June Day BBQ

It's that time again...PARTY!

This time the weather was nice so we decided to have a BBQ, vegetarian of course!  The (facebook) invitations were set, the calendars marked and the planning began.  S. really wanted veggie kabobs and I wanted corn.  We also decided to get some veggie burgers and iced tea!  Luckily our boss took us to Costco the week before so we stocked up on Boca Burgers, cheese, contact solution and other necessities.

The day of the party S. and I got started on making the veggie kabobs.

It was a long process but we did manage to throw our porch table down into the yard and V. helped us take the silk out of the corn.

Soon guests were arriving, beer and watermelon in hand.

Right as we were about to try and light the grill D. walked in and, since he is evidently some sort of West Coast BBQ god, took over the cooking.  S. and I played sous chef for a while grabbing foil, matches and spices but all of the cooking was kindly taken over by D. and J.  

Iced tea was drank out of jars and we even made s'mores, treating M. to his FIRST EVER S'MORE in the process.  

 

After eating most of the group moved towards playing wiffle ball, frisbee or trying to learn to skateboard.

Some of us still have wounds healing from the latter.  Towards the end of the night a guitar emerged and I could feel the JP hipster-ness oozing from our yard.

Party complete!

-N.

Lexington

N.'s dad found this wind-powered motor thing on craigslist or something that some guy was giving away for free and he wanted it for his boat. N's dad lives in Florida; the thing was in Lexington...

Time for a roomie adventure! 

I actually really didn't want to go because it was early Saturday morning and I am lazy, but I did it. The weather was beautiful and to get in the spirit we made up a song as we were biking. It went:

"We're going to Lex-ing-ton

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

There will be no rain

Only sun

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

Who is going?

Two, not one

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. "

There is no tune. Thankfully we didn't pass many people on our way to Cambridge. 

We arrived in Cambridge looking pretty cool. 

We then met our manager/friend Q. who let us borrow his car. N. can drive!

But not park.

The motor thing was wayyy smaller than expected. 

So we had a lot of room in the trunk. We went to Trader Joe's and DSW and JoAnn's. There I found this awesome Duct tape while N. was busy looking for fabric and fancy needles. 

Not gonna lie, this trip kinda made me want to move to the suburbs. Everything is so big and clean there and it's easy to get around! It was nice to be back in the city though. 

We ended the day successfully with a full car! 

Later that day, we biked to a BBQ in West Roxbury. Who knew West Roxbury was so nice? I would totally move there. Lots of hills though. We even had to walk our bikes up one (don't tell anyone).

We arrived home to this lovely couch in our yard. Our landlord was moving some stuff and left it. We relaxed on it for a bit until he came back, at which point N. literally jumped up, ran away, and tried to hide in the basement. I played it cool.

A wonderful summer day :)

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...

Potluck

We had the idea to do a +1 Potluck party, where everyone is supposed to bring a friend who has never been to our house before. That way we get to meet new people and eat delicious food! 

We didn't think it through though, and ended up having the potluck during spring break and right after a big snowstorm, so a bunch of people unfortunately had to cancel. 

Even so, we had 7 guests, plus me and N.

C. made sushi in the living room. 

We forgot to take a picture of the table but it was full of delights. Potato balls (aka Savoury Squirrel Bakes), pasta, bread, rice with peanut sauce, cookies, and more! Mostly starches.
We succeeded in using up most of the odds and ends from our liquor cabinet, which was accomplished by serving everyone "mystery drinks."

The original idea was to also make it a craft night, but people didn't seem too enthused about crafting. So I set up a friendship bracelet station! Only a few people made them, but I still think it was a brilliant idea.

Z. wore his hat, as he must always do when he enters our house.

After we ate we went outside to enjoy the snow! We went sledding, buried each other in snow, ran around, walked to the pond, practiced tackling each other, built a jump, spun in circles, and somersaulted downhill. It was a fantastic evening.

Then came back and ate more food!

What is happening here?

Blizzard Party!

We were supposed to travel to Quebec this weekend for Winter Carnival, but then the BLIZZARD happened! So sadly no Canada, but we had a good time in the snow! 

DAY 1:

N. and I both get home from work in the afternoon. The line at the grocery store wraps all around the store, but I wait in it to buy marshmallows and ice cream. 

