Poppy Cedes

So, I went all the way to Pennsylvania to hang out for the day. Why would I do that?

For Bubblewench.

Highlights:
I got to meet Shannon’s entire family, including her husband Scott (a mad cool guy), Grandma (a mad cool lady), and “Debbie aka Deb-o-rah” (another mad cool lady who demands your respect if you work with her). :)

I got to hug Shannon, Karl, Angel, Rachel, and Robin.

I GOT TO MEET LUCKY AND BOO-BOO! and the birdies! and another kitty! And Shannon’s mom’s dog Otter!

I did not get arrested. And neither did anyone else, even though the cops tried their very hardest to set Shannon’s husband off like the very fireworks they were telling us we weren’t allowed to set off. :)

I was escorted to the bathroom by the lovely Angel who is the BEST bathroom escort ever. She even peed a little laughing so hard when I told her my funny story about the cleaning lady not letting me use my own bathroom so I had to bring a bowl into my bedroom and pee in it. (True story.)

I am not sure this is a highlight, but more of a proud moment for ninja girls everywhere when I was told by Shannon’s brother-in-law to pole dance on the metal tent poles, TWICE, IN FRONT OF HIS GIRLFRIEND, so I told him off. Poppy is not a stripper, yo. Poppy is a respectable lady and demands that you treat her as such. Unlike that fucking dirty whore Molly Pitcher* who has the clap and splinters from riding the wooden pole.

I had Yuengling on tap and in a bottle for the first time ever, then chased it with a delicious Chick-fil-A spicy chicken sammie and waffle fries.

I had a pineapple and coconut concoction made for me by Angel. :)

I went to a party in another state with only my ID card and my Droid and a bottle of bug spray and some cash as personal possessions. That was nutsoid.

I watched badminton and horseshoes played in the dark.

I went home feeling completely sober and woke up with the worst hangover I’ve ever had ever ever ever but it was well worth it. :)

And here are a few photos from the event:

Click above to see the flickr set.

*I promise I only mean that the rest area off the NJ turnpike is all those horrible things. I never knew the wife of the wounded rebel soldier. I’m guessing she was lovely.

This weekend I’ll be having a hot stone massage, eating cheese and chocolate fondue, and watching lots of ladies scream at a boy band.

I won’t be alone.

I wish my brother dared set foot in New York City, because then we could sing Daft Punk songs together when we get drunk on beer at:

2nd annual BeerHer
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010
6:00PM EASTERN
THE GINGER MAN
11 East 36th Street
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Borough: Manhattan
NY, NY 10016
Tel: 212-532-3740
Bring extra monies, these guys even have beer to go.

I told everyone the favor of your yes reply was requested by this past Friday at 11:59pm Eastern, but if you still wanna show up and haven’t mentioned it yet lemme know in a comment here or on twitter or facebook or email or txt before the day. At this point I think it’s staying small enough so we can just appear and hang out and drink and have fun without drama and without a reservation.

And to those who are having TequilaCon, SillyBring, or another event on the same day at the same time: CHEERS!

Let’s celebrate.

I got new laundry bags on Monday from Duane Reade. Love Duane Read. Wish you all had Duane Reades. They’re awesomeness. Haven’t used the laundry bags yet, they’re still sealed up, had planned to do laundry on Sunday but it turned into a very lazy day to let Dawg recover from his cold.

I have the cold now. Yaaaaaay. *sneezecoughzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

I tried to tell LLA’s parents that my cold would prevent me from getting her birthday gifts to VT on time. I received an email back that her birthday is NEXT month. (PHEW!)

It’s Cereal Wednesday! I did a Marbits on a day when I wasn’t sick. Thank goodness for good planning.

Today is supposably (no I don’t really say that word) Dave2‘s birthday, so I’ll dedicate today’s CW to him. Hope he likes fiber!

I was going to join Ren and Finn‘s Diptych project this week, but laziness and this damn cold makes me need to wait another week.

The number of people who have responded to me about BeerHer is nice and low. I can’t say I’m sad about that, because that means absolutely no planning on my part, we all just show up and have tons o’ fun, but if you do want to to come please mention to me so if we change venues I can make sure tell you.

