NYE....a few days late

The last bit of my NYE weekend put me in a weird mood, so I've kind of been processing it all. Hence the delay in my recap. So Happy 2007! This is going to be a wonderful year; life seems to just get better and better.

Anyway, I liked Charleston a lot. It has a very small town feel to me and was still lit with Christmas lights. As usual, eating was one of the highlights of my trip. Oz picked me up Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. and was kind enough to drive the entire way. When we arrived at his friend Max's house (and my former law school classmate who I didn't really know) he announced that his ONE toilet didn't really work and that he had to manually flush the toilet for us each time we used it. Hmm. On the upside, he has an adorable dog who I called Holden because he reminded me of the character from Catcher in the Rye; that actually makes little sense since I recall almost nothing about that book, but whatever.

We ventured into Charleston, and I noticed a yummy looking place called Cupcake. We went there after lunch, shopping, and drinks (for them, not me—I've never thought drinking when it's daylight is a good idea). Oz & I go in Cupcake, and the lady tells us that they are completely out of cupcakes. What? I gave my best dejected face, and Oz explains that we've come all the way from Atlanta to try her cupcakes. So the lady offers us a box of cupcakes that someone ordered and never picked up. Oh, and they were for free. I had to skip the cake part so that I'd have more room for icing, and it was absolutely divine.

The afternoon was marked by a little tension though because Max's ex-girlfriend was hanging out with us, and although they are supposedly just "friends," he was lying to her about our evening plans and NYE plans. All of that made me uncomfortable. As you can imagine, I have a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself especially when watching someone lie to someone else's face. Lying is just super uncool and almost always unnecessary unless the lie is about someone being overweight ("Do I look bad in these jeans?") or having a bad haircut ("Do you like my new bangs/perm?"). That evening Holden and I ran a few miles. Then we had dinner at Magnolia, and it was fantastic. I had a filet and crab cake but still managed to find room for some more icing when we got home.

Sunday was a nice, lazy day with a viewing of The Pursuit of Happyness and a nice long walk with Max, Oz, and Holden. We had some really good conversations, and I learned a lot about Max and Oz too. I love hearing people's stories, and they are both good at sharing. We met up with another law school classmate and his fiancé for drinks at a rooftop bar, and then we headed to High Cotton for dinner. Another couple that had been invited last minute (since another couple had bailed) met up with us for a total of eight. It was an interesting mix of people ranging in age from 23 (two of the guys' dates) to 29.

My meal was one of the best, if not the best, I've ever had (thanks Ozzy:). I nixed the mushroom jus that was supposed to come with the filet and ordered peppercorn garlic butter instead, and it was perfection. The lobster and crème brulee were yummy too. So things were going relatively well (Max had called his date by my name at least three times and she's starting to get irritated) until Roger (half of the unknown couple; he's a grad student who recently served our country in Iraq and is evidently required to mention that every four to six minutes) began to reveal that clearly could not handle his alcohol. He's 28, so in my mind, there is absolutely no excuse. The things he said about his date were so disrespectful and just made me sad. And his 23 year old date didn't seem to mind at all. Perhaps things like that shouldn't bother me so much, but it just put me in a bad/sad mood. It did, however, make me feel incredibly grateful for my friends and my life and the general lack of drama I encounter.

When I mentioned us getting a cab, Roger announces that he's going to drive home. In my mind, it's one thing if he wants to treat his date horribly, but driving drunk is another. I expressed my concern and told him I had some cash if he needed it for a cab. He, of course, would have none of it, maintaining that he was fine to drive. Note: Roger was blowing the horn the restaurant staff handed out twenty minutes before midnight; at this point, I'm feeling embarrassed as some people are still enjoying their meals. So I went to the bar to escape him, and another girl joined me. Well guess who comes into the bar and blows the horn right into my ear? Yep, Roger. And yes, he drove him and his date home after drinking from 8:30 until after midnight with several glasses of champagne right less than half an hour before he got behind the wheel. He called to let us know he'd gotten home ok, and then he called again the next morning to convey the same information because he had no recollection of calling the night before and talking for five minutes.

So in short, I had a good trip to Charleston and as always, enjoyed Oz's company, but the experience was certianly tainted by the drama of NYE (a lot of which I haven't mentioned that bothered me even more than what I've described) and Max's dishonesty throught the weekend. I thought that this NYE would be different than the last two as I was spending it with professionals who were all in their late 20s at a nice restaurant (and not at a huge party or bar), but perhaps the bottom line is that whenever alcohol is involved, you should expect the unexpected if you're not with people you know well. I'm thinking a calm evening at a friend's house next year:)