Monday, June 19, 2006

Mr. and Mrs. S Go to "Warshington"

It's funny when you grow up, and your parents kind of stop being "parents" in the traditional sense, and actually become your friends. Even though you can revert back to having that parent-child relationship every so often, you start to not notice the gap anymore, and have more equal footing. Of course, that doesn't keep me from telling my dad not to watch his old western shows, because he had always said "when it's your roof, you can make the decisions..." and now those words have come to haunt him.

My parents came to "Warshington" as my mom calls it, to visit last weekend, and had a fun-filled, action packed weekend. And for two people who live in a small town, (and having grown up there myself), I'm always suprised at how well they handle themselves in situations that aren't the norm for lil ole' Roanoke.

On Friday, we decided to go out to dinner in Capital Hill to a restaurant called Sonoma-a California-type cuisine restaurant with delcious wines, yummy cheese boards, and really simple-fresh food. Two bottles of wine later-everyone was feeling pretty happy, and enjoying their meals. Al and I had been invited to our friend Daniel's birthday party, which was also on the Hill-and since everyone seemed in good spirits-and my parents had met Daniel and his partner Michael before, we asked them to come along. We walked up to the bar-Remington's, I paid the cover, and we walked in. It took about 2.5 seconds to look around take in all the men in muscle shirts and cowboy hats to realize I had taken my parents to a gay bar--and not just a gay bar, but a LINE dancing gay bar.

My parents are pretty liberal compared to some of the people in Roanoke, VA-but even this was a bit eye opening of an experience for them. Luckily, they had a great time, stayed for a drink, and admired the line dancing, which I have to say was excellent. It was a fun night, and I have to give my parents major kudos for being such open-minded people.

The next day, I took my mom with me to go to my workout class-it's mostly African American women in my class, who just bring a huge amount of life to the class-they cheer, they laugh, and they totally make fun of me, but it's so much fun. Mom got a taste of the women yelling at her-which was another new one in her book-but again, she was gracious and took it in stride.

Meanwhile, my dad went with Al to go work out in the morning as well. After our respective workouts, we came home-I briefly met up with my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Richard, in town from Memphis.

And after that, we went to the Yankees vs. Nationals game. Even though I'm a Nats fan, for this game, I cheered on the Yankees, since my family are all Yankee fans. I was surprised at the number of Yankee fans at the game, but even more surprised at the language of some of the Nats. fans to the Yankees. As soon as the Nationals started to win, this one guy starts yelling "F*$% YOU!" over and over again to us Yankee fans--and of course, right in front of his 3 year old kid...nice role model. Sad day for the Yankees-but it was a neck and neck game, and one of the more exciting ones we've been to in awhile.

We went for a quick, easy dinner at Busboys and Poets, and then came home for a not so rousing game of Trivial Pursuit-with Al majorily kicking our butts. At one point, I answered a question wrong, and trying to copy the guy from the game, my mom starts yelling (jokingly) "You F#$(!!" My family and I just looked at each other and started rolling with laughter...to funny. I miss the days of sitting around with my family and laughing until I cry.

It was a good weekend, wrapped up with a nice brunch for dad.

And, of course, a lesson in researching bars BEFORE taking your parents to them...

Monday, June 12, 2006

Shhh...it's a secret

Maybe you've heard of PostSecret, maybe you haven't. Either way, I truly think it's a fascinating idea.

It all started with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He started handing out postcards to strangers, asking them to write down a secret that they have never told anyone and mail it to him anonymously. Astounded by the results, and the amount of people who have secrets, and the caliber of secrets that were being shared, Frank put together a collection of these postcards into a book called PostSecret.

I have to confess that I don't actually own the book, but I do check the website, where he posts new postcards once a week (www.postsecret.blogspot.com). It feels a bit voyeuristic, but I have to admit that it gives me some comfort to know that everyone has secrets--no matter how big or small, and that they have a creative outlet to let their secret go.

I often think about what would my secret be if I submitted one? I'm a pretty open person, but I think everyone has a secret to keep--whether it be a fear, or something you think about yourself, or a confession of something silly that you did when you were little, but that you just can't quite forgive yourself for...or maybe even a secret wish...anything.

What would yours be? Think about it.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

It's the freakin' weekend baby...


I love Memorial Day. After a long stretch of no long holidays since February, nothin' says lovin' like a long weekend.

And this one was done in style--my friends Betsy and Diana (who I used to work at TNC with), Diana's friend Shannon, and Katherine all came to town for a girls weekend. Al went to CT for some family obligations, so it was just us ladies for the weekend.

Saturday, was up bright and early to pick up D and Shannon from the airport-and we basically started drinking soon thereafter. The initial plan was to hit a winery, but it looked like rain, so we hunkered down for some brunch along with Betsy and her friend Chas. Before I knew it, the bloody marys were being far too kind to me, and so-we decided not to get in a car and drive, but to just keep on drinkin. And, we did. On to Dupont, then to Sequioa's by the Potomac. Went home for a quick cat nap, and did it all again in the evening.

We hit Raku for dinner, and then got our groove on at the Black Cat. Al and I went dancing in NYC, but aside from that, I haven't been dancing in a wicked long time, so I let my hair down, and hit the dance floor so hard that my feet felt on fire later that night. We had a total blast drinking, dancing, and after that, grabbing a quick bite at Ben's before tucking in at 4 am.

Slept in, got up and hit Eastern Market after I made the ladies a super-easy-cheesy hungover breakfast. After Eastern Market, we headed to Georgetown-for you guessed it-more eating and drinking. Met up with some friends that I hadn't seen in literally about 4 years or so, so that was cool. Nice catching up, and hanging out by the water. Another late night-getting home at lord knows when.

Got up early the next day for our Memorial Day cookout. Al was coming back in town, and I wanted to do something special for the girls, so we had a big Mem Day bbq, complete with ribs, chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, coleslaw, cornbread, rice crispy treats, cookies (from our totally awesome friends Erika and Paul) and the total fun ending of cotton candy! FUN! Al and I basically cooked all day, so no rest for the weary.

The bbq was a success, at some point we counted about 40 people-which includes Al's buddy Joe from Jury Duty, who took it upon himself to invite 5 of his friends without asking first. If he had just asked, no biggie, but he didn't, and he and his friends proceeded to stand in front of our buffet table warding off anyone else who wanted a rib, or a deviled egg. Whatever-I just found that so annoying-I don't mind meeting new people, but just ask for crying out loud.

It was a fun weekend-and nice to have some girl's time, but I'm so tired. I guess I'm not the dancing queen I thought I could be. That's okay, I'm quite content to go back to being a bit more low key-that's what makes it much more fun to be wild every blue moon. But for now, chill nights and wine over dinner are the way of life for me.

Check out our weekend pics if you'd like: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGGK