We had our latest happy hour at Proper. I remember hearing about it when it first opened because of the vinyl listening experience, however, I was a little disappointed by the actual collection. They had a mix of both new and old artists but not exactly any that were my cup of tea. The concept is super cool and the all over design of the place is so cute. The vibes were vibing and the company is always a good time.
Brittany's birthday is in December which means she's competing with Santa every damn year and most recently Santa won. But Katie wanted to amend that and put together a little surprise half birthday with a few friends. We ended up at one of Brittany's favorite places, Santiago's, and waited for her to show up. She was told she was just meeting her bestie but when she turned the corner there we were all at the table wide eyed, smiling like loons, at the guest of honor. She was so stunned and giggly as she went around and hugged us all one by one. We ate amazing food (no wonder it's one of her favorite places) and laughed and laughed. Brittany in July was an absolute success and I hope it's the first of many.
I've been to most of Stephanie's Taylor-themed yoga classes since March because they are truly therapy for my mind, body, and soul. I always feel like my best self when I walk out of that door. I sing extra loud the entire way home. It's such a beautiful feeling to actually love life. I appreciate and try to stay present in those moments because in my world they are ever fleeting...which is a perfect segue for emo-themed yoga. I signed up immediately upon seeing it show up in my instagram feed and then threw it up on my story to see if any of my fellow-emos would want to join. I was so pumped my long-time local internet-friend and I finally got to meet after years of conversing via instagram. I love that our first meeting was emo related. It was such a fun class as per usual.
I bought my TEN tickets immediately back in March. They seem to always make it to Orlando and I go every single time it works out with my schedule which is most times. Their new album came out just a month prior to this show and I was a little bummed they didn't play more new songs. However, the oldies are perfection and I never get tired of them either. Maybe the set should've just been longer, like three hours ala Taylor's Eras Tour.
Joanne and I had tentatively planned to go dependent on her work schedule. Unfortunately she had to work and couldn't join me. So my back aka Dustin was totally game, well, until he realized that was the same night as D&D. Then he ditched me so fast. Juuuuust kidding. But he did ask if I could find someone else to go with. The problem with TEN is they are very niche, early 2000s emo of the Drive-Thru era, and I wanted to go with someone who would appreciate them the way I still do. So I asked my friend and fellow elder emo, Liz. I was thrilled when she agreed to join me! We of course had a great time talking about work, our cats, and all the emo we could fit in between sets. I didn't know the opener's music prior to them performing that night but CLIFFDIVER and Hit the Lights both killed it. And of course TEN was just as electric as the days when I watched them play in the original Will's Pub back in 2001.
Shout out to my Loop earplugs (and Angela for recommending them) for taking their maiden voyage in my ears that night. They truly made all the difference (especially at The Beacham which is kind of known for shitty acoustics). That ringing that I normally have after smaller shows did not even exist. I wish I knew about these years ago but we don't know what we don't know. But much like when I jump up on my soapbox about protecting your skin with SPF, now I'm pro SAVE YOUR EARS. Hopefully it's not too late for me.
Nicole and I met up for a belated birthday dinner. I got to introduce her to Fresh Kitchen and just vent about the world. Time always flies by when we get together and that night I swear it sped by at triple speed. I'm so grateful that she and I have maintained a friendship since 2007ish - back when I trained her at our old job in Ormond and we'd go to lunch at Taco Bell together. Ah those were the days!
A few weeks back Alyssa, Nicole, and I met up for dinner and then straight to the Science Center to attend Silent Discos in Amazing Spaces . I first saw an ad for this event months ago but it sold out so quick. Thankfully I had signed up on their email list so I knew exactly when the next Orlando party would go on sale. I was not going to miss my second chance at whatever the hell this was, because to be honest I really had no idea what to expect. I saw via Instagram that a friend went to one in St. Augustine a few years ago, and I recently watched The Greatest Hits which also features a silent disco scene, but beyond that I was just along for the ride. I mean, I just heard the three channels were Taylor Swift, Emo, and Early 2000s and was like "YEP I'M IN"!
We had to wait in line the length of the skyway bridge for a bit because as expected this shit sold out. Apparently there was such a demand for tickets they ended up adding an additional night in Orlando the day before. Once through the first line, we then went to the second line to grab our headphones (a credit card is required to rent and if the headphones aren't returned at the end of the night the charge stays, otherwise it's fully refunded). We were given instructions on how to work it but I still had trouble for the first 15 minutes. When I thought I was changing the channel I actually was turning up the volume. It was a real boomer moment for me. We went to our third and last line of the night on the Science Center balcony to get drinks.
