Girl's Night

Last night was a fantastic girl's night hosted by Melissa H. There were about 8 of us and it was a lot of fun. The evening started with "bubbly", bruschetta, organic (and very green!) olives, and radishes. It was really a lot of fun to meet a great group of women and I was really surprised by how much we all laughed.

Melissa is a fantastic hostess, she made everyone feel welcome and she has a very cozy and charming apartment in Mitte off of Oranienburger Strasse which is a wonderful neighborhood. She made a roasted pumpkin, risotto and a lovely green salad. Dessert of berries and a light cake was enjoyed by all!

It is funny how small the world is...one of the women, Anja Schuhmann, was receiving pilates instruction at Body Balance in Chicago the same place that I was going to at the same time! Anja now has her own studio in Berlin - www.studio-a-pilates.de.  Melissa is a photographer and she knows most of the women at the ladies night from the Laugh Olympics which she participates in. The Laugh Olympics is usually performed in the fall/winter/spring at the Spirit Yoga studio in Hachesher Markt. However, they are moving to a comedy club in Prenzlauer Berg...my neighborhood. Anja also is practicing for the Laugh Olympics as well. It was funny when I met her, I thought she was American, her English is perfect! She was saying her street address in German and I was so impressed by her German pronunciation. It turns out she is German...so then I was impressed by her English.

After the wonderful food, introductions and bubbly, Melissa turned the evening toward the quite serious matter of "I never...". Well, I never played I never before, it is a game where one person starts and says "I never kissed a stranger" and then anyone who has kissed a stranger has to "drink" (doesn't have to be alcohol, this is just so you have a visual cue as to how has really kissed a stranger) and then you go around the circle and share the story of kissing a stranger. A new "I never..." statement is then given by the next person after all the stories have been told. After being transported back to college days (I felt a bit old!) I very easily fell into the fun, the stories and the laughter. Despite the sharing of very personal information, it was a lot of fun and we all laughed so much!

I am fighting a cold so by the end of the evening I was losing my voice. The first time I glanced at my watch it was 1:00 AM! I couldn't believe how quickly the time had past. At 2:00 AM, I was only the second to leave. I am glad I did. I was really tired and as it was I slept today (Saturday, the only day to do errands since the stores are open!) until 1:00.

Upon rising, I very promptly decided that it was critical that my hair was cut...hence my visit to Shan.