friends and I retired to the Tavern Room at
Gramercy (a favorite for years), which is operating under a new chef.
For my entree I had a giant meatball, which was stuffed with fontina
cheese
and other sauces and spices.  Quite good, and as I understand from
last week's
NYT dining section, gourmet meatballs are now all the rage.

And speaking of food, that brings us to Sunday.  I met up with some
friends at the annual Big Apple BBQ festival in Madison Square Park.
I've gone the past several years, but this one was clearly the best in
terms of crowd control and access to the chow.  I sampled pulled
pork from Decatur, Alabama and Yazoo, Mississippi, along with a few
ribs
from a local NYC place called Rack & Soul (never heard of them before,
but I will have to check them out - great ribs).  I also tried "fried
pies"
(basically apple fritters) from North Carolina and washed it all down
with an excellent mint julep made with Kentucky bourbon.  Quite a
day of eating.  The pulled pork from Alabama was definitely the best
thing I
sampled - I may need to make a road trip to Decatur for some more.

Finally, the weekend came to a close with the Sopranos season finale.
I know there's a wide variety of opinions on that subject, but as for me,
I was totally disappointed.  Worst series-ending ever, if you ask me.
Well, at least the worst since the Seinfeld finale.

And that was the weekend.

Brock in Our Nation's Capital Says...

Friday I snagged some tix to go see funnyman Dave Atell at the Lincoln Theatre. He was in town filming his HBO special there so myself and a couple friends got some free tix to head over and watch. Now, you can't go to a comedy show sober (Ed. note: especially one given by notorious drunky Dave Atell) , so we stopped by The Saloon on U St. to do some pre-show drinking for like an hour. I downed 4 Red Stripes then went to the show, which was decent. After the show, we made a pit stop at Cafe Nema to get a quick glass of liquor in us before our walk to Dupont to hit up the Big Hunt where I stayed drinking many a Strongbow til around 2:30 when I stumbled onto the metro and home...thoroughly drunk.
So drunk, I woke up at around 3pm stone cold hungover and hurting on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I talked with my girlfriend on the phone, then my parents, then a pizza delivery service and I stayed inside, on my couch, writing new stories for the Deuce (my blog). Not going outside at all and really quite useless to the world.
Sunday, I was no longer hungover, but the remnants of the tropical storm that hit the coast made its way to DC which meant lots and lots of rain and wind so I stayed in again and watched many tv shows and a movie on my couch eating the spaghetti I made (I made the whole box so i just kept eating it all day). One of the laziest weekends I've had in a long long time...and it was glorious.

I Love That!

Those wedding clothes sound awesome! Jeans- how novel! And that dress- I'd love to see a pic of that! And the decor sounds great....is one of them Indian or is that just their thing?

Nicole

Kinkle in Williamsburg says...

I haven't been doing too many exciting things the last few weekends because my husband is on some insane recording schedule of seven days a week until 4am nightly. Which means I'm pretty much limited to staying at home or running around the neighborhood with the baby. It sucks and I've forbidden him from taking any more producing gigs that don't allow for weekends off in the future. However, we've had a wedding we've been planning on going to for at least two or more months so he managed to get Saturday/Sunday off and we dropped the kid off at his uncle and aunt's on the way to Long Beach. I met the groom way back in the mid '90s heyday of indie rock (he was a drummer in a band that had some MTV success, now he's a photographer) and my husband worked with him as well before we (hubby and I) had ever met. The groom and the bride bought an adorable beach house together (well it's adorable now that they remodeled it) so it was obviously time to seal the deal. We stayed in a really bizarre old hotel (twin beds, dial phone, 2 channels on the TV) which was pretty much the only port in the storm.. everyone from the wedding stayed there. The hubby ran into someone whose record he produced 19 years ago who is now a mortgage broker and he and his wife proceeded to buy us drinks and shots before the wedding. The actual ceremony was in a sand circle on the beach. They had Indian music broadcasted over a speaker on a lifeguard station and the bride and groom walked out together which I thought was kind of cool.. he wore jeans and a white shirt, she wore an Indian-inspired pink dress of sari fabric. The female pastor? priestess? was a touch kumbaya for me, but it seemed to work with the overall by the sea earthy vibe. Afterwards we went for more drinks before going to the local Knights of Columbus hall which they did up themselves with velvet fabric, Indian drapery & other accessories. (I'm telling you the DIY factor with this event was really amazing.. people spend way too much $$ on generic wedding ephemera when they could just use a lil' creative elbow grease). We had a lovely dinner catered by Rice and then danced all night to the groom's excellent ipod selection. Seriously better than any DJ I've heard in quite a while. After a couple MORE drinks we basically passed out in the crappy hotel, waking up with huge hangovers to go to the cute cottage for a brunch of egg salad and smoked salmon sammies with "Just Married" flags in them. Super cute! We left around 1 or so and drove to get the baby who had an excellent time being fawned over by his cousins all weekend. We ended up staying at the in-laws and having burgers for dinner (plus a few beers to attempt to kill my hangover for me) before driving home in the rain that thankfully the wedding party avoided. All in all a fun family-oriented yet alcohol-fueled weekend pour moi.

Cinnamon Jenkins Says...

