Gypsy Rose Dancing

A few weekends ago I traveled "up" to Boston for my good friend Kirsten's bachelorette party. Kirsten was my partner in crime here at Maryland for my first 2 years (we held the same position and nearly the same desk). Her wedding also unfortunately happens to fall on the same weekend as Meghan's...so I'll be unable to attend. Therefore I didn't want to miss the party.

As a bonus, my uncle (mom's bro) Kevin, aunt Jill and 3 cousins (Alivia, Mitchell and Grace) live in the Boston area and I have yet to visit them there since I've become a resident of the East Coast so it was a good opportunity to pop in. Contrary to Kevin and Jill's story about accidentally showing up to Erin and Shane's place in NYC a week earlier for a graduation (could you imagine the surprise on their faces when they opened the door to see their relatives on their doorstep saying "We're here! Congratulations!") - I communicated the correct weekend.

The fam picked me up from slightly delayed flight at the Boston airport Friday evening around 9:00pm and we headed to Harvard Square to eat dinner. A 30-minute wait at the restaurant flew by pretty fast as we chatted and Kevin and I shared a brew. After dinner we toured the area on foot for a bit (while our food digested and Alivia froze to death) before heading home.

Before bed, Mitchell showed me his artwork (he's really good!!!!) for school and Grace "graced" me with a piano concert. She then let me sit down with her and attempt to be her partner in a duet her teacher and her will be playing for an upcoming recital. Needless to say, I need work. But it was still a lot of fun...and Kevin's trusty camera skills captured most of it.

The next morning Jill and I headed to Grace's baseball game (shown on left at first base - number 8). Her team was far better than the opponent in my opinion and wound up winning although we did not stay until the end. Grace had to leave early for a soccer game (Man, this girl is BUSY!) and Jill kindly drove me to downtown Boston where I was meeting up with the bachelorette party. We said our goodbyes and I tromped up the stairs to the Gypsy Rose Studios above (see www.GypsyRoseDancing.com).

The bachelorette party actually started the night before with the ladies getting together and decorating shirts to wear Saturday evening. I entrusted another girl to make mine, however, because I was with my family. Saturday's agenda, which I met up with them to participate in, started with Exotic Dancing Lessons (floor, chair and pole routines). I was actually really excited for this and it wound up being AWESOME. When I arrived there was a costume room I was ushered into and encouraged to "pick out my outfit" and get changed. I went all out, selecting some boots, a ripped up strapless tanktop/short-short-short-dress(?) and a pair of "booty shorts" (who are we kidding. This was like underwear).

I walked into the room and instantly made a first impression on about 8 ladies (I only knew Kirsten and her friend Kathy). I laughed at the thought of what I must look like. Then, jumped right into the routine (I was a bit late). We learned a floor routine, pole routine and chair routine and it was an absolute blast. Great way to bond with strangers let me tell you.

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Kirsten's to hang out until dinner. Later on, as we walked to dinner and Kirsten had her "tasks" in hand (obtain 10 business cards from men that have to write "good luck" on the back of them, get a picture of a guy's wife, etc.) we happened to pass by a fire station. If you know Kirsten, I'm pretty sure you know what came next. Yup. She asked permission to practice her new pole routine on their fire pole...and they LET HER! It was a riot! I managed to snap a picture on my phone...not the best quality but glad to have captured the moment.


Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant and then we headed outside where our party bus awaited us. One thing to note, is that Kirsten had no idea of ANY of the activities of the weekend until each happened. Thus, when they were walking to the pole dancing class, she had no idea where they were going...and after dinner she DEFINITELY had no idea that we were headed to a brand new limousine party bus (only its 2nd night of use!). We had rented it for 6 hours...which with it picked us up at 8:30pm, gave us until 2:30am to have a blast...and we did. We made a few stops along the way at various bars...and not only danced the night away at the bars but on the bus as well.

Sunday was just a lot of laying around and relaxing until my flight left and headed back to good old Baltimore. Overall it was great to see family and a dear friend...but it is always great to slip into your own bed too :)

"Marco!..."

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to witness my first polo match. And while the University of Maryland was hosting the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships...this is NOT the polo I am referring to. Oh yes. I am referring to the game that dates back to 6th century BC (some argue even earlier) to Persia/Iran. The game that is played on a field 300 yards in length and at least 160 yards in width. The game in which 4 players on each team compete riding horses and holding a stick - swatting a round plastic ball (this used to be wooden back in the day) into a goal on either end. There are 4, 6 or 8 periods (or Chukkas) in each game - and unlike most other sports - each time a team scores - they switch sides. Interesting...

I acquired a pair of tickets to "America's Polo Cup" - a game between the United State polo team and Australia - from a work contact of mine at the Washington Times (an official sponsor) and Shawn agreed to go with me. He is really into horseracing, and while this is nothing of the sort, it still involves throughbreds and competition, so he was game.

