Busy Weekend
So this weekend is action packed. But the main event is JAMES BOND. I’ve seen shirtless pics and trailers of Daniel Craig EVERYWHERE. It is the norm for me to get excited about movies. Take my usual enthusiasm and ramp it up – there you go! That is how excited I am. Kristy, Aaron and I are getting together tomorrow night to watch Casino Royale for a refresher on the plot. Like I need another excuse to watch the movie. Seriously, I think I’ve seen it at least 5 times. They showed it all the time on Showtime for awhile. There are so many good movies out that I want to see. For once, I haven’t had time. I’m not worried, there is a lot of winter coming up.
So this past weekend I went home to MA. It was quite the experience. Dad, Mom, Uncle John, Aunt Lucy, Aunt Polly, her children Veronica, Samantha, and Kasie had the wonderful honor of sharing the LONE bathroom with me in my parent’s house for the weekend. 9 people and one bathroom. I’m sure there are plenty of such stories in my past that I could tell. But I have forced them from my memory. For the past five years I’ve had my own bathroom used by just me. Yup, I’m spoiled but this is a luxury I’m not giving up. Not even after marriage. I don’t know, it could be a deal breaker.
Anyway, in all seriousness it was a good time. Since most of the family was there we had an early Thanksgiving dinner. I converted one more relative to the delightful brussel sprout which has a bad rap as being a nasty vegetable. As my father said, “I hate brussel sprouts, except when Shauna makes them.” So my Uncle John agreed. Yeah, one more for Team Brussel Sprout. I also made my best attempt at an apple pie to date. Although I ran out of time and cheated. I used a store bought pie crust. So while it was good, really good, I am missing some of the sense of accomplishment. I also made my green bean casserole which came out just as good as last year. Other things I made included 2 batches of chex mix, peanut butter cup cookies, spinach artichoke dip, and pigs in blankets. My father made the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cabbage. My mom made sweet potato casserole. So there was lots of food, lots of noise, and thankfully, lots of beer (late am/early afternoon) and wine (late afternoon/evening).
The weekend coup de gras- I had managed to get Patriots tickets. Oh, don’t be jealous bitches. These were Section 159, row 3, seats 8 & 9, Pats side. Yeah, be jealous. We were on the 45 yard line. I didn’t know whether to watch the bench or watch the game. It was my first Gillette Stadium experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. I took my dad and we had a good time. No, a really good time. I took enough pictures to help with the memories. After we kicked some serious Buffalo Bill ass, my dad drove me to the airport. I was still wearing all my Pats gear. So while that did not look out of place at Logan, it did when I arrived at Reagan.
So other than planning my sister’s bridal shower, it was a good weekend. I won’t even get into the problems with planning this party. I need a rest from thinking about it. It appears consensus will never be reached with my parents and I won’t go into detail here. But I am throwing my sister a fucking amazing party despite all the challenges coming my way. I’ll find a way.
So it’s Thursday night and the Pats are playing the Jets in an epic battle for the number 1 seed in the AFC North. They are both 6-3. And it is on the NFL network. Seriously, whose brilliant idea is this? I know I’ll look back five years from now when the NFL network has either disappeared completely or is on mainstream cable and I’ll laugh. But right now its a huge pain in my ass. So I was going to go to a bar, but I have to get up at 5:30am now for work while my coworker is on maternity leave. So there is no way I can survive my weekend plans with only 5 hours of sleep tonight. So I’ll watch it online once I get home from work tonight. At least the network is streaming it live from NFL.com. Money-grubbing assholes.
This having to be at work at 6:30am sucks. At least I’m not working until 10 at the gym/pool anymore. I get to leave at 9. I originally took this manager position because I though I would have more time to work out. In reality, I’m just too tired after a 9.5 hour day at work and then coming here for 4 hours.
