Ha! Three days into Reverb10 and I’m already falling behind….typical eh?
Here’s yesterday’s prompt from author Shauna Reid:
Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
Love this prompt! There’s no better way to remember a year than to reflect on the social gatherings that made it special. My only regret is that I wasn’t asked to blog about this in college! The parties I went to while studying in DCU were some of the best, most hilarious events of my life. For instance, I once went to a “hospital party”. The entire house was decorated like a hospital, with stereos blasting fake doctor announcements, Dr. Watson to the ICU, Paging Dr. Watson to the ICU. There was even an “X RAY Room” covered wall to wall with tin foil and a microwave in the middle. I think the idea was for all the girls to show up dressed as slutty nurses…but I fooled them! Oh how I fooled them! I decided to go as a Janitor – boiler suit, mop, name tag and a spray bottle of my drink of choice! Good times.
Now back to 2010. The social gathering that stood out for me this year was definitely my birthday – which was a weekend long bonanza. I always try to organise something special for my birthday because it gives me an excuse to gather everyone I love in the one place! This year’s celebrations were especially awesome. Let me break them down for you:
Friday Night (Day One)
This night involved an intimate gathering of close friends in Dublin. My housemate Roisin, her boyfriend Kevin, two friends from Wexford Hannah and Charlotte and my best guy friend James all accompanied me to dinner at an Indian restaurant about two doors down from my house. Everyone got all dolled up and the photos from early in the night are lovely!
The food was amazing and you could bring your own wine (score!) Charlotte even tried Indian for the first time and was pleasantly surprised.
We went back to my apartment, and played games while finishing off the wine. The main game involved me playing music off my laptop and the first one to guess the song won. It was pretty funny at first – but soon enough it was time to select a dancing destination. There was only one place to go….one place that lives in infamy here in Dublin. Copper. Face. Jacks. * The rest of the night is history really…there was dancing, sweaty, sweaty dancing. But Im pretty sure we were sober enough to realise when Riverdance came on. And that’s a good sign.
Saturday (Day Two)
Another pretty quite and intimate day! Saturday was dubbed “Conor Day” and he kindly collected me from town and drove down to my parents house in Wexford with me. We just relaxed for the day and then had an amazing Italian meal that night. Honestly, one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever been to (and anyone who knows me, knows I’m a real stickler for Italian food). I can still taste the succulent garlic tiger prawns to start, the tasty lasagne for my main and of course the light and fresh Tiramasu for dessert. All topped off with more wine. We finished the evening on the couch with my Mum watching The Sopranos! Perfect!
Sunday (Day Three) GOREY FEST ’10
Gorey Fest is another thing that lives in infamy amongst my group of college friends. I realise it sounds like a bad horror film marathon but its basically a party in the town where my parents live, called Gorey. I decided to throw the first one during my first year in college and have had three since then. Its a great excuse to get people out of Dublin and down to the sticks!
I used to throw the parties when my parents were away – but as I got older, they grew in coolness and decided it would be ok for me to have friends down. They’re actually amazing when it comes to this. My mum makes loads of dessert, my dad BBQs and they even keep the drinks cabinet stocked for us. That’s another thing I’m thankful for in 2010 (and always) very very sound parents.
Goreyfest ’10 was missing a few of the usual suspects (Lyndsay in New York, Gary in Japan etc) but it was still the highlight of my social calendar this year. There were probably about ten of us altogether, drinking, laughing, singing and playing games. It was the summer, so for the most part we sat outside on the patio with our beers.
We played a few drinking games – one of which included us counting out loud and doing various stupid things for random numbers. Number one was changed to the entire group singing Happy Birthday to me. At first this was great! After the fortieth time, it was STILL GREAT!!
After cake, the girls all went up to my room to get dolled up and then we went to Gorey’s premier nightclub (quite possibly the only nightclub?!) O2. I spent the night dancing my ass of with people that I absolutely adore.
The next morning, people were sleeping all over the place. The smell of the fry up my Mum was cooking definitely woke everyone up properly. It was the ideal ending to an amazing birthday.
If I’m very very lucky 2011 will bring parties of the same calibre! 
*If you’re not from Dublin, Copper Face Jacks is a nightclub on Harcourt Street. It’s known for being the number one spot for Gards and Nurses on nights out. It’s also known to be filled with people from the country. The music is a crazy mix of Justin Timberlake and Whiskey in the Jar and it is probably the sweatiest, perviest place on the planet. On the right night, with the right group – it can be HILARIOUS.
