Sunday, November 11, 2007

What a week(end) I'm having!

Do you guys remember Eugene Levy's character in that early 80's movie, Splash? You know, he was the geeky scientist trying to prove Daryll Hannah was a Mermaid while Tom Hanks defended her honor (waaaay before double fisted Oscars). "What a WEEK I'm having!"

Sorry. Very obscure movie quote moment passed. Please continue.

Yesterday, Jody and I got to go on a little weird adventure. It started out innocently enough. We were going to meet her parents half way from our homes and do the doggie exchange. Bailey and Hurley are at the grandparents house now while mommy and daddy go to Cancun later this week. (woohoo!) We'll all be reunited for Thanksgiving but that is only where the day began.

We'd been invited to a housewarming party for some old friends of mine whom recently bought a new house. The party would be later in the afternoon so we poked in a more leisurely route to the address on our GPS and drove through the PA countryside. En route, I saw we would pass through Hanover and my thoughts went to a cowrker whom lives up there and routinely brings in barrels of pretzels from the factory. I love a good crunchy sourdough pretzel so I punched in Snyders to see if the factory wasn't along the way.

"Drive 2.1 miles then turn left onto Pine Road." (in the robo-female-British-accent voice)

Bada bing we got some pretzels... and some cookies...

Back en route (or so I thought) we stumbled across the Utz factory and zipped in for a tin of chips and a couple of bags of Crab Chips (Old Bay) and some sweet and salty crunchies for making our own snack mix without the little white-bread crackers.

We were on a snack trek.

Now back en route I saw our arrival time was only 10 minutes away and I thought we were doing well. But noooOOoooOOooooo... Jody had commented that we were close to a yarn mecca and had looked it up. She insists she clicked "No" on the add waypoint question, but the GPS was taking us there instead of the housewarming address.

Fine. We only had a half an hour to spend there before they would close and the housewarming would be ongoing. Jody got some yarn (natch) and a book and I spotted a cool, quirky winter hat that I liked so she got the pattern for that too.

Back to the car and back on course for the housewarming. 30 minutes away... cool. :)

Upon arrival at the house, it became evident this would be no usual come on in take a look around have a cookie kind of affair. You see, the house was the new digs for newly minted Mega Millions winner Bunky Bartlett. :D His wife, Denise, and I have been friends for a decade plus having met at work and shared a expansive sense of humor that early and long-time Internet users "get" while younger, newer people abbreviate there humor into txt msgs. OMG LOLZ 8 U.

As we approached the house, we ran into Brian (Cheebie) and Christina Merchant; part of the same group of old friends who "get it." They were headed home before dark (sorry!) but we had a quick visit and then headed toward the house. Behind and beside the tudor styled main house were two staggeringly large tent buildings erected for the Bunk Bash; the first held a small concert theater for several hundred people while the second would be our retreat for a buffet dinner and karaoke into the evening.

I found Denise right away and expressed my stunned amazement at the scale of the party. Bunky bubbled past shortly thereafter and I got to introduce them both to Jody. We found more old friends Kathy Roznowski, Jeff Lesniak, and his wife Vicki Amb-Lesniak whom shall henceforth be referred to bu her royal title of Da Queen. DQ for short. It is arguably Vicki's fault that we're all friends to begin with.

We found some warm drinks and chatted knitting and cancer and photography and holy cow can you guys believe Bunk hit the lottery. Soon, Bunky took the stage and announced Dilana to the crowd; he'd flown her and her band in for a private concert. You may recognize her name from the most recent reality/talent contest on CBS, Rock Star Supernova. As Jody put it, they were my kind of rock band. :rock on:

It was mighty chilly and I'd embarked on our adventure without a coat. It was too loud for Jeff so we retreated to the other tent that was enclosed and heated. We talked more and enjoyed the music at a distance and were perfectly positioned when dinner was served. All the food groups were represented... steak, chicken, fish... the catering was excellent.

Bunky had given me a card that the State Troopers would accept as an okay to tour the new house. Jody and went inside and checked out the new house... and were awed. We really liked the idea of the pendant lighting in the living room and I gushed over the bidet in the first floor bedroom's private bath. Hey, I have rectal cancer and keeping clean 'down there' has become a real priority. :P

The day was catching up with both Jody and I and we returned to the tents to find and thank Bunky and Denise for inviting us to their new home. We left just a little before the party was slated to end just beginning to pick our jaws up from the floor. :)

I wonder what today will bring?

3 comments:

Mauren Mureaux said...

Wowzers. Sounds like a fantastic day.

We're up in Hanover all the time. Deb's brother lives up there and we're often shuttling the niece and nephew to and fro. That Utz store can be addicting!

Bonnie said...

Hey! Bobby and I were up at the Utz factory Friday and I seriously thought of you since you mentioned it here. Fresh UTZ chips. Mmmmm.

norska said...

Dude, how long have you known me, and you STILL don't know how to spell my name??? It's "Vikki"

Sheesh.

;) :*

-DQ