Gift Exchange 2007
Every year, some of our closest friends get together and have a Christmas gift exchange. It’s a White Elephant gift exchange, so there’s really no telling what gift you’ll get. We’ve been doing it for a few years, and it has been getting better each year. We put a rule in place last year that you have to actually MAKE what you bring to the gift exchange. Things get really creative. This year I decided I would write a short story about some of my closest friends. It was pretty good, and David read it to us all after the gift exchange, which did the story some real justice.I figured I’d go ahead and post the short story for the world to see! So without further delay… enjoy! Continue reading »
Filed under friends | Comment (0)4 Months? Really?!
It’s been 4 months since we’ve blogged. This was supposed to become our primary source of income! It’s okay though - I’ve got a new idea. Starting immediately, we’re going to charge $5 per post. So if you want us to pour the details of our intimate, juicy, lucrative personal lives (and believe me, I need you to want that) into this blog, send $5 to my Paypal account!Just kidding though, our love is free. So here’s what has happened during our vacation from blug blug:
- I purchased one 2007 Mini Cooper S.
- Since that time, it has been wrecked and repaired at $5000.
- For the record - I am innocent!
- I went on tour with David Shultz and The Skyline with an awesome guy named Sean Walsh from New York. In fact, we’ll be touring with him again in February 2008.
- Took a trip to the pumpkin patch, got some gords, and carved them up.
- Got VIP passes to Hanson at Toads Place!
- We hosted our 4th annual Thanksgiving gathering, yielding 6 different stuffing variations and one incredible turkey.
- It’s important to note that the turkey was soaked in a brine for 12 hours, and baked for 5 hours with a fine apple/onion/cinnamon blend INSIDE OF IT!!!
Visible proof of these incredible events below: 
Potomac River Trip
This weekend was just as tight as last weekend, yall.
Friday was First Fridays on Broad St. I missed that, because The Skyline are stressing hard to prepare for this big wedding we’re playing on June 9th. So far so good, and I can’t wait to post the set list over at matthewrock.com once it’s finalized.
Saturday we all took a trip over to the Northern Neck - a place that Anne’s family owns on the Potomac River. The attendees - myself, Diana, Sandy, Anne, David. We ended up going to Costco the day before to buy a bunch of supply for what we thought would be a much larger group, so we found ourselves obligated to drink two 24-packs of bottles of Heineken/Yuengling. At some point we convinced ourselves that we might run out of beer. I don’t know where that hysteria came from. We picked up another 12-pack of Coors Light. It’s ridiculous, because we ended up returning home with close to 24 beers. I am at the very least thankful that we’re not math nerds. Or maybe we were just unable to count past 10 by that point.
So we spent all of Saturday trying to kill this beer supply. I have vivid memories of Diana and Sandy sharing headphones and bobbing heads to The Format, Ryan Adams, etc. We ended up taking “scenario pictures”, the details of which I will update soon (I’m getting my hands on the pictures now). Shot off some fireworks, played some asshole, all of the party prep work we needed to exercise to get ready for the big July 7th Frat Party. And yes, YOU are invited.
Pictures from the weekend:
Memorial Deltaville Weekend
This Memorial Day weekend was one of the best ones in years. Most likely because a dance party was involved. Now that I think about it, most of the highlights of my life have some element of dancing involved. I’m not saying I’m a good dancer, I just like to stand near people and let my body ride the night out in unison. Not many people feel comfortable doing that, so I’m lucky my friends are just as crazy.
Dance parties at our place are always awesome because we really don’t care about being too loud or too dangerous, and we don’t have to drive home drunk. And we reserve the right to challenge anyone to a dance fight, because it is our dance floor. That hasn’t happened yet, but the idea of a Dance Fight Party really excites me - you know, like you either come in a blue shirt or a green shirt, and it’s like a huge battle between land and sea. The blue team could be called “The Global Warmers” and the green could be “The Recyclers”. I kid. But you know, maybe that’s cool?
I don’t even remember what I did on Friday so I’m going to start with Saturday.
