My battery light appeared on Friday, so I drove over to to the auto parts store and had them test it. It was fine, but my alternator was dead. Oh noes! I was already set to drive to Charlottesville Saturday for two birthday parties, and I couldn’t let a stupid thing like that stop me.

I hopped online and got a rental car for only $32, score! I requested the subcompact economy, thinking that would mean a little car, but instead was presented with this monstrosity, a Dodge Avenger. Their idea of subcompact and mine are very different. So I had to drive this huge, automatic mobile, but at least I was going. And it had Sirius. I’m an XM girl myself, but it was fun to hear the differences. They talk a lot on Sirius, but they also play a lot of different stuff that I’ve never heard on XM.

I stopped in Richmond on my drive up to see Jessika and get my nipples re-pierced. And let me tell you, that shit hurt! The first time I had them done it was no big deal at all. I couldn’t believe how much it didn’t hurt. But this time? OH MY GOD! So bad. Jessika said it was probably because she had to go through scar tissue, and that’s always harder. But I’m so much happier with them. The bar is flexible PTFE and the scar tissue will make sure that they don’t reject again.

I went to Dave and Michele’s house first for Dave’s 37th birthday party. It was a potluck and there was sooooo much good food and bread. They live in the tiniest place and I was amazed at how many people managed to comfortably chill in there. It was awesome to see them for a bit.

I headed to Crystal and Graham’s afterward for Crystal’s 30th birthday. It was the complete opposite environment. A huge house with only a few people, but it was so much fun. I met some good new people and we got drunk off tequila and had an outdoor fire and roasted marshmallows. I made Crystal a necklace and a ring out of silver and some glass shards Graham had given us on our last visit. They came out really nice, but I forgot to take a picture. I’ve been playing around with the combo for the past week, so I’ll take some pictures when I get everything done.

The drive home the next day was lovely, the only disappointment being Ellwood’s lack of veggie burgers for my belly. Oh well.