Sometimes I like to share my G-Chat convos. This is one of those times:

Scene: Discussing music playlist for my upcoming dinner party

me: I'm on isoHunt
searching for torrents
and always giggle when I come across these albums called things like
"Electro House you NEED 2007"
cuz let me tell ya...
I don't need no electro house

Monica: haha
what kind of music for Friday? the old standards (dean, frank)

me: I'm going to play **exclusively** only music from commercials--you know iPod ads and Mitsubishi commercials. Bands like the Ting Tings and Cat Power...maybe even that new Madonna song from the Sunsilk ad

Monica: haha
Feist?

me: I don't know what it's called. I just call it "that shampoo commercial song"

Monica: Why don't you throw in Of Montreal for their song that runs in the Outback Steakhouse ads (even though the lyrics were completely changed for the ad)? What lead you to this decision?
me: Well, there is just so much good music in advertising these days...

Monica: no kidding

me: i may even throw in a few of the old standards. You know, like:
"A dollop of Daisy...A dollop of DAAAAY-Sy"

Monica: haha
awesome

me: and 30 seconds of the aardvaark song

Monica: I know you love that damned aardvaark song

me: I do!

Monica: is it two double-as?

me: I do love it

Monica: or just one: "aardvark"?

me: Ahh...I just added it for good measure

Monica: one

me: It's "aardvaaark," actually.

Monica: thankfully, google chat has a spell checker

me: It's three and one double-A actually. Five total.

Monica: and ironically enough, google comes up as a misspelled word

me: no. firefox has a spell checker
not google

Monica: well, whatever

me: haha
i do love that itunes song

Monica: and it doesn't have 5 As...

me: "i ain't freakin I ain't fakin this"

Monica: haha

me: mmmmm that hasn't been proven yet, Moe

Monica: yeah - it's catchy
Uh, yeah it has

me: I should just play all Frank and Dean
and then slip that in randomly
and be like
"what? what's the problem? it's a classic!"

Monica: haha
go for it - it's your party
all right
have to get to work

me: ok ok
you go work

Monica: it's gonna be a loooong night

me: I'm going to blog this.

Labels: conversations, friends, music, parties, Sony Aardvark

Because last night I asked myself, "what could I possibly do on the Internet to waste even more time?"

Sent from My Dell Desktop now has her very own MySpace page!! The profile is still a work in progress (it's a little too dark and brooding right now), but it's ready to be revealed. Now all I need is a few friends...

A virtual profile for my virtual blog--you all knew it was just a matter of time...

Labels: Internet, Nerdiness, parties

I don’t really want to write about the blogger meetup anymore. The moment was there, but I got busy and now it’s long since passed. It was fun. I’d spent most of the day anxious, nervous that nobody would show up.

“What if nobody comes?” I asked my coworker, an hour before the end of the day. I’d been bopping around the hallway all afternoon, incapable of focusing on the work I was supposed to have been doing. “What if it’s just me and this lame sign?” I asked holding up the bright red meetup sign that I’d printed out and glued to a manila folder. She laughed.

“That would be pretty sad...”

I checked my RSVP list for the fifteenth time.

It was the same panicky feeling I’d get on the days I hosted dinner parties in my apartment in Washington. I’d stand in my tiny kitchen in a sauce splattered t-shirt, hair piled on top of my head and my cell cradled on my neck. Something on the stove, something in the oven, something wiring in the mixer, and my knife poised over a pile of garlic cloves.

“Call Looney,” I’d tell the voice dialer.

“Did you say, “Mama”?” The sultry robot voice would ask.

“LOO-NEY. Matthew LOO-NEY.”

“What if nobody comes?” I’d ask him once I finally got him on the line. “Should I call Andy? Did Catherine say yes?”

Looney always had a way of calming me down. “People will come. It will be amazing. You’re great at this. Just relax.”

“You’re right,” I’d say, more as a way of reassuring myself. “Will you be here early? And can you buy a can of Fancy Feast?”

“What the hell is Fancy Feast!?”

