Six Pack Shuffle I

Since we first heard of the concept of a 6 pack shuffle we have wanted to do one. The idea is everyone gets a six pack, then you think of 6 places to bike to. At each place you drink a beer. You try not to die. 

We left right after work and headed to the Zakim. 

M. and D. met us there. 

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After that we went to a park in Cambridge. After which Q. ditched to go home, but we continued on and played on the playground!

 Then went up to the roof of a parking garage. The view was great and biking through the garage was awesome. G. met us up there after much difficulty getting in - evidently they lock the doors around 11.

 I seem to recall we played ninja warrior, then N. tried to crush a can by blowing on it.

Of course we went to New York Pizza.

Then we stopped in one of the Northeastern building to go to the bathroom. Where we took this picture for some reason.

 And found a cart with wheels on it.

And we all made it home alive!

We didn't actually make 6 beer stops, but it was a good first effort! Stay tuned for more.

S.'s Birthday!

That's right I finally turned 23 18. So young! 

Friday night we had a ragin' party at our house. We made cupcakes with Bailey's frosting and a chocolate trifle. 

N. made me a brownie peanut butter cake! Which I ended up baking 2 days after the batter was made because our oven was broken for a while, then N. had to work. But she did this awesome frosting job when she got home!

Our friends also brought candy, more cupcakes, and a whole lot of liquor. There was also a cantaloupe filled with vodka and a bowl of jello. We have great friends. I think roughly 20 people showed up throughout the night.

The next morning, N., G., Z. and I went to Sorella's for breakfast. They have the best pancakes. N. never orders pancakes and then she is disappointed. When will she learn? Mine had chocolate chips, granola, and nuts.

After breakfast we watched Extreme Couponing then took a nap.

Later that night we went to the new Harpoon beer hall. It was larger and more crowded than expected, but they had the best pretzels EVER.

The night ended at New York Pizza, as all good nights should. We got there 5 minutes before closing and the place was a madhouse! When we left, one of the employees was physically blocking the door to keep people from coming in, and some girls outside were begging him for pizza. 

I certainly did not fall off my bike on the way home or do anything embarrassing...

Post-Party Clean-up

Genius plan.  We will use the bottle deposits from Party 1 to pay for Party 2!  And, since we made people BYOB, theoretically we would be making even more money!

Unfortunately I didn't factor in the fact that my roommate would take out about 1/2 of the bottles during the party.  And that someone would clear out our recycling bin before I checked the next morning.

Wait approximately three weeks for me to find the time/desire to walk to the liquor store and it's finally post-party clean-up time!

The bottles/cans filled two large paper sacks and three standard plastic bags, which I waddled over to the library and then the store with.  Success!  Finally, this task had been staring at me from my to-do list for a while now.

I started putting the bottles in (my first time dealing with the Bottle Bill) and the machine promptly said, FULL.  No problem, call a staff person over to clear it out and start again.  Only it doesn't accept Harpoon Cider bottles, and also doesn't like that one of our guests peeled the label off a bottle.  Picky picky.

About 45 minutes worth of labor later (this is a guess based on packing/travel/dumping time) and I went up to the counter with my receipts.  To collect my $3.30.  So much for that being a good use of my time.  Oh and I had to spend the rest of the afternoon smelling like a drunken hobo.

-N

Housewarming Party

N survived the ordeal of liquor gathering, and it was time to partyyyy!

We had invited everyone from work (we both work at a bike shop, more on that to come in a later post), and my boss let me out a little early to prepare for the party. When I got home, N was still gone getting her cart-o-liquor. So I made a grilled cheese sandwich and read the paper. Then I showered, threw on my YOLO t-shirt, and grabbed a cider. 

I had made jello shots the night before so I sliced them up when N got back. It was more like a giant pan of jello that I cubed and put in bowls. While we were doing this, the bike shop crew arrived. It was very weird to see my boss in my house. 

We sat on the back porch for a bit, until everyone else arrived. My friends all came in at once, and then things got crazy. N and I originally tried to have a contest to see who could have the most friends come. I think we tied. The hardest part was running around between groups of people, making introductions, and trying to join our different friend groups. The bike crew mostly stayed on the porch, my college friends gathered at the table, and N's peeps stood in the kitchen. 

Our other roommate stayed in the living room and watched sports with his friend. The fourth roommate made a brief appearance then somehow went to bed (she must be deaf). 

We had spent a few hours making the perfect playlist. I forgot to download it to my iPod, so we listened to another random playlist. People liked it, I assume. There was kitchen dancing. 

Despite the notable absence of some lame people (you know who you are), it was a wild success. There was widespread jello consumption, baking and devouring of a giant cookie cake, and N made a punch! No one drank it, but she put it in a tupperware and has been working on finishing it every day since the party. 

Details are foggy, but to my knowledge no one got sick and no one cried. I hear my boss got a bit upset because I kept introducing him as my boss, and not my friend, but he will get over it. I tend to get very excited when all of my friends are together in the same place, since it happens so rarely, so I was a little hyper. I assume N had a great time, but I actually didn't really see her at all during the party. 

The final guest count was about 35 people.  Success!

-S

Pre-Party Planning

It's time!  S and I were hosting our very first party!  Okay, technically I guess S, me and our other two roommates were really hosting, but we all know it was really our party.

I had the day off while S was at work so I got to work, cleaned my room, did some laundry, took the trash out, etc.  I was pretty pumped because this was the first party I'd ever hosted.  A week before we'd done the actual work, which consisted of making a facebook event and inviting everyone we even remotely knew.

At around 7pm I headed off to the liquor store to get the goods, with my roommate's grocery cart in tow.  S and I had each generously donated $20 into the liquor pot, and I had beer on my list.  I wandered into Blanchards and began poking around; PBR, Budweiser, Corona, too many options!

One thing that I think brings S and I together, yet draws us apart, is our indecision.  I've improved significantly in the past four years, but it can still be like pulling teeth to make me choose something.  And when there is pressure, like will my guests like my beer choices? then the indecision is worse.

So, after about 10 minutes I had a 24pk of Dos Equis and a 30pk of PBR in the cart and was heading back home.  I glanced at the receipt and saw they had undercharged me...score!  That left $10 still in our budget, so I went to Harvest Co-op, asked a nice cashier to watch the cart-o-liquor and went to get S some cider.

Another 10 minutes went by while S decided on what cider she wanted, and I was out the door again!  Pushing my cart like the badass granny alcoholic I am.  Party time!

-N