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Friday, May 23, 2003
Cinco de Mayo- May 5, 2003
Another Margaritas holiday, and as luck would have it, it landed on our regular Margaritas Monday Night. What we didn’t anticipate was the line to get in. Thankfully, the weather wasn’t bad, so we sat out on the deck and sipped drinks that two nice young men bought for us. Once we got in, we were promptly ‘lei-d’ and given sombreros. Gotta love holidays where you get free stuff. It was so long ago, I don’t remember exactly who was bartending that night…but I do know that Jeff was managing and happened to be sporting a beautiful green lei, which he said I could have if I "worked for it" (yea, right). Honestly, I don’t know what else we did that night. I think Karen and her sister were there, and Chris showed up at some point. Then we went home. The big accomplishment for the night, for me, was scoring the lei without doing a thing for it.
That’s because I’m very good.
Mother’s Day- May 11, 2003
Mother’s Day was the second holiday Heather and I celebrated separately. My day was spent hanging around outside with my mother and my sister, Jennifer. It’s rare that the three of us girls get to hang out since Jen is either away at school, or working on Sundays, so we took advantage of the afternoon, gardening and lounging around by the pool.
Victoria Day (Canada) - May 19, 2003
After Arbor Day, we spoke about having an outdoor ‘Victorian tea-party’ for Victoria Day since outdoor parties are so much fun, but we’d been so busy with plans for Amy’s wedding the holiday nearly slipped by. The only reason I remembered was because I subbed at the middle school and one of the students noticed that his assignment book listed the holiday. I IMed Heather when I got home and she sent me a Victoria Day I-Greeting with the Canadian National Anthem playing in the background. Thank goodness it was Monday night so we could toast to the holiday at Margaritas.
Melissa Friday, May 23, 2003
May Day- May 1, 2003
May Day has been called “The Real Labor Day”, originating in pagan Europe. It was a festive holy day celebrating the end of winter, the return of the sun and the fertility of the soil for the first spring planting. The most familiar feature of May Day is the May-pole which has three different interpretations. In some cultures the May-pole represented the world center, while in others the May-pole was the symbol of the Tree of Life. The third interpretation of the May-pole is the most recognized today. It is the phallus, the male principle of fertilization, while female principles are represented by baskets and wreaths used in the dances around the pole.
The modern May Day is a celebration as a working class holiday. It is recognized in every country except for Canada, South Africa and the United States despite the fact that the holiday began in the US in the 1880s with the struggle for the eight hour work day.
When May Day came around, I asked two women I work with that celebrate May Day what they did. Every May Day, Karen takes a basket of flowers and goodies to her mother’s house, leaves them on the doorstep, rings the bell and runs away. When Pat was little, she and her friends would gather wildflowers to give to each other. When you got a bunch, you had to chase the person who gave them to you, and kiss them.
Well, since Heather and I don’t really work an eight hour day, and we didn’t have the ‘resources’ to recognize The Day of Fertility, we did a spin on Karen and Pat’s flower giving. We bought bouquets of flowers and delivered them to our friends at work, and strangers on the street, wishing all of them a “Happy May Day”.
Good enough, right?
Melissa Friday, May 23, 2003
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Arbor Day- April 27, 2003
It’s awesome to see people get excited about our holiday celebrations. On more than one occasion Katherine and Erik have asked when I am going to update my blog so they can see what we’ve been up to, the bartenders at Margaritas ask us what holiday we will be celebrating next, and my sister and her roommate can’t wait until they turn 21 so they can join us for our 21-plus celebrations. The most exciting thing is when we plan a party for a holiday, and people actually show up. Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day and the Ides of March were more special because we had a great group of friends to share the holiday with. Arbor Day was no exception.
While most people reserve Memorial Day Weekend for their first cookout of the season, we decided months ago that Arbor Day would be the perfect holiday to kick off ours. Because of rain, we had to move our cookout from Saturday to Sunday, which is actually two days after Arbor Day. Sunday turned out to be more beautiful than we expected, and even though the ground was wet, it didn’t stop Heather and I from playing Frisbee with Nick, Scott and Greg from playing football, and Dan and Dave from attempting a sack race
Dan fell down. A lot.
The festivities got rolling around 2:30 when Scott and Greg started the grill (which wouldn’t have started without Greg doing his ‘Fire Dance’). Erik turned out to be not only a veggie burger lover, but a Grill Ninja as well. Nick slapped a T-bone steak on the grill and the rest of us had burgers and dogs. Heather Roy and Tom did not grill because they showed up with a bucket of KFC. (Cheaters!)
After lunch, Scott and Greg went off on an adventure collecting bones of different animals that had washed ashore. They brought their collection back to the picnic area and constructed a ‘new animal’ with the pieces on the grass. Boys are different.
We hung out for a bit before Heather made the suggestion to walk over to the playground. On our way over, David showed up with his new puppy, Kane. Speaking of puppies, we managed to break two park rules while we were there. Nick, Heather and I broke the “No Alcohol Rule”, and Dave broke the “Absolutely No Dogs Rule”. However, it wouldn’t be a Heather/Melissa holiday celebration if rules (and laws) weren’t broken…
It was after 5 p.m. before people started taking off. As soon as everyone had gone, Heather and I remembered we promised Aaron we would stop by Harpoon Willy’s for a drink. Let’s just say, we stayed for more than just a drink, but that’s a story for another day….
Melissa Thursday, May 08, 2003
Good Friday (observed) April 25, 2003 (AKA “We’re Very Good” Friday, Part II)
In my opinion, “We’re Very Good” Friday Part II was more interesting than Part I. For starters, our evening began at the Clinique counter at Filenes, getting free makeovers (much more exciting than "The Fantasticks"). If that wasn’t enough to turn a girl on, we got free lipstick, conditioner and perfume samples. Plus, we looked fabulous so, naturally, we went out on the town.
We spent the evening at Jack Quigley’s, where we ended up hanging out with Katie and Jess. Satan’s Teardrops, a local rockabilly band, was playing which gave the bar a different feel from the usual cover-bands that perform. We went to high school with the lead singer/guitarist, so it was great to see a familiar face on stage, as well as former classmates in the audience.
Melissa Thursday, May 08, 2003
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