“Cat food. I need to feed Anais. Oh and lemons too! And a couple loaves for the bruschetta, but not from Safeway. Their bread is gross.”

“Anything else?” He’d ask, calmly jotting down the contents of my scattered list.

“I don’t know… Maybe you’d better call me from the store,” I’d admit.

The parties were always amazing thanks to my friends. They’d arrive early, pour me a glass of wine, and scatter about like party elves taking care of the little details that always seem to fluster me. They knew that while I had no problem thinking up and preparing tapas for 30, I would invariably forget to buy toilet paper. They were experts at hiding baskets of folded laundry, hanging fresh hand towels, and arranging furniture. They lit the candles and patiently listened to the neurotic orders that I shouted from the kitchen.

“Alternate the votives,” I’d heard myself tell Jeremy and Erin as we prepped for my last party, gesturing with my elbows while leaving my hands buried in a bowl of sausage stuffing. “It’s supposed to be blue, green, violet, and repeat. But don’t light them until ten to eight.”

About 45 minutes before guests were set to arrive, they’d pull me out of the kitchen and push me into the shower. They were completely used to seeing me pop out just minutes later, wrapped in a towel and with wet hair dripping all over my shoulders asking about oven temperatures and checking on the time.

See that’s the thing about college friends. It’s that kind of intimacy born from four years spent in almost unhealthily close proximity. There are no pretenses, and they know what I need before I even ask. The minute they arrive, I start to calm down. By the time my guests arrive I’m fine, carrying around trays of hors d'oeuvres and catching up with the people I haven’t seen in a while. I forget the anxiety and remember why it is that I love hosting. But for those moments just before things fall into place, I’m glad I have such a solid group of friends to carry me.

***

“I’ll come with you,” my coworker told me when I again expressed my worry. “I’ll stay with you until someone arrives.” My nervousness went away the minute she said this. Anxiety gave way to excitement as I anticipated the evening ahead.

People did come. Ten of them, actually, and it went even better than I expected. I felt a little piece of myself come back, talking and laughing among a very random group of strangers. After a few mintues of conversation I found that I'd all but forgotten my earlier concerns.

Although they did all agree that the sign was pretty lame.

Labels: blogging, friends, parties

I find it impossible to say (type) that phrase without hearing Rod Stewart's raspy voice going on and on about the music played by the DJ on the radio-o. I blame my father for this--he's weirdly in love with Rod Stewart.

But I digress...

In order to properly mark my transition from DC web chick to NY writer girl, I've decided to throw one last little swank soiree at my place in the circle known as Dupont. The date is set for Thursday evening to accommodate a certain BFF who is jetting off to Argentina that weekend (ahem...Looney...) Yes, I realize it's a school night, but we're starting at seven so there should be plenty of time to feast and imbibe and still make it home in time to catch your 40 winks (should you be so inclined). Personally, I can go sans winks.

Pretty much the entire local cast and crew of sent from my dell desktop will be in attendance (with the notably sad exceptions of BFF Vanessa, who is a slave to her temp job, and friend for whom I've yet to decide on an appropriate pseudonym, who now lives on the opposite side of the globe). I'm also extending the invitation to all you blog girls and blog boys that I've met or corresponded with over the course of the past few months. I don't have all of your e-mail addresses, so either drop me a comment or click on the "e-mail me" link over there on your left, and I'll respond with my addy and the details.

Few things make this blogger happier than having a party to plan. I get to obsess over the menu and dream up hors d'ouevre ideas (I confess that I actually sketch these out sometimes...if I had a scanner I'd show you some of my canape sketches). I spend hours concocting the perfect playlist. I obsessively check my evite site to see if anyone new has responded. It's madness, but it's also a lot of fun. This will probably be the last party I'm hosting at my own place for a few months, so I'm really looking forward to it (although there is a rumor that I might be co-hosting [read: cooking for] a spooky halloween party in NY later this month). Also, it will probably be the last time that I get to see all my DC friends together for a while.

So that said, I have canapes to sketch.

Labels: cooking, friends, parties