Monday, May 08, 2006

NOTE TO SELF: ...

... Must remember to hydrate properly before The Oprah Winfrey Show from now on. Clearly, the post-show cocktails aren't enough to replenish my drained tear ducts. I swear I go through a box of tissues every time!

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Philly/Willy Trip: Day Three

DAY THREE - SATURDAY

So now we're just that much closer to my old law firm's "Alumni Reception" on Monday. Day One and Day Two of our Philly/Willy trip are behind us and we face the weekend with fresh faces and a date for brunch at Lala's house. This is an important brunch because we will be meeting Lala's Miniature Marsupials (a/k/a "Sugar Gliders") for the first time. Pictured on the left is Ming, who was just born last week!

When Lala coaxes them out of their nest, the teeny weeny gliders are so cute, it's all I can do not to pop one in my mouth and casually walk out of the house. However, my sense of self-preservation prevents me from doing this because I know Lala would surely tackle me in the driveway and I don't want to be sporting two black eyes when I see my former colleagues for the first time on Monday, not to mention I want to look my best for tonight's dinner at Moro - by far the best restaurant in the Philly/Willy region!

We have a cool, laid back time at Lala's and then return to the cleanest hotel for a quick afternoon ... er ... nap before dinner. Judging by the voicemail, Housekeeping is still ticked off at us for refusing to remove the "Do Not Disturb" sign that's been hanging on our door since Thursday. I peek outside our room, spy the maid's cart in the hallway, and tiptoe down to it to score some fresh towels and soap. My covert operation is a complete success, right up to the point where I tug at a couple of towels and EVERYTHING comes tumbling out of the cart. While frantically "ssshing" the falling linens, crashing cups, and rolls of toilet paper now bouncing down the hall, I manage to quickly stuff everything back without getting caught. Granted, the next time the maid sees her cart, she'll think a blind paraplegic attacked it, but, hey, that's not my problem. I haul ass back to our room and hide until it's time to leave for dinner.

Dinner is simply FAB! Jazzy joins us, along with Lala and her hubby, and our kickass Key West friends from downstate Delaware. Throughout the evening, we are treated to visits at our table by other friends and acquaintances who heard we were in town and eating at Moro. Even the ultra-busy Ms. M. RockStar is able to sit and chat with us for a while! And, as always, the food and service are DEEE-VINE! Thanks to the excellent Chef and crew at Moro! Y'all know we'll be back - and raucous as ever!

So - to summarize Day Three:
  • Number of Lala's Mini Marsupials seen: 4
  • Number of Lala's Mini Marsupials I wanted to steal: 4 [I'm almost (almost) ashamed to admit that part of me wants to watch a Sugar Glider torture Playdough .... ]
  • Number of Housekeeping carts ransacked: 1
  • Number of Halle Berry references: 1 [Some dude on our floor saw me getting ice. Did he seriously think the real Ms. Berry would stay at that hotel? Then again, it is the "cleanest hotel in Delaware" ....]
  • Number of times The Cap'n renewed his attempts to convince Jazzy to join us at the "Alumni Reception" on Monday: 0 [Hey. He may be an optimist but The Cap'n knows when a ship has sailed. I mean, if he didn't get her with the lure of free booze, why bother trying?]
  • Saddest comment heard, according to The Cap'n: "Sorry. It's not softshell crab season yet." [Yes - The Cap'n is a crab addict.]
  • Funniest thing seen: The look on Lala's face when I nonchalantly asked her 16 year old daughter whether she was on birth control. [Yikes! And here I thought stealing one of the sugar gliders would surely seal my fate as fishbait in the Delaware River! Not to worry, though - Lala forgave my faux pas ... I think.]
  • Highlight of the Day: Dinner at Moro with all my peeps!
After dinner, we partied like rock stars back at the hotel with Jazzy, the Key West Krew and, of course, Miss Lala. Needless to say, we don't remember much more about Day Three. Tomorrow we'll do some spontaneous shoe shopping, hit a bucket of balls at the driving range, AND visit Miss Gee and Theo! Busy times ahead, folks! Busy times! Stay tuned. After all, THE ALUMNI RECEPTION is almost here!


