Tuesday, February 28, 2012
I'm Pretty Sure I Have a Sugar Hangover
What a weekend.
It all started Friday night, as most weekends do.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I have joined the Orange County Mormon Choir (which is turning out to be pretty freaking awesome). Well. This weekend, we recorded a Christmas CD.
For reals.
My voice (joined in with about 199 others) is going to be on a CD that people can buy. With money. And play whenever they want.
(No, I don't know when it'll be out, but since it's a Christmas CD, I'm thinking early July...)
(Yes, that was a joke.)
(Since we all know Christmas starts in May nowadays.)
Anyways. So we assembled at a lovely church on Friday night. I was disappointed by the timing since Emily was flying in from Salt Lake, her plane landed at 9, and our recording was scheduled to go until 10. Which meant that my kind and gracious roommates, Katie and David, picked her up for me and got to hang out with her before I did.
Boo.
To make matters worse, recording went long.
(Of course it did. We're Mormons. We rarely end anything on time.)
So I didn't get home that night until 11:30. At which point I hugged Emily fiercely and kidnapped her to go and get something to eat since I hadn't had food in hours. Or possibly days. I lose track. We went down the street to Coco's, where the service was incredibly slow, but the food was quite tasty. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a french fry quite that much. Which goes to show that I must have been on the verge of total starvation.
Saturday morning started bright and early. Emily opted to hang out at my place while I went for our second (and final) recording session. I can't imagine why she chose to stay at my place alone with the satellite TV, DVD collection, internet and heat rather than sitting on a hard wooden chair in the icy foyer of a church. But that was her choice...
We were told we'd be finished early enough that we didn't need to bother packing a lunch. So at 2pm, after another 5 hour session on the hardest church pews in the history of the world, we were finally released to enjoy the weekend.
(Honestly, I sound like I'm complaining and there were parts that were way less fun than others, but the recording session was REALLY awesome and I'm so glad to have gotten that experience. It was TOTALLY worth it.)
(Even though I would have preferred that it not fall on a weekend when I didn't have a friend visiting from out of state.)
When I got back home, I declared that despite having MUCH to do for Sunday's Oscar Party, the next several hours were going to be ALL about me and Emily and hanging out and doing nothing important.
First. We went to Ruby's. And we got milkshakes, which you kind of just HAVE to do at Ruby's. Their Shake of the Month is Triple Chocolate. It was practically meant for me. How could I resist?
After that, we ran to Downtown Disney so that Emily could pick up a little something for her daughter, and then we interrupted the fun to run a couple of errands for the next day's festivities.
And then we went to the movies to see Hugo. Which we wanted to see in two plain, regular dimensions. But, of course, it was only playing in 3D.
How was the movie? you ask...Well, let's just say we weren't smiling as brightly when it was over. Sorry.
And then Sunday dawned, beautiful and clear. After church, we got ready for some serious Oscar partying.
We recreated the movie posters for the Best Picture nominees. I think I should quit my day job and become a professional stick-figure drawer.
And there was FOOD. My chef roommate, David, did most of the cooking and it was totally delicious. The pork was pretty much the best thing ever. Katie and Sarah baked cupcakes and while they were frosting the coconut, Emily and I were decorating spice cupcakes to look like little bags of popcorn. Aren't they cute? Yup. Found them on Pinterest.
There were also Red Carpet Arrivals, obviously. And the pictures were super cute and I was going to post them here, but I realized I forgot to ask my friends if I could post their pictures on my blog, so I'll just have to save those for Facebook. Sorry.
Just last week, I was bragging to a friend that it is ALWAYS beautiful and perfect on my birthday. So I was a little shocked to wake up Monday morning to cloudiness and wind and a forecast of rain.
The day started with a trip to the airport to drop off Emily. The time had come for her to go back home. I was sad. I look forward to the day when we can live in the same zip code again. Or, heck, the same area code would be nice, too.
I should have known from the looks of that sky that a trip to Disneyland wasn't going to end well. But I went anyway.
Yup. I went to Disneyland by myself. Alone. On my birthday. Somehow I thought I'd feel this awesome sense of empowerment or something. Like the first time I went to a movie by myself. Or when I managed to navigate through four South American airports alone without the ability to speak Spanish.
I even forced myself to ride on the Indiana Jones ride. And many of you know how much I LOVE that one...
But instead of feeling empowered and accomplished and awesome, I just felt...lonely. And, like a clichéd scene from a cheesy movie, that was the moment when the sky opened up and the rain fell. In torrents. I went home soaked and freezing and crawled into bed and took a three hour nap.
And then I went out to dinner with Marly and her new baby boy and we discovered ANOTHER Indian restaurant. One that was even better than the last.
I totally forgot to take pictures at the restaurant, which is too bad because one of the Indian waiters was kind of cute and brought us free dessert. I guess my mind was other places by that point. Like catching up with Marly who I feel like I haven't seen in years, even though it's really only been a couple of weeks.
Dinner was fantastic. A nice ending to an otherwise wet and dreary day at the end of a perfect birthday weekend.
I want to thank all of the friends that made my birthday special. That includes all of you reading this post. Thank you for sticking with me. For being there and for caring and for reminding me that I am loved. And that I'm never truly alone.
