Category: feelings

How do you turn a converted school bus into a PARTY bus? 🎉🚌

Fill it with your best buddies, beer and wine and nips, and snacks, and crank up the tunes. The only way I can explain the explosion of fun that was Saturday night is to let the divine playlist do the talking:

“You ready, Biv? I’m ready, Slick, are you?” (POISON, Bell Biv Devoe)

“Tonight let’s enjoy life…” (GIVE ME EVERYTHING, Pitbull)

“Go, Shorty. It’s your birthday…” (IN DA CLUB, 50 Cent)

“Look how I drive, look at my ride, when [we] go by, smoke in your eyes…” (WTF, Missy Elliott)

“[We’re] headed downtown, cruising through the alley…” (DOWNTOWN, Macklemore)

“Bright as the sun, [we] wanna have some fun..” (SHOOP, Salt ‘N’ Pepa)

“Everybody wants a thrill…” (DON’T STOP BELIEVING, Journey)

“You’re with a winner so baby you can’t lose…” (IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERRE, Nelly)

“Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade…” (I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY, Whitney Houston)

“Who will dance on the floor…” (BILLIE JEAN, Michael Jackson)

“[We] got the moves like Jagger…” (MOVES LIKE JAGGER, Maroon 5)

“Stay on the streets of this town…we’re just dancing in the dark.” (DANCING IN THE DARK, Bruce Springsteen)

“Girls just wanna have fun…” (GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN, Cindie Lauper)

“[We’re] so fancy, you already know, [we’re] in the fast lane…” (FANCY, Iggy Azalea)

“Ain’t nothing gonna break [our] stride. Nobody gonna slow [us] down…” (BREAK MY STRIDE, Matthew Wilder)

“You gotta bounce to this like this…” (HEARTBREAKER, Mariah Carey)

“Someone who knows how to ride without even falling off…” (PONY, Ginuwine)

“We’re yelling T-I-M-B-E-R!!!!” (TIMBER, Pitbull)

“Bye bye bye…” (BYE BYE BYE, N’Sync)

Yup.

And this is just a taste of the songs that had us defying gravity and the laws of motion for three hours as we danced on a swaying/bumpy/jerky vehicle, reminisced about the times we first heard these songs, sang at the tops of our lungs, and added a zillion more memories to my full to near bursting heart.

Two carefully wrapped packages from my parents. Two cards. Supplies inside.

Two playlists prepped for bigger moments tried out early in a small space.

A selfie.

A peppermint mocha and a birthday wish.

More birthday wishes via calls and texts.

A basket of home baked cookies tied with a blue ribbon. A donut slathered with chocolate fudge frosting.

A box from a local chocolatier ordered from very far away. My heart is snapping turtle popcorn shaped.

A stomach swirling with sugar and excitement.

A phone fairly exploding with text messages. Wishes and questions and explanations and catching up and laughter. Relevant and irrelevant topics covered.

Me floating through the day.

Reality: day job duties.

Mini celebrations in the hallways.

Major celebrations online.

Friends traveling from parts near and far.

Love experienced with all 5 senses.

A Friday. The end of a week.

Another year begun.

#ThisIs35

What’s your memoir about?

Sitting around the dinner table from me were two faces I’d known since 1994. They look the same and yet, so worldly. I’m thrilled to still have them in my life. Our conversations may have shifted from crushes to husbands, homework to houses, and babysitting gigs to (their own) babies, but the laughter, love, and respect are always present.

The first portion of the walk home, E called her husband to check in. Minimally aware of their conversation, I was acutely aware of having been here before. My first year in Boston, E and I were roommates and she’d talk to her then boyfriend, now husband every night at 11. Their plan to combat the long distance love affair. Then and now, I’d catch snatches of conversation, not intentionally listening, but knowing what I did hear was part of a grand story of love.

The impossible can take on many forms, such as my Halloween inspiration:

I first attempted it on Halloween 2014 because I was feeling lazy and the thought of pulling together/buying various articles of clothing to form a costume was too much. I wanted to use what I already had on hand. A black dress, crazy patterned tights, a headband with a tiny witch’s hat on it, and a variety of makeup.

My look ended up more understated than the inspiration, but serviceable nevertheless.

This Halloween, I expanded my makeup options by borrowing some purple eyeshadows and nail art stickers from a friend. I gathered every form of eye makeup I had and added M’s stash to it. I knew the look was achievable (see: last year), but the crowd of liners and shadows and brushes and crayons and mascaras and fake lashes took my breath away.

My hands jittered as I switched from brushes and shadows to liquid liners and back. I swiped and dusted and pulled and wiped off and poked and stepped back and dabbed and traced and removed and added and squinted and shook my head and blended. I used eyelash glue for the first time. The blacks and blues and purples piled up, each layer thicker than the last. Nail art stuck to my face and my fingertips.

Q-tips + a smear of lotion were a formidable combination against the many mistakes and mis-starts and re-dos.

Focusing on one section of my face, one brush stroke, one minute at a time, my face transformed.

My elation with the final product was tempered by the realization I had only 5 minutes until I had to leave. I still needed to divide up my and M’s makeups, clean up the spills and overflows, pack my purse, and get dressed in my official outfit.

My polished self locked the door, leaving the disheveled bathroom behind. That would have to be future Abby’s impossible task.