Ok, bye. :)

OH! PS – Diary of a Wimpy Kid was awesome and so was the Red Robin blackened chicken sandwich!!!! RR always fucks up my burgers (I tell them well done, they give me moo inside) but the chicken is outta this world!!!!!!! Ok, reallybye.

When I heard the news that TequilaCon was going to be in Vancouver this year I was very happy for The Canadians and The West Coasters but not so psyched for myself. I mean, do not get me wrong, I adore Canada and have never been to Vancouver so would be very excited to go but… I wanted to be able to teleport there, thus avoiding airport headaches, airplane travel, expense, and time off from work.

And then, not that I need to mention this but it does legitimize my concerns, my work had an all staff meeting with “good news!” that I’m very sure no one was tricked into believing was actually of the good variety. I’m still employed for now. I don’t exactly trust that I will still be employed in April. And the lack of trust here has nothing to do with my self worth tank. But even if I do still have a job then it would nooooot be a wise time for me to be like “oh, hey suckas, I’m gonna go get my tequila on with all my friends, byyyyyyyyeeeeee!” so long story mid-sized-paragraph-long: I’m not going to TequilaCon 2010 in Vancouver.

If you have or had any intention of going to TequilaCon, I hope I don’t have so much influence over you that you change your mind (read: please still go to TC10), but if not and you’re on the east coast or had any plans of travelling to NYC for dates spanning April 24, 2010, please consider joining me…

2nd annual BeerHer
Saturday, April 24, 2010
6:00pm Eastern (18:00) – 4:00am Eastern (04:00) / end
The Ginger Man
11 East 36th Street
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Borough: Manhattan
NY, NY 10016
Tel: 212-532-3740
Bring extra monies, these guys even have beer to go, if you like it.

One of my most favorite people in the world chose this spot and when I saw it I squeeeeeed just a little bit. They have over 150 beers in draft or bottle form and a really simple yet awesome German-style food menu.

We’re gathering to mingle and have fun. Please show up ready to socialize with the whole group. Also, this is a drama-free event. We will NOT be spending the evening gossiping or bellyaching about other people or our shitty lives, we are there to PARTY and drink beer and be happy. All people with same minded desire are welcome to attend. :) And if you start drama at me expect the HBIC to come out and tell you to zip it. Oh, and we’re going to a barrrrrrr so don’t bring anybody under 21 for the purposes of drinking. I’m not spending the evening explaining how your guest who cannot hold his liquor looks like Don Johnson even though he thinks he’s dressed like Colin Farrell or Aaron fucking Carter and I will have no sympathy for any young’uns who get their fake IDs confiscated.

The favor of your Yes reply to me via this blog post, Twitter, Facebook, email, or txt message is requested by Friday, April 9 at 11:59pm Eastern. This gives me a general head count so we know if we seriously need to try to reserve space or if we can just freestyle walk in there. Also, I just like knowing who’s going to show up in case we change venues so I can notify you that we’re moving to a new spot during that night. Don’t want anyone thinking “wow, everyone hates me, no one’s here and no one told me they wouldn’t be here!” cuz that’s like having The Naked Dream. You know the one. If you tell me you’re coming and then later are not able to come please mention that too.

I am so fucking stoked I can’t fucking stand it.

Update: Yes, YES, oh HELL yes, men are welcome to attend this event. Just make sure you bring a bra to burn. (Kidding about the bra part!)

…but Dawg left the room to give me my space, so no one was around to pull on my ponytail.

For real.

I went to this party a couple-few weeks ago and the studio photos are finally up.

One of the very best photos is not shown, and that makes me sad. Mew… *sniffle* BUT there are a lot of amazing ones and you can live vicariously through the photo set or relive the party if you were there with me.

Also, this Dylan’s Candy Bar rocky road cupcake I got with Robin?

Pretty damn good.

I was once told by someone who was supposed to love me unconditionally (but didn’t, couldn’t) that I was not supposed to think I am awesome or say out loud that I am awesome, that was his job. Thankfully, by the time he told me this I’d already decided we just weren’t right for each other and we’d be better off going our separate ways, better off for everyone involved. I can only hope he’s met some other women since our time together who know they’re as awesome as I generally tend to think I am so that he understands a strong minded woman isn’t a threat and isn’t something to beat down until she hates herself for loving you.

