aaahhh. friday night at home. (does that make me sound old?)

last friday i was talked into going out with a few work friends to North Beach on butterfield road in lombard IL. not bad. its got a volleyball court w/sand on the right and a bowling alley on the left. two bars in the middle and a stage in back. one work-friend C got drunk out of her mind and then proceeded to tell me "i want to dance!" so...as a good friend, what did i do? i started picking hot guys and saying "where can we go to dance?" sure enough, two guys said "come with us! we're going to jeremy's party!" well-- they looked harmless, i wasnt drunk and had my own car, so...fast forward. so im crawling under a chain-link fence (jeremy lived just next to lewis university where we parked and the fence that's normally wide open during the week, was locked for the weekend), pulling a drunk friend behind me, to go to "jeremy's party." we get to jeremy's house and there's nothing in the living room but an gynocologist's chair, and two sofas positioned on each side. yeah. there are a few people sitting on the sofas waiting for the ever-elusive "jeremy". jeremy never shows. since there is no dancing as was promised, i say to our two guides "look-- drunk-girl wants to dance and im a tired ornery leo. get me some place where we can dance!!" they quickly leave with us (yea---we need to crawl BACK uncer the chain-link fence) and we go to "matthew's house".

ok- so matthew is this uber-trendy guy in leather boots w/a jawline to die for. the house is big enough to store 2 or 3 families. matthew is blond. tall. and um...seems to be..um..."not quite with us." he is welcoming, but seems a bit more animated than is the norm for a young suburban gentleman. whatever-- the music is blasting and AWESOME. its club. its loud. its a nice change from jeremy's pad. so we get comfortable.

one problem: matthew asks us to take off our shoes and the drunk work friend cant figure out how to get her stiletto boots off. um...so i tell her "ill pull and you guys hold her." so our two companions take each of her arms and i start to take off her boots. she starts laughing and falls over. the guys catch her. i try again. she starts laughing again. (oh lord!! this isnt going to be easy.) so matthew comes rushing to the damsel's aid and kneels down. he motions for her to sit on his lap. work-friend says "NO!!" incredulously. "I am WAY TOO HEAVY!!" um...the girl is MAYBE 130 pounds. so i practically throw her down on matthew's bent knee and rip her boots off.

the guys go get us drinks and one (the one i found out was engaged) starts mingling w/guys, just having an innocent good time. the other one, who im trying to set up with work-friend C and i sit down to talk. his name is nathan.

very nice guy. seems "normal". i start working my "magic" and selling drunk friend to him. he likes her. although she is standing in the kitchen drinking & dancing herself into oblivion. so i find out that her "hopefully soon to be next date" was left at the altar a few months ago by his fiance. ouch. three, count 'em THREE days before the wedding. AND she didnt tell him to his face, she TEXTED him with "i dont think i can go through with this." DEAR LORD!! mind u, his whole family had already flown out to CA, where she was from, and he had to tell them the fiance bailed. ick.

finally around 430am i see matthew come dancing into the kitchen. at this point he's in boxer briefs and seems even MORE wired than before. great. he disappears with one of the 110lb-DD cup brunette attendees. so i venture into the library. OMG...everything from thoreau to c.s.lewis to beowulf to shakespeare lines the walls, from floor to ceiling. that was pretty cool. i dont even like to read, but i could picture myself getting lost in this room. i also notice a personally penned christmas card from the Daley's, mayor of chicago and some pics of Matthew and what i can only assume are his parents on a boat with Mayor Daley himself.

well- after my review of the library its time to go. it IS 5am now guys!!! one problem: we have to get work-friend C's boots back on. crap...mind u, she is now 2x's drunker than she was when i ripped them off. so i get her and throw her down on the couch and start stuffing her feet into the boots. she starts laughing; apparently having some one else push your boots on tickles. so nathan steps in and holds her leg so i can get her boot on. we finally, after a 15 minute struggle, manage to get ONE boot on. it takes another 10 minutes to get to the other one. finally we got her ready. we said bye to our tourguides. nathan exchanged phone numbers with work-friend C.

they went on their first date last night. WOOHOO! seemed to go well.

im so glad to be spending this friday at HOME. no chain-link fence. no suburban boys on crack blasting music in their mommy and daddy's home. no gynocological chairs. dont get me wrong, it was fun. but its good to be home with your dog.