This past Saturday I had a wicked fun brunch with my best friend of 23 years. We met in the sixth grade. She knew me when I was short & "straight" & I keep her close because I'm afraid of what she could spill if we ever parted. :-) We caught up over pancakes and unlimited mimosas. Afterwards, we shopped around the city tipsy & giddy. It was the best I've felt all Spring.
On Saturday nite I had a late date with this cute actor dude who was introduced to me a week earlier by a mutual friend. We met after his play, had yummy thai at Room Service (my suggestion) then a bottle of wine at a French joint (his suggestion) then took a sweet late nite walk (his suggestion) down my favorite NYC street - 22nd street between 10th & 11th. He then walked me close to home (his suggestion) before we hugged & said our "thank you for a good nite" blah blah blah's.
I have yet to hear from him.
I just dont understand why would he make suggestions to extend the date only to not call later. My peep Juliana says that perhaps he was trying to see if it would get better. Ouch.

My Weekend

Friday I met up with Julia and we rode the train into Park Slope to pick up the troublemaking dog she was dogsitting, and strolled over in the lightest rain to Kitchen Bar to tuck into a leisurely meal under the awning, which Julia most generously announced she was going to pick up, since that's how she rolls. I fought her for a bit over it, we fell to the ground and rolled around under the table and got tangled in the dog's leash but she won out in the end and I let her buy me a beet and goat cheese and arugula pie (how weird and yummy!), roasted brussels sprouts with cheese and some damned fine gnocchi in a deelishis saffron sauce, along with a bottle of rose. The soundtrack was a bunch of 80's rockout tunes, I Am The Warrior by Patty Smythe was on, songs like that...next to us was a 39 year old woman with five kids, one of which was sucking at her teat. I became completely absorbed by these children as we drained the bottle of wine. I learned all their names (Dea, Aria, Sophia, Zane, and Xeta the baby), guessed their last name (Devlin), guessed their mom's maiden name (Hausler), and told them I had eleven cats, 2 finches, an iguana and a snake and named all eleven cats, which many of you know is an untruth, I only have two. I just winged it with names. By the end of the meal I was out on the sidewalk doing Miss Mary Mac with them. Crazy kids. They went on home and they will be talking about me for weeks. That was a wrap and we went over to Jon Friedman's house www.rejectionshow.com
and we watched a few dvr'ed eps of my favorite television programming, "Intervention." HOW SAD was Laney, the ex -wife of a dot com millionaire, who sat alone in her mansion all day with a drink constantly in hand. She would blow 10 grand on a limo ride taking her across the country wherever she needed to be. At the end she stayed in the 'hab for only 2 days and it was reported that she was running out of money and continuing to drink.
I have noticed that it is competely inappropriate to be drunk while watching this show. I have done this twice and EACH TIME there was an alcoholic on and I never take it seriously. It feels like we are drinking buddies. I laugh through the whole thing. This is abnormal. My normal routine is to be completely drawn in and I cry a lot and clap my hands with glee too. Gotta stay sober.
Saturday I was good, I did a bunch of straightening up at home BEFORE I went out. First I went to the farmer's market in my nabe. I keep arriving way too late. They open at 7am and I keep showing up at 4. I went over there with my friend Yasmine who wore a lovely frock to stroll about the neighborhood. Heads were turning. She inspired me to wear some of the pretty dresses I myself bought for these sultry months. At the market I bought some broccoli rabe, whatever. Then I went to shop with Meg. We were going to go do free kayaking but it just wasn't the right day for us. While shopping we bought the same dress and I wanted us both to put them on and go out like that but Meg couldn't get down with that. As we turned the corner in a cab, I pointed out the window and screamed "Look!!!" at some broad on the block wearing our dress too. We tried really really hard to go see "Knocked Up" but could not sort it out with it selling out left and right at all theaters. So we went over to Live Bait and spent our evening there, with Abita Turbodogs going into my neck. Mmmm. Meg is the most normal girl yet sometimes she morphs into my craziest friend. Not through her actions, she just says bugged out stuff like she's lost her mind. Julia is hilarious too so it was fun to see these girls in a row. Funny, they haven't met yet.
Sunday I did more work on my apt. I also went out in the rain for tea. I brought home ingredients and cooked for 2 hours- salmon and sweet potato patties, the rabe, brown rice, and a sweet potato, tomato and black soy bean dish that is fully loaded with fiber and vitamin C. Things got very tense on the Sopranos while I ate my dinner. Next weekend is the finale and if I am not in Montauk, I am planning to make a whole wheat noodle lasagna and drink lots of red wine. You are ALL invited.

Nicole

J. Fruit Says...

Work sent me to Acapulco (it's a toilet on the Pacific coast--it's dirty with a rough surf--so avoid
it if you can). On the way back, I stopped off in Mexico City. It's a pretty cool town worth checking out. The subway there is amazingly cheap (less than $0.20/ride) and gets you to where you need to go fast (never waited more than 5 minutes for a train). San Angel, Zona Rosa, and Polanco are the cool neighborhoods to see so of course those are the ones that I hit.

The most serendipitous part of the weekend was seeing a free Shakira concert in the Zocalo (a huge plaza that probably had over 15,000 in it). I asked this other tourist couple (the bf was bilingual) what was up with the security and he told me they were prepping for the concert later that night. I showed up late because I knew that I would be able to see easily from anywhere in the crowd because Mexicans are short. I don't mean to generalize but a) this half-Mexican I met in Miami said those exact same words about his Mexican friends and b) I was a full head taller than everyone else at the concert and I'm not even 6'. They compensated by blocking my view with these cardboard periscopes (with 2 mirrors) that were sold to almost everyone in the audience. It was almost as interesting to witness the crowd as it was to see the concert.