The event was hosted at a field in Poolesville, MD, about an hour drive from my place. The weather forecast threatened rain - but the day turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. The drive there was so pretty - most of it spent on a 2-lane country road with homes along the way that you can't even imagine. We kept asking ourselves what these people possibily do for a living. Personally, I felt like I was in the movie Annie - moving into Daddy Warbucks' house. To give you an idea, I found a listing online for the house on the right here with the red roof...asking price is over $3M. Mind you, this is NOTHING compared to some of the compounds we witnessed.

I kept saying to Shawn, OMG look at that one?! And he would respond, "I'm trying to get us there alive, dear. Gotta keep my eyes on the road...". Ha. I guess that is slightly important.

When we got there we parked in a huge field and had to walk to the will call tent. Shawn wore some nice khaki slacks and a button up. I wasn't sure what to wear - so I tried to play it safe with jeans and a nice shirt with heels. Apparently 95% of the women there decided to wear dresses, so I felt a little underdressed - but the funniest thing was that they all wore rainboots with their dresses. Why? Well - probably because they knew it was going to be SUPER muddy. Smart girls ;). I, on the other hand, lost my shoe once in the mud - it got stuck and I just kept right on walking. {Troy, it reminded me of the Colorado Blizzard when you lost your shoe in the snow and stepped right into the water in the parking lot, remember?!}.

With all the mud, we did one loop around the venue and then nestled into a table and chairs near midfield where we didn't move much from that point on. There was a bunch of Chukkas (periods of play) prior to the main event with various U.S. Polo teams (DC, Chicago, etc.). They were played on one end of the field, width-wise (due to the field conditions). Then they had some air entertainment such as a Coast Guard helicopter that took a few laps and even dropped/then picked up a guy via zip line. There was also a parachute drop - with 2 guys who delivered the game ball (slightly bigger than a softball).


The "real game" started about an hour and a half late. We were actually about ready to leave, but we kept waiting for "one more Chukka" because we were hoping the main game would be played lengthwise on the full playing field. I'm glad we stayed :) It was amazing to me the training that must take place for these horses to be as agile as they were. What was ALSO amazing was how brave some people were by sitting pretty close to the field. There is only a 6" tall base board that lines the sides of the field (note, that is 6 INCHES). Many people had lawn chairs and blankets lined up only a few feet behind this board. Apparently the threat of a horse weighing over a ton, chasing after a ball and not being able to stop before reaching the sideline, didn't scare anyone. What idiots. The announcer even called them "Stupid Americans" as he constantly warned the spectators sitting, and walking by, to get back.

At halftime (is this what they call it?), they had a divet stomp. They played "Pretty Woman" during this - as it was portrayed in that movie...where all spectators get to go out onto the field and "stomp" the grass divets into the ground. In the picture to the right you can see a few people heading out to do so, although there were a lot that wound up going out after this picture was taken. Yes, dogs were apparently allowed and also note the red base board at the bottom of the picture. This is what I was referring to above. Note how close everyone is to it! Another thing the announcer had everyone do at halftime was mimick Julia Roberts' fist pump (Click here for youtube :07 link). For those of you that haven't seen the movie - or been to a polo match....they are quite "uppity" and high-class. Therefore, a grunting fist pump is probably not something to be expected. The announcer made it quite fun though as he had everyone in the crowd pumping their fists into the air and yelling.

After halftime we devoured a basket of fries each. Shawn originally asked if I wanted to share some - but I reminded him how fast I tend to inhale things - and we opted for 2 baskets, 1 for each of us, just to make sure he got his fair share ;) Please note - he is a pretty fast eater too, but as most of you know, I usually bring home the blue ribbon. Bellies full, we had had enough (remember it started an hour and a half late...and we were early to begin with)...so we tromped back across the muddy field to the car, wiped our feet and shoes off with ArmourAll Leather wet wipes and drove off into the sunset of million dollar homes!

Final verdict: we both said we would go again. Very different - but fun. A great "first" with good times. Who knows - maybe next time I'll bring my rain boots and actually participate in the divet stomp!

{Breathes In...and Exhales}

It has been awhile since I blogged. I know, I know, KWoods is ready to kill me - and may have deactivated his subscription to my blog...sorry bro. Anyway, I need to get away from the whole "gotta have something super interesting to write about" mindset...because quite frankly as you can see that isn't really working out for me.

This past weekend was a breath of fresh air for me. My brother, Sarah and Sarah's best friend from college--Lauren came into town. Lauren was a bit of a surprise - she and I traveled to Arizona a month ago and talked of her trying to come down from NYC for Sarah and Troy's visit - but she was going to be vacationing in Mexico until the Thursday prior and had to come back into work Friday (the day which she would really need to spend traveling to see me). lol. No, Lauren didn't contract the Swine Flu. However, the "Powers That Be" at her firm, decided they didn't want her to come into the office until the following Tuesday, just to be sure.

