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Thursday, September 2, 2010

a game changer

can you think back to one incident or circumstance that significantly changed your life? i can.

in august of 2003 i applied to work at this bbq restaurant here called rudy's. my friend i was with at the time scoffed at me and basically told me, "fat chance." apparently rudy's is (or was) known for only hiring a certain type of person and he didn't think i fit the mold. little did he know i'm a shape shifter. no, not really, but i did get the job. because i'm awesome.

now fast forward to june of 2004! i had been working there a little less than a year and over that time i made some friends that were fun to hang out with but they weren't necessarily my people. then one morning one of my co-workers who was not my friend (not only was he not my friend but i don't think we had really even spoken to each other before even though we had worked at the same place for 10 months. i think i had been to a couple parties at his house but we never interacted there either) mentioned something about how he was about to go on vacation. i asked where he was going and he said he was going to bonnaroo. bonnaroo 2004 was set to be one of, if not the, first wilco performance since jeff tweedy got out of that dual diagnoses rehab clinic. i was so jealous that this guy, kelly, was going. then we got into a conversation about music and discovered that we had a lot of similar tastes. but then he dropped a bomb on me: his favorite band was the dave matthews band. i might like a lot of music that somehow gets lumped into the same general genre as dave matthews but make no mistake about it, i am not a fan of dmb. anyway, rather than this news being a deal breaker i thought, "i should introduce him to lori!" (because lori was my only dave lovin' friend at the time). i did and they have been the best of friends pretty much ever since.

then kelly introduced me to his harem. really, he had, and still has, a harem. it's pretty intimidating to be thrown into a mix of dynamic, beautiful, hilarious women but that's exactly what happened. it took a little time but i eventually formed unbelievable friendships with these people. some of my very closest friends are people i met through kelly and i will always be grateful for that. i will also always treasure all the amazing times i have had with him. there are little things that pop into my head now and then that literally make me laugh until i tear up. i wish i still got to see him on a regular basis to expand that list of memories but he's living it up in boulder and i can't hold that against him.

but that's not all! through kelly i found out about a little band called gomez, who also changed my life. the friendships i have made because of my love for gomez have impacted me in a huge way. sometimes i stop and wonder how i got so lucky to have these people fall into my life. it sounds cheesy but i truly have some of the most wonderful friends a person could ever hope to have.

when i think about the friendships, memories, and experiences i wouldn't have had if i didn't know kelly, i wonder what the fuck my life would be like today. there's no sense in looking back, especially if you don't regret any of it (and i don't) but sometimes i just wonder how very differently i could have turned out.

and now, kelly and stefanie's greatest hits! and by hits i obviously mean pictures.

kelly and me june 2004
this is where we learned that it's really hard to take a long arm picture with one tall and one short person


january 2005
i have horns

halloween 2004

march 2004
totally awesome totally 80s party

august 2005
another party

february 2006
at coldplay in houston

may 2006
new orleans trip to see gomez

december 2006
tacky christmas sweater party at my house

new year's eve 2006

january 2007
kelly passed out in my coat on my back porch

february 2007
me wearing kelly's hat in petaluma, ca

april 2007
wig party!

june 2007
at molotov celebrating sam's graduation from massage therapy school

august 2007
at a colorado rockies game after we moved kelly to boulder :(

april 2008
beauty bar for robin's birthday

january 2010
in front of zoosk's headquarters in san francisco

march 2010
my birthday brunch

ps-i know another person whose life would be nothing like it is now without her stint as a rudy's employee as well! 

1 comment:

Jenn said...

Isn't it weird how Rudy's changes lives? Also, their cream corn changes lives, but that's an entirely different post!

I have been actually meaning to make a post like this because a lot of people ask how I met My Husband...

All those pictures of you and Kelly crack me up.