This new schedule is not helping me get through my book pile. At the moment I’m reading Sailing Around the World Aloneby Joshua Slocum. While nautical terms abound, this book is fascinating. It is an autobiography and Slocum was the first man to solo navigate the world in a sailboat. In fact, he rebuilt a sailboat virtually from scratch. He did this amazing feat in 3 years from 1895-1898. His journey was 46,000 miles. The book is his tale of the events. I was browsing in a book store and randomly came across this. There is a reason browsing is one of my favorite things to do. You never know what treasure you might find!
Oh, and one last thing. I totally bought myself an early Christmas present! There are so many things I needed more, like a new comforter and a bus ticket for NYC in two weeks. But I bought myself a Sarah Brightman concert ticket for next Wednesday. I knew the chances of her returning to DC anytime soon were slim so I couldn’t resist. I managed to get one ticket in a box seat almost directly above the stage. I cannot think of a better place to hear her voice! The only problem is I might cry in a room full of strangers. Hopefully, it will be dark. For over a decade I’ve been a fan. Well, if I stood 10 feet away from Teddy Bruski (god, football pants are the BEST invention) and didn’t pass out, I might be able to keep a lid on the waterworks. I’m thinking I’ll bring a tissue or two just in case.
It Was a Success!
So the 5th Annual Halloween party was a good time. I had a costume three days before the event, I didn’t pass out before midnight, and we had enough alcohol. I did, however, have the worst hangover ever the next day and the Patriots lost Sunday night. So good party…the weekend could have been better. But I’m not complaining. Everyone who came assured me they had a good time and people ate the food I made. Justin’s sangria was kicked by 1am and the costumes were creative. Although, as a pirate wench, there was zero creativity on my part.
So I am happy it went well and was very glad to see Justin who came down for the weekend. There is always a bit of stress that leads up to hosting such a large event and we handled it very well this year, especially with the added challenge of travel from NYC. When I heard someone say, “where are Shauna’s cookies?” when they walked in the door – well I can’t ask for anything better than that! Those words made all the planning and preparation all worth while.
On other completely unrelated topics. I am taking a break from Sci-Fi and moving to Nelson DeMille’s The Gate House which is the sequel to The Gold Coasthe wrote a number of years ago. It is clever. I’ve missed clever. I have two books left until I anxiously await Robert Jordan’s final book written from beyond the grave. I swear, if his ghost writer doesn’t end the series to my liking I’m going to sue him for those two months of my life back.
I feel as though I am completely over R and am willing to enter into the world of serious dating. But as my other forays into these dangerous waters have been O-So-Successful, I am slightly more cautious and picky. I vow not to get excited when someone shows remote interest in me and push aside all their flaws to bask in the knowledge that someone finds me tolerable for long periods of time. Of course, this is so easy to say now.
I find myself challenged by lack of spare time. As if this was a new problem for me. It was easy to find excuses not to date when I had 30 books to read, three classes a week to attend, and 8 papers to write in less than four months as well as a full time and part time job. It mysifies me now to wonder how I did that. I try to put exhaustion into prospective based on that period of my life three years ago. Funny, how the body doesn’t remember such things.
But, as usual, I digress. The part time job isn’t going anywhere but it appears the better part of my 20s are. I would very much like to experience a relationship here in DC that lasts longer than 3 months. Of course, I suppose, I’m willing to consider monogomy. That worked out quite well in the last experiment. Yes, quite well indeed. I was ridiculously fucking lonely to be honest. I have no idea how couples can have a long distance relationship. I am simply not built for it. But that was my fault, I mean I did choose to be a “good girl” with someone who did not have enough time for me.
So new goal. Actually, its been the same goal since after college really. Find a boy who wants more than just sex and wants to occasionally see what the outdoors is like and not only the ceiling of my bedroom. Tall order, I know. Perhaps, I should actually do what my sister and those self help books say – don’t sleep with a guy on the first date. I hear there are people who refrain. I can do that. No, really! Shut up, I can!
Venus Obsequens 