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Thursday, May 04, 2006

AI5 Results: Sassy Update

Ok .... We've had a good night's sleep now and as the cops can't tie any of last night's looting and burning to us, we may be willing to reconsider our previous proclamation. After all, Chris Daughtry is still in the running. But still - how the HELL did Paris get voted off?!? As far as we're concerned, she was the only one that put together two solid performances on Tuesday night. And Sassy voted like mad! Oh well - it proves my point: Always make sure you have two bottles of whiskey on hand for AI5 Results Night!

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Wednesday, May 03, 2006

AI5 RESULTS: No More Paris in Spring

And so, it's official: Sassy and The Cap'n will no longer be watching that ridiculous show.

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Don't You Wish You Spoke Spanish Too?

Mexico is legalizing drugs?!? Hey - do you think this year's Attorney Retreat will still be the planned cruise to Cozumel? I always knew being bilingual would pay off one day! Ok, so maybe I only know one Spanish word, but I guarantee that one word could come in handy in Cozumel this summer!

Signed,
Silly Sinsemilla Sassy

[A Note From The Editors: The foregoing post by "S.S. Sassy" just came to our attention and we feel compelled to publish the following Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the Editors or the Administration of Sassy Travels. Also, in the interest of truthful publishing, we would point out that Sassy is, in fact, fully bilingual. Her frequent utterance of the one word referenced above is a personal choice and in no way an accurate measurement of the entirety of her linguistic talent. That being said, the way Sassy drinks, maybe she actually forgot the rest of the Spanish she once knew. (She has blackouts, dear.) Anyway, we apologize for any confusion and thank you for your patronage.]


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Philly/Willy Trip: Day Two

DAY TWO - FRIDAY

Ok. So now it's Friday. We have survived our first night in Wilmington and awake to sunny skies and remarkably mild weather.

The Cap'n wants to go back to Longwood Gardens (pictured on the left), a place I introduced him to the first time he visited me at the beginning of our relationship. So we hop into our rented Aveo and embark on our journey.

As we drive through the beautiful Brandywine Valley, I am bombarded by memories: a glimpse of my old townhouse (in which one of my former partners now resides); the auditorium where I took the Bar exam; the softball field (I never played in any of the games against other law firms, but I did show up to cheer ... and drink beer); the park I walked to with my sweet Beagle, Ranger... and at this point, I take a wrong turn down memory lane .... I see the lab I went to every week for a year for post-pulmonary embolism blood tests; then the physical therapy place where I learned to hate giant rubber balls; and the dreaded mammography clinic where, after the first screening, they made me wait in that stupid paper dress in the hallway for an hour and then called me back in because they "needed to have another look"! Yep - those words will put the fear of GAWD in you. (Thankfully, it was just a cyst) ....

"Dude! Are they throwing away that Mercedes Benz?!"

The Cap'n, bless his heart, interrupts my ill-advised reverie, by pointing at a car parked on the swale at the end of someone's driveway. There's a small "For Sale" sign on the front dash. At least I think it's a "For Sale" sign. The truth is, as we have now entered Greenville (highest per capita income zip code in the entire U.S.), the sign on the Benz just might read: "Free to a Good Home".

We giggle at that for a while and I forget all the earlier flashback foolishness. The rest of the drive is punctuated with our "oohs" and "ahs" as we take in the splendid surrounding scenery. It's a gorgeous spring day in Delaware.

