Sneaky Zucchini Day

"Good tidings, neighbors. We greet you with a zucchini and some kind words."  - BSteer

We did it! We sneaked around to six of our neighbors' apartments and successfully delivered our holiday zucchinis.

That is one sneaky zucchini.

A little background: while crashing with her grandmother during a summer internship in the Midwest a few years back, a friend of Brittany's decided to research unique summer holidays to celebrate with her friends back home as a way to stay in touch. One of the holidays she discovered was August 8th: Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Front Porch Day, or as I've taken to calling it, "Sneaky Zucchini Day."

While brainstorming fun ways to meet our neighbors, Brittany remembered Sneaky Zucchini Day and decided we should give it a go. On August 7th we purchased several zucchinis, attached a note to each, and chose six zucchini recipients (because delivering zucchinis to the entire apartment was a bit out of our price range). We were ready to go! All that was left to do was sneak.

This zucchini is ready to get SNUCK.

Morning dawned bright and lovely on the 8th of August, a perfect day to distribute neighborly vegetables to our fellow tenants. Unfortunately, Brittany left for work before I even woke up, I had to work past five to finish a project, and neither of us wanted to sneak alone. We'd been hoping to deliver the zucchini either before folks left for work/class or before they came home, but it wasn't until after six that we finally had time to sneak. Sneaking was made more difficult by the fact that our neighbors were out and about, so we decided to do some reconnaissance first. With my purse loaded up with veggies and under the guise of checking our mail (there was none - maybe our loyal readers should send us some snail mail [or even just post a comment... hint hint!]), we wandered through the courtyard to determine who was home and where we could get away with dropping off the goods.

Sneaking zucchini is a lot harder than it sounds. We had several close run-ins with our chosen targets. Two different neighbors walked out of their apartments right as we were making our approach; we had to tuck and roll off to the side to avoid being caught and try to pretend that we had any business being in a random stairwell across the courtyard from our apartment. That was not so sneaky. Another neighbor's blinds were open, so we inched along the wall and tried to subtly place the zucchini on her welcome mat. That really was sneaky!

Posing for pictures: not so sneaky.

With all our zucchinis delivered, we headed back to E26, triumphant and eager for some sort of response to our efforts. And we weren't disappointed.

It's a sneaky banana!

One of our neighbors reciprocated with some sneakiness of her own. While Brittany and I were cleaning the kitchen, or possibly while we were sitting on our couch in full view of the window and with the blinds wide open (absorbed in our computers, repeatedly checking the blog for any new traffic), we had a visit from the new tenant in E27.

 "Happy Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Front Porch Day! (I was out of zucchini, have a banana instead!) P.S. - Thanks for the zucchini! -E27"

We decided the note deserved a prime spot on the fridge as a sign of the success of Sneaky Zucchini Day. Even if we don't hear from any of our other neighbors (though I hope we do!) this absolutely made our day. It also made my breakfast the next morning. Thanks, E27!

Sneaky Zucchini Day was a lot of fun. Perhaps we'll keep the fun going by celebrating even more wacky holidays. 

Do you have any suggestions for the next holiday we should celebrate or other fun ways to meet our neighbors?

PS - Brittany is feeling a bit under the weather today. Sneaking zucchini will take it out of you. Y'all show her some love!

How I know this whole roommate thing will work out just fine.

This is how I know Brittany and I will do pretty well as roommates. I had some really stressful days this past week. Between four days of moving, work assignments, summer school assignments, losing a pet, and getting little sleep, I was feeling pretty grumpy by Sunday. Brittany was a champ through it all, though. She cleaned my carpet before I moved in, helped me pack and move boxes, unloaded and put away all my food and kitchen supplies, and let me eat her food. Girl's kind of my hero.

Hero Brittany to the rescue.

By Sunday night, after spending most of the day slaving away over a report for work that I promised my boss she would have by that afternoon, I needed a milkshake. Nay, I DESERVED a milkshake! Nothing would sooth my harried soul like consuming the most delicious ice cream concoction Sonic has the ability to craft (half price shakes after 8 pm has made me a loyal Sonic customer). When I mentioned this need to Brittany, she nodded vehemently. She might even have scream-whispered, which definitely signals that she's both interested and excited. She'd been feeling kind of crummy all day, so she said a milkshake would do her some good as well (girl after my own heart!). By 10 pm, we were Sonic bound. We both got chocolate malts and they were both delicious.

While waiting for the carhop to bring us our malts, I said some ridiculous things (as per usual) about Sonic's payment system and PINs and credit card security and what have you. I