Weekend Warrior: "Go Stags"

sea grape: A small tropical American tree growing on 

sandy beaches and having large, glossy, leathery, rounded leaves and 

hard purplish fruit arranged in grapelike cluster

Thursday Night: Two girls who haven't seen each other in foreva + one road trip to Fairfield + two 12 oz cans of Sugar Free Red Bull = one very intense best friends word vomit. Lauren and I are the type of friends who talk A LOT but this was on a whole new fabulous level. Well, maybe it wasn't new but the last time we that kind of quality time together was way back when in August. We had a lot of life to catch up on! Finally, we got to Lauren's house in time to change, finish up make-up and hair, and pop open the Goose. Lauren's style of drinking is quite unique - a shot of vodka, chased with Red Bull, and a bite size sour dough pretzel. Hey, when in Rome! I followed suit and I have to say, it was an interesting experience that I might bring back to Georgetown with me (You never feel full! It's wonderful).

Anyway, we trekked through the snow and ice to a few of her friends' houses before heading to the Sea Grape Cafe, or as everyone calls it "The Grape" (I think I asked what the heck a sea grape is 100 times). Lauren introduced me to people she doesn't even know, we danced, we wrote our names on the chalkboards, and I witnessed a sight that I will never forget. I told Lauren that some random girl gave Lauren's name on the chalkboard the middle finger. This girl happened to be dancing with a boy so Lauren turns to me and says, "Watch this...." (very seductively). She proceeds to dance up on this poor boy who was clearly very tempted by the booty-shaking Lauren Ann but knew what would happen if he gave in to her. Middle finger girl was not having it - and she gave him the look like "take another step towards that really hott girl and you ain't gettin' ANY tonight." It was fantastically absurd.

It's really different being out at another school although, true to form, I managed to meet the door guy (Jerry), two bartenders (Carlos and Kevin) and their cousin, Melanie! Since the bars close at 12:30ish everyone goes back to the house parties after the bar (weird, I know). This place is like summer camp. All the houses are in a fenced in community connected by pathways, they all have porches so you can see what's going on at the parties, everyone knows each other, and then there's the beach. Yup, camp for 20 somethings with better facilities and alcohol....pretty cool.

So Friday we spent all day on the couches of Lauren's living room, with the exception of an hour or so for dinner at Bertucci's with Maggie. I think times like this really show how great of friends two people can be. It's one thing to go out, dance, have some drinks, and think "wow, we really have a good time together" but it's another thing to literally be totally fine with sitting around, staring at each other, talking and laughing for HOURS. We people watched out her front window, read out loud 15 pages of damnyouautocorrect.com, and judged people on facebook (don't act like you don't do it). We got to talking about our friendship for a minute and then had to stop because Lauren teared up thinking about how we've been friends for 8 years (and that's why I love her).

This one was our favorite

"Ohh baguette" became the official saying of the trip,

considering we said it in response to everything

Finally, it was time to get off our butts and get ready for NYE. Maggie and Taylor came over for some Goose, Red Bull, and pretzels and of course a Michael Jackson sing-a-long before heading back to The Grape. The Grape kinda feels like you're in someone's garage that was made into a bar. The dart boards and lack of anything resembling an atmosphere make this an ultimate college/beach bar and it's completely perfect for what it is. I can't even imagine how much beer is spilled on the floors on a weekly basis because the entire crowd is Fairfield seniors. Except, this weekend, I knew more people than I ever expected to - Georgetown, Oak Knoll, St.E's and Delbarton were well represented as was my home town! It was awesome.

We left The Grape at around 10ish? to go to the packed beach houses. I can't stress enough how different life is at different colleges - we rarely ever go to house parties anymore at Georgetown because the bars are so available to us. Also, being on the beach is so bizarre. To countdown to midnight everyone went out on the beach: HAPPY 2011! It was very Gossip Girl-esque - picture a bunch of very well-dressed kids in high heels, bottles of champagne, on the beach, and a full moon to ring in the new year. Then all of a sudden ohhh baguettes your feet are covered in snow and sand and you've been drinking since 7:30pm. Definitely time for Uggs. I went back to Lauren's house for a shoe change and Lauren went back for a quick cat nap, gotta love her. And just in case you were wondering....the position for Christie's first kiss of 2011 has been filled :-) Who was it you ask? Get real, a lady never kisses and tells. The night ended well: Jacqui quoted my dad for while "So, you playin' ball?", I walked on the beach in January, and made new friends. 2011 is off to a good start!

Gossip Girl cast - Yup, it kinda looked like this, just add some sand!

Anyway, we made moves early on Saturday to head home to Jersey. Craving Nonna's Grandma pizza, we stalker called Andrew the entire way home only to find out Nonna's was closed - bummer. I think I also had a delayed hang over. I was fine all morning until the last 15 minutes of the car ride when I felt a little loopy. I got home, face planted on the couch to watch the PSU game (poor Joe Pa, I thought we had it!) and did not move all day and night.

I was unsure of what this NYE would be like because I've learned that it is one of the most over-rated nights of the year. Expectations are so high and the pressure to have "the best time ever" is great. However, I'm really glad I decided to go to FU with Lauren because I've really missed her and I genuinely had a great time. I also think that college seniors should be given an extra semester to visit friends at other schools. We get so used to doing things the same way at our own schools, and even though I don't think I could do the Fairfield routine every weekend, I'm glad I got to experience it.

I hope your NYE plans turned out as

successful as mine did and Happy 2011, everyone!