Missed Part I?  Read it here.

One of the best parts of this trip was getting to see my longtime friend, Constance.  We met in 6th grade, and she has been one of my best friends and partner in crime ever since.

The last time we saw each other was in 1998 at Oxmoor Mall, one of our regular mischief-making haunts.  We used to window shop there all day, get lunch in the food court and try to hit people with food we tossed over the balcony.  We were Trouble.

(One time, Constance dropped a piece of her baked potato into some lady’s hair.  The woman didn’t notice.  To this day, we’re both amazed that we were never kicked out of the mall.  The lesson, kids?  You can be a troublemaker as long as you don’t get caught!)

She and I had spoken on the phone several times since ‘98, but there were often gaps of years in between calls.  For awhile, I lost track of her completely.  We decided to meet up at Coastal Flats in Tysons Corner and caught up over delicious if not slightly oversalted food and several well-made caipirinhas and mojitos.

It’s so weird, but we’re still the same kids we’ve always been, the same personalities.  “You’re grown up now,” she told me, “but I still see the same Kendall I remember sitting across from me.”  I could say the same for her, and I loved that.

We spent the afternoon engaging in a little retail therapy.  I picked up the cutest fascinator:

We stopped into Bath & Body Works where I picked up some Silky Dirt by Jonathan:

After purchasing it, I glanced at my receipt.  8:34 PM.   It’s 8:30?  Shit! I was supposed to be leaving for a party with Will at 9.  That wasn’t going to happen.  I realized that Tysons Corner is basically a casino for shopping: No windows, no clocks, no idea how long you’ve been there.

Constance and I parted ways, and I hightailed it back to Alexandria.

Will and I got dressed in party duds, I threw some Silky Dirt in my hair and added some texture with my handy-dandy flat iron, and we left.

The party was a birthday bash for a friend of Will’s.  We’re talking formal invitations - stamped and mailed, not some Evite.  The party was in a 2-story photography studio.  A DJ was spinning tunes, there was yummy food, and the best part was the birthday cake - delicious cupcakes with red icing, red being the birthday boy’s signature color.  I love the taste of red food coloring.  It’s so chemically delicious.

The party ended around 2 a.m.  (Or was it 3?  I can’t remember.)  The universal signal for “party’s over” was given - someone flipped on the house lights.  That’s party-speak for “you don’t have to go home, but you have to get the heck outta here.”

We left and headed into DC for a Chinese chicken joint called Danny’s.  Will got some wings and fries, and I got chicken egg rolls, a surprisingly delicious end to an even more delicious day.