We arrive at the Gardens just as my body realizes it's a quart low on vodka. The Cap'n takes beautiful pictures of the lovely landscape [Ed. Note: Keep an eye on the right sidebar in upcoming weeks] and then we move on to Buckley's Tavern for a late lunch (and a couple of vodka cocktails).
ASIDE: The last time I ate at Buckley's was in 2003, when I told everyone I was moving to Fort Lauderdale to live with The Cap'n. One friend's husband asked me if I thought that was a "wise" decision seeing as how I'd only met The Cap'n 5 weeks earlier. I responded then, as I would now, "Yipper! It's the third wisest decision I've ever made!" (Loyal readers know that my first two wisest decisions involved divorces...) Ok, enough with the "aside"; back to the story.
"You seemed a little off while we were at Longwood," The Cap'n observes between mouthfuls of delicious "tobacco onions" (think "blooming onion" but better).

"Yeah. I have to admit I'm kinda surprised about how I'm reacting to being back here," I reply between mouthfuls of delicious vodka cocktail.

And then, as we sit outdoors on the Tavern's front porch, we talk about it. About my memories. We talk about the good ones. But mostly, we talk about the bad ones....

"I still can't believe I wasted TEN FRIGGIN' YEARS with that guy!"

At this point, the waiter notices my increasing agitation and brings me another vodka cocktail sua sponte. Well, ok, maybe it wasn't sua sponte; maybe The Cap'n secretly signaled him over. (By the way, if you go to Buckley's Tavern and a handsome black guy with a beautiful smile is your waiter, tell him Sassy called him "The Best Damn Waiter. Period." He was awesome! And handsome. Did I mention handsome?).

Anyway, The Cap'n (with a critical assist from the vodka) soothes my soul-searching spasms and an adorable little dog stops to take a shit in the front garden.

"Johnny! No! Not there! These nice people are trying to eat their lunch!" the owner of the adorable little dog hisses between clenched teeth.

She glances at us with a nervous smile. We laugh. Johnny finishes shitting and they move on. Thank goodness Johnny was a little dog.

Lala calls. I reassure her that we are nowhere near to being ready for dinner so no, she isn't running late. She says, "Phew". I finish my liquid lunch; The Cap'n finishes his solid one. We head back to the hotel ... excuse me ... we head back to the cleanest hotel in Delaware and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed. (Think what you want, you filthy-minded reader(s)).

Dinner with Lala is at Mikimotos. Sushi and sake. Always a crowd pleaser. Now I am nervous about running into people I know because it's Friday night and Mikimotos is hopping as usual. Much to my delight (or despair) I see no familiar faces, except for Miss Lala's and she is laughing at something The Cap'n said. She reminds me that this is the first place she and I ate dinner together. I say, "You had me at 'raw clams'." She laughs some more. We finish up and head back to the cleanest hotel, where we spend the rest of the night giggling like girls. (Yes - sometimes even The Cap'n giggles like a girl).

Here's a summary of Day Two:
  • Number of dogs seen shitting during lunch: 1
  • Number of times I thought about my ex-husband, "Norman": 4 [Damn. I would've rather seen more shitting dogs.]
  • Number of Halle Berry references: 0 [Hmm .... Maybe it's over now that she has long hair?]
  • Number of times we got lost driving back to the hotel: 1 [Hey, what do you expect? It was dark and we were drunk.]
  • Number of times Lala told us to start watching "Little Britain": 14 [She was absolutely right; it's friggin' hilarious!]
  • Number of times I wondered how I got so lucky to have a friend like Lala: 3 [In fact, I don't know how I got so lucky to have any of the friends I have!]
  • Funniest comment heard: The Cap'n, referring to the voicemail we got from Housekeeping at our hotel, "Hey, maybe they're worried that we're gonna ruin their cleanliness record." [They called to remind us that they can't clean the room if we insist on leaving the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door all day. We didn't remove the sign ... for the rest of the week.]
  • Highlight of the day: The Cap'n telling me that those ten years with "Norman" weren't wasted; without the passage of that time, I wouldn't have become the wonderful woman and considerate partner (actually, I think he said "kickass girlfriend") I am today. [Thanks, honey. I love you too.]
And there's Day Two for you. Stay tuned for the next installment, which involves miniature marsupials that fly. For real!

