Not exactly a trip, but I'm sure it will be trippy......

Rebellion!

Ok, so for starters, I am breaking the rules.  This is supposed to be a Travelogue.  The next several posts will not be about a trip, really, though we cold get fancy and call it a trip through time…..(cue the creepy sound effects)

Intrigued?  Hope so.




My Bachelorette Party is Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, of course being June 4, 2011.

I decided to blog about the bachelorette party for two reasons.  1) I have been looking forward to having a bachelorette party since the day I came to understand what a bachelorette party was.  This was a long time ago.  It would also be good to have documentation of some kind, I think.  And 2) I have several good friends and family members who aren’t able to be there, and thought they might like to sneak a peek.

Another reason why I have so eagerly been anticipating the BP is because my sisters rule.  They are the bomb x3.  Due to our busy lives: jobs, families, kid’s sports engagements, and my ridiculous work schedule, we are rarely in the same room at the same time.  So, whatever the reason, being together is great.  I should also point out that said room that four Abate sisters are occupying at any one time is LOUD.

I have heard it said that joy is noisier than sorrow.  Bring on the noise.

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Here’s the planaroni for the BP as far as I know:

• Sweet Suite!!   Meet at Waldorf-Astoria for pre activity-activity.  Dinner, drinks, and noise.  Woo!

• Go to Webster Hall where the AWESOME 80’S PROM is happening.  That’s right…the Awesome.  80’s. Prom.  Hence the Time Travel Reference in paragraph 1.

http://www.awesome80sprom.com/

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• Not sure what's happening after that, and no one will tell me.  Am sure it will be fun (gulp), and am fairly certain it will involve public humiliation.  I am ready.  I think.

Anyone that knows me well knows my tender love for the music of the 80’s.  Truly—I loved it then and l love it still.  Not sure why, though I have often pondered the question.  I think I sort of came musically ‘alive’ at some point around 1985 or 1986.  I was really really listening to it.  Hard.  I think on some level I thought if I listened closely enough and learned every layer of every song, I would grow on some cellular level and become smarter, or older, or more something (I mean, that's what you're like at 13, right?).  The music that I gravitated towards was New Wave—Depeche Mode was THE band for me.  The Cure, PIL, New Order, Sugarcubes, Gene Loves Jezebel, and Yazoo were also on my mixtapes.  I frequently wonder what amazing things I may have actually accomplished with my life if I only gave as much of a crap about my horn back then (I mean, that’s music too, right?), but let’s not pursue that arena in this blog posting…..on to happier topics.

To dress or NOT to dress…..

Everyone I talk to about this event has asked me one question right away:  Will you dress up in full 80’s regalia?  My initial response was, like, no way!  I need to look cute!  Nice jeans, some cute top, and some cute shoes….

Ooohhhhhhhh!  Wait!

…and then I realized that I actually still possess clothes from 1987.  Like, in my closet.  Right now.  In 2011. How ridiculous is that?  I think this fact is a sign that I HAVE to wear those clothes.   And jewelry.  Wheeee!  I’ll post some pictures.  Wait and see. 

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First things first, you should meet....

My Awesome Sisters:

Meg:

My oldest sister Meg, a.k.a. Me-G has always been my hero.  Our age differences made it so that we actually spent a lot of time together when I was young.  She frequently brought me around with her and her friends, whom I remember with perfect clarity, because I was, you know, with the cool older kids.  I totally didn’t get their jokes, but I laughed anyway.  Meg used to take me to polo matches out on Long Island, and to this day, when I hear Thomas Dolby (which for me, is frequent because of said 80’s issue), I think of those polo match days.  After she became a nurse and moved into NYC, I visited her a lot.  Amazing memories of tooling around the east village (another reason for anticipating the bachelorette)—shopping at Trash and Vaudeville, which is still there, www.trashandvaudeville.com the Unique Boutique (which, sadly, is not), and having dessert at Peppermint Park.   Sleeping on her futon (SO cool…). Bliss.  My first concerts were with Meg: Echo and the Bunnymen, Gene Loves Jezebel and New Order @ Jones Beach was the first ever (1987, in case you wondered) and made QUITE an impression. After that, we went to see PiL, New Order and the Sugarcubes, Howard Jones, Depeche Mode, and the list goes on…..

Eileen:

Eileen has ever been a model of elegance and poise to me.  Always calm and collected, she had the best clothes ever, wore them beautifully, and forgave me when I borrowed them without asking, brat that I am, lol.  Eileen bravely traveled to the Philipines when she was just 16.  16!!  She went for a year on foreign exchange, and in my opinion, her Philipino family got the good end of the deal.  Our student visitor was not nearly as awesome as Eileen, lol.  Funny stuff—some good memories there, but in the interest of kindness, I will just stop at that.  Eileen married her high school sweetheart, Chris Colletti, who we all remember as the “cute guy from church from another town.”  Or maybe that’s just how I remember him from way back then.  I remember distinctly the day Chris bravely came over to the house to talk to my dad and ask him for permission to ask Eileen to marry him.  I was in the backyard, and caught his entry from the window, and crouched down and heard the whole thing!!  Wow!  I thought that was like the coolest thing ever, and how lucky that I just happened to be poking around outside when it happened---talk about being a fly on the wall.  Very cute, especially now that I am getting married myself.  Hooray for love.

Liz:

Lizard is my best friend.  Always there for me, and the first person I think of when I feel really good and want to share, or really bad and need a good cry or some sympathy and encouragement.  I am so lucky.  I have vivid memories of the days when Liz and I shared a bedroom (with elephant wallpaper) and we played this game where one of us would start a song, and the other would finish and we would trade back and forth.  When written down, it sounds so stupid!  That’s funny….well, it was fun at the time.   We would also play this similarly stupid game where when mom and dad went out we would take all the cushions off of the couches and the chairs and pile them up on the floor and jump all over them.  We were such rebels, lol.  Jeez.  OK, enough with the silly memories—they all lose something in the translation, it seems.  Oh well.  OK, one more.  The day Liz told me she was getting married is another vivid memory----I cried my eyes out—it was almost like I was grieving—which sounds terrible, I know; of course I was happy for her, and Mark is totally great and they make each other very happy, but for some reason I was inconsolable.  I remember where I was, too—I was a sophomore at Boston College, sitting on my bed in Edmond’s hall (room 521).   Wow.  Maybe it was just the change that I was fearing, that things would never be the same.  Change can be hard, even when the reasons for it are joyous.

Love you guys.

See you tomorrow.  Can’t wait!!