As we got familiar with the headphones we really started to sing along and dance to whatever was playing in our ears. Then we walked into the Dino room where the main party was and went wild. I liked that you could tell what station someone else was listening to based on the color of their headphones -green was Taylor Swift (really missed an opportunity by not making her Red but OK), red was I guess early 2000s but really was just a mix of all kinds of music, and blue was "emo". Was it the emo I was expecting? Nah. It was like new Fall Out Boy and The Killers and I was just kind of like ehh. That channel was the one disappointment. There were three DJs all lined up next to one another at the far end of the room and each was responsible for one channel. So of course it was kind of like a contest to see which channel could be louder or jump more or clap the most.
The three of us danced and sang and laughed our asses off for a good three hours. We belted Love Story to I Wanna Dance With Somebody to Ocean Avenue. I sweat so much I never even needed to use the restroom even after two bottles of water. I kept hiking up my shirt to get some relief. It was so cool to choose your own music for the night. The minute I was not into a song it was just a simple click to the headphone and I was on another. When Paramore came on and I immediately pointed to my headphones to let Nicole know so we could serenade one another. And when I saw Alyssa cutting a rug I switched to her station and was greeted by the timeless musical stylings of Get Low. And low we got.
It was such a fun night. I can't wait until they come back to Orlando because my ass plans to go again. I highly recommend it for literally everyone, no matter your musical tastes. There was something for everyone. They had some food vendors set up although we didn't partake in any. The lines to the bar were a bit long but at least you can bop around while waiting. Also they did validate parking. All in all WORTH IT.
I was really hoping there would happen to be one of the many Taylor Swift dance parties on the weekend of my birthday. I kept checking LePetite Fete's website but nothing in the area was planned; so I switched gears (metaphorically speaking because I still can't drive a stick). I wanted to do something instead of just a dinner, which is when I remembered Primrose Lanes, formerly Colonial Lanes of my youth and before my existence entirely. Alyssa, Nicole, and I met up there back in January for lunch, and it was SO CUTE, plus the food was great. It was great the second time around too. I'm gonna have to drag Dustin back for the fries and Coke float alone. I already knew the vibes were right and we didn't have to location hop. One stop shop for fun and food.
I like to give everyone ample time to decide if they want to/can come to my birthday so I sent out the invite in April. Plenty of time to plan ahead! I was thinking of getting the party started at my usually elderly dinner time of 4 p.m., but when Katie found out she had a funeral an hour away at the same time, I adjusted it as best I could given what was available. In the meantime, I contacted Primrose (shoutout to Jason for all your help) and booked our bowling reservation. I wasn't expecting everyone to make it because life throws last minute shit at us all. I GET IT. Plus some weren't exactly thrilled about the bowling activity. So I just reserved two lanes for a total of 10 spots. I was just planning on booking another lane once we arrived. I was honestly shocked and extremely overjoyed when every single person made it. Like OK fam! I see yinz literally showing up for me. We worked it out so that Erin and I shared a turn and Val and Anna did too. However, I wish the employees would have given us a crash course in their bowling system because we were all kinds of confused when selecting which game to play. Um yinz don't have that regular ol' OG bowling? Ok boomer.
I wanted to sprinkle some Taylor into my day so I thought it would be fun and funny to come up with bowling puns for everyone instead of all of our regular boring names. Ha! I wrote them all on a little piece of paper, put them into a bag, and had everyone grab a random one to see which lane they'd be in. Of course my non-Swifties (about half of the group) were very confused, but I appreciate everyone just going with the flow. I don't mean to scare them, and any non-Swiftie reading this, but Erin was a Taylor-hater up until recent years - and now she's all in. It could happen to any of you. AT ANY TIME. Stay ever vigilant(e shit).
I am not some avid bowler. I honestly don't think I've been in over a decade. But like anything, if you just go for the fun of it, it usually turns out to be a super fun experience. I think I might have knocked over 5 pins TOTAL the entire time and yet I had a fucking blast laughing at myself trying new techniques; there was the ever popular granny-style and then my new favorite slowest-roll-of-all-time aka the 'slow your roll' wherein I legitimately thought the ball wouldn't even make it to the pins and an employee would have to go rescue it for me. HA! But most everyone was pretty damn good at bowling. I saw my little leftie Erin when she got that strike and I accidentally was recording the wrong direction - oops. Then I noticed Val with her perfect curtsy bowling stance like this is just old hat for her. Then comes in Antonia who is basically America's Next Top Bowler because she blew us all out of the water. Not only did she get the best score but she had a 20 point lead over the next best score. If I don't see her in the Summer Olympics I'm going to riot. (I just looked up if bowling was even in the Olympics because I don't remember seeing it on TV and turns out it was only ever played once at the 1988 summer games. WHAT THE HELL. Five main reasons it is not an olympic sport. Well, if any of us are going to get it back into Olympics and win a medal it's my girl Antonia.)