But my point is that it’s hard for me to have a day where I don’t think I’m awesome because it makes me feel like I’ve had a maaaaaaajor setback.

I can’t go back to that place I was at, hating myself every day and generally feeling not good enough. I won’t let me. And thanks to everyone who helped me through that day because I truly do appreciate you for doing that. I might be all Beyoncé independent, throwin’ my hands up at ya, but I still need my friends when I feel low. So, awesome job everyone who helped me through, you rock.

To show my gratification I offer you my Chinese Mexican half-black bean, half-chili nachos with extra jalapeño peppers. NOM!

If you were in Florida this weekend hanging out for the same reason I was you may have noticed I didn’t say goodbye.

I hate goodbyes.

They imply I’m never seeing you again, and that you AREN’T just a blog away, a tweet away, an email away, a photo away, a facebook status away, a txt message away from me.

And I just can’t have that, so HI AGAIN! :)

This is my weekend recap post. Each and every thing that happened this weekend is equally as important as the others, so I’ll be brief-ish about all of them so that I don’t cry all over while I write.

Thursday afternoon Dawg and I took a plane to Orlando. We rented a car and drove it to the Altamonte Springs Hilton, checked in, settled in our room, then had dinner with (you know who I mean if you were at the party) The Photographer. She goes by a couple names, but she visits here as Mew. We went to Five Guys for dinner with her, her puddin’, her photographer sidekick, and a man that is seriously Adam Avitable‘s doppelgänger despite neither of them seeing that in the other. Apparently last year Dawg and I met ALL of these people at the party, but we met Mew and Baby J when we were sober, whereas we met Local 23 and Han Solo Ringmaster at last year’s party while we were in the vertical blackout stage. This year meeting them sober was an absolute treat and I now consider this pack of unruly nerds my very good friends even if they don’t consider me their very good friends back. I mean, c’mon, after sharing Five Guys together we BONDED over butterscotch Jello pudding pop ice cream at Coldstone Creamery!!!! And the irony of this gathering is that both Mew and I thought the other person didn’t want anyone else to show up to the event so we were keeping it secret from everyone, but turns out we were only doing that to appease the other, so next year we will have A HuGe MewPopstar GaTHerIng and it will be wonderful!!! At Five Guys Mew mentioned that Adam had invited us back to his place for a sneak peek at the party decor so we went to his home to check everything out. Poppy approved. I even made some modifications to the Booze List which made it on there, despite it only benefiting me and his lovely wife Amy, which I will mention in the Saturday section. Back at the hotel we had Last Call drinks at the bar with Mikey! Although the remodel of the hotel is beautiful it irks every single one of us that the bar CLOSES at 12am, so let’s fix that for next year. (Actually, don’t bother, the new hotel hot spot for next year will be somewhere else, it is rumored. ;) At the very last few minutes of bar talk we saw Bella and Rachel slink in from their night with Hilly and Dave2 so we hung out a bit before retiring to bed with our sippy cups of beer.

