Nonstop Parties

 Life has been crazy since Labor Day weekend!

Friends on the back porch of my old house at the monthly dinner.

For starters, I hosted a huge dinner at my place...with a few interesting twists.  For starters, we all ended up outside under the canopy, but as it got darker, and the lights were on, these GIGANTIC wasp/bee creatures decided to creep out from the top of the canopy where they apparently live.  One doesn't think about bees existing in the night, so maybe they were confused because of the lights, but either way, these creatures looked fierce!  For a while everyone tried to ignore them, and for their part, they generally stayed up in the rafters.  Then they started getting a little more adventurous - and guess who were the first guests to bolt inside?  The guys.  I found this all quite amusing...until one got into the house.  The pandemonium to follow should be on America's Funniest Home Videos - picture half the group cowering and screaming, and a few guys who were trying to show off their manliness attempting to kill the vicious creature.  The problem was that it was far too large for your average fly swatter, and if it was squished on the wall, it would probably leave a very large stain.  Somehow, they managed to kill the thing, to great applause.

At that point, everyone was inside...but all the chairs were outside and no one wanted to brave the bees, so guess who ended up bringing in about 16 chairs?  Yup, that would be me.  How do I always end up with these types of jobs?  I was the official roach/bee/ant killer of my dorm in college (even though I was the only one allergic to venom).  I guess once you get a reputation for "bravery," you get stuck being brave even when you don't want to. lol

Christina, Vanessa and me at V's bday.

We also had a cat wander into our party when we were outside, and it was very friendly and had a flea collar on, so it must have been someone's pet.  Everyone ended up holding it and then when we went inside, it just sat on the back porch, waiting for us.  It was so friendly and sad just sitting out there alone, so finally one of the guys brought it in, but everyone took turns holding it so it didn't run around.  Finally, as people started leaving, someone put it outside in the front yard, but when the last two friends left at 1 a.m., it was still out there.  I looked for it the next morning, but it was gone, so hopefully it found its way home.

Ladies in blue at Angela's going away party.

My best friend in Charlotte, Vanessa, also had her 27th birthday that weekend.  It was nice to celebrate with her over dinner with a few other of her friends.

The next day I had a silk performance at the new studio located in Matthews. The studio is huge which is nice and I was so excited because I had so many family and friends come to watch: Mom, Dad, Uncle Bob, Cheryl, Nicole, Maria, and Nicole's Grandma, Angela, Ben, Lesley, Chastity and her friend Mary.  They all said my performance was the most graceful to watch and that I made it look effortless. :)  That made me so happy, because when I was practicing for it, I felt like it was so hard and I was grimacing and breathing hard most of the time.  But I tend to do well with an audience, and it was my best run through of the routine to date.

Friends and family at my silk show (Mom took the photo).

My friend Angela had a going away party recently as well.  She is moving to France to be an au pair for about a year.  In honor of her, everyone at the party dressed in her favorite color - cobalt blue.  We all brought food and it was a great party, which ended in tango dancing through the living room (I met Angela years ago at a tango class). I will miss her, but I'm so excited for her opportunity!

I went to another party for two friends who are moving out of their apartment.  I made several new friends at the party, and my friend Jamie came with me.  Jamie and I have been friends for 10 years - I met her freshman year of HS in debate class - but I hardly ever get to see her because she's a night shift nurse.  So, I was so happy she could come along.

Colleen, me, Jamie and Jess at Brent and Drew's moving out party.

The next day I went to church and afterward, several of us went to lunch and then to Festival in the Park - which is a bunch of vendors and such in Freedom Park.  It was nice just walking around and seeing all the artisan's.  A beautiful day too - sunny with a cool breeze.

I've also been to two birthday dinners for friends and joined Tiffany and her family at a festival in Denver, NC called Denver Days.  We went on the Ferris wheel which made me happy, even though it was pretty small.

Festival in the park with friends.

Apart from parties ad nauseam, I've also been networking like crazy in the hopes of getting a "real" job by March when I turn 26 and loose my health insurance from my parents. I've met the CEO of the YMCA, the head PR person for the Y, had an interview with Community Blood Center of the Carolinas (but haven't heard back yet), met with some people I did a story on a while back who work for Bank of America, and basically, have just told everyone I know that I'm looking for a job.  Many people I interview say "Oh, send me your resume - I will pass it on to so and so."  

Tiff, me and her nephew Max on the Farris wheel.

Hopefully I can get a job in November or December.  I hope to go to California Oct. 25-Nov. 5.  I plan to fly standby thanks to my friend who works for US Air.  I'll fly into L.A. and stay with my friend Erika for a couple days, then head up to Santa Barbara with my friend Eric, and he'll drive me up to San Fran where I'll stay with Lieselotte and visit with Mike and my cousin Erin. I'm so excited to be going back - it was such a lovely time of year last year when I went about the same time. And this time I'll get to see Lieselotte and Eric along with the others that I saw last trip.

At Elizabeth Anne's bday dinner with friends from Life Group.

And another BIG change in my life - I just moved out of my parents house and into my own place in Ballantyne.  It's a condo owned by the people I babysit/tutor for and they are letting me live her in exchange for tutoring, picking up from school and generally helping out when possible.  It's a beautiful place, a great location and a sweet deal. :)  I've spent the last 4 days moving stuff, building furniture, painting my room, picking out paint colors for the whole house, being there for painters/contractors and trying to get my stories written at the same time.  My whole body hurts, my legs are covered in bruises and I've barely slept thanks to the constant things going through my head; but tonight, I'm almost done with everything, the furniture is complete, I have one picture hung, and tomorrow I should be able to finish everything satisfactorily.

I'm so lucky to have so many friends - in so many ways.  But especially the last two days.  I had Taylor come over yesterday for 5.5 hours to help build three large pieces of my furniture, and my friend Brian came by this evening to complete the other two pieces.

At my silk aerial performance.

Tomorrow night is another monthly dinner (at Brian's house as it were) and I'm excited to see everyone without a million things weighing on my mind.  My friend Brandon is back in Charlotte having been in Iowa and then Colorado for over a year, so he's coming too and it's just going to be a great mix of tons of my friends from a lot of different social circles. I love those kind of parties. :)

This is incredibly long, so I'm going to stop now.  Guess I shouldn't wait a month between posts. Oops.