You are awesome. And if you share this post, you'll be even awesomer!
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I think I need a Ruby's Triple Chocolate Milkshake! Sounds like a fun weekend! I would have even loved the rain. (But heck, I live in the desert so moisture is lovely to me!) Happy Birthday to my Shane's birthday twin!
ReplyDeleteCome on down! And thank you for helping make my birthday weekend so great!
DeleteWow, you have lots of awesome people in your life!
ReplyDeleteIt's true. I'm very spoiled.
DeleteThanks for the fun weekend. I love hoe our posters turned out.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it rained at Disneyland. That is totally like a scene from a movie!
I hope you had a good birthday. I loved visiting you. It was so nice! I'm working on Dustin to get down there for our anniversary.
Sorry you didn't have the best solo-Disney trip. Remember the day when we had our blogger meet-up at Disneyland? I spent the whole first half of the day by myself until meeting up with Kristina around 3pm. That first half of the day was the best EVER. I loved being on my own and doing what I wanted! And Single Rider Lines are THE BEST!
ReplyDeleteThat was such a fun day.
DeleteI think I would have really enjoyed a solo Disneyland trip if it hadn't been my birthday. And also raining.
Sounds like a packed weekend. Disneyland alone? Actually that might not be a bad idea if you wanted to get around quickly.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
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There were some definite pluses to going alone. I'll absolutely do it again.
DeleteI love Indian food! Yummy! And all that Oscar food looks delicious. It must be nice having a chef as a roomie!
ReplyDeleteSuper great post! You had an awesome weekend! I'm jello you made a cd that people will actually buy with real money in May. Very cool! I also covet all the delish food you ate. Sorry about the crappy Disney experience. I didn't love Hugo either.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
I'm sad that I ate so much last night so I don't have a yummy Indian food lunch today(you lucky duck). Remember how they didn't have to-go boxes ;-) Lol. I'm glad I got to be with you for your birthday dinner. Love ya!
ReplyDeleteA Christmas CD? That's SO EXCITING!
ReplyDeleteI love your hair in that picture! I almost didn't recognize you! :)
Fun! I haven't been to Downtown Disney in so long. What a great time!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had to do Disney by yourself!
ReplyDeleteDamn you Karen! Now I really want a milkshake!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had so much fun and were surrounded by so much love for your birthday! You deserve it chick-a-dee!
Oh my goodness, I want that milkshake and those cupcakes! Too precious! I love that you had such a wonderful Oscar party--what a fun tradition!
ReplyDeleteI love lots of your posts but this one is way up there. I kept chuckling out loud. You are awesome.
ReplyDeleteI love sugar drunkeness, the hangovers I can do without
ReplyDeleteI had a sugar hangover at the beginning of the week. I treated it with more sugar.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!!
An icy foyer in California? Puhleeeease. Clearly you've forgotten what February is like in The Great White North. Happy Birthday, BTW.
ReplyDeleteI dunno why I never noticed this, but it never occurred to me that you were Mormon! Now a lot of the posts make sense. Also, I'm an idiot because I feel as though you did mention this was a Mormon choir before :)
ReplyDeleteAlso those cupcakes look SO DARN CUTE!!!
It sounds like you had a wonderful birthday weekend. Happy belated! I think it's super cool, awesome, and empowering that you went to Disney by yourself. Recently I've had dinner in the city by my lonesome and I have plans to go to see a movie solo, too. It can be a very empowering experience, and for some reason, these were things that would scare me in the past. I don't know why.
Sugar hangover is my favorite kind - especially when I get to the "hair of the dog that bit you" part. It looks like a marvelous weekend and the Disneyland escapade sounds like something I would attempt - with the same results. Naps are a nice way to recover.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very busy, fun-filled birthday weekend. A triple chocolate milkshake sounds fantastic! And those cupcakes looked delicious. Pintrest is great, isn't it? Happy Belated birthday, Karen!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a busy and fun-filled birthday weekend. A triple chocolate milkshake sounds fantastic, and the popcorn cupcakes look delicious! Pintrest is great, isn't it? Happy belated birthday, Karen!
ReplyDeleteP.S. In case two comments show up, just delete one! I had the comment all typed out, then had to sign in, and I thought it disappeared.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!! What a great combo of the oscars and your day! I am doing a movie theme for my Birthday next year! cant wait!
ReplyDeleteLove your movie posters. Really.
XOXO
Paula
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
ReplyDeleteThat weekend looks so fun, and those treats so good! Love your glasses!
I'm so glad you had an awesome birthday weekend with friends. Although sad that you had a lonely, rainy Disney experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool, fun Oscar party! I will admit I don't watch the Oscars, but it's fun to read what other people do, and think about the show!
My husband and kids went to Hugo (awhile ago, when it first came out) and they really didn't have much to say about it, other than "meh." They'd much prefer to go to Disneyland, although you're right, it's probably more fun to go with friends.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've had an amazing week filled with great memories! Here's to the good life! :)
ReplyDeleteOh and I really wanna come to one of your Oscar parties someday!
ReplyDelete