kerrypalooza

WATTUP PARTY PEOPLE

So it's been a while. I'm not going to apologize for this because that's just me. I am erratic with my postings, and I accept this about myself. I certainly hope you can do the same.

The past couple weeks of my life have consisted entirely of living the dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

KERRYPALOOZA

It all began two weeks ago, early Monday morning when I woke up at the ungodly hour of 530am to meet daddy at peachtree dekalb airport for a 630am departure to St Simons Island in the 182. Sadly, the skies were not smiling upon us. They were trying their very best to ruin my life, actually. Forget the 182--a couple of clicks later, I was booked to fly out of Hartsfield Jackson at 10am (ridiculous, I am aware). This left me ample time to grab a Starbucks and sit myself in a prime spot at my gate for people-watching, one of my all-time favorite past times. So take that cloud beeotches.

I landed in Brunswick, GA approximately 50 minutes after takeoff, where Melanie and sweet Anne came and picked me up. I hopped in and we found a DQ with the help of my precious crackberry so that we could buy sweet baby Kerry an ice cream cake with those delicious crumblies all up in it. mmmm. We decided against the cake that had a dead bug on it, and instead opted for the one that said "Happy Birthday Tink". It was a tough call, but I think we made the right choice.

Then we hit the BEACHHH. I was so freaking ready for it, too. I donned my new bikini and ray bans, lathered on some spf, and plopped my butt down in the sand. Glorious. We spent the day reading cosmo, chatting, munching on goldfish, singing, and peeing in the water every so often. The palooza crew consisted of Kerry's forever friends: past roomie (a haire), current roomie (smel--that other cretin in their room doesn't count), future roomie (me), bembry, anne, scott, and amy. We missed the lozano seesters and jamie, but there will be other beach trips. I insist.

the crew: amy, bembry, anne, scott, kerry, me, smel, and alison

Night one we went out for a fancy schmancy dinner for Kerry's birthday. Bembry was obliterated. Appropriate. She had stashed a sizeable amount of vodka in her purse, and made herself a dirty shirley at dinner. Actually it was more of just a dirty. No shirley involved, but I think Gatorade was involved.. Don't worry about it. The dinner was de-freaking-licious. We got this big-ass bowl of salad for the table with all of these delectable dressings, in addition to multiple loaves of "THE BEST FUCKING BREAD EVER BITCHESSS" (-amy). Then came the main course.. Smel and I split the shrimp broccoli alfredo number. So good but struggles to push through after all the salad and bread. Then the waitress brought out a birthday dessert for the birthday princess, which we all shared. Double struggles. Anne and I kept complaining about how our tummies were going to burst, all the while tasting off each other's plates and passing the birthday dessert back and forth. Judge away.

After dinner one car hit the liquor store and the other hit the grocery store to get all the necessities: mini liquor bottles to fill seymour the pinata with, the cheapest flasks of vodka you have please and thank you, cran grape drink of champions, trick birthday candles, and kerry's favorite candies. Then we all met back at the condo and got the partay started. Well, Bembry climbed into bed but we couldn't hold it against her since she'd been downing shots since early afternoon. So we played games, ate lots of ice cream cake, and were just a merry bunch of drunken fools by the time midnight rolled around. Bem reappeared around 12:30 to rally in the name of ice cream cake. Then she went back to bed. A few of us ended up in the pool--some clothed, some not so much, but we all managed to wake up the next morning so I'd say the night was a great success.

here's bembry rallying (12pm).

and here's kerry killing seymour.

The next day the stupid clouds came out to play, so bikinis were out of the question. I ate some delicious barbeque with Kerry, Bembry, and Anne, then me, Kerry, Bembry, and Scott went and played charades on the beach for a while. I freaking love charades. I'm not very good, but I get very into it. After a while we headed back to the condo and got ready for dinner. We went to Brogen's and then to TCBY. deliciousness. No one wanted to party in true palooza fashion on night two, so we stayed up watching True Housewives of Jersey and the New York reunion, then off to bed.