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Monday, May 01, 2006

Observations From Philly/Willy Trip: Day One

So, as y'all know - Sassy travels and the Cap'n too! Our latest trip took us back to the Philadelphia/Wilmington region (a/k/a Philly/Willy). Why, you ask, did we leave the sun and fun of South Florida for the chills and thrills of the mid-Atlantic region? Well, Sassy's old law firm invited her to an "Alumni Reception" - a novel concept, indeed, but not as crazy as you might think. You see, contrary to the fear suggestion expressed by the people I currently work with, I don't think my former employers were trying to "woo" me back (after all, that would be a waste of an open bar). Rather, I believe the purpose of the gathering was to simply reach out to former partners and associates in a convivial setting and in the spirit of camaraderie. Oh yeah - there may also have been a minimal amount of bragging about how well the firm is doing since we all left, but who cares? Did I mention there was an open bar?

Anyway, we've spent some time [i.e. the unannounced 3 week hiatus ... um, well, that's part of the reason ...] gathering our observations from that trip and we will now share them with you on a day-by-day breakdown. Without further ado, and without apology, here's the first installment of "Observations From Philly/Willy Trip":

DAY ONE - THURSDAY

Wake up early to pack. Flight leaving at 10 a.m. Have to be at airport two hours early as I think I'm still on the "No Fly" list so must allow extra time for usual strip search. Speaking of which - change panties to granny style. Save thongs for later. Haitian cabbie almost broadsides a bus turning into the airport. Not a great beginning to the trip.
  • Number of velour track suits seen at Fort Lauderdale airport: 12
  • Number of actual track athletes seen at airport: 0
  • Number of pre-flight cocktails: 0 [Shocking, I know, but true.]
  • Number of in-flight cocktails: .... Um ... 3, no 4?
  • Number of in-flight cocktails actually purchased from flight attendant: 0 [Yes - I said "zero."]
  • Number of times I laughed at Dave Chappelle's stand-up on my video iPod during the flight: 59
  • Number of times random strangers compared me to Halle Berry: 2 [Will it never end?]
  • Funniest comment heard: The Cap'n trying to convince Jazzy to join us at the Alumni Reception on Monday: "Yeah - but they'll have free food and booze!" Spoken like a true non-lawyer. Way to break it down to the basics, Cap'n! And it almost worked. Gotta love him!
  • Number of times I wondered whether attending the Reception was actually a good idea: 2
  • Number of times self-doubt soothed by sip of scotch: Um ... at least 2
  • Highlight of the day: Loyal Reader, The Boz, walking into Kid Shelleen's.
The events post-drinks-at-Kid-Shelleen's (one of our fave watering holes in Wilmington) are predictably blurry (and I believe there may have been some nudity involved) so we'll skip them. Suffice it to say, we checked into a charming little hotel that claimed to have a better "cleanliness" rating than the world famous Hotel DuPont.

"Y'all beat out the Hotel DuPont?" I challenge the front desk clerk with all due skepticism (and scotch-laced breath).

"Well, for cleanliness, yeah," he replies proudly.

Interesting. Doubtful, to be sure, but interesting nonetheless. We place the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and hit the hay.

And, that's all we can publish for Day One. Stay tuned for Day Two. It gets juicy, we promise!


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Monday, April 10, 2006

Sassy: "I'm A Blunt Bitch."

Yes, we know: That headline hardly seems shocking to our loyal reader(s) .... But wait.

First of all, no one will deny Sassy's claim to bitch status. [Insert pause for effect ... deafening silence .... and move on ....]. Secondly, Sassy isn't saying she's blunt in the sense of being "abrupt and often disconcertingly frank in speech" (after all, that would be way too obvious). Further, Sassy isn't referring to a predilection for smoking weed rolled in cigars (yep .... that would also be way too obvious).

