Convention of Awesomeness: October 2011

Thursday September 8th I spent all evening in the kitchen cooking lasagna and birthday cake for Adele and Lakshmi’s Friday arrival. As is our biannual tradition, my Chi-town ladies were coming into town for the Convention of Awesomeness. What number is this? Convention of Awesomeness 5? Let’s go with 5.
Imma be honest with you guys right now, I do not deserve friends as good to me as Adele and Lakshmi. They listened to so much of my crazy, especially with regards to my newly developed body issues.
They were so supportive, telling me I was beautiful and I looked great, which was nice to hear for once, even if it was a total exaggeration.

There’s a scene in this week’s Parks and Recreation where we’re introduced to Treat Yo’self, a day where Donna and Tom spend the whole day pampering themselves, telling each other they look awesome and they should totally buy stuff like fine leather goods because they deserve it. TREAT YO’ SELF! When we have Conventions of Awesomeness (COAs), It is very much the same concept: for the whole weekend it’s just one big love session where we tell each other how pretty and smart and talented we are, not because we're vain but because sometimes you need to be bolstered up when life is really hard. We buy ridiculous things and eat out and live large because we are treating ourselves, and we deserve it dangit. And this COA 5, I was for sure Ben to Lakshmi and Adele’s Tom and Donna (meaning I was the person in need of cheering up, gosh seriously do yourself a favor and just watch the show already).

So the girls arrive on Friday afternoon, and we have a late lunch at Le Pain Quotidien, catching up and talking like we do. Then I had to go back to work, so the girls went around shopping and exploring. When they came home that night, they brought with them a birthday quiche from an amazing shop in Williamsburg. This quiche would sustain us for much of Saturday.

That night I baked the lasagna, and we sat down to eat as guests trickled in for my impromptu birthday get together. Marsha brought with her some runny cheese (the best!) and petit fours, Brooke brought treats from Sweden, Patricia brought fruit and gouda. So we all sat around and talked about lame jobs and sexism and international politics…oh no wait I’m sorry we’re women! We all talked about shoes and shopping and boys duh. My bad.
Saturday the 10th, we woke up and had birthday cake and quiche for breakfast. These two items sustained us throughout all of Saturday, and turned out to be somehow the greatest decision we made on the trip. It’s like a constant stream of sweet and salty goodness that we could take little slivers of whenever we wanted.

Adele and Lakshmi started a new band called Love and Radiation, and while they were in town we figured we’d do some promotional shots for their website. They played me a few tracks while we were getting ready for the shoot, and I have to say, I haven’t been this excited about my friends’ music in a very long time. It was fresh and energetic and cool, with great harmonies and lyrics. I legitimately feel like this music has the X factor that could make these girls really famous, so I was very nervous to be charged with taking their photos.
Luckily, there are a whole bunch of very cool murals down by Kent, so I walked the ladies down by the waterfront to make use of them. Here are some of the backdrops we employed:
Dia de los Muertos backdrop

Random street fair backdrop

Balloon mural backdrop

Clouds backdrop

Joy division backdrop

Silver graffiti backdrop

Cupcake backdrop

Wolf backdrop

After the shoot, we came home to change and eat more quiche before Sleep No More. Despite the fact that we were all broke, we managed to cobble together enough money to see The Greatest Play of Our Time. My friend Lissy met us there.
The greatest thing about Sleep No More is that seeing it for the second time, I saw a completely different play than I saw the first time. There were almost no scenes that overlapped. And this time, I became aware for the first time that the play itself was entirely silent. The communication between the actors was so effortless in its physicality that it hadn’t occurred to me they weren’t speaking.
Contraband photo from inside the hotel

Afterwards, I was lovingly escorted out by a bellhop, who entwined his arm around my waist and rested his head on mine. We shared some drinks at the speakeasy, then meandered over to the Highline, where we randomly met the set designers for the play, who were taking a midnight stroll.
Sunday, September 11th I taught my lesson while Lakshmi and Adele went into the Village for brunch. I met up with them at Brooklyn Flea, where we looked for spirit jewelry and I tried very hard not to buy an entire crate of used medical equipment.

Adele’s brother Bobby met up with us, and we all went back to the house for Mac n’ Cheese and some Real Housewives of New Jersey. Lakshmi and I tried our best to convert Adele to our favorite train wreck show, but she was having none of it. Greatly disappointing, Adele.
That evening, Mary South popped over and we all went to the Roebling Tea Room for drinks. Tasted my first martini which was terrible you guys. Seriously the worst. How can something that looks so sophisticated taste like poison? Unreal.
Monday I was super sick, so I had to stay home from work. Managed to hobble it over to Margot's, where we had croissants and hot drinks. Then it was time for my girls to pack up and head back to Chicago. I found myself much more emotional than usual at their leaving.
It was so nice to be around such positive and supporting energy, to be complimented instead of criticized, accepted rather than judged. They were just such good company. And despite the fact that we’re complicated women, aloof and stubborn in our own way, we can really rally together in times of trial. And I felt like their coming gave me the strength to press on a little bit longer, despite overwhelming odds.