It was a true mad-house but kind of in the best way, trying to talk to everyone, especially those I don't see quite as often, and of course bowling. I was frantically running all over the place trying to make sure I introduced everyone to anyone they hadn't met before. I always want everyone to feel included the whole time. Nobody left behind out. Not to dive too much into my psyche, but being an empath with occasional empathetic distress syndrome and emotional hyper-vigilance can really put a damper on any social events I attend, but especially ones I have planned. It's exhausting to be me which is probably why I'm in bed by 8 p.m. every night. I focus too much on others emotions rather than my own in these cases. I internally freak out if I see someone standing alone, or if someone isn't involved in the conversation, OR OR OR and so on. Therapy has taught me I am not responsible for anyone but myself and I can't police others emotions. I know this, but as with any human, I am a work in progress.
Before I even knew it the bowling portion of my party was over and we were all left racking our balls and returning our shoes. Kaycee suggested we all do a mirror shot circa 2005 Myspace Tom because the lighting was so good near the restrooms. So we gathered the calvary and did just that before going to sit down.
The restaurant side of Primrose was completely empty so we had plenty of room to spread out. There was a line of gift bags behind me that I started to frantically open. I felt the need to rush through because once again I was worried about how others felt. I assumed people thought this part was boring or whatever. But then one of you lovely ladies, I do not remember who, told me to slow down in the kindest way and reassured me that they weren't in a hurry. So thank you to whomever said that because it helped me relax and stay present (which is my word of 2024 by the way) in my own moment, in my own feelings. I love my friends so much but goddamn do I struggle when all eyes are on me. Maybe because I don't think I'm entertaining enough and don't want to waste their precious time. Maybe it's time I explore that more in therapy.
Thank you all so much for the incredible gifts. I remember Antonia saying it the year prior and Anna said it this time, "You're so easy to shop for!", and let me tell you I take that as such a compliment. Thank you all for SEEING me and supporting my weird little interests of reading, fun earrings, cat mom, plant lady, Sims player, top tier Swiftie, and sticker collector. Not only do I love the gifts but I love thinking of each of yinz when I see one of them.
Thank you Val for taking candid photos and videos of me! I really really appreciate it. My priority is always the quality time with my friends and enjoying the experience, so I tend to forget to even ask. Thank you for just doing it. Thank you for helping me so I can remember this moment Long Live style. You're a real one.
Thank you Katie for driving all the way out to Orlando just to have to turn around to go to a funeral in Palm Coast. I know that was a long ass emotionally exhausting day for you. I'm just so thankful it all worked out and you could attend both events. But more than anything, finally seeing you live and in action in that wrist-guard was birthday present enough.
Thank you Erin for flying all the way from Texas to spend my birthday with me even if you did originally think it was for my 40th. 😜 This was the first birthday she's been able attend since she moved to Texas back in 2013, which is probably why she was so nervous to meet all of my friends. Of course she knew Katie (the 3 of us used to hang out often when Katie and I were in college and Erin and I worked together back in the day), Val (she was BFFs with her cousin growing up), and Anna (they went to the same high school and had the same bus stop - small world alert) - everyone else was brand new. But what tickled me pink was when we were sitting on my couch and she asked me to tell her something about EACH one of yinz. I'd show her a picture and rattle off a name, age, brief how-we-met-story, and some of their interests, and then my boo would fucking repeat it back! She was genuinely curious and genuinely cared. Like it warmed by cold dead heart that she put in so much effort to get to know my other friends. There is a part of knowing my friends that is also knowing me and for them to be so seen meant I was also seen and that's just really important to me.
To each and every person who drove out of their way, or had to arrange childcare, or had to rearrange their schedule in order to attend, or who maybe didn't feel like being social but showed up any way, or whatever the circumstances might have been A HUGE FUCKING THANK YOU. That time with all yinz had my cup overflowing with so much love. My only complaint about it all was that it went by too damn fast. So it goes...
As Nikki Glaser says, here's to my latest thirty.
Thanks for the moving mems.
And yeah I spent too much time photoshopping us all on women bowlers of yesteryear because it was just fun. I did the same with challenging myself to recreate each of your Sim into the closest outfit and hair match that you came to my party in. Again, no point just for fun.
I hope you all enjoy a long weekend and do something or many things just for the fucking fun of it.
