Three Days of Thirty

Friday night I got home from work tired, in a bit of a funk, and not really looking forward to the amount of out of the apartment time that I had scheduled for myself over the weekend. But there was absolutely no way to bow out of the weekend’s activities, because they were all scheduled in honor of Ingrid’s upcoming 30th birthday. I adore Ingrid, there was no chance in hell I was going to miss even a minute of a party celebrating her. Also, I knew that if I just got out of the house, and shook off the week a little, I would be able to settle into a fun time mood.

Ingrid and I have been friends for just over three years now. We met at the Unitarian church here in Philly a couple weeks after she moved here, from Texas. I’d been in the city for about 9 months, and while I had found friends, I hadn’t found a soulmate, until I met Ingrid. We started talking and within five minutes, we were friends. With some people, it takes stages to become close, but Ingrid and I went from strangers to dear friends in one pump of the heart.

Friday night we went to the Standard Tap in Northern Liberties and were joined by about fifteen people, although our crowd came and went a bit. After many rounds of drinks, much hilarity and the emptying of Ingrid’s purse by Lara (in pursuit of the perfect lipgloss), the remaining five of us headed for the Silk City Diner to gorge on delicious, empty, greasy calories. I think Lara won the price for most disgustingly wonderful order, she got wet (gravy) fries with a side of cheese. It would never occur to me to get both cheese and gravy, but Lara now has me convinced as to their combined (artery clogging) virtues. A very drunk Cindy got a cheesesteak, and there were multiple moments where the only sounds at the tables were her moans of pleasure on each bite. Those moans of delight were punctuated with Ingrid’s frequent comments about just how good her pancakes were. I got eggs (over easy, hold the wiggle), homefries and rye toast, which I had to perch on my water glass, because there was no more room at the inn. Una rounded us out with chocolate bread pudding. Oh, the gluttony!

Saturday was thriftstore tour, Reading Terminal lunch and shopping and sushi making at Cindy’s. My day got off to a rocky start, because when they brought my car down from the garage Saturday morning, it had been in an accident, without me. I live in a building with a valet garage, which to some my sound wonderful, but mostly it’s just a pain in the neck. You never know how long it will take to get your car, or in what condition it will come. There was a huge bang in the front, passenger side panel, over the wheel. I had to wait for 45 minutes to file a complaint, take pictures and start the process to get them to pay up to fix it. I felt a little stupid filing anything, because my almost 14 year old is already pretty dented, but at least with all the other wounds, I either inflicted them myself, or bought the car with them. I feel like I shouldn’t have to grin and bear the results of someone else’s distraction (at least not when I have avenues of recourse), when I live with enough of the results of my own.

Saturday afternoon I got over to Cindy’s around 4 pm, to make an apple crisp and start the sushi making process. I brought my own knives (I am a pain in the ass when it comes to cooking utensils, I like my knives sharp) and made a really terrific, lemony apple crisp, beautifully sliced cucumber for sushi and spicy sushi sauce (I am very versatile). Making sushi was really fun, although there were a couple of tense moments in the beginning, when the number of strong, take charge women in the kitchen were ready to grab those sharp kitchen knives of mine and kill each other (I admit it, I was one of them). Once we got over that, it was smooth sailing. The sushi was terrific and was coupled with the sense of accomplishment that comes with making it yourself. We played Celebrity, welcomed a couple more people to the party, sang Happy Birthday to Ingrid and had a great night.

This morning was brunch at Day by Day, followed by a trip to the Cherry Hill Mall to make our pilgrimage to Sephora. I hadn’t been in a mall in about six months, so it was a little shocking and yet totally familiar. I used my well-honed skills at picking out just the right lip color for both Una and Georgia. I bought mascara that makes my eyelashes so long that it is hard to wear my glasses after I apply it. Cindy bought Hope in a Jar and Jen did her Christmas shopping.

And that was the weekend. Ingrid’s birthday celebrations aren’t quite done yet, there is also a dinner on Wednesday that she is making for all of us, because that is the actual day on which she turns 30. Don’t ever say that we don’t do big birthdays right!

For pictures of the weekend (including my beautifully chopped cucumber from Saturday night) check out this Flickr set.

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