Fourth o’ July – Pt. 1 (Work Hard)

This weekend I had the honor and pleasure of headlining the main showroom at the Improv here in DC.

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I close at other clubs on the road, but there’s something special about the people that have been watching you since you first picked up a mic having enough confidence in you to give you such an awesome opportunity. The management and the staff at the Improv have been AMAZING to me over the years — they’re like family. And at every juncture so far they’ve supported me and even pushed me to take leaps before I even thought I was ready.

Thanks guys for everything!

So many of the friends I grew up with in Jersey have settled in the DC area. A bunch of them came out to support this weekend and for most, it was their first time ever coming to one of my shows! This is my girl Jenny with her two brothers Jamal and Jerome and their friend. They took me out dancing afterwards. We had a ball!

Pre-drinks and dancing... By the end of the night I was leaning like one of the backup dancers in the Smooth Criminal video.

This is my friend/big brother/cheerleader, Joe.

This is my friend/big brother/cheerleader, Joe. Everybody should have a 'Joe' ;)

And this is my former roommate Crystal — the only person (besides my folks — well at least besides my mom) who has lived with me and still likes me ;)

Me and Crys

Me and Crys

Many thanks to all my Jersey homies and my Howard buddies who came out to the shows this weekend, and of course the hundreds of other people who took a chance on this small town girl living in a lonely world (how hard does Steve Perry STILL rock? ;)

You made my weekend!

Fourth o’ July – Pt. 2 (Play Hard)

Kellz, Joie, and Chris

Kellz, Joie, and Chris

So me and BFF’s Joie and Kellz went to a BBQ at new buds Chris and Zach’s house on the 4th. And boy did they do it up. They had kegs of whatever you wanted to drink and tons of food — they roasted an entire pig! Zach said it took from about 6am to 3pm to cook it. WOW!

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We like big sunglasses.

pigface

By the time we got there, they’d already sliced up the pig. But the face and the ears were just chilling on the picnic table… Because boys think it’s funny to gross girls out. Pighead aside, it was damn tasty though. Shout to whoever made the special bbq sauce for the sandwiches. YUM! Good job guys ;)

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Ugly Thrash Demon

Chris found a band made up of high school kids to perform at the BBQ. They were actually pretty good. There were just a lot of them… Think Earth Wind and Fire — except the exact opposite. Tee hee ;) Their name was Ugly Thrash Demon, but they weren’t a metal band. Because you can’t be a metal band with a ukelele. Or an accordion. Or maracas. Or a cello… Should I continue?

Oh why the hell not?… Or a trumpet.

I’m assuming the name was supposed to be ironic. And well, I think it was except I’m still not clear exactly what ironic means. I always use it wrong…

beerpong1

Moving on.

Zach’s parents were in town, and his mom is kinda the best — she’s southern and adorable, AND she convinced me to participate in my first ever game of beer pong. Well, kinda… I’m not a big beer drinker so the other players were nice enough to bend the rules for me… I just wanted to see if I could get the ball in the cup ;) Check out my follow through!

Thanks fellas for the invite! We had so much fun ;)

From the Blog to the Stage – Haggling with the plumber

Last Tuesday I had to call a plumber out to the house to help unclog my toilet. Once he left I posted the following Facebook status update:

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My dad is totally my haggling hero ;) And I knew it’d make him proud to know I was resourceful in talking the plumber down… When I told him about it, he howled and insisted I turn it into a bit.  Which I did this weekend. Here’s how it turned out… Funny because it’s true. ;)