Memorial Day Weekend '11

        Memorial Day Weekend (MDW), the end all be all weekend in New Jersey. It marks the beginning of summer madness, drinking, shore rentals and mayhem. Clubs/bars double or even triple their cover chargers, gas stations charge the premiums and young adults prepare to empty their bank accounts over the 4 day weekend. A usual hour drive turns into a 3-5 hour bumper to bumper adventure, involving stories about last years MDW, multiple playlists and predictions of  what is about to occur. 

        One particular MDW was myself and eight girls in a house that slept six, 2 queen beds and a pull out. Fifteen 30 packs of Bud Light, a half gallon of vodka, tequila and rum were the poisons of choice. Located just a block from the beach and a few blocks from the infamous Seaside Heights boardwalk, we were in prime location.Let the Mayhem begin. World records were set for the speed at which cars were unpacked, beers were chilled and drinks were poured. Within the hour everyone was about 6-8 drinks deep with no sign of stopping. The rest is a story for another time. 

        This year MDW was very different. A friend and myself drove Thursday night from Michigan to New Jersey. Arriving at 4 am we scarfed down some Chinese food and went to bed. Woke to the smell of taylor ham (pork roll, the best thing that would touch your mouth), egg and cheese being prepared for us, on an everything bagel, of course. After that was the pre weekend manicure and pedicure, since the New Jersey Parkway was backed up for miles about 2 hr delay we decided to go gallivanting in the city, New York City. After all it is fleet week and the city was crawling with seamen, looking for some big city fun. After showering, pregaming and eating some fine italian dinner, we head over to the city to meet up with some friends. While walking around bar hoping we heard it all, "Sexiest ladies in the city", "Lets go back to the boat", " I'd ride that wave all weekend" and many more that I can't remember. As were on our way to our fourth bar of the night, a bounces mumbles free drinks no cover, clearly we go in get our free drink and leave for the next destination, next door. We meet up with about seven others hear and begin to dance. After about four hours of solid dancing, shot taking and beer drinking, its on to the next one. We head across town to the East Village, completely unnecessary at this point, however we are there so we might as well continue to drink, shots of Jameson & Patron start pouring and the night gets blurry. After many bank accounts have been drained we decide to head to the bus terminal, but not before stopping at the best place to get pizza at 4am, Artichoke. An amazing spin off Spinach Artichoke dip. 

Artichoke Basille's

follow them on twitter @artichokepizza

        After our pizza adventure and waiting for the bus for about an hr we get home at 5:30 and pass out only to wake up 4hrs later.

... to be continued

Y0L0

Y0L0. You 0nly Live 0nce.

"You go through your life & you're probably going to be able to look back & pin point two or three times when you were actually genuinely happy. And then of course in those moments you wouldn't have even appreciated it anyways because, who does?" O.C.

When was the last time you were happy? Did you enjoy it, appreciate it? I hope so. Take a notebook and write it down. Keep a book of those moments, those memories and when your having one of those days, take it out and remember, just because today was a bad day, doesn't mean tomorrow will be.

NOTE **If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, just a friend or what ever you want to call it. (you know what I'm talking about) Put those happy entries in another book, because we all know there comes the day when your bad day is because of that "special" someone. And to avoid ripping out those pages, burning them or throwing out the entire thing completely, just use a different book. If the relationship works, congratulations, now you have a book of great/happy moments with your loved one. If it doesn't, do what you want with it. But DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT read it everyday, every other or every so often. Its not healthy!!Move forward!

Enjoy life, that's what its all about. Do something random, crazy, exciting. Live a little people. Go skinny dipping, drive with the top down in November or March, have a sleepover in your 20's with your best friends, go play in the snow. Your never too old to have fun. and if someone makes fun of you about "not acting your age". Feel sorry for those people. Sorry that they can't let loose or enjoy something so simple, without feeling embarrassed. Stop worrying so much. Just take a breath and calm down, RELAX! I have a friend that use to worry about little thing and big things. The test next week, how he/she will pay for something, when will this happen, the future, everything. He/she would get annoyed at me when I would say, "I don't know, I'll figure it out". Recently in the past year the roles were switched and I had to sit back take a look and ask, "What changed?".

.. I did and thats a lesson I learned the hard way.

#1 I lost my sense of self, because I was taking care of someone else