President's Day: An Underrated Holiday

Wow. It’s hard to believe President’s day has gone as fast as it came. It just sneaks up on me every year and I can’t even fit it all my celebrating! I think I did OK this weekend. We developed a new President's Day tradition: Drinko. It’s like Plinko, except shots are at the bottom of the Plinko board and you drink from whichever shot glass the Plinko chip falls in. It’s played on President’s Day Eve and it’s the way our forefathers would have wanted it.

[UPDATE: When searching for a picture of Drinko online, I found the following User Review on Amazon.com:

The first time I encountered this device was when I was at my local cafe and the waitress (who shall go unnamed) showed it to me. She said it was a Christmas gift from her sister. After showing me how it worked, I then asked Lila if her sister was some kind of sicko, because the game is clearly designed by, or intended to be used by, monkeys. After she stopped pummeling me, I managed to stay conscious long enough to play a round with several of the uniformed law enforcement and emergency medical types. Though the entertainment value of the game was largely lost on me due to my subsequent hospital stay, I think some people would appreciate the chance to play this game as a further excuse for their drunken rampages.]

Moving on...I also brought in a new addition to my accessory family this weekend- a black leather Marc by Marc Jacobs bag. I got it at Cusp in Tyson’s Corner. The great news is that Cusp is opening a store in Georgetown on March 1st, so I’ll have even easier access to making ill-advised, checking-account-depleting, frivolous purchases.

Probably the highlight of the weekend was seeing Lily Allen at the 9:30 Club (Friday night with Jessica, Marie and R-bone). She vaguely reminds me of Gwen Stefani circa 1995- Lily’s got the whole ska-influenced music, heavy bangs, drinking/cursing like a sailor, girl-in-a-boy’s-world (but still kicking ass), unambiguous lyrics thing down (just like Gwen did). In case you didn’t know, I’ve had a mild obsession with Gwen since the age of 13. I call Lily “potty mouth spice” though because her music is so sunny and pop (and British), but if you listen a little closer, she says things like

“Try desperately to think of the politest way to say/Just get out my face, just leave me alone/And no you can't have my number/Cause I lost my phone/Oh yeah, actually yeah I'm pregnant, having a baby in like 6 months so no, and uhhh.…./ Nah I've gotta go cos my house is on fire…./I've got herpes, err no I've got syphilis...” (Knock ‘Em Out)

OR

“I never wanted it to end up this way/You've only got yourself to blame/I'm gonna tell them that you're rubbish in bed now/And that you're small in the game.” (Not Big)

Lily chose not to have an opening band for her set. Instead she chose to have an opening DJ who turned out to be fantastic: Aaron LaCrate. He’s a DJ for people with ADD because I swear every song mixed in only for about 30 seconds. But they were all money. And I don’t know what the rest of the crowd thought, but the dancing fools next to us also seemed to enjoy it.

During Lily’s set, we tried to figure out which guy in her backup band she was doing. We nixed the trumpet/horn section on the basis that, although cute, they were probably band nerds. No one else really stood out until we both looked up at the balcony and saw the DJ all smiles and googly eyed for Lily. Then Jessica and I both turned to each other with our best “eureka” expressions and said simultaneously: “She is boning the opening DJ.” When we shared our hypothesis with the rest of our group, they kind of looked at us funny at first and then Lily looked up at the DJ in the balcony and started batting her eyes. This continued for the duration of the show. Goofy smiles, batting eyes, mid-show shout-outs. She told us she’d just got off a plane from London, so they probably didn't have time to do it yet. The show was probably just foreplay for those two. It’s a lock. Lily was wastey-pants by the end of the show too. I lost count of her (what appeared to be) Jaeger shots. When I got home, I wanted to look the DJ guy up on MySpace to see where he spins only to find him and Lily were all over each other’s pages. They’re in love. Hypothesis PROVEN.

As Predicted, Fashion Miracles Abound Deep in the Heart of Texas.

Although the universe tried to keep us apart by canceling my flight to Dallas Friday night, I eventually arrived the next day to visit my “BFFE” Kfo (Kristin). Fashionably late, I guess. Didn’t the universe get the memo? Punctuality is the new black.

Sunday consisted of a lot of football watching, manis & pedis, and the last round of binge drinking I’ll do for a while. We spent the first 30 minutes of 2007 (from what I’m told by bystanders) doing things that would get our Miss USA crowns taken away. That is why only we will ever see the pictures/video footage. Around 12:30 am, we exited Billy Bob’s, slept in the back of the biggest pickup truck I have ever been in on the way home, and then vomited red Gatorade. Kristin tricked her mom into thinking she had alcohol poisoning. Cool prank, Krisitn!

We didn’t get out of bed until 8pm the next day. We had planned on going out for sushi for dinner that night, but opted to go to Olive Garden instead as pasta was about all we could stomach at that point. Then we came home and watched the Devil Wears Prada.

So basically, we had to fit Dallas “culture” (trip to the science museum), shopping, and a Mavs game into one day. We hit Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Barney’s. Dressing room shenanigans ensue whenever we’ve got piles of designer clothes to try on and cameras. Kristin tried on the cutest Diane Von Furstenburg trenchcoat, but alas, it was not included in the sale. We snapped a pic of her in it, though. I tried on a silk DVF dress (black with her signature hot pink lips printed all over it) for the cameras.



















Kristin ended up buying the DVF jacket I that tried on but was too small for me. It’s a stretch wool black jacket that can also be worn as a blazer, wrap, or cardigan. It’s classic and ultra-versatile. Originally $400, marked down to $150. Meanwhile I was stewing because they were out of my size and I had jacket jealousy now that Kristin was getting it. But, being the best friend she is, she inquired about finding it at another store for me. They didn’t have it in DC, but the sales lady offered to order it in and ship it to me.


Matching Black DVF jackets at 70% off: FASHION MIRACLE!

At Barney’s, we tried on a lot of Marc Jacobs, but agreed the DVF purchase was better than the MJ selections. I almost bought a silk sundress by Cynthia Vincent, but noticed a small snag in the fabric and it was their last one. I was bummed, but figured I’d be able to find it on a site somewhere. So I searched all around yesterday online to find it. Barney’s online, Neimans, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, ShopBop, Pinkmascara.com, you name it, I checked it. Then, today my friend Sarah, who lives in New York, sent me a link to a sale for a new site I hadn’t heard of before: UrbanChic.com.

I decided it was worth a shot. And alas, FASHION MIRACLE #2. I never would have given the dress a second look online, but loved it in person and when I tried it on. And it’s 50% off. And after UPS ships it, it will be mine.



To cap off my Dallas trip, we went to the Dallas Mavericks game Tuesday night. They pummeled the Seattle Supersonics (who both Kfo and I agree have uniforms the color of dirt green) and my fave NBA player, Dirk Nowitski scored 31 points even though he was sick. Kristin also came up for a name for the too-short spandex “skorts” worn by the Mavs dancers: Skunderwear.



Yee-Haw.