Instead of stocking up on bread, we buy one extra large pizza and a sled. Both would prove valuable in the days to come. 

Thank goodness N. had just bought a giant bag of peanut M&Ms at Costco. 

 C. came over before the snow got too bad. We watched a few movies with our roommate and her boyfriend, then ventured outside!

The streets were deserted except for a few brave JPers. Walking was difficult at times due to the snow drifts and the snow blowing in our eyes. We took the sled to the Sugar Bowl near the pond and did some extreme sledding. On the way back, we found this creepy snowman peering at us through the mist. 

Had to visit the two-backed bench. Also made snow angels and rolled down some hills. Oh, and N. fell into our hedge, prompting our roommate to stick his head out the door and proclaim "N. broke the bush."

We got back and made hot chocolate, s'mores on the stove, and ate ice cream. Then watched more movies. N. realized she lost her keys, but found them later in her room. 

DAY 2:

The snow finally stops and we go outside again! This time no one joins us. We only make it to the field near our house.

We watched even more TV. And began to bake. 

 And eat.

 And crochet sweaters for cats.

When we could take no more, G. arrived! He walked all the way from Somerville (~6 miles) to join the awesome party (No trains were running for almost the whole weekend). We briefly changed out of our sweatpants and went to the bar down the street. A few hours later, Z. drove over and somehow found a spot to park his car. I went home to bed early, but evidently the party continued till the bar closed!

DAY 3:

Woke up and made pancakes for the 8 people now in our house. Ate pancakes. Watched another movie. We helped C. dig his car out so that he could escape the madhouse.
Then the rest of us went to the Arboretum for sledding!

We climbed to the top of Bussey Hill and were impressed by the large number of cross-country skiers and snowshoers! Glen did crazy gymnastics down the hill. We tried to do crazy gymnastics but landed on our heads.

 We climbed a tree!

For the grand finale, we fit all four of us on the sled and went down the steepest slope we could find. No one died. We also went into a "community igloo" that someone had built. Only in JP.
N. realized she lost her phone. She did not find it later, but now she has a fancy new one.

Then we went home and watched Star Wars. A successful blizzard! 

In Other News...

N. and I went to a super classy party at the Charles Hotel. It was the winter party for one of my jobs. We ate lots of food, tore up the dance floor, and tried to imitate this old guy with awesome dance moves (with limited success on our part). It was a great party, even though the cupcakes sucked. 

And I learned to french braid (kinda)! Here is one of my first attempts using N.'s hair.

Party Party!

 We couldn't think of a theme for our last party, so we decided the theme would be Party! At first it was just going to be a normal clean-out-the-liquor cabinet party, but we got carried away with the planning.

We thought up a bunch of different party games. We also went through our closets, found random things, wrapped them, and included elaborate rules on what to do with these things. The winner of each game got a prize and had to follow all the instructions. We played each game for about half an hour, took a break, then played a different one. When it was time for a new game, N. and I locked eyes across the room, stealthily pulled out our harmonicas, and played loud discordant notes. This worked surprisingly well!

For example, Zack won a pink headband and a used copy of N.'s diving manual. He had to wear the headband all night and perform dramatic readings from the manual.

N.'s choice game, "Who's That Cat" was a surprise hit. Everyone sat in a circle with one person blindfolded in the middle. The blindfolded person spun around and pointed to someone, who then had to meow like a cat. Based on this, the person in the middle had to guess who it was. If they guessed wrong, everyone switched seats and the game continued.

There was also a limbo contest! I think I won because no one else really tried.

And Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey, beautifully crafted by myself and N. (This game had a fair amount of cheaters, you know who you are.) Other games included charades and that game where you write and draw (someone really needs to come up with a catchy name for that).

Burrito the Burro!

And of course N. made a giant cookie cake! Oh, and I made an awesome playlist that everyone enjoyed. Roughly every fifth song was Thrift Shop. 

We made everyone sign the guest book. Except for that one guy. 

A number of people have said this was their favorite party yet! The bar just keeps getting higher. 

Here are some choice excerpts from the guest book:
" Woohoo so much fun, thrift shop all the time!"
" I look incredible."
" Great party, if I hear thrift shop again I'm leaving"
"I wear your granddad's clothes"
" Sorry for ruining your clothes with silly string."