Saturday’s Agenda:
- Went to the 42nd St location on the James River. The river was warm so we were all up in the water, no snakebiting whatsoever.
- Purchased a new Charbroil Commercial Series grill from Lowes.
- Had a cookout at our place, utilizing the 45 burger capacity of new grill.
- Hosted an incredibly awesome and successful dance party. MVP - as always, Jon Stepp.
Sunday’s Agenda:
- Went to River City Diner for breakfast (me, D, Sandy, Anne, David). Had myself the classic Sausage Gravy Plus, which will never, ever let me down.
- Me, D, and Sandy packed up and went to Deltaville. Made it just in time for some afternoon rays, got steak n’ cheeses, etc.
- Went wakeboarding and extreme boating with Grant.
- Played Rumy (spelling?) forever and went to bed where I was haunted by ghosts slamming windows shut.
Monday’s Agenda:
- Sandy and Larry made us all breakfast sandwiches, which were to die for.
- I helped Grant begin putting a roof on the garage.
- Anne, David, Grant H, and Mat Shelton showed up, we all collectively sucked every breath of fun out of Deltaville.
It was awesome. The end!
Digitally, yes… Physically, no.
So far today, we have:
Played Wii
Not made a new song
…but pulled out all the dusty instruments we have stashed away in the music room
Made and drank two pots of coffee
Not taken a shower
Made fun of Matt’s incredibly witty “one liners”
Watched Secondhand Lions
Laid around
Window shopped online for dresses from Anthropologie…
…then looked for the ripped-off version from Forever 21
Played with/Laid with Maynor
Sandy finished school, while slightly still buzzed… (making sure to get her $40 worth from the Canal Club).
Diana ate beef jerkey
Matt still wants a nap.
all this and it’s only 3:30.
Justin Timberlake @ UVA
There are two things about me that most people don’t know:
- I have the courage to blog about seeing Justin Timberlake in concert.
- I am a man.
Generally those two things are contradictory, but I can transcend stereotypes and have seen the beauty in JT’s live performance. And it really was awesome.
We got tickets for about $75 each, after service fees and all the awesome fun bucks they like to throw on the end of your purchase. It’s pretty difficult to make a seat in row S on the upper level of a huge arena to be worth $75. So it was probably worth about $54, the original cost of the ticket before asshole taxes. And if you add in the delicious snacks we bought at the arena, such as applewood sausage, popcorn, soda, we’re talking mega bucks. That being said…
Pink, or I guess now it’s “P!NK”, opened the show with some wicked crazy military dance moves, and she played some songs I completely forgot about, like “Don’t Let Me Get Me” and my all-time-fav “Pill”. From there on it was just Pink rolling around on the stage and bumming everyone out… UNTIL… she came out in some lingerie type thing and sang “Get the Party Started”. Then it was like, a real party down there, like 500 ft from me, Pink was spinning around on a piece of fabric dangling from the SKY. She really does know how to get the party started.
Enter Justin Timberlake, who came for the after-party in search of a disco ball to break. But anyway, at this point, there was so much screaming, I didn’t know what to do so I screamed too. Really I was hoping for some flying action, because I know NSYNC used to do it… but that wasn’t necessary because JT is all grown up, and basically floats around on the stage using patent pending footwork.
I mean, the dance moves were insane, and I have to give so much credit to him for making the show ADULT-LIKE - There was a makeout sesh with one of the dancers, there was one particular moment when JT did a specific hip thrust into an innocent dancer who was bent over in front of him - I mean, totally adult friendly. It was kind of like softcore porn.
But what I was hoping for, and what was most impressive, was his ability to actually play instruments with his songs. Heavy piano use (which slowly rotates while he plays, gotta get one of those), he played some guitar, one of those funky strap-on keyboards from the 80s, etc. No drums - and that’s where I will fill his void, one day. He also did a really amazing version of “Losing My Way”, probably my favorite song of the night - he was just so genuinely into that song, it came out perfect.
So I’m not afraid to say I went and saw Justin Timberlake. Eff all yall.
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