Hey Bloggers,
I was talking to my good friend, Kylee, about her company, LoveAloud. Her webmaster, Jill, has informed her that a lot of the hits to her website are from the East Coast! So I want to say thanks to you readers out there who have visited her website and supported this straight girl who’s working towards equal rights for the LGBT Community. Thanks, Kylee!
If you haven’t purchased a shirt yet, get your ass over there and buy one! They’re really comfy, they wash well, and it’s for a good cause!
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For some reason I thought that I was a youngster again this weekend. Over mimosas and bloody marys at brunch this morning, I realized that I’ve had a drink every single day of the weekend. The good thing is that I don’t have to work tomorrow, the bad thing is that I’ve had a drink every day of this weekend.
Friday my lovely lady and I attended a Happy Hour held by one of my co-workers at Beauty Bar on 14th Street. I purchased 4 Martinis and a beer for my friends and only spent $33. And the martinis were A-Mazing. So amazing that I drank two, and a grape vodka drink the cute bartender suggested…and a beer. As the gay boys started showing up and our quaint, quiet party started turning into a more rowdy affair Mirs and I bid our adieus and made our way to the Lodge Restaurant in Williamsburg for some alcohol-absorbing food-Cheeseburgers and cupcakes.
Saturday we spent the entire day in the East Village doing some shopping. By shopping I mean looking at clothes that I cannot buy because I’m budgeting but like to put them against my body, enjoy the feeling of silks and cashmere against my skin and the way my feet looked in those amazing Marni Wedge heels that I saw at that Tokio Consignment shop that were $150 that I kinda, might, probably go back and get. They were effing ridiculous. Brown soft leather, patent leather green wedge. Fucking amazing. I’m trying to remember that my big “Happy Promotion to Me” present is the leather bag from Italy that I keep looking at daily.
I’m working really hard on making the most out of my crazy ridiculous wardrobe, realizing that my lovely lady has a lot of skirts and dresses to chose from as well, and reminding myself that when it’s time for us to move in together, it would be amazing to have a few month’s rent in the bank so we can get some great furniture.
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In moving in together news, Mirs and I have taken to browsing apartments on Craigslist together before getting out of bed. I’ll admit that I’ve been browsing apartments on Craigslist for months. There’s no shame in my game. Everyone knows I want to live with my girlfriend. I’m practically living with her now. In the last two weeks I’ve spent two nights at my own apartment, in my own bed.
Instead, when I say I’m going “home” I mean “I’m going to Miriam’s” Everyone keeps telling me that we should just merge to her place until her lease expires since we spend every night at her place anyway. The moment the words leave her lips, I’d probably do it. I say probably because Mir’s Place is a true studio. She has a divide between her kitchen and her bedroom that’s a cloth on a tension rod. Like me, she doesn’t have an actual closet, she has a tension rod in the recession of her wall that barely holds her clothes. She has three shelves over her bed. One is stuffed full of books, and the other two are squeezed to the limit with her clothes. Unlike me, my girlfriend doesn’t have an obsession with shoes, purses, or clothes. That said, she does own a lot of those things. There is no way that we could both live here. We’ve talked about it. We could put her bed on risers and use that space for storage. She has a record player and there’s a bag of donation items under it, I could use that space for storage. We could put up more shelves. I could put some clothes in storage or, GASP, purge a bit. We’d be miserable. Even if it was just for a few months, all of my shit in her small place would drive my good-natured girlfriend up the wall.
So no. Not yet, at least.
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After shopping we decided to see what all the fuss about Slumdog was and see it at the Angelika. We got there about an hour early and were sitting in the cafe deciding where we should go for a snack. I was listening/not listening to Mirs and her BFF, Heather, talking about what they talk about and glanced over and saw my friend Elissa. I about shit myself. She’s older-looking and her hair was shorter but she was basically the same red-head that I remember from grade school and high school-‘cept gayer.
I called her name and she looked blankly at me. I smiled at her and walked over to her and as I got closer the recognition came to her. She took me in one of the best hugs ever and I felt excited inside. I haven’t mentioned her here before because she seemed like a lost cause but, seeing this girl was one of my favorite New York moments to date.
Elissa and I went to grade school together. We played on the basketball team together. She was the guard and I was the forward. We played together a lot and hardly ever sat on the bench. Partially because my dad was the coach, mostly because Elissa was a good player. We sort of became less-close during high school. She was a soccer player and I was a cheerleader and runner but she was still my friend. The last time I saw her was in 1998 at the University of Dayton. She was visiting us from St. Louis University (or the University of St. Louis-I have no clue which) We had a good weekend and I never saw her again. (this isn’t a crush story, wait for it)
So I was in Ohio visiting from NYC and I heard that she lived in New York and that she was gay. This was right about the same time that I was struggling with my own gayness. I desperately wanted to connect with her to work out my feelings. We’re from the same town, went to the same schools- I needed her.
I randomly ran into her father at Starbucks and he gave me her number but it was old and I never got in touch with her. When I finally came out, I would look for her at lesbian bars just in case-I mean, New York is a big city and the lesbian community is big and varied but it’s not that big, I thought. I was wrong. It’s bigger than big-It’s HUGE.
So, seeing her sitting in the Angelika theater at the same day waiting for the same movie that I was was amazing. Even more amazing because we were supposed to be in Park Slope at a birthday party. Even more so because we’d been to two other theaters in the East Village. If we’d gone to Park Slope I wouldn’t have seen her. If we saw Milk instead of Slumdog, I wouldn’t have seen her.
We hugged, a giant hug, a real hug and immediately started talking at the same time. I found out that she and her girlfriend are getting married on March 21st of this year, she’s an occupational therapist, and that they’re moving to Brooklyn Heights. (STRANGE! Mirs and I have been looking at a few places in the Heights) Totally twilight zone, right? I introduced her to Mirs and Heather and was introduced to her BFF, Laura. We parted ways for me to get a sandwich and when we came back and got settled into our seats in the theater her friend Laura informed us that they were throwing a surprise Bachelorette Party for the both of them and invited us. (Right!?)
The bachelorette party was at the Slipper Room on the LES; a burlesque show. When we got there, Laura found us and let us know that the lesbians had taken over the front row of the place. Yup, right in front, in the chairs, next to the stage-TONS OF LESBIANS. Well, not tons, but enough for the MS to make a snarky comment about “real” lesbians in the front.
The crowd was intense and Mirs and I decided it best to visit the loos before getting stuck in the front of the small bar. While waiting for Mirs to come back up, Elissa walked in and was again shocked to see me. I told her that Laura invited us and she was excuted. She helped us maneuver through the dense crowd right up front. I met more lesbians than I can remember and watched more amazing performances than I can remember. Yes, there was vodka involved, again.
Overall, I walked away with my friend’s phone number and hope that I can make some LESBIAN FRIENDS all of my own 🙂 Granted they’ll be friends I’ve made through another friend, they’ll be friends that have nothing to do with Mirs. It sounds mean reading that back, but we’ve had a lot of discussions on my desire to have some good lesbian friends, or even acquaintances of my own. We got invited to the after party-but like the old ladies we are, we were already snuggled in bed.
This afternoon, over an amazing Mexican brunch at Elote in Brooklyn, and a Mimosa, Mirs and I reviewed our weekend. I’m excited we got out of the house, we hung out with new friends, we’re on the same page with our co-habitation, and I saw some boobies.
Black, Gay and Jewish in the City 