Friday: as soon as Julie was done with work, we had a dinner party to get to, so we took the subway up to regional rail, which we rode out to the Mt Airy/Chestnut Hill area. I might get some names wrong, but: our hostesses were Faith and Lauren. I spoke with Allison and James as well as Brandon and Kristen. (Julie said I also spent some time talking to William's wife, but I didn't catch her name. The Mario sweater turned out to be a conversation starter.) Later, I sat next to Jenny and her wife Sarah, and the last to arrive were Zach and the other Lauren. (Zach thought I looked familiar for some reason, but personally, I thought Jenny looked familiar. I think we all just have common face shapes.) There were at least two other couples whose names I didn't catch.
Several parts of dinner and drinks had a Puerto Rican theme, and in the conversations around the living room, it seems like a lot of people were transplants from New York. I've never heard the phrase "Bumble BFF" said so much in a single location. After people had finished eating, we did the white elephant gift exchange; Julie had picked up a big oversized slipper to wear on both of your feet, but I'm not sure who got to go with that one. The gift we opened wound up being aromatherapy oil and other holistic supplies. Someone who shall remain nameless brought a riding crop, not anticipating the kids would still be up at the time the gift opening occurred, but people played it off well. ("It's for horses.") She wound up trading for it before all was said and done, as she'd made a point of saying she never provides a gift she wouldn't be happy to receive herself. Other popular gifts included a huge box of Gushers fruit snacks and a gift certificate to a local bookstore. (We later found out this was a last-minute replacement for some edible underwear.) Once all the gifts were distributed and the kids went to bed, we played a card game called The Game of Real Life. Our host had a copy because these DBT techniques were ones she used professionally, while another attendee had actually been the editor for the game. We played a little Heads Up before all was said and done.
The highlight of the evening for me was when Faith pointed out that in some of her first exchanges with Julie, Julie had made a big deal about how she needs to get out of the house and make new friends in part because I'm such a huge introvert, which seemed like a funny contrast since I'd spent the evening coming across like I'm outgoing and gregarious. But it's true! I AM a huge introvert, even if I can get some of the biggest laughs of the evening when we're playing a therapy-themed card game.
Anyway, we took an uber home, and now I'm trying to write this up before I go to bed myself.
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My company's holiday party necessitated checking into a hotel. Pretty sure this was the casino night against which all other holiday parties I attend are measured; they always come up short. In the span of one evening, we learned of a card game I'd never played before, I proved skilled enough to win some prizes, and then I completely forgot about the game and have never been able to identify it since.
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We've been watching a lot of thelonelyisland videos lately. We're being kind of insufferable about it.
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