Ohhh, That's Why I'm Drunk

A couple weeks ago, Dave and I had a chance to meet my uncle and his partner for dinner.  We had a great time and I was feeling very posh because we went to a very swanky restaurant in Boston.  Since I leave work at 4 pm, I knew I would get there before Dave and everyone else, so I invited a colleague of mine, Beth, to head to the bar and have a drink while I waited.

Being my poshest, swankiest self, I ordered a Maker's Mark Manhattan.  I drank vodka in my twenties, so I'm starting to turn to whiskey, which my Irish heritage is appreciative of.  Unfortunately I don't know many whiskey drinks.  Except what my mother, who is a whiskey drinker, always ordered when she was feeling her poshest, swankiest self (which is pretty much always).  And since I was in a posh, swanky place, I didn't want just any whiskey, I wanted the good stuff.  Which, again following my mom's orders, is Maker's Mark.

The lovely bartender made me a lovely drink and I enjoyed it.  (We'll ignore the part where I sat at the bar and changed from my flats into heels which I had pulled out of my purse. Again, I was posh and swanky.)  The drink was large, to say the least, but for $15 bucks it better be.  The cherry at the bottom was quite intoxicated in and of itself and no I did not trip when I got off the barstool yes I ate lunch and no I don't need help going down the stairs thank you very much.

Finishing our drinks, Dave and I said good bye to Beth, met my uncle and headed to dinner.  Where of course I ordered another Maker's Mark Manhattan.  And proceeded to have a lovely evening being very posh and swanky and ordered delicious food, had wonderful conversation and laughs and enjoyed the poshness and swankiness of this uber-cool restaurant.

At the end of the evenings, we said our goodbyes and Dave and I made our way to the subway to get back to the car and head home.  On the subway I turned to Dave.

Me: I think I might be a little drunk.

Dave: Really? You think?

Me: I'm going to text people in the car.

Dave: No.  You're not allowed to text anyone.

Me: Why?

Dave: Because you're drunk.

Me: Can't I just text Amy?

Dave: Ok, you can text Amy.

Me: And Cindy?

Dave: Amy and Cindy but no one else.

Me: Fine.

Dave, being of his faculties, drove us home and I proceeded to sit in the passenger's seat texting Amy and Cindy very deliberately: I'm drunk and Dave said I'm only allowed to text you.  Then I decided to text Lisa too because Dave would never know. (Oops.  Cat's out of the bag.  He's probably going to take my phone away from me next time.)

Cindy was at first concerned that I was sad-drunk as in I tried to wash away my worries with booze, but then remembered I had gone out that night.  Then she was quite sad because she wasn't drunk with me.

Amy didn't reply until the next morning because she had somewhere in the range of a dozen 8 year old boys playing laser tag in her backyard for my nephew's birthday.  It's ok, I forgive her.

Lisa asked me how I was so drunk, quickly followed up with the more important question of How are you so drunk before 9 pm?  I told her it was because I had 2 very large beverages containing nothing but alcohol (at this point I'd forgotten they also had fruit--so they must be healthy, right?), but the definitive answer should have been Because I started at 4 pm, what are you waiting for?

Me: I don't understand.  I mean, I guess 30+ more years of drinking helps, but my mom never got this ripped on 2 drinks....ooooooooohhhhh.

Dave: What?

Me: My mom always drank Manhattans on the rocks.

Dave: Yeah, that will make a difference from the pure alcohol.

Me: Funny.  She never ordered them that way. I've never heard her order a drink on the rocks.  They just show up with ice in them.

Fast forward two days later when I share this with my mom.

Mom: You did what?  I'll bet that knocked you on your ass.

Me: But you never order them on the rocks.

Mom: I always order them on the rocks.

Me: I swear I've never heard you say that phrase.

Mom: Every. Time.

So, apparently I didn't learn to drink from my mom even though I thought I had.

And I promise my brother will make fun of me for this because I can usually handle more than him.  Except I'm pretty sure he would have been done after one of these iceless wonders.

"I Don't Like It"

Last month I got a deal from Living Social for two tickets to the the AppleFest at Wachusett Mountain, including a ride on the chair lift to the top of the mountain.  It sounded like a good way to spend an afternoon, so I bought the tickets and hoped it would be a beautiful day.

Well, yesterday was gorgeous, although windy, and it really was quite lovely to spend sometime outside.  Much of the AppleFest is vendors, crafters and local artisans, but there were some interesting displays, music and the like.  We watched a chainsaw artist work on a bench for the ski lodge.

We also had a chance to check out the Bengal tigers.  Although we were in between shows, it was clear the tigers were pretty stressed out.  Except for the one that decided to lay in the sun and take a nap, they were all pacing and never settled.  It actually made me a little sad, wondering what they must be going through.

They had a German buffet but we ended up passing on it because Dave is afraid of sauerkraut.  Instead we saw the giant pumpkins brought in for the Great Pumpkin Weigh-in.  Imagine how many pies, breads and cookies I could make with this thing!

We also saw a father and son juggling act.  They were pretty good (better than I would be) and the one trick that the father messed up on, he insisted on doing right, so it was nice to see someone admit their mistakes.  He's on a balance board with a cup of water on his head juggling knives in the wind. 

Eventually we wandered over to the ski lift and got on.  And that's when I remembered, I don't like heights and prefer to have my feet safely planted on the ground.  I don't ski, so I've never had a reason to be on a ski lift before.  Dave skis this mountain pretty often and clearly had no issues.  The video pretty much says it all.

We got off a the top to check out the view.  We've hiked up here before and there were an awful lot of hikers there already. 

It was a gorgeous day, despite the wind on top whipping pretty good.  The view was relatively clear, and although we were 50 miles away from Boston, we could still make out the skyline on the horizon.  That is if I had been able to see the screen on my camera when I took this shot.  It's still a beautiful day though.

Then came the fun part.  Taking the chair lift back down the mountain.  At least going up I felt like the ground was getting closer to me.  Going down wasn't as nice (and I think it's pretty clear that going up wasn't pleasant either).  It occurred to Dave that he'd never gone down a ski lift either, but he certainly didn't seem to mind.

Despite being in sheer terror for part of the day, it was a nice event and we had a pretty good time.  We shared a homemade raspberry turnover that was delicious and I was even able to pick up some maple sugar for some cookies I want to make.

But no, even if I had the coordination and desire to ski or snowboard, I don't think I'll be getting on a ski lift anytime soon.

Happy Ending

A little lesson in protecting your pet and why you should get your dog microchipped.

This past March, Mary Lou, a woman who fosters for our group, All Dog Rescue, took in a 9 year old pit bull who she started calling Marta.  She's a sweet dog, but unfortunately there were no applications coming in.  Finally last week, an application came in and Mary Lou set up a meet and greet for Saturday.  And then, on Thursday, we got a voicemail from a woman claiming Marta was her dog.

Turns out, Marta, whose given name is Lexus, was stolen from her owners in July 2010.  They'd searched for her to no avail and pretty much gave up.  Then this past week they were on Petfinder.com looking for a new dog and came across Marta's listing.  So they called and after some fact checking, Mary Lou made arrangements for Lexus to go home.

Lexus' owners hadn't microchipped her. If they had, when she was taken in by animal control, they would have scanned her and gotten her home.  But since she came to our group, she's chipped now and will always be able to get back home.

Mary Lou did a great job and was able to get the local news to cover the story.  Here's the video from when Lexus was reunited with her family.