This is a huge thank you to my friends who love music and share it with me. This is a huge thank you to D.J. Zimmie for this song:
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We’ve all been there.. The days when your car won’t start, you have to move that piece of furniture, you really just need to vent.. you need some help.
Posted in Stories
The LoF team has been working together year round into 2012 to ensure you have the best Valentine’s Day ever.
Love of Friends is going big time this year.
Love of Friends is a custom-made celebration dedicated to all the things we enjoy in our lives and brings all of those great things into one space for an evening of dancing (or not dancing), merry making, people-meeting and people seeing, great food and spirits without the big V-day stress hanging over our heads.
This year, with great help from our friends at Revive, we’re transforming this space
into a welcoming atmosphere to ensure you have a Valentine’s Day Love of Friend’s day not to be forgotten.
Here are the details:
If you have your Valentine’s from us from 2011, you get $5 off your ticket price at the door!
Have your LoF5 desk calendar still? Flip over November for a Valentine from the LoF team to you! $5 off your ticket to LoF2012.
We’ll see you on the dance floor.
LoF Team members Regina and Kelsey volunteering at the Union Project.
I’m taking things back. Back to the days during early blogging when, despite what bloggers were actually writing about, those that didn’t quite understand blogging thought blogging was just people writing about themselves and their feelings. I’m going to actualize that sentiment by writing about me. For some reason I feel compelled to tell an embarrassing story, and where else but on the blog where I know I am showered with love, so it’s okay if I’m a dork*.
There isn’t much love involved, so the title is a bit misleading. No love, BUT, I was single at the time this occurred.
It was a summer when Hilary still worked at the Union Project. (Today, LoF team member Kelly works there! [so get involved with UP!]). I went to help volunteer for an outdoor music event happening later that day. Keep in mind I got there HOURS before the music started. Keep in mind that it was the time during summer where it was okay to wear white.
This is really embarrassing guys.
I made plans to meet up with a guy that night at the event, which probably constitutes a date. Looking back, I probably knew it was a date at the time, but for some reason, I kept things as, “we’re just meeting up at an event! What? It’s music. People meet up all the time.” Maybe this is where the love in this story ends.
Anyway, all the volunteers had to sign release forms just in case we somehow got hurt. Hilary asked me to come over to sign my form. We all joked that we should have signed the forms earlier because at that point we were all done lugging chairs and tables outside.
I walked over and said to Hilary and the small group around her signing forms, as I “pretended” to trip over a chair leg, “yeah, because it would really suck if someone–” and as I pretended to trip over the chair, that pretend trip turned into the real thing. I was so shocked that I was actually tripping that I didn’t have time to catch myself. I pretty much somersaulted off the chair and landed underneath the table where Hilary and everyone was sitting, to their shock and horror. I was a tangled mess and it took a bit of time before I got up. I had to roll off my side onto my knees to get up. Honestly! I had to roll. There was no grace. Everyone asked if I was okay. I was totally fine. The grass on the side lawn of the Union Project is very soft, I must say.
But, yeah, the white pants I was wearing that day had two huge grass stains starting from my knees to…my shins. Have you ever met a dorkier person? I mean, honestly.
I tried to roll my pants up, but because they were linen and wide legged and because every god everywhere wanted to laugh at me that day, my pants wouldn’t stay rolled up. So there I was, as afternoon slipped into late afternoon, stationed at the soup table helping people with their soup with grass all over my pants. There I was trying to rock out to Nick Westman and the Central Plains with the tell-tale dork mark all about me. It wasn’t until I was wrapped in the cloak of darkness that I could actually face people head-on as opposed to sidling up to them.
But, you know what, this story is a love story. It was at that party that I reconnected with Nik. He and the CPs played at LoF 4 that February. Kelsey and I have gone on to volunteer at the UP numerous times and as I mentioned, our very own Kelly now works there. I love happy endings.
*Technically in the day-in-day-out I think I would be labeled a nerd, but in this story, I think dork is more fitting.
During the year round planning of Love of Friends, the team spends a lot of time talking about stuff we love. We’re passionate people, what do you want from us? I thought it only appropriate then, that I dedicate a blog post explaining why I love this team and ergo this project as much as I do. Maybe it will inspire you to come and get to know the team better at the party in February. I promise, each one of them is so worth knowing.
We’ll start with the LoF founder. Anything good I say about Regina, has surely already been said. She’s that kind of awesome, but I’ll try anyways. Regina is one of those people that knows everyone, can introduce you to anyone, and makes even the most boring occasion a party through her endless enthusiasm. What’s even more astounding though, is how genuine she is. She really loves people, gets involved for all the right reasons, and never stops giving back or paying it forward. Despite being busy, and now even while living in a different city, she is one of the most supportive friends I have, always willing to drop whatever she is doing to be there for her people.