In the morning, I was ready to go. Me, Kerry, Bembry, and Scott (the A-team) hit the beach, equipped with two cases of beer for case race day. Me and Scott versus Kerry and Bembry. You know it's going to be a good day when the first beer is cracked before 10am. The rest of the palooza crew joined us a bit later on, and then we took a group nap. The skim board was busted out at some point, as were extra beers when Scott and I finished dominating the case race. The beauty about case races, as Bembry so wisely pointed out, is that everyone wins in a case race. Truth spoken.

me with the sage.

After napping and burning myself to a crisp, I thought I might should head in. So all except Bem and Kerry headed back to the condo, and Scott and I went and sat by the pool. The pool was disgustingly cold, and so we took a bath. Then Scott broke the soap holder. Buckets of fail. Then everybody got ready for dinner and we headed out for a delicious mexicana feast. 2 pitchers of margaritas, a pitcher of beer, 5 baskets of chips and salsa, and shrimp quesadillas all around. It was SO good. I died. Then we partied like rockstars until we could party no more.

Kerrypalooza = GREAT success.

Thursday morning I got up and packed up my belongings, and then Amy and Scott gave me a ride to the airport. I spent the afternoon in the well celebrating Lisa Theresa's birthday, then back to Hartsfield Jackson to jump on a plane to LAX.

and so began rayban roadtrip..

which will have to wait because I am all storytimed out at the moment.

peace love and shrimp quesadillas

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!

greetings.

Charleston was the shiz. As per usual. I was freaking dead tired, but I have a reputation to uphold in chuck town dammit! So we arrived late afternoon and began with a tour for Victoria. Hollis knows everything about anything in Charleston, so that worked out well. Literally the tour guides with the horse-drawn carriages clomped past us echoing the description of the cistern that Hollis had just given us. The tour guides, however, failed to mention that one mustn't cross the cistern lest one has a desire not to graduate on time, and that one ABSOLUTELY MUST have sex on the cistern before graduation. How one is supposed to go about doing both of those I'm not quite sure, but apparently it's the thing to do.

Hollis had us power through all of campus in a matter of hours. Yes, she's a superstar. I know. That left us with a little bit of down time before dinner at Jim N Nicks. Dinner was deliciousss of course. Melanie and I already knew what we were ordering before we even got to Charleston--pork and ribs platter with two sides of mac n cheese [to share]. And extra cheese biscuits. mmmm. For dinner, we pulled Josh and JD away from their studies, Emily and Libby away from the beach, and Kennetta away from her deep depression that was brought about when we left after cup. Partayyy!!! We sat ourselves at the front of the restaurant, next to the giant front windows that are TOO perfect for people-watching. Lucky for us, there was a high school prom last night. So in addition to the normal tourist freaks (think safari hats, floral pants suit, etc.), we had a whole slew of prom frocks to gawk at. Yes. We toyed with the idea of seating all of us on one side of the table, the last supper style, but then decided it might be nice to be able to move our elbows slash breathe..

After dinner JD and Josh were party poopers and returned to the palace. The rest of us were ready to turn our swag on. Well, actually, Melanie and I were working on our 13th wind or so, and were a tad lackluster when the partying talk started up.. but we came around. Like I sad: reputation to uphold. So we all went over to Emily and Libby's house to play some games. We began with this eff the dealer-esque game, then moved on to rhyme or reason. Rhyme or reason was new to me, but we were fast friends.

NOTE TO SELF: burn and kernel do not rhyme. more specifically, kernel cannot be abbreviated to kern. fml.

We danced, we humped, we identified one another's animal alter egos [apparently I am a field mouse].. all-in-all an incredibly successful night. We made it back to Hollis's house, devoured a large pepperoni pizza, then crashed. Ahh sweet king size bed of JD's conception..

This morning we hit up Einstein Bagels for delicious breakfast sandwiches that Big Jim bought for us via Hollis's bobcat bucks or whatever you call them. Thanks Big Jim!! Hollis is a celeb on campus. We walked in, and she immediately found someone she knew and struck up a conversation. Who does that? Hollis does.

After bfast we went to the market, easily one of my favorite Saturday morning activities in life. It's just a big open-air market with tables set up by vendors, like the one in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Vendors of tee shirts, jewelry, sweet water baskets, art, and basically any and every piece of crap knick-knack imaginable. Glorious. I left the market with a new coozie, shot glass, and tank tee. So pleased with all of my purchases. Truly. I also found a birthday present for baby Kerry, and Smel and I found these freaking cute monogram prints for 1979. Yipee!

