the 14 miracles of inauguration weekend

first of all, i hope you all like my new display name. the other one was really just a placeholder and since all of the lovely co-authors of this blog chose such exotic ones, i thought i'd follow suit and use my nickname with my middle and last initial. sounds kind of asian doesn't it? like i could be yoyo ma's sister or something. plus, sarah will be in asia in a few months, so it felt right.

i cannot believe christmas was only a month ago- it feels like a million years ago. work's been busy, which is good… but i can’t help but see the unemployment numbers rise and think i might be next. so you’d think i’d get react by keeping my nose to the grindstone, burning the midnight oil and all that. nope, instead i decided to take 2 days off of work (on top of a holiday) to go see the inauguration! i really wanted to go and had all the necessary things in place- mlk day off, libby and jenny offering a place to stay and park, an invite to a kickass inauguration day party that libby was planning with the website she works for, and promises of historical moments to share with the grandkids someday. my only problem was i had no way of getting there that wasn't astronomically expensive. enter chris and jackie who had wheels and wanted to partake in all of the above. it was perfect.

once we made plans to go, i started researching a little. the warnings for people traveling to dc were enough to scare off anyone with even the tiniest inklings of agoraphobia. every source i checked was predicting mass pandemonium. early estimates said 4 million people would come to DC and that every road would be blocked, and that there would be roller-coaster like lines just to get on the metro. it seemed like stepping within a 5 mile radius of dc would be "like times square on new years eve, but worse"- direct quote from a newspaper. i'm glad i was prepared for the worst, though, because every time any little thing worked in our favor i saw it as some sort of miracle and wanted to praise lord jesus christ. in fact, here is the story of inauguration day, which i would like to call "14 miracles" :

• miracle #1 and #1.5: no traffic on the way to jenny's in maryland, and no traffic driving into DC with jenny. it was saturday though, so maybe i was being a little paranoid.
• miracle#2: jenny gets parking spot right in front of libby's apartment. i thought we'd be circlingfor hours!
• miracle #3: 12 bottles of wine got consumed on a night of "taking it easy"
• miracle #4: garth brooks' rendition of shout is the highlight of sunday's concert on the mall. i've never jumped so much in my life! i left before barack even spoke bc i was so cold.
• miracle #5: despite the crowds GOT A TABLE WITHOUT A WAIT at the nearby round robin bar at the willard hotel. after a makers on the rocks and some cheese popcorn. i am sufficiently thawed out.
• miracle #6: i did not have a panic attack trying to get out of the metro on monday. even though we were stuck underground for 20 mins shoulder to shoulder, groin to butt, boobs to back. everyone was so nice! and not pushy! they were almost happy to be stuck together. weird...
• miracle #7: caught a cab (i thought cabs were out of the question when 2 million people come to town!!) to georgetown, right after seeing charles gibson up close. he's pretty handsome.
• miracle #8: saw dave chappelle and then caught ANOTHER cab, no problem, back to dupont circle (libby's hood).
• miracle #9: i did not have to pee once the entire 4 hours i stood in the cold to watch the inauguration.
• miracle #10: WE INAUGURATED A BLACK PRESIDENT. i was standing next to a couple who came in all the way from new zealand and thought of sarah the happy traveller and wondered where she was at that moment.
  
• miracle #11: we made it back in one piece
• miracle#12: caught cabs to and from the inauguration party ON inauguration day. the party was so kickass- colt 45 flipcup, karaoke, burlesque dancers who put themselves in balloons, twinkee eating contest, an awesome standup comedian, and tons of great bands. my favorite was libby's bf's band, fever. look 'em up!
• miracle #13: they were not sold out of soul food on U street. yumm.
• miracle #14: (bc 13 miracles might amount to bad luck) no traffic on the way back either!
  

for chris's pictures of the weekend, go here (he got some great shots!):
http://picasaweb.google.com/jackieam5/Obamarama#

and for pictures of the party libby put on with brightestyoungthings.com (seriously the girl is amazing for pulling this off) go here:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/photo-posts/photos-byt-inauguration-classic-2k9-spectacular/

the pictures always tell the story better.

now i am back in boston and sick as a dog. can't complain though. it was definitely worth it!