Bethany is one of those people with endless amounts of energy. Last spring she was training for the Rome marathon and would come bounding into meetings, looking adorable, asking brilliant questions, and saying offhandedly how she had spent the morning getting in an 18 mile run. (You know how I spend the afternoon after an 18 mile run? On my couch.) Bethany is always ready to challenge, to champion, and to just get stuff done. She is a rock solid part of this team, and I can say confidently that there would have been years where this party wouldn’t have happened without her.
You know those people you’re always just so happy to see every time you bump into them? That’s Jordan. Always excited about something, and usually on his way to do something really fun. He’s a ridiculously talented photographer and marketer. Regina, Jordan, and I used to spend Friday morning’s working together out of various coffee shops around the city, and calling them “Collaboration Fridays”. We’ve got to have another collaboration Friday soon Jordan, it’s way too great a way to close out the week.
Where do I even start with telling you how awesome Kelly is? Kelly has been my best friend since our freshman year of sharing a dorm room together. You guys, we shared a dorm room with bunk beds, went on to be roommates for another 4 years, and are still best friends. She’s family. She’s also more talented than any one person has a right to be, and if you’ve heard her sing or seen her art, then you know exactly what I am talking about.
You know when you have a semi-formed plan or idea that could be good, but isn’t quite there yet, and there’s a person you know that if you explain it to them, they give you the exact suggestions needed to make it great? That’s Chris. The amount of my work, projects, plans, and humor that have been improved by Chris is huge. Consistently witty, and just the right amount of sarcastic, he always has the perfect comeback. I am beyond excited to have him and his brain as part of the team this year. He’s also a pretty kick ass roommate.
Alexa amazes me. She’s smart, and is great at her job, and has a wonderful family, and is beautiful, and bikes, and blogs, and makes us delicious snacks from scratch when she hosts LoF meetings, and despite doing all of that, is one of the calmest, most grounded people I know. I was completely intimidated by her when I first met her, and now am so happy that we’re friends.
Carly and I first got to know each other while running a half-marathon. We have a similar race pace, and we talked about how much we love Pittsburgh, volunteering, and why brunch is the greatest meal ever invented. It’s a wonder we’ve stayed friends having absolutely nothing in common. Since then, we’ve done a lot more running, volunteering, brunching, etc. Carly’s a blast, knows how to throw a great craft-night, and is definitely someone I’d want on my team for quiz-night.
So that’s the team. Somehow, I’m not only lucky enough to know and be friends with these people, I get to work with them on a really cool event/project all year round.
As some of you know, recently, I traded this house
for this house
I never thought I’d stay in Pittsburgh, but I never thought I would leave. But, no matter what, I’m here in our nation’s capital. I’ve had some time to reflect what exactly it means to no longer live in Pittsburgh. And by reflect, it’s been me reliving my last few weeks in the Burgh acting out Faye Dunaway’s famous scene in Chinatown–a scene I’ve referenced all too often. I was happy, I was really sad, I freaked out, I was excited, I freaked out more…and then more freaking out excitability.
I worried about what would happen with Love of Friends, I worried that I wouldn’t make new friends in DC and what’s worse, that my friends in Pittsburgh would forget me over time…like the first weekend I was gone. Though I normally appreciated getting outside of my comfort zone in Pittsburgh, I realized, by moving to DC I was hurtling through about 14 different comfort zones.
I was practically on Mars. It’s lovely there by the by.
Through all this freaking out, I’m not surprised to say it was my FRIENDS that collectively slapped the sense out of me hard enough to make Gittes proud. Here I was, having pep talks with CP about new doors opening and the excitement of the anticipation of what lay ahead; being reminded by Kelsey via quoting the ever sagacious Chris that, “we’re solutions people,” and then having wine and cheese where I was told, “I’ll only be visiting you in DC all the time.”
And here I am in DC with my newish life, and some very new perspectives. And it was my friends that helped me, even while still in DC to ease into the new perspectives–together.
And, though I live and breathe my friendships everyday, I was re-reminded of the power of friendship. I didn’t have to worry about LoF falling apart, we regrouped, got more organized, and duh, Regina, there’s this little thing called skype:
Technology and friendship
I was reminded that I actually like people and there are great new friends to meet in DC, and besides, there are a ton of Pittsburgher expats living in DC.
So, this is why I love my friends. This is why I love Love of Friends and hope you can join us–you can come to a gathering of friends, maybe get outside of your comfort zone, but we’re all here to tell you, let’s don’t worry, let’s dance, let’s eat, let’s meet.
Much love.
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