Birthday Party!

My birthday party was a ton of fun! My friend Liz came up from Baltimore and at one point, I counted 25 people in my apartment!

For starters, I wore an adorable outfit. We had an amazing taco bar that was a big hit, and people brought lots of Mexican themed fun snacks like guacamole, black bean dip, tortilla chips, etc. We had lots of booze - various Mexican beers, bud light (thanks to Becca), sangria with fruit and brandy (thanks to Megan and Mike), and margaritas (thanks to C, H, and H!) I, of course, partook in all of the various alcoholic beverages. After awhile, we had two lively games of Apples to Apples going on (one in each room), and I think everyone had a lot of fun!

I was definitely tipsy/drunk and having a great time, and everyone started leaving around 12:30-1:00. Around that time, Megan mentioned going to a bar to meet her friend from work. I decided that this would be a fantastic idea, despite my sister and Liz trying to convince me not to go (taking back their initial enthusiasm). Well, it was my birthday, so off we went. We took a cab all the way to 16th or 17th and got a beer when we got there.

This is what I remember: talking to Megan's friend, falling off of a bar stool. That's all. We came home not long after arriving, and I went to the bathroom (where I threw up). Keep in mind that I do not remember this. The next day, I woke up - not feeling too terrible - and promptly went back to sleep. We went to Sabrina's for brunch, and after that, I felt totally fine. So fine, that I went for a run later that evening.

That cute sweater I'm wearing in the picture? It's missing. I have absolutely no idea what happened to it. My skirt was in the bathroom. My tank top in my hamper. I thought that maybe I left it in the bar, but my much more sober sister told me that I did not even take my coat off there. It's the mystery of the evening. If it turns up at any of your homes, please comment and let me know.

A few more pictures from the evening:

Dates and Updates

So I went out with the guy from the northeast again last Tuesday night. He normally works on Tuesdays, but he switched around his schedules. We went to Bar Ferdinand and got a yummy cheese plate, a meat plate, some calamari and dessert. He was cuter than I remembered him being, and I had a good time with him - it was very comfortable conversation, etc... but I'm just not really sure how much spark there is there for me. He is in Puerto Rico this week, and he called me yesterday to see how I was doing, etc... which was really nice. I'm going to go out with him one more time and see how it goes. He is in school, and he also works a lot. I think he has off Friday nights but works every Saturday. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I dated someone for about 9 months who worked the complete opposite of me, and it can be really draining on a relationship after awhile.

I've had some contact with the Med Student. I had a really nice time with him, and he said he was going to call sometime yesterday/today. I got an email yesterday saying that he had tried to call and would call back today, but I never had a missed call. He texted me this morning to wish me a happy birthday and said he would call. He hasn't yet, but there is still time. He just finished his mid term exams (as a second year med student he is quite busy), but his birthday was a couple weeks ago... so he said about doing something for our birthdays. I hope we do get together, because I have been on like 6 dates (3 different guys) since I met him 2 1/2 weeks ago, but I'm still going back to wanting to get to know him better and such. I haven't forgotten about him yet and am still quite interested, so that must be a good sign. I like that he emailed to say that he called (and he had emailed over the weekend to say that he texted, but I didn't get that one either).... we shall see.

Today is my birthday! I had a special birthday lunch and a birthday dinner today, plus a birthday nap, a birthday cupcake, birthday balloons ... and I had a fun party on Saturday. I have friends coming into town this weekend to continue celebrating and am going to the Fridays After 5 thing at the art museum with some friends this Friday to celebrate too! I am such a lucky girl!! (Celebrating is a little exhausting though ... and not so good for losing weight!!)

I'll update with pics and stories from Saturday when I can.

Preview: Awesome party, 2nd tequila shot was a bad decision, bar at 1:30AM was a bad decision, but didn't feel so bad on Sunday as a result of the effects of the bad decision! Oh, and the cab driver gave me a bottle of water on the way home from the bar I shouldn't have gone to. And I managed to lose my cardigan, but not my coat or phone or purse.

3rd date

I went on my third date with the crepes guy on Monday.

I went in with expectations that were maybe a little too high. We went to Dave and Busters, and we had a good time - but he wouldn't play DDR with me. It made me sad. I also suggested Guitar Hero, and he didn't want to play that either. We played plenty of other games, and he didn't make fun of me when I was bad at basketball - but I think that I wanted him to. (is that weird?)

He is really nice, and I have a nice time with him - but I feel like we haven't gotten to know the quirky sides of each other, so it's not completely real. You may be thinking: but it is only the third date. But it's already the third date. I do like him, and I'm attracted to him - so we'll just have to see if there will be a fourth. If he asks, I will go and see how it goes. I think that a fourth date will have to be a little more intimate (ie. dinner and movie at my house or his house or something).

Also, he doesn't drink. I don't want that to be a deal breaker, but I like to drink beer and drink wine with dinner. I'm not sure I want to date someone where I have to be embarrassed that I don't remember walking home on Saturday - or that won't have wine with me at a BYO or a beer at happy hour.

I guess we will have to see. He has a friend in town this week. I was considering asking him to come to my birthday party - but I didn't. I don't know.

Pre-Birthday Celebrations

On Saturday, Meg P came to visit me in Philly for round 1 of the birthday celebrations. As soon as she got here, she locked her keys in the car at the parking garage. It was a new car, and she didn't realize that it locks automatically or something. We waited maybe 20 minutes for AAA, and the guy was able to jimmy it open pretty easily.

