Friday, May 28, 2010

The Spice Girls said it best..."Goodbye, my friend"

Today we packed up "Wiggy" and moved her to her new home in a new town. She got a big promotion a couple of months ago and finally made her move. While the promotion is much-deserved and we're all happy for her, it's definitely bittersweet. As we packed boxes marked "lace-front wigs," "underwear," and "sex toys" into the U-Haul, I recalled the last time we helped her move, which was only a few months ago when she escaped living in the duplex from hell and next door Jesus freaks.

Oh, "Wiggy," life here just won't be the same without her! While she is only about an hour away, it's not going to be so easy to just meet up for after work cocktails or hit the mall so she can try on House of Dereon outfits that should never have been made in plus sizes.

On "Wiggy's" last night in town, we hit the Sex and the City 2 pre-party and premier. It was fabulous. The film is, by no means, a cinematic masterpiece but we didn't care! My group of four gal pals got caught up with our four favorite fictitious gal pals and cocktails were involved.

What an appropriate way to end "Wiggy's" time here. I mean, she's most definitely the Samantha of our group, but more than that, it got me thinking about how important friendships are, especially for single women in their 30s. Let's face it, by our age mostly everyone else has paired up and procreated. Each year our numbers dwindle as friends are picked off one by one and venture into marriage and motherhood. Those of us left behind form close friendships because in our urban jungles we're all one another has. We love our lives and wouldn't trade them for the world, but it's important to have friends around who relate to what it's like to be single...and, of course, who are free to go out and shop, drink or hit a movie with you at any time!

This certainly won't be the end of my friendship with "Wiggy" but in many ways it's an end of an era.

By the way, for those who were wondering, we found no evidence that a mouse had ever inhabited "Wiggy's" home after we packed her up today. Confirming what I eventually came to believe...that the "slut mouse" and a bottle cap were one and the same!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

From one surly ex-sorority girl to another....

Things have been crazy lately! A ridiculous amount of work travel in a short amount of time has kicked my butt, resulting in contracting a cold that is hanging on tighter than Joan Rivers' last facelift. I ran my second 5k with remnants of said cold, pleased my time improved from the first 5k, despite the fact I was stuck behind tons of people who felt it was appropriate to walk across the start line. (Don't worry, I wrote some strongly worded comments about those ridiculous gangs of walkers in my post -event survey). Now, just as my body is starting to catch up (and as I narrow my work email down to 60 unread emails from 600+), I am about to beat it down again by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. It's a 24 hour event to raise funds for ACS and my friends and I will be camped out and walking for the duration. Yeah, for one fighting off any sort of cold/virus this is not the best idea but neither is eating two (maybe three?) cupcakes in the course of one day when one is dieting but yeah, I did that this week too. And last week in NYC  come to think of it (I heart Magnolia Bakery). Shoot. No wonder I am not losing weight despite all this running! Anyway....

Despite my hectic schedule I took a day off work to travel across the state to meet my favorite writer. I am an avid reader, someone who reads two to three books at a time. I like biographies, historical fiction and memoirs. A few years ago, a friend told me I needed to read a memoir called "Bright Lights, Big Ass" by Jen Lancaster. The first page of that book is a (hilarious) letter from Jen Lancaster to Carrie Bradshaw...the rest, as they say, is history.

I know I've referenced her here before (many, many times). She really is my favorite writer, in part because I feel like we are kindred spirits....as I told some friends last night, we both love pearls, we were both sort of tyrants when put in leadership positions in our respective sororities, we both aspired to be Blair from "Facts of Life" as children and both love watching Blair and the gang from "Gossip Girl" now, etc. I could go on (and on) but I don't want to bore you.

Jen treated us to a reading and Q and A before the book signing. It was better than I had expected and thankfully, Jen was exactly how I hoped she would be - funny, engaging and during the book signing she took time to talk to each person individually and take photos, despite the fact that over 300 people were lined up to meet her.

Though Jen's knowledge of reality TV vastly outweighs mine (I limit my reality TV to "American Idol" auditions and "Celebrity Rehab/Sober House" on VH1 because I generally have great disdain for all those ridiculous shows...unless they involve celebrities fighting addicition hence "Celebrity Rehab/Sober House" and Paula Abdul's days on "American Idol"), and sometimes I didn't know who she was talking about when she would throw out a name (a "Real Housewife?", a "Next Top Model?", someone from "The Hills" if that's even still on?), I still heart her and was thrilled to "have a moment" with her!



P.S. In honor of Jen's new book about her efforts to break her addiction from reality TV (see, I love addiction stories so I will love this book), I looked up my Jersey Shore nickname. It's The Tan-trum. I am pretty sure my mom would wholeheartedly agree with that one!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Death at 30,000 feet

It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, that mumbo-jumbo about travel trauma.

I love flying. In fact, I would prefer to fly anywhere and everywhere than ride in a car. Hop a jet to Detroit (a 3 hour drive)? Don't mind if I do! I feel much safer on a plane than in a car. After all, I've been in several car accidents over the years but despite my hundreds of thousands of air miles traveled, I've never been in a plane "accident." Yes, I know those are usually called plane "crashes" but I haven't been in one so there.

Last week I flew to Salt Lake City on a business trip. I knew there had been a lot of storms in that part of the country so I anticipated some turbulence. Generally, turbulence doesn't bother me. As I mentioned earlier, I completely believe I am safe on a plane so a few bumps are nothing to worry about.

There's turbulence and then there's TURBULENCE. I am talking, shaking back and forth, dropping what feels like thousands of feet at a time, the flight attendant says, "For those of you getting sick, remember the bag in your seat back pocket. To avoid nausea, do not look out the window and put your neck to your chest" type of turbulence.

Yes, a flight attendant said that and no, I have NEVER been on a flight where an announcement like that was made.

Sitting next to me were some way cool ladies from Elmira, NY. They are bowlers, flying to Reno for a bowling convention (and some gambling, of course) then on to El Paso for a bowling tournament.

One of them asked the nun across from us (yes, there was a nun on the plane, as well as at least four babies - yet another sign that plane would not make any unplanned contact with terra firma) to pray once the turbulence started.

The turbulence was rough, but I lost it when, during descent into Salt Lake City, the pilot suddenly pulled the plane up. In seconds we went from rapid descent to rapid ascent - and suddenly I was praying "Hail Mary" - repeatedly. When the pilot came on and told us he had to "abort" the landing because of a sudden storm over the airport I prayed faster!

The storm passed and we eventually landed safely. I was literally shaking all the way to baggage claim, in the cab and during check in at the hotel.

All is well that ends well, thankfully!

Salt Lake City is beautiful - it's surrounded by snow capped mountains, it is clean and safe and though at one point I was the only woman in a six block radius wearing jeans (as every woman I saw was a Mormon wearing a skirt), the people are very friendly. However, after a couple of days, Salt Lake City got pretty boring and I was ready to move on.

Tomorrow it's off to New York City - with it's grit, skyscrapers, traffic, noise, congestion and people who are not friendly - I believe it is the most beautiful city in the U.S. if not the entire world...and a couple of days is never enough to take it all in. I can't wait to get there!