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Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Monday, July 14, 2003- Bastille Day
Bastille Day is essentially France’s Independence Day. Celebrated on July 14, it celebrates the overthrowing of the Bastille, a French prison, in 1789. This was the beginning of the French Revolution, and the formation of a new form of government that was no longer ruled by Kings and Queens, but by the people.
When I think of the French, naturally, I think of French food. It would have been great to celebrate Bastille Day with a group of friends enjoying French cuisine and drinking French wine. Since this area is lacking in French restaurants, we took a slightly different root.
Hershey’s Kisses.
We decided to walk around downtown Portsmouth handing Hershey’s Kisses to people as we wished them a “Happy Bastille Day”. We hoped that people would get the connection of Hershey’s KISSES and Bastille Day as being a FRENCH holiday, put them together and Voila! French Kisses!
Apparently people are not as clever as we are.
Even though we explained (spelled out) that it was a FRENCH holiday celebrating the beginning of the FRENCH Revolution, people didn’t put two and two together.
We did get some interesting reactions. We walked into Harpoon Willy’s, wished the entire bar a “Happy Bastille Day”, and proceeded to pass out the kisses. As we approached one man, he announced “F**K the French!” which got people started in a hot and heavy discussion, so we hightailed it out of there.
The woman that runs the Water Monkey was ecstatic to see us. She was ‘Bonjour-ing’ and ‘Ooo-la-la-ing’ the moment Heather wished her a “Happy Bastille Day” and handed her a kiss, so we gave her two.
A DJ from WHEB was outside Muddy River on a cell phone when we handed him his kiss, and he called after us, “Kisses to you!” That was my favorite.
After an hour of handing out kisses we headed over to Margaritas. We walked up to the bar, wished Bob a “Happy Bastille Day” and handed him two kisses.
He looked from the candy to us and asked, “Where’s my French kiss?”
Merci, Bob. Merci. You are our smartest friend. Ever.
“Vullez-vous cousher avec moi, ce soir?”
~Bob Crewe/Kenny Nolan
Melissa Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Friday, July 4, 2003- The Fourth of July
The fourth of July is always celebrated in two parts.
Part One- The Fireworks
Since I was little, I have attended the Portsmouth Fireworks display, which is held on July 3rd. My family always gathers on the hill by the old hospital building equipped with blankets, bug spray, a deck of cards, and some kind of ‘beverage’ in a thermos. Now that my sister and I are older, we go to the fireworks with friends, but always on the same hill, knowing that the rest of the family is somewhere amongst the crowd.
I always plan to have a large group of people meet to watch the fireworks, but every year I wait until the last minute to invite people. This usually means leaving tons of voice mails wondering if anyone will really show up. The best thing about last minute invites is seeing who actually attends. This year it was my Jen, Heather, Corey, her boyfriend, and Rob and his girlfriend, Ryan.
The town put on a great show, as usual, and afterwards we went off in our separate directions. As we were gathering our things, I saw my parents with their friends packing up right behind us. Small world.
Part Two- The Fourth
My family has a lobster bake every Fourth of July. The tradition began because I have two cousins on my mother’s side that have birthdays in early July. What started out as ‘birthday party lobster bakes’ at my grandparent’s house when we were kids, became ‘lobster bake at Buganut Lake’ as teenagers, and finally ‘lobster by the pool’ three years ago when my parents put in a pool.
The day itself isn’t very thrilling, but it’s tradition, and another time during the year when my entire family gets together. This year we had perfect weather for swimming and sun bathing. The food supply was endless and I’m pretty sure I was in bed by 9:00 that night because my family drains the energy out of me.
Happy Birthday, USA.
Melissa Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Saturday, July 12, 2003
June 21, 2003- Summer Solstice
What do you get when you add five girls, a fabulous city, a hotel room and a Tierra? Amy’s bachelorette party, of course! Though we didn’t plan her last night out as a single woman to fall on the summer solstice, it was convenient as far as celebrating holidays goes.
We went out for a terrific Italian dinner, then for drinks at as many bars as we could until last call. I won’t go into the details of the night (I know, that’s no fun), because I know some things are better left ‘just between the girls’.
However, it’s been awhile since I’ve given you a top ten list, so use your imagination and fill in the blanks.
10. Disposable cameras for lasting memories
9. Free drinks from strangers
8. The pinata
7. The button
6. “Talk dirty to me”
5. Free drinks from bartenders (Thank you, Aaron)
4. Six girls, two beds
3. Our two drunk under-aged bridesmaids
2. Katie’s bottle of Advil
1. The Bride = still puking the next afternoon
Melissa Saturday, July 12, 2003
Saturday, July 05, 2003
May 30, 2003- Memorial Day
Since Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, Heather planed to host the Junior High Party she’d been meaning to have. What beats reminiscing about the most horrible days of your adolescence? Guests were to bring their junior high yearbooks and dress in whatever they wore in junior high. Popular party games were to include Spin the Bottle, 7-minutes in heaven, Truth or Dare and Twister (if someone had it).
What actually happened was a ‘typical’ junior high party. Only two of guys Heather invited showed up, so people chickened out of the party games. People sat around her living room with pinch-rolled jeans (that’s the only thing people dared to dress in from the 80’s), drinking out of plastic cups, listening to 80’s music while looking through Heather’s yearbook. I wasn’t feeling well that night, so I took off early. Later, Heather told me they played “I Never”, and another guy showed up around 2 a.m. as people were finally starting to leave.
June 14, 2003- Flag Day
Flag Day fell on the Saturday of Market Square Day. The plan was to hand out those little American flags on toothpicks, but we forgot to pick them up before we headed downtown. We decided to get them for later that night when we went to Margaritas for Full Moon Madness. Every full moon, Margaritas holds a night of games and contests as well as ½ price Margaritas. We’d been to a few of them, and Heather always does well with the contests. Last time, she won a package of water guns, which were put to use right away, and a folding camping chair. This time she won a gift certificate for competing in a ‘battle of the sexes’ trivia contest. We stayed until we had handed out enough flags to constitute a holiday being celebrated, and after finding out that we did not win the drawing we had entered for two rounds of golf at a local country club.
June 15, 2003- Father’s Day
After a terrible beginning to the month of June, weather wise, we finally had a day with sunshine and heat. This made Father’s Day more special for my dad, since he had not had a day off without rain in almost a month. My mom made her usual Sunday brunch and we spent the day swimming and listening to the red sox.
Melissa Saturday, July 05, 2003
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