So Many Activies!

...a phrase my beautiful friend Alicia would often squeal out.

Speaking of Alicia and the girls of K2... if there was one thing that could bring us together it was food. It didn't matter if there was an exam the next day or 8 pages left of our typical 12 pager, if you tempted us with a good meal, we would be there! Luxe Burger was our not-so-guilty pleasure during school and I returned there a few days ago with my boyfriend and mom, thanks to Groupon. I got my usual turkey burger with sauteed onions and guacamole, Dave got something ridiculously spicy (probably so I wouldn't pick at it) and my mom got the Thanksgiving burger. The food was fab and although the company wasn't the same, it was still just as great.

The rest of the weekend (which includes Thursday because I'm still unemployed) was an awesome one. Gessenia and I kicked off Thursday night at Centro, a martini bar in East Greenwich where we stuck it through the less-than-okay service for some of the best martinis ever. Hers was an Oatmeal Cookie and mine was a Butterfinger (which we decided was okay because we went to the gym before). We played catch up for the next couple of hours, talking about where we were on our job search and how her informational interview at RACEPOINT GROUP went!! (read previous blog) We laughed at my emotional state and attempted to figure out the reasoning behind some of the songs being played in the background. Anyone overhearing our conversation was given free entertainment for the night.

Friday was the annual Blessing of the Fleet, an event that everyone and their mom attends. It was a great time under the beer tent except this year there was less elbow room than ever before. As soon as all of our tokens had been exchanged for beer, or in my case, pinot grigio, we headed over to the Coast Guard House where we spent the rest of the night.

After a 4 hour nap and a 7 hour work day at the golf course, I met up with my friend Alicia to drive to Acton, MA for our friend Kelly's graduation party. It was sooooo good to be with some of my K2 girls again and thanks to BBM, Facebook, and mobile uploads it was like we were all together again dancing to Gold Dust.

Us waving "hi" to our missing 3

Last Friday Night

Sorry I have fallen off the blog radar for the past few weeks. I've been caught up with work, summer nights, and Firefly Lane. I'm finally able to add another post (in between blowing my nose and drying my tears) because I can now step away from the book that has had me in another world this past week. Firefly Lane has been the perfect escape but I have to say I'm glad it's over. I've been so caught up in it, I would race home to read more. I don't remember the last time I read a book, never mind one that effected me as much as this one.

Last week, Friday Night finally made a comeback... I guess all the stars were aligned. It was the perfect day, mid 80s, and at the last minute two of my bests from Bryant came to visit. We had dinner at Kabuki, caught up over edemame and I successfully introduced them to the eel avocado roll which is my favorite!

When we got home, we got ready all together just like we were back at school- music blasting, playing relay with the flat iron, and 4 girls to one mirror. Gessen joined us when she got out of work and after trying on a dozen outfits, snapping a bunch of pictures, we were ready to go. The rest of the night was spent at The Coast Guard House where you could find us holding our Narragansetts in the air on the dance floor. Nothing could stop us- except for the view outside that we admired multiple times that night. On the ride home we hit the highest notes our vocal cords would allow and recapped in the morning via pictures, videos and the disaster in the kitchen. Now that's the Friday night I've been looking for.

View from the Coast Guard deck

Bostonians

7:30am: (401): So excited for todayyyyy! I'm on my way...Boston here we come!

7:55am: After getting to her house, Gessenia and I spent a considerable amount of time deciding which shoes she should wear to her informational interview. It was between her reliable "mature" white shoes or her stylish nude suede heels. After weighing the pros and cons, we obviously agreed on the latter...(it may be an interview, but you still have to look fabulous!) With the assistance of her mom, Gessen's outfit was complete and we were ready to catch the 8:38am train.

8:38am: We're only at exit 20 on 95. "Looks like we're taking the 9am train!"

8:45am: We purchased our tickets and it wasn't until we stepped out of Cafe Le France (or whatever it is) that we realized he said the next train was at 9:48. What?! Not possible. Turns out we somehow managed to read the schedule wrong the night before. After a brief moment of panic we did what he had to do and paid the extra money to buy another ticket for the 9:16 Acela.

9:05am: As we were waiting outside for the train I grabbed my camera off the ground to snap a pic of the State House. Silly me forgot I was using my camera to keep my ticket from flying away. Sure enough my ticket took off. As it drifted toward the tracks I had a moment of poor judgment and envisioned myself doing whatever I had to do to get it back in my possession...even if that meant jumping down to the tracks to grab it. Thankfully I caught it just as I stepped onto the yellow section. Gessenia and I died laughing at my frantic scramble and it wasn't until we read the sign "Caution live wires below" that we fell silent. That could have been bad.

9:48am: We arrived in Boston after numerous mock interviews and the extension of our Boston dream. We had just enough time to find New Directions on Oliver Street and grab a multi-grain bagel at Starbucks.





12:00pm: I got quite far into my book, Firefly Lane, while I had waited for Gessenia outside on a park bench down Oliver Street. When she finally walked out of New Directions it looked like a whole new level of excitement had come over her. She was reassured, motivated and was so excited to share the information she had learned during the past hour and a half. (I'm sure she'll go more into detail in her blog to follow)

We lost track of time for the rest of the day and it only continued to get better. We walked around Quincy Market and found Gessenia the perfect graduation party dress at Urban Outfitters. We grabbed lunch at a little Mexican restaurant where we discussed our next move (career wise) over apps and a pitcher of white sangria. We made a lengthy check list and decided to step our game up even more (after the 4th of course!). After we paid the bill and checked our statuses in the mirror, we took off-with no plan in particular just to make the most out of our trip. We hopped around from place to place, even tried watermelon flavored beer, until Gessenia got a call from a friend (who saw her tweet- that she was in Boston) and we made our way to The Landing. It was so exciting to be in the Boston crowd, mixed in with people who were just getting out of work and really feeling like we belong here.

After too many drinks and too many laughs my boyfriend scooped us up after his night class at 10:15pm and we headed home. It was such a perfect day....and we still have unused tickets back!

Ice Queen

Another Friday has come and gone and Mother Nature once again, selfishly took away a well deserved night out. I spent the stormy evening in with my boyfriend watching Get Him to the Greek- which I really can't complain about, however I'm still waiting for that typical "summer night" and longing to get caught up in the music at the Coast Guard House. Thankfully Sunday nights have saved me and are what keep me going throughout the week. Since I've been back in the area, I've found myself at Trio in Narragansett every Sunday night. Whether it's drinks with my gf or dinner with the boyfriend, it has yet to let me down...and the perfect summer drink may or may not be found there! Gessen and I first tried it out on a whim a few weeks ago- "being decisively spontaneous" is our new thing- and it was a pleasant surprise. I ordered the Midnight Martini: Patron XO, Svedka Vanilla and Kahlua-HELLO! and she ordered the ever loyal original cosmo. Both drinks were delish but it wasn't until my next visit the following week that I was tempted to call this the place of Summer 2011. My boyfriend and I went for drinks and half off apps and that's when I was introduced to the Ice Queen. It's one of Trio's best selling martinis and I can see why! Grape vodka, white grape juice and ice wine, topped with real grapes-so perfect. I didn't hate the food either: we had their "Pizza of the Moment" and although the name sounds silly, this pie was nothing to joke about. Although I'm now in love with Sundays, there's still an opportunity for Fridays to share the spotlight.