If Julie Fell

I will admit it. I watched every episode of Making the Band 4. I had to know what was going on with the girls, the guys, the hookups, the drama of that many people in one house. I felt this strange urge to know whether Dawn and Q were going to make it and whether Diddy was going to lose it on Aubrey O’Day. I don’t really know why. I didn’t buy Danity Kane’s first album, I didn’t watch Making the Band 3 at all.  But there I was - recording episodes and giving re-caps/analyzations of the their antics with my friends.

During the course of watching the show, which follows both the guy group - Day 26, the girl group - Danity Kane, and the solo artist - Donnie, that make up Diddy’s proteges I was able to hear tidbits of songs off their new albums and suddenly I was smitten with “Damaged” by Danity Kane. I love it. Little known fact - well maybe not little known but I do tend to keep it a secret I suppose - I like pop music - I like the catchy beats and mostly I like music that allows me to dance while flipping my hair a lot. If you’ve seen me out dancing or just hyper somewhere with loud music you’ve seen this sweet dance move. (I know right now there are readers nodding - acknowledging my rowdy hair flipping dance moves.)

Anyhow, back to the point. “Damaged”. So fitting for my life but I think what I really like about it is that it really is a sad topic but the bass and fast tempo keeps you optimistic. Very tricky Diddy…very tricky.

While I could write a long blog about being confused, sad, frustrated, angst ridden and the other whatnot that is so quaintly my love life I think it’s time to lighten up life a little here in blog land. Plus, what better to lighten things up then discuss the single item that might be returning me to the giddy girly happy love life radar.

Lip gloss.

I did a little retail therapy this weekend and picked up some sparkly, spring toned MAC plush glass. Magic in a bottle. I’ve never been much of a lip gloss/lipstick wearer. I think this is partially because I just don’t really think through that final step and previous dudes I’ve dated always expressed their annoyance at lip products. But let me tell you this, not only does lip gloss really polish off a complete look, it really just is fun and makes every girl feel just that extra bit girly.

Since venturing into the land of daily lip gloss wearers (Day 3 was today people) I’ve received quite a few compliments and from what I can tell a little bit of flirtational vibes. I could be wrong, and I’m always the most cautious and usually last to know when someone is expressing an interest in me but there could possibly be some interesting developments on the JDub front.
Plus, lip gloss is the perfect compliment to a fun new dance song and of course my signature moves.

For the most part, I do not like losing sleep. I do not like having scary dreams that wake me up and keep me up because of their craziness. I do not like being stressed out before I go to bed anticipating all sorts of mass to do lists.If I can help it I just do not like going without sleep. However, on some occasions it is totally worth it.

Like when you close down a night club in Sin City and get 45 minutes of low quality sleep before hitting the airport. Or when you stay up all night talking or watching movies with a charming boy, that’s at times worth it. But when people just tell me “hey, spring your clock forward and lose an hour of your life” - well, that just does not make me happy.

I was slightly bitter heading into last weekend knowing I would lose that hour of my life, knowing it would make my Sunday go by faster, knowing it would make Monday morning just a tad more draining but I was ready…for the most part. So when All-Star (yes, that’s a new friend introduction to this here blog) called me up Saturday and suggested we go out, grab some drinks, be social I was ready. And when casual drinks with friends turned to shot taking and drunken love confessions to strangers I embraced it. When 27 Dresses demanded we hit up another bar 20 minutes before closing time I offered location options and chugged champagne right there alongside her. Usually after a long night out and closing down not one but two bars I would head home and crawl into bed for some much needed rest - but not last weekend. For whatever reason we all decided to go back to All-Star and 27 Dresses loft and have a dance party.

Now I’m sure calm dance parties do exist (I personally would not be interested in them) but this was by far one of the most rowdy dance parties I have been involved in - and that’s saying something friends. Since the clock sprung forward it was suddenly 3am and we were bumping “Please don’t stop the music”, running around (literally), dancing on furniture and jumping - yes, jumping, like it was our jobs.

Around 3:30am when the downstairs neighbor came up to tell us there was a 5 year old downstairs and that we were way too loud we not only hid from this person but we then turned the music back on and jumped and danced exclusively on the couch. Classic.

Like I said, it has to really be worth it for me to miss out on my treasured sleep. But anytime Rihanna, Chris Brown, my girls and I get together I’ll go with out the sleep - Please Don’t Stop The Music.

Whirlwind Weekend 2008 - I love me some alliteration and I also love me some acronyms. The last few days have been one crazy time mostly due to the quick jaunt to Las Vegas and I’m happy to report I came back without having gotten married or arrested. Which basically makes life easier because if I would have had to bail out on work due to an annulment or bail hearing neither of those are easy to explain.