Rather, Sassy speaks of her new addiction to British singer/songwriter, James Blunt.

Yep. You heard it here first: Sassy is a Blunt bitch. (Oh, and, by the way, we're totally copyrighting that phrase).

Loyal reader(s) - If you haven't been listening to this album, you've been missing out on some of the freshest, sweetest, deepest, most meaningful music of our time. And we say this not just because we're somewhat convinced that Ben is Blunt's daddy (that's a whole other post). Nay! We say this because it's been a long time since a singer/songwriter has made Sassy laugh, cry, and orgasm, all while listening to the same album. (Don't ask for details, just roll with it ....) And just when Sassy thought she'd fallen in love with the boy after seeing the video to "You're Beautiful", we were blessed by "An Evening With James Blunt" on the Hi-Def channel.

Oh. My. Sweet. Lord.

DUDE! Even the Cap'n cried.

It's true, America [and insert Sir Mixalot soundtrack here]: "We like James Blunt and we cannot lie. You other brothers can't deny....."

We'd do a more in-depth review but we're a tad tired from traveling. Just trust us: Buy "Back to Bedlam" now!




Signed,
Sassy: A Blunt Ho [we're copyrighting that phrase too ....]


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Homework Answers

Thanks to ALL of you for playing the Homework Game re: The Beta Band and John Cusack! Wow - who knew y'all were paying attention to this drivel! Your responsive comments and/or e-mails were hysterical and we're proud to have you as readers. In any event, NONE of you got both the right answers!!!! [Ed. Note: Big ups to loyal reader, Anklebone, for being the first to give us half the answer]. So without further ado - the assignment:

Questions:
How many copies of the Three EP's by the Beta Band did John Cusack say he was gonna sell? Sub-question: Which song did he play to encourage sales? [Customer: It's good. John: I know.]
Answers:
In addition to the afore-mentioned, Anklebone, many of you subsequently and correctly answered that Rob (Cusack's character) announced he would sell four (4) copies of the album. However, NO ONE knew the name of the song, which is "Dry The Rain"! Sheesh! (Oh - if you skip to around the 4:07 mark of the song, you will quickly recognize the part featured in the classic, funny, awesome, and totally Sassy Suggests caliber movie).
Anyway, thanks again for playing and, well, it just goes to show, yet again, that we clearly have way too much time on our hands. But, hey, that's our burden - not yours.

Signed,
Sassy Songlover

Special P.S. to Jazzy - we answered the questions you posed in your comment ......


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Thursday, April 06, 2006

AI5 Results: MANDISA GETS VOTED OFF?!?

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I LEAVE YOU MORONS ALONE??!!!

I mean, HOLY HELL! WHO. THE. FUCK. LET THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!!

Sassy and The Cap'n turn their backs for ONE WEEK to travel up to Philly/Willy and y'all let MANDISA go home?!?!! I'm gonna kick someone's ass RIGHT NOW!

[INSERT SOUND OF SMALL PROPANE TANK BEING DRAGGED ON ASPHALT]

As my girl, Miss Gee, said: "Theo, I'll be with you in two minutes."

Signed,
Sassy-On-The-Warpath


[Ed. Note: Um .... well. So THAT happened. Loyal reader(s), please rest assured. Sassy has a lot more on this topic but ... (gee - this is awkward) .... Well, she can't update the blog right now because it turns out there's no wireless internet over at the Broward County Jail ... [nervous chuckle]. ... Who knew? Anyway, we don't want to go into details right now, and the Sheriffs' Office has declined to comment on the pending charges, but the vet says Playdough should recover fully, although he'll never eat solid food again. In related good news, the white guy that owned the Camaro said he's probably not going to press charges because he was ready to set the car on fire himself anyway. So there's that. Um, we will endeavor to keep you posted ... Stay tuned.. ]



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