We then went to the grocery store and bought lots of food to make some yummy thai/indian/some type of curry. My sister and my friend Sarah both came over for dinner, and it was delicious!! I was a little stressed near the beginning because I was cooking curry - which I never done before ... and I managaed to spill coconut milk all over the stove (which my roommate said looked like baby puke), but it turned out great. Not too curry actually, because there were so many vegetables and should have been twice as much coconut milk, etc - but that's alright. There's always next time.

I drank a lot of wine with dinner. Woo. Then we went out to Sugar Mom's for a fancy can of PBR (woodchuck for megp) and had a photo shoot in the bumper cars.


We met up with my friend Megan and her boyfriend Mike at Sugar Mom's around 11 and after awhile we headed over to National Mechanics for a little dancing. I only had 3 beers out, but the wine I had with dinner really went to my head. I had a good time at National Mechanics dancing and what not.



After we left National Mechanics, Meg, my sister, and I went to the South St Diner, which is now open 24 hours. It's a little blurry after that, but I remember that I got the hiccups and we apparently walked my sister to her car and then went home. I woke up the next day and had shut the cats in the room with me. I almost always shut them out of the room. Not sure what I was thinking. Oh wait, the wine was thinking. I was passed out, but Meg said the cats walked over her a bit.

We woke up around 10 the next morning. I wasn't hung over - but I was still completely exhausted. Meg wanted a cheesesteak, which I ate and it promptly made me feel ill. Don't worry, I went to the gym anyway. Bad idea. It was a rough two miles, let me tell you. But I finished it anyway.

stories, snow, and beer

So I went out with the crepes guy for a second time on Tuesday. We went back to the same place, but this time to the bar upstairs, where there was a Story Slam. It is this really cool monthly story telling competition in Philly sponsored by First Person Arts: http://www.firstpersonarts.org/. For each story slam, there is a topic. This past week was Emergency. As you go in, you can put your name into a bucket if you have a story to tell. Throughout the night, they pick out ten names for audience members to tell their story. They have 5 minutes to tell a story, and it is judged by the audience members.

We got there about an hour early to get a seat, because it gets really crowded. In that time, we talked ... and I found out that he doesn't drink. at all. He doesn't care that other people drink, and he was even in a social fraternity in college - he just doesn't really like alcohol and said that he doesn't need it to have fun. Fair enough.

The stories were all really good this week. There was actually a tie, and they had to have a story off. You can watch the video on the story off here (theme: underpants). http://www.youtube.com/firstpersonarts. They were both really funny. The original stories on the topic of Emergency came from a guy who talked about going to this weird bar to play his acoustic guitar and almost having sex with a random hot girl in the bathroom, which he said never happens, and not having a condom. The girl told this story about being in this acting school in Moscow and getting really drunk and walking home in Moscow in the middle of the night. She stopped in a bank to get cash and got stuck inside the bank, the alarm went off, people were yelling at her through the speakers in Russian ... it was funny.

Anyway, the date was really good. We are going to Dave and Busters tomorrow night. I've never been, so it should be a lot of fun!

I met another guy on Thursday at Royal Tavern. Even though it was snowing, he drove from the northeast. We had a few beers, talked for 2 hours.... he was nice, and I think I'll go out with a second time to make sure that I'm not blowing him off (hello new years resolution), but I don't think I'm attracted to him.

I'm hoping to go out with the med student this week. I had a really nice time with him, and I would like to get to know him better.

Also, upped my calories this week that I was eating. Set the livestrong.com thing to "lose 1 pound a week", which used to be set at 2 pounds a week. I hadn't lost weight for the first 3 weeks in February, and I was thinking that maybe it was because I wasn't eating enough or something. So I upped the calories I ate and I lost a pound!! I also went to the gym 6 times. On Friday, I went twice. I went to 3 yoga classes. Go me. (I also had 2 snow days).

Lolita

Great guac. (They serve it with plantain chips. Oh goodness, it's tasty).

Good enchiladas with awesome portobello.

Not so great conversation. (It seemed forced and slightly awkward, and he didn't seem interested enough in me and my life).

Not so great date. (I wasn't physically attracted to him, but he was nice enough).

The end.

Crepes and Coffee

I met another guy this morning for brunch. This date also went quite well!! We met at Beau Monde, right near my house. I had a delicious crepe with eggs, tomatoes, poblano peppers, cheese, and avocado. Yum.

He is in pharmaceutical sales and travels for work to train sales reps. He is active - bikes, does a little running, likes to kite surf, ski, does triathlons ... We talked about family (His parents are from Bangladesh, and he grew up in Kuwait until he came to the US for college at USP). We talked about what we like to do, cats, trips he has taken. I talked a bit about Italy and college and studying languages. He takes salsa classes and actually went to Brasil's last night... where I have been many times. It was a nice, casual time ... it wasn't awkward and did not feel forced at all. We parted after about an hour and a half or so, which is quite a long time to sit and have brunch and drink coffee considering that our crepes came within 10 minutes or so. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said that he would love to get together sometime this week. We may go to the story slam at l'etage on tuesday or get together sometime this weekend.

Both of these guys were really nice, attractive, active, interesting - I will just have to see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm meeting someone else for dinner tomorrow night. :)