Here’s a quick highlight reel…from what I remember:

Friday: After packing a suitcase (yes, I checked baggage - this is pretty much unheard of if you are familiar with the amount of travel I have done in the last few years and my traumatizing lost baggage situations which lead me to have very little trust in flying the friendly skies - but that is neither here nor there because if you check luggage you can bring more shoes - genius!) in 15 minutes I wasn’t fully sure of what all I would have once I arrived but I knew I would have options. Plus, really, I’m a girl - I need options…lots of options. The Sox Fan and I were quite eco-friendly and utilized public transport to get to the airport. Along the way we judged people - and not quietly I admit but really, when you are screeching into your cell phone via poor grammar what did you really think was going to happen?

I digress…but we made it to the airport, came into contact with our new favorite ID checker at security (he was a halfie - he quickly called me out on my halfie status and accented every statement with “that’s great” or “excellent” in a strange but amusing tone), we also came into contact with our least favorite bag screener (stupid Yankee fan) and after a short detour for magazine purchasing (The Economist and US Weekly for me, ESPN, GQ and Entertainment Weekly for The Sox Fan) we were on our way. Seriously though, how awesome are we? Even our magazine choices are awesome.

After arriving in Sin City we all checked into the hotel and were ready for afternoon drinks. This would have been a good time for us to eat as well since we had yet to do that but I’m a simple girl and I know where my priorities lie. Post drinks we gawked at lions and started our adventure to find the much anticipated beer pong bar. The legend is true friends, with a college ID for pitchers and $0.50 you too can be immersed into beer pong on your favorite sports teams rivalry table. We started on an Ohio State v. Who Really Cares table and after much stalking successfully vacated posers off the Red Sox v. Yankees table - Boo yah.

Multiple (and unsuccessful for The Sox Fan and I’s team) rounds of beer pong later it was determined that we were wasted and that The Married Couple was kicking our ass. Damn.  Next it was time for the Bellagio water show - glorious - and even though we tried pretending like we had just robbed a casino and were dirty rich it wasn’t the same without Brad Pitt or George Clooney. We wandered further down the strip, took a slight pause at fake Trevi Fountain along with some other giant sculptures and arrived at the much anticipated pirate ship…from here it gets a bit fuzzy but I consider Friday night a non-bust.

Saturday: What says hang over remedy better than a buffet? Answer: Not much. So we were on our way to a highly touted buffet at Paris. After launching ourselves into food coma we attempted to not fall asleep in public by drinking as many frozen beverages as possible without going into diabetic shock and shopping. Glorious. We also made time to watch some sports and judge people - standard fare.

Our one structured event for the weekend was a nice group dinner and check us out because we not only scored a creepy magician’s alleged table but also two fine wait staff members, the ever helpful and courteous James and the easily confused but sweet Judy (she couldn’t help the fact that margarita, mojito and machiato all sounds alike). After a great meal of Asian fusion it was time to get our game faces on - which with as little sleep and as many adult beverages as we had consumed was harder than one might think.

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression about me but hot damn I think I was meant to be a go-go dancer. At our nightclub destination it was solidified that after having last partied in Vegas 3.5 years ago my feelings about go-go dancing have not changed. Ladies, think about this, you have short work hours, you get to dance without creepers all up on you and you can judge people and their drunken antics. Sweet gig if you ask me.

Highlights of Saturday night include: LOTS of robot dancing, magical Chocolate Cake shots, discovering pineapple juice chasers to Patron (where was this useful knowledge Friday?), West African lady dancing, a fantastic and crush worthy bartender, closing down a Vegas night club (”Babe, the lights are on - we are leaving right now - I mean we have to leave - we don’t do lights on at the bar”), and “That’s what she said”/”That’s what Julie said”/”That’s what I said”.

Sunday: 45 minutes of sleep. 4-5 minutos friends. Things I do not like in life: not getting enough sleep. We all made it to the airport and on the plane - one wouldn’t think that was a huge deal but when some in your party are still uber wasted and others are barely awake it’s an accomplishment. Upon arriving home my exciting day consisted of a shower, a nap, lazy sweatpant Oscars watching - get some Diablo Cody, a phone call confirmation that the shenanigans I thought occurred officially did and more sleeping.

Today I’m still trying to get my body re-hydrated, my suitcase cleaned out, my pictures sorted through and my internal operating system on normal non-party pants hours. It’s going to take some time but I think we’re on the right track.

Viva Las Vegas - see you soon old friend…