Friday was breakfast of champions from the hotel coffee shop. The woman behind the counter made me an 8-shot espresso but charged me $2 for a regular coffee instead of $16 like she should have, so I gave her a $2 tip then Dawg and I went to Downtown Disney to meet up with Hilly, Floating Princess, and Karen Sugarpants for lunch at RagLan Road, churros at the Italian Ice cart, soap gazing at Basin, and Lego watching at the Lego store. I love Snackie AND Lisa, but it was revealed at lunch that Ms. Sugarpants and I had exACTly the same costume idea for Avitaween, so durrrrrrrrrrr I bonded instantly with her and now she’s my lifelong border babe friend and I can say nothing wrong about that woman ever ever EVAR. Then the ladies departed and Dawg and I shopped at the World of Disney store where I purchased a $50+ brown hoodie that appropriately says GRUMPY on it. After Downtown we went to the hotel for a little lay down then we went secretly to Publix and back to Coldstone Creamery where we bought tw cakes and two packages of cupcakes then headed to Faiqa and Tariq’s (yo, it’s pronounced thar-ick, not streety hood TAR-EEEK) where we got to see Baby Y!!!! as well as (oh boy, no pictures of this, so let’s try to remember everyone) Britt, Jared, Emma, Devin, Robin, Rachel, Ren, Marci, Heather, Tyler, Hilly, Dave2, Lisa, Karen, Becky, Finn, Mister, Stephen and Marianne (non-blogging friends of Tariq), and… um, who’dileaveout?! at which we had delicious food prepared by Faiqa then had cake and ice cream cupcakes and a beautiful dessert prepared by Faiqa in celebration of SPARKY’S 39th BIRTHDAY, SURPRISE! Not that she was surprised, she kinda figured it out when Robin asked her what her favorite cake is, but I don’t care, I was still happy we got to celebrate. At the end of this event we all sat in a big circle and made silly jokes and it was a wonderful bonding experience. Then we went back to the hotel where we saw (oh boy, I hope I remember) Adam, Blondefabulous, Employee 3699 (whose name I know but not sure I’m allowed to share), Employee’s daughter (whose name I know but not sure I’m allowed to share), and Kim!!! And Mikey and LW wandered in after their Blue’s Traveler concert, then Brad and Turnbaby wandered in after their karaoke! Then a very deeeeerunk Sheila came in for a quick hi and goodbye. :) Dawg and I wandered off to our hotel room so we could have “YAY! POPPY IS DONE BLEEDING!” sex then we went to sleep.

Saturday morning we pooled together with people for breakfast at TooJays. These people, in fact: Mister, Finn, Ren, Kim, Rachel, and Robin. Had a great meat skillet breakfast with bacon and Coke (NOTE TO SELF: NO SULFUR WATER NEXT YEAR, bottled water ONLY) and hilarity did ensue. Directly after breakfast it was back to the hotel for me and Dawg for 30 seconds during which time I do believe I hung out with Ren and (um, yah, blanky) until Dawg came down from changing his clothes so we could go meet with Jenny and Andy at Mimi’s Cafe!!!!! Dawg and I let them do most of the talking because THEY are our NASA friends and we LOVE listening to them talk about NASA! Not sure why, but at this point in the trip I never, ever took another photo so there are no photos of me with Jenny or Andy or the swag bag she made for me. :( I has a sad. I don’t know what I was not-thinking. But the chicken caesar salad was lovely! :) And seeing them again was spectacularly awesome. I hope one of these years we’ll actually get to go toward NASA to see them instead of them always coming to us. After we saw them we headed to the Halloween store for Dawg’s party costume where I almost picked up some army boots but decided they were neither cute nor comfortable enough to substitute for my hot stiletto boots in my costume. We then took a trip to Walgreen’s to purchase the remainder of Dawg’s costume, some makeup for me, and some Charmin for Adam’s, since rumor is that he ran out of TP last year. We then went back to the hotel to mentally prepare ourselves…

…and then it was time to get ready and go to Hilly’s house so we could meet Jinkies and I could get my makeup applied by Hilly! Ended up not using any of what I bought except the nail polish I had put on ALL BY MYSELF LIKE A BIG GIRL before arriving. But Hilly covered up my chin zit perfectly and gave me the sultry, smoky, sexy, slutty, trashy eyes I’d been hoping for and that was a rap. Oh, btw, I would totally have stolen Jinkies but I think Hilly would have noticed. Also, thanks again to Hilly for laying out a towel on your bed so I could put my fishnets on “correctly” without getting cooch juice on your bed. That’s just rude to do. And also thank you to Ms. Sugarpants for having the most adorable Canadian version of my same costume so that when I went slutty and you went furry we barely looked like twins!

