What a crazy week I’ve had, peeps! Enough of the small talk, let’s dive in. On Friday, Walshy came across a slew of free tickets to the No Doubt/blink-182 concert out in Holmdel, NJ. I’m a big enough ND fan to have their promo photo up in my office, so Walshy knew I would be in for the trip. He gathered up a few more people and we headed out to Holmdel. Um, it takes a long time to get there. We left the office at 6, and we got to the concert around 8:15. Unfortunately for me, No Doubt went on first that night (they alternate with blink), so by the time we got to our seats we’d missed the first 20 minutes of the concert. I was bummed, but what could I do other than ROCK OUT? So I rocked baby, rocked steady, through the rest of their show. After No Doubt was done, Walshy and I went to the refreshment area where we enjoyed giant beers until it was time to go. After another two hours, I was finally home. I dreamt about No Doubt! I did. In my dream, I got to the show on time. Aw.

After a scant amount of sleep, it was time to get up and get ready for the Belmont Stakes! My friends Leigh and Lisa met up, bought some tasty treats, and jumped on a train out of Penn Station out to the race track. On the train, we met up with two nice groups of people: the first group offered us each a beer, and the second group offered us seats and more beer. I love new friends! The trip on the train was quick (only two beers long), and before we new it we were filing into Belmont Park to find our other friends. They’d managed to stake out an awesome spot on the lawn right in front of the track. Woo! We had a blast eating and making new friends – it was a giant tail gate party and everyone was rooting for the same team. There were only a few minor bad points: 1) someone told me that I couldn’t wear jeans to the park, so I had a skirt on and it was 60 degrees. At some point the skirt snagged on something and, by the end of the day, my skirt was ripped from hem to waist…leaving my rear end flapping in the breeze. Thank goodness I had a sweater I could tie around my waist; 2) Reagan died that day, but by the time they announced it at the park most people were too drunk to properly participate in the moment of silence. I myself was busy trying to cover my butt while simultaneously dialing my parents to find out if it was, in fact, true that he’d died; 3) Smarty Jones didn’t win the Triple Crown! If I’d known he wasn’t going to win…well, I still would have gone because it was so much fun. But I would have worn pants, damn it!

On Sunday my brother Kyle arrived for a week! He’s here for work, but staying with me, so it’s been cool to have him here. We’ve hung out a bit, including Monday night when I was lucky enough to be invited along on a fabulous dinner. Last night Kyle and I went to meet one of our best friends from high school, Jordana. We hadn’t seen her since Christmas 1996! So long. She just moved to New Jersey from Brazil to live with her fiancé, and they were in the city yesterday. It was so great to see her! I can’t believe it’s been so long. It didn’t feel like a long time, though – we picked up right where we left off, sharing memories and catching up. We also finally got to meet her fabulous fiancé, Roland. I’m so excited that they are so close to me now and we can start hanging out all the time. Yay! Its visitor week: My boss was here from California for the last three days, and my parents are coming today to celebrate my birthday (only 17 days until the big day!). Whenever my boss is here, the days are insane. I barely have enough time to answer my email. I like it when he’s here because it means there will be lots of lunches, and the days go by fast. But that also means no ME time, and damn it, I need that! I’ve made up for the lost three days of Me time by taking an hour lunch break, sitting in my friend’s office for 20 minutes reading her magazines, walking around the office chatting with people, and generally staying away from my computer. Yay! That’s what I get paid for, baby.