...'twas a sea of green people...

...really.
you know that feeling you have (for me, it often occurs toward the end of the dreary winters) when you are just itching to get out of town. you can just feel it in your bones. well, i had a serious case of the itches a couple weeks back. so i planned a little trip to the good ole jersey shore. i know, i know...who the hell goes to the jersey shore during the winter? well, a girl that is saving up for a move into manhattan, and also, conveniently, has a grandmother with a vacation home down there.

so the jersey shore was the spot to cure the itches. and off chloe and i went on friday night. now, we knew, of course, that we were headed to the shore, but little did we know, we were actually headed into an sea of green people...like i said....really.

everything seemed normal. and quiet. until late saturday morning. i began to notice an unusual number of people around for your average winter weekend at the shore.

and then it started happening. kilts. shamrocks. tremendous green hats. large decorative floats. and cops shutting down roads....yup, you guessed it...st. patrick's day...and a parade.

chloe and i seemed to have picked the weekend of the (largely celebrated) st. patrick's day parade. after some shopping, and a brief accidental appearance in the parade (yes, we actually ended up in the parade, somehow), we decided to join in on the festivites.

being unaware that these festivities were going on, and being mostly italian, there was no green in the wardrobe for this particular weekend. but, hey, everyone is irish on st. patrick's day right? green or no green. so, off we went to our favorite little pub three blocks down, with thoughts of their fabulous food and a couple of beers with the irish.
en route, we crossed paths with many side-steppers, wannabe pirates (?), kilt-wearing band members, and young drunk guys who, apparently, were asking us to come with them to the next bar (this is where i admit to the fact that i never actually realize that i'm being hit on until approximately 30 minutes later-- and sometimes, never. sometimes i have to be told...yeah, some might call it oblivious). but that's aside from the point.

point-being...each and every one of them, not only wearing green but wearing a smile that was an obvious indication of the fact that we were a few behind on the beers. we arrived at the pub, chloe finished her cigarette (note: bouncer looked oddly at us when she did this & it wasn't until much later that we realized why-- you can smoke in bars in jersey-- we should have just been wearing signs that said 'sorry--i'm a damn italian from NY') and inside we went.

the tables were all gone and replaced with kegs, thus eliminating any thoughts of food that we had previously had. we decided to ponder the thought of eating elsewhere over a couple of Rolling Rocks (the apparent beer of choice for the celebration). and then one Bass (i switched it up-- its my all time fav) led to the next...and the next. and the...hmm, i lost count...and there was some irish jigging, and singing & dancing, a drunk guy acting like he was going to burn my purse (don't ask..i have no idea why) and new friends referring to me as "Danni-Girl"...all in all a jolly good time was had with the Irish...until we side-stepped our way home (really, who cares about dinner?) and passed out (i'd be lying if i didn't mention that a little drunk dialing did occur before the passing out...riight riiight).

now, the funny part is..this was at 8:30pm. really. and i only woke up in order to regurgitate the Bass that must have been sitting quite lonely in my stomach. and then pass out again. with that being said, i really should have been wearing a shirt that said "i'm a damn italian from NY that can't hold her liquor," because that's what i was thinking.

well, at least now i know that for next year...green shirt...learn the jig....and do some serious drinking in preparation for celebrating with the ole irish of the jersey shore...