Ok, party time! We all headed to Adam’s and … then a party happened. A lot of people I love and admire were all in the same house together. We had alien-themed mixed drinks from PJ the Bartender and I even had my secret stash of Stella! beer because I had handwritten it onto the Booze List and Adam indulged me, Mew took lots of wonderful pictures of everyone (I think I was asked to be in 4 or 5 separate photo shoots… go, Poppy!), I ate a lot of amazing food, and had a lot of crazy conversations with people. This seems like the shortest part of the post (uh, dur, cuz it is) but I just feel like you need to experience Adam’s party for yourself. Start saving up now because you won’t regret going to an amazing party with amazing friends. Make sure to bring a snack for the late night munchies and a package of TP for when the house stash runs out. :)

At about 3am a bunch of us wandered off to Denny’s. Don’t ask me who, apparently 2 mixed drinks, 2 beers, and a tiny bit of disgusting appletini were enough to give me tunnel vision. I just know I cried at the very loud music overhead until they turned that shit down, the food in front of me was DELICIOUS, and I was in the corner so I didn’t really get to talk that much, but I still had a great time. Then we went back to the hotel where we had “POPPY IS DRUNK!” sex (it’s fantastic, by the way) and then it was time to SLEEP!

Sunday morning we woke up late and headed over to Adam’s to properly say goodbye to him and pick up a gift that Mew had left there for us then we headed to Cracker Barrel for a little lunch and to drop off the rental car then catch that plane back home. (I spent the entire plane ride watching women’s billiards and popping my head over the seat looking for Bella who was in the front of the plane, but never found her. Dawg spent it sleeping. :)

Today I didn’t work but… that was probably a very good thing because I slept until 11:30am and felt blue all day from not being with everyone anymore. I miss everybody already. Boooo to that, can’t wait to see you all again! :)

Here are the photos I did take during the trip. For photos of the actual party please visit the Avitaween pool.

Thank you again to Adam and all who helped organize that damn party. You definitely outdid yourselves!!!

Dawg and I took the LIRR from Kew Gardens into Manhattan instead of dealing with the crazy subway schedule changes for this weekend, so we got all the way into the city by 4:15pm and checked in with the Houndstooth Pub who, ironically, had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the KISS party. Note to Houndstooth Pub event coordinator: You might want to mention your events to your bar staff. ;)

I made a reservation for a long table for 10 people for 5:00pm then Dawg and I went outside so he could smoke and we could wait for people to show up. Of course Robin and Rachel were the promptest! Way to go, ladies! We all went inside and waited for more people. Next to show up was B.E. Earl! And then guest of honor Ren!!!!!!! And then Bearette with Baby E (who slept the entire time, save the last 5 minutes of his stay but was so adorable, as always). And then YKnot aka Wild Bill the Pirate, who we didn’t know was showing up, so that was entertainment in itself (see below :).

We ordered food and drinks and had a merry time and made our trips down the three sets of stairs to the bathrooms and back up the three sets of stairs. We were loud, crazy, and rambunctious but didn’t get kicked out. When we were ready to leave Bearette and Earl had departed and YKnot needed to take off for an early morning so the rest of us travelled to Serendipity 3, waited an hour for our name to be called (Carter? Carrrrrrrrter! … nope, not Carter), and when I finally got inside and sat down and saw the Frenchified menu I ordered! … an omelette – East meets Western, but without the ham, thanks.

Other evening highlights:
Riding the LIRR with Dawg
Throwing relevant-to-our-conversation DX signs with Dawg in front of the pub
Telling our Houndstooth Pub server “Hi Roger, I’m Stefanie, and this is my boyfriend. But these two lovely ladies (pointing to Rachel and Robin) are single!”
Comparing proper footwear with Ren
Trying to convince YKnot that he was at the wrong party cuz we were having a blogger party, not a twitter party (it was a very TC08 “Delmer Moment”, hehehehe :)
Having an intellectual conversation with Bearette completely separate from all the raucousness behind me
Hanging with my ladies Robin and Rachel
Trying not to laugh at what Earl does for a living :D
FROGS LEGS
Pumpkin pie martinis
Deeeerunkenly calling the Serendipity 3 male host a bitch for telling us we had to wait so long for a table ( I DO NOT RECALL THAT. )
Talking loudly about how Lady Gaga, Julia Roberts, and Gene Hackman (I meant Richard Gere) had to be in the limo outside of Serendipity 3
Ordering an omelette at a place famous for its frozen hot chocolate :)
Getting to hug my friends on their way out of my evening, knowing I’ll see them again :)

The evening flew by, it was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see everyone’s photos!!!!!

Here are miiiiiine: