Weekending it

It's Monday again, so soon.

This weekend Dan and I each got some individual friend time.

On Saturday morning I got up early and met my friends Julia and Anna and we headed into the city to catch a morning train to Connecticut to visit our good friend Amber. Julia and I did this same trip last year, here.

Connecticut is beautiful in the fall.

Amber picked us up at the train station and we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, did a lot of girl talk, and then we headed over to her house so she could get ready for her roller derby bout that afternoon. We played with her two cats, Toto and Nutmeg. When Amber lived in NYC, I loved her cat Toto. I called her cat-dog because she acted like a dog and was so friendly and playful. She's not the same anymore and kind of hated me this trip. Such is the life of a cat.

In the late afternoon we went over to the arcade place where the derby was being hosted. Amber had to get there several hours ahead to help set-up, so Julia, Anna, and I walked around the kids arcade and attempted to play some of the games. We felt so old because we had the hardest time working most of the games. It was quite pathetic. Around 6 pm we grabbed seats to watch the bouts.

Amber's league has two teams, an A and a B. This year the A team played first and won. My phone was getting low so I only took one picture of that match so I could save my battery for Amber's game. This girl in the blur below was SO good.

If you've never seen roller derby, it's a little hard to explain. Anna described it as a cross between race car driving and hockey. Each team has six players on at a time. One is called the Jammer (she has a star on her helmet) and it's her job to break through the pack and skate around the track as many times as possible during the two minute jam. The other players on her team are supposed to create a path for her to break through the blocks created by the other team. It's a rough sport and requires a lot of agility and aggression. I would be terrible at it.

Amber's team is called the Beat City Bedrockers and they wear pink. All the players have clever names. Amber's is Slamberry Shotcake or "Cakes" for short. 

Amber's game started around 9 pm. The team they played was from Cape Cod and they were extremely aggressive and people were being pushed and falling over constantly. Amber's team was ahead by a lot at half time. Amber is number 213, and is the Jammer in these pictures below.

Shortly after the second half started, a girl on the other team fell over (she just fell, no one pushed her or hit her or anything) and was screaming bloody murder for several minutes. They called the ambulance and took her out. We heard the next day that she had broken her ankle in two places! Amber said injuries happen a lot since it's a contact sport but the league provides insurance to the players and as long as you cross-train in skating and work on things like core strength to help you build-up balance, it's fine. Once the game restarted it was after 10 pm. Amber's team won and she got the MVP award!!

We didn't leave the arcade until after 11 pm and then grabbed dinner at a diner near her house. The next morning we slept-in a bit and had a great brunch at a super popular restaurant called the Sloppy Waffle. Anna, Julia, and I were on the train back to NYC by 1 pm. We had such a great time and I look forward to this annual trip every year. Amber is one of those people that you wish could be in your life every single day.

Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn, Dan said he played video games all day while I was gone and then went out with some of his friends for dinner at a brand new restaurant in our neighborhood called Firefly.

On Sunday he made the long journey way uptown to Inwood to have lunch with one of his friends from college and visit his church. He said he had a good time but we were both so happy to be back together Sunday night.