So...Lauren jumped on Amtrak (shout out to ST) and made her way to the BWI airport where she surprised the crap out of Troy in baggage claim and then hid when Sarah announced via cell phone to me that she had just touched down. It was a great sight to see when Troy and Sarah rolled their suitcases out to the car...got in...and I started to drive away, only to swerve back over to the curb two doors later to a woman dressed in pink racing to the car - LAUREN! Sarah was so surprised...and the trip was off to a good start!

Friday night we got all dressed up, my friend Katie joined us, and we headed to Arlington, VA to eat at the restaurant/Latin Lounge Shawn works at: Guarapo. Yes...a little trouble getting there as the GPS on my phone didn't necessarily take us the fastest way and Katie's irritation, stemming from her starvation, was apparent. But...when we finally DID get there, the food was excellent and had a few nice tasting drinks as well ;)

At this point, Katie dropped the 4 of us off at a nightclub called "The Park" where we headed up to the fourth floor to celebrate my friend/coworker Jessica's birthday. "The Park" is a nice place where celebrities frequent and the DJ always plays good music. We took advantage of the good tunes - and wound up dancing the night away.


My roommate Danielle met us there as well. Funny story: my friend Marcus, who works for the NCAA and was in town for Lacrosse National Championship meetings, was going to meet us there also. He arrived at The Park at the same time as Danielle - we were a bit behind so while on the phone with Marcus, I described Danielle and he then located her outside, and started calling for her. She looked at him, like, "is this guy talking to ME? I have no idea who he is!" haha. And...that is how they met. By the time we got there they were old pals.

Saturday we laid low during the day, headed to the mall to make some returns and for Troy to visit his beloved H&M store. We then headed to Comcast Center (home of the Terrapins!) where there was an event called the "Catwalk Classic" taking place, hosted by a local radio station. Apparently it is a high school fashion show that runs from 5pm - 10pm. However, we were only interested in the first hour or so which was full of performances by the GS Boys, Yung LA and Keri Hilson. Sarah LOVES Keri Hilson so she was really excited for that part. The funny thing is, the event is mainly attended by urban high school kids - so there was a million 14-16 year olds strutting around in outfits they had probably been planning for weeks. I'm talking dresses, suits and hair all piled on top of their heads with feathers and yard sticking out. Meanwhile we threw on whatever we could find. The nice part was that we sat in one of our suites - so we had a comfy seat, good view and were a bit separated from the Mayhem.

After so much fun Friday night, we did briefly discuss if it were possible to have even CLOSE to the same amount of fun on Saturday night. With a different cast of characters, including our dear friend Greg - we decided it could happen. Greg used to work with me at Maryland but moved away last summer after he took a job with the University of Mississippi. We had been begging him for weeks to try to make it up for this weekend - but it just wasn't going to work for him since he came a few weeks prior and would be coming a few weeks later as well. As the stars would align, Greg was selected for an interview at Georgetown the Thursday prior and they agreed to fly him home Sunday (same cost to them!) - so he was here after all! We were so excited. (Better news on Monday was they offered him the job and he's moving back!!!) In addition to Greg, others such as my old boss ("best boss ever") Brett and Shawn and his friends joined us. Destination of choice was the Shadow Room.

Turned out to be another awesome night. Highlights included the DJ randomly playing an older song Troy had been talking about all day, Lauren dancing 3 inches from the ground AND me sweating so much that it started to soak through my dress. I felt gross but was trying not to draw too much attention to myself, so I made a graceful exit to the restroom where I proceeded to hang out and try to let my dress dry. Needless to say, as time was ticking and I was missing out, I wound up going into the stall, removing my dress and cooling off. The whole time I was hoping everyone would be having so much fun they wouldn't notice I was missing...which I think I achieved...UNTIL the DJ started playing Zombie Nation. Note, this is the song we play 23092039 times at our MBB games that anyone who knows me (especially all my friends that were there from work), knows I would be running to the middle of the dance floor upon first hearing. Anyway, as my friends quickly noticed...I was nowhere to be found...as I sat in the bathroom...waiting for the final pieces of my dress to dry. Probably less than a minute later I hear Sarah's voice in the bathroom, "Carrie? Are you in here?"

Busted.

Totally worth it though - as I reappeared a new woman with a brand new dress! lol!

A late night visit to IHOP with the 4 of us, Shawn, and his friend Asanti proved to hit the spot and then it was off to bed. Troy and Lauren headed out of town on Sunday and then Sarah left Monday. I was sad to seem them all go - but happy we had such a great time.

You know, Lauren and I were talking the other day...it is sometimes frustrating that I do not have my closest friends near me here in Maryland. However, sometimes I need to stop and remember that the value of a friend isn't necessarily tied to their zipcode. I am so fortunate to have some really great relationships with such awesome people and while I may not be able to see them every weekend - I know they are always there for me and it just makes me appreciate the time we DO get to spend together that much more :)