....in Boston, just another Thursday

Thursday, January 22nd.....Pops Moreau's 54th Birthday.

So it's been a hellish week at work:  the economy blows, every time I cold call for new business the VP tells me 'no' and I'm the scapegoat in the office that everyone likes to crack on because they think I can "take it".  But you can pretty much say that I'm a candy Peep in May:  stale and crispy on the outside but the marshmallow center is a bit chewy and still soft...aka I cried at work like a pansy because I couldn't take it.  SO I get my shit together to bust out of the door at 6:00p.m. (early for me) and grab the change of clothes that I packed the morning of.  I'm in the bathroom changing out of the brown tweed suit that I've worn all day before I realize that I left the shirt I'd picked out to wear on my bed at home... typical.  But, as the eternal optimist, I think on the bright side and realize that I now have an excuse to go shopping before meeting up with my father and sister for dinner.  Lucky me, they are busy rubbing elbows and hob-nobbin' it with the city's wealthy esquires at Anthony's Pier 4 and wont be on Newbury Street for another 45 minutes.  I turn on Newbury Street and fate have it, like Moses parting the Red Sea, there is a space smack-dab in front of the store that is every 20 something's mecca for cheap shopping:  H&M.  

I prance in the store, get lost in the inexpensive faux designer studs and settle on a shirt from the $5 rack, 2 pashminas and a gold necklace that's a turn-table (Sar...I'll buy you one...it's amazing!).  Alison and Dad pull up right as I'm checking out and off we go to eat overpriced entrees at Capital Grill.  Being a family of frugalness, we find a clutch spot at a meter near The Other Side and start walking toward the restaurant. About halfway down the street there is some familiar looking guy walking towards Alison and I on the way to check the meter/parking signs on the street when both of us realize that he's familiar because he's Christopher Knight (aka Peter Brady, aka married to Adrienne Curry via the VH1 reality show "My Fair Brady").  The first thought that ran through my head was "Oh shit....it's Chris Knight!!"  The 2nd thought was "what the hell is he doing bargain parking??? Don't famous people use valet?"  Alison and I had a joyous moment over our Boston celebrity sighting and contemplated alerting TMZ before we realized that they wouldn't really give a crap.  

At dinner, I wine and dine with the best of them at Capital Grille, order disgusting amounts of food and watch my sister shamelessly flirt with our waiter.  Now, every since I was 17 I teased my sisters that she was destined to married a bald guy.  Despite the fact that she gets super pissed, I wholeheartedly feel that this is indeed a fact.  So when she decides that she has a crush on our incredibly sarcastic, extremely attentive and very bald waiter, I can't help but feel that I am witnessing destiny in the making.  Fully knowing the fact that my sister will never act on this opportune situation, I decide to step in on her behalf and write her name, number and email address down on a business card and sneak it into the billfold while Alison is in the bathroom.  I decide not to tell her what I've done until we're walking towards the car so that she doesn't have the chance to go back and take the card.  No more than 20 minutes after we leave, Alison gets a text message from her future husband and they decide to set a tentative date for next week.  Holla!  I decide to pat myself on the back for the potential success as a matchmaker.  Shit, I should just quit my recruiting job now and take the place of that hideous chick on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker and become a reality TV star for my undeserving talent!  Can you say cha-ching?

But I quickly come down from my high horse as I climb into big empty bed with nothing to cuddle up with except my copy of Eclipse, the 3rd book in the Twilight series that is popular amongst middle schoolers...(damn, if only I had a vampire boyfriend who is eternally 17). 

Thus, we come to an end of just another Thursday in Boston.  

Peace, Love and the Celtics, 

Lauren