We returned to the palace after shopping for a couple rounds of Lingo, then went to lunch at 5 loaves, a delicious cafe right by Hollis's house. We did work on various soup and sandwich combinations, and then on the strawberry shortcake and chocolate cake. Sadly, we had to pack up the car and vamos after lunch because Victoria had to be back in Roswell for Donovan's graduation party tonight.

Since being home, I have taken a much-needed shower, had a much-needed Ru San's fix, and posted 2 much-needed fb albums. That is all. I have two finals Monday that I haven't started studying for. Then 2 more Wednesday. Ave Maria.

okay it's 1 am and my small ass bed is calling my name.

PS dear ridley i am so sorry for the dry spell. forgive me?

peace love and kern. el.

rave.rave.rave.

fact: raving is my destiny.

Last night Pi Phi rented out Level for a reading day eve rave. Level, for those of you who don’t know, is creeper headquarters in downtown Athens. The dance floor is surrounded by mirrored walls, a mini stage, and an upper tier where old men gather to drool over the drunk sorostitutes. Oh and there’s a cage for dancing. Like I said—creeper hq. Upon entry, I reminisced about the last time I’d been on that glorious dance floor of theirs—freshman year Halloween. Ah yes, the glory days of freshman year. All done up in my Indian facepaint and headdress, I had sucked down one of Level’s notorious fish bowls (a generously sized glass fish bowl filled with every clear liquor stocked in the bar, garnished with delicious gummy fishies and a black straw that serves as a siphon), then made my way to the dance floor. Cut to me falling backwards and losing a moccasin. Hot mess party of one? What?

Take away the creepy old men and keep the number of people within the fire code, Level is the shiz. Perfect locale for ravinggg. Between dollar shots at the bar all night long, glow sticks abound, and cascada bumping through the speakers, I was in my element. Seriously I was born for this shit. I have informed the roomies that we are having monthly raves in our new casa. You are all cordially invited.

The pink leggings I rocked? Had those bad boys laying around my room. Same with the rave shades. This might embarrass some, but it’s a source of pride for me. Truly. The bottles of glow paint are new additions to my life, and I have welcomed them with open arms. I will be in full body paint for all monthly raves. That’s a promise. Now I just need a black light and a strobe light.. and a giant fan. Housewarming presents? Quizas?

Yesterday was the last day of classes for the semester. Holler! Liana announced that she will never again be teaching at UGA. Double holler! Scratch that. Triple holler! I had so much crap to do this week, but eff that. I chose to live my life. Monday night I went to the Braves v Cardinals game with Victoria. A family friend gave us her clutch box seat tickets and gold lot parking pass. Too legit to quit. We got pub subs on the way over, then a souvenir cup’s worth of banana split dippin dots at the game. I died. We had this crazy ass usher woman who was prone to screaming and other forms of obnoxiousness. She was ALL about singing take me out to the ballgame, and made sure all of her peeps were all about it too. Truly a treasure of a woman. High point of my night: running into a car. While walking. My knee slammed into the trailer hitch of this truck so loud that people two aisles over in the lot looked up and screamed “DAMN! HEARD THAT ONE!!”. I still can’t figure out how I managed to do that. I wasn’t even texting, just walking. Skillz.

Then Tuesday night I went to the Dave Matthews concert at Verizon. It rocked my world. It was a family affair—Paul got four tickets to the show for his birthday, and gave one to me and one to Victoria because we are awesome. And because his peeps already had tickets, but mostly the awesome factor. Dave was just loving the ATL. He played some of his new stuff. I already love funny the way it is, and cannot wait for spaceman to come out. The best part of the concert was when Dave started dancing. Easily.

So after Tuesday night I kind of had to get my shit together. I had a bio test Wednesday, a French research paper due Thursday, among other such scholastic nonsense.

Wednesday night Ali and I had a two-hour conversation about how we could rule the world if we were Hermione Cullen—the missing link between the wizarding world and vampires. Hear me out: a vampire—impossible speed and beauty, never sleeps, never eats, lives forever, and inevitably has some insanely heightened sense (crossing my fingers for mind reading, but am down with ability to alter the moods of the people around me)—with a wand and a broom. Voldemort couldn’t touch that shit. Nobody could. And how rich would I be if I didn’t drop a cent on food for the rest of my life? And think about all the time I’d have to read and learn new spells if I didn’t sleep. I’d be productive all the time. The world would be my bitch. I was pissed when I woke up Thursday morning and realized I hadn’t been dreaming about Hermione Cullen. Idiot!

And now me Smel and Victoria are in the car on the way to Charleston. Jealous? Yeah. My life is the shit.

sham on.

peace love and raving

hola hola hola

This weather is giving me whiplash. Forget hypomanic episodes. I don't have time to enjoy the sun between all the tornado warnings and torrential downpours that Athens has been all about lately. Boo! I have failed to dress appropriately every day this week. Go me! I'm either severely overdressed, like yesterday when I was bundled up in rain gear and winter wear in the seventy degree afternoon heat (without ray bans no less). Or today, in shorts and a tee shirt in the winds that were gusting up to 20 this morning when I flew. Fail. Epic fail.

I am so very over this semester. Two and a half weeks of class left. What what. This good news does come with a hefty bit of baggage in the form of finals and papers. But what are you going to do? Unfortunately I'm letting my apathy get the best of me. Yesterday, instead of studying for my quiz in linguistics, I opted to watch an episode of Gossip Girl. Since the quiz was optional, there was no motivation whatsoever for me to exude any effort for it. I mean I guess it would have been nice to drop my lowest quiz grade in exchange for a better one, but I wasn't too concerned. Apparently I was not alone. Crazy professor lady handed out all of the quizzes, and everyone sort of glanced at it and then we all simultaneously stood up and peaced out. The poor girl who sits next to me desperately needed to drop her last quiz grade so she asked crazy professor lady if she was kidding. She wasn't. Whatevs, lesson learned--gossip girl trumps studying and all's well that ends well. Or something.

 

Big things are happening for the Jennings fam: Victoria got into College of Charleston and Paul got his driver's permit!! Ah! Why are they growing up? It's weird. Family Photo Op--Easter 09:

Sexy. I know.

PS Easter rocked my world. Like really. I started the day with a breakfast of reese's cups and fried eggs and toast. Then after church the madre got to steppin on her feast-preparations. Moms outdid herself--between the best ham of my life, mac n cheese, sweet potatoes, caesar salad, french bread, and that delicious Welch's bubbly that we love so much.. oh my. Food coma shortly ensued in the form of a three hour nap (after 12 hours of sleep the night before. nbd.).

FYI Coldstone came out with cupcakes. Paul Melanie and I tried one this weekend, and if I had to describe it in one word, that word would be LETDOWN. Let me paint a picture for you: The sweet cream cupcake comes in a chocolate shell. Said chocolate shell is filled with a scoop of sweet cream ice cream and about a centimeter-thick slab of dried-up yellow cake. All of this is garnished with a frozen cool whip frosting and two chocolate shaving curls. My favorite part was the chocolate shell.. yeah no good. Plus it's overpriced. Fail.

New obsession: Angel Taylor. Favorite songs are Make Me Believe, Chai Tea Latte, and Epiphany. The CD is called "Love Travels" and it's amazing. Love it. Love her.

I FINALLY saw Slumdog Millionaire (no thanks to Scott) on Friday at the dollar theater in East Cobb. I had to drive through hail and torrential rains to get there, but IT WAS WORTH IT! If you haven't seen it yet you absolutely must. It's so good. I was talking to my dad about it last week at dinner and he said that what he took away from it was that he will never ever go to India. That same night, Tia-ita's fb status was "Just saw Slumdog Millionaire. Gotta say, I've always wanted to go to India. Now I REALLY want to go to India." Ha. Oh, Tia-ita. I'm so freaking excited for our C Rica reunion dinner next week at Deany Weany's house!

Oh and Amy Poehler's new show "Parks and Recreation" sucks a big fat one. So sad. The pilot episode is free on iTunes right now and I watched it on the elliptical today.. I didn't laugh once. Triste.

I'd like to leave you with the poetry of Paul Abdul. Enjoy.

peace love and chai tea lattes