Long, long ago, in the summer of 2001, I went to Europe on a music tour. I only knew one person on the tour, but I didn't know that I would meet one of the greatest friends I've ever had, Rachel. On our very first day at Millersville University for practice, we both were crying our eyes out, our parents bonded, and we became fast friends. We recently got together to relive our trip through our very juvenile journal entries, and amazing photo albums. While going through them, we realized that one of us had marked the occasion of our becoming BEST friends in our journals sometime during that trip. How amazing that we are still great friends to this day (and we are even more amazed after reading how immature we were back then!)
somewhere across the Atlantic Ocean, as we were falling deeply in friendship love
Now that Rachel is back home where she belongs, I've been loving being a part of her and her little boy Mickey's life. And here's what we've done this year:
My second wine tasting EVER:
Rachel, her mom Lynne, her sister Sara and I headed out for a day of grown-up fun this Spring. I had been wine-tasting just one time before in college, and still had no idea what kind of wine I liked, and in preparation for the big Finger Lakes trip in May, I really needed to get my act together when it came to wine.
We visited Sharrott Winery first, which was DELICIOUS. My favorite wines there were their Blueberry wine, White Peach Sangria, and Red Sky (which is one of the few red wines I have EVER liked- they call it a party in a bottle!) I tried some drier whites and some sweet whites here, which helped me to conclude that the sweeter whites are where it's at for me.
Rachel in her natural habitat, not letting food go to waste.... cheese purse!
After our tasting, we had a glass of wine on their gorgeous patio. Cue to me and Rachel giggling like school girls.
After Sharrott, we headed to historic Smithville. I had never been before and it was the cutest little place! We went to Tomasello for a second tasting where I tried a bunch of fruit wines, and a few sweet whites. I was not a fan of what I tried there, and the gal conducting the tasting seemed like she could care less. We were not too into it, but we had lunch at Fred and Ethel's tavern which was the cutest historic tavern. Loved it!
For Rachel's 29th birthday (as she will not let me forget, because she's SO happy it isn't 30!), we headed into the city for dinner and GayBingo! We headed out to an awesome BYOB place, where we proceeded to recreate the giggling like schoolgirls portion of wine tasting day. It was a great time, but it DID make the Bingo that much harder because... LOOK how many cards you play....
But, of course, the Bingo isn't really the main event at GayBingo, it's the DRAG QUEENS! They were so much fun, and the whole night supports the AIDSfund. I highly suggest that you check it out at some point, especially because of this most worthwhile cause, but also because it's such a good time. We also really enjoyed the man candy that helped out on stage... including the Temple Men's Gymnastics team who was raising money to try to keep the team going. Our group didn't win any money, but we DID have a great time. I am still wondering if me or Rachel might have had the right numbers but been a bit too buzzed to know it...
Event page: http//www.aidsfundphilly.org/events/gaybingo
homemade masks to fit the Carnivale theme
Rachel celebrating 29 years of life, and a life-long love of drag queens!
Last but not least, Atlantic City with my sharky boy Mickey!
First up, we visited the Atlantic City Aquarium. There weren't a ton of sharks here, so Sharky Megan was disappointed, but they did have a cool touch tank. Mickey was a bit nervous at first, but once he touched one, he was all about it! He also got to touch a starfish and he loved that too.
They also have a great observation deck at the top, complete with views of the marshes and bay side of Atlantic City and a ship's wheel that Mickey enjoyed.
me and my sharky buddy enjoying shark time!
...and turtle time!
Making a new friend!
From here, we headed to the Absecon Lighthouse. I had never even seen the lighthouse before, but imagine my surprise because...
it is RIGHT in the middle of the big casino buildings! I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise to see this, since lighthouses are not always right at the water, but it just looked so weird to me in the midst of modern day civilization!
We took some fun pictures, and we snooped on a commercial shoot that was going on... apparently with lottery winners from NJ. It was all very official with craft services, wardrobe areas, and the like. The inside of the lighthouse keeper's building was also pretty neat and very old.
After this, we headed to visit LUCY THE ELEPHANT! Growing up in South Jersey all my life and spending some time down the Jersey shore in the summer, I should definitely have seen Lucy before this, but this was my FIRST visit, so we of course did the tour up into Lucy's body. I found it very cool that Lucy had been someone's house at some point. We also loved Lucy's painted toenails.... pretty sweet.
Aunt Sharky Megan, Mickey and Rachel concluding our awesome adventurous day!
Next up for us is a Pirate Cruise in September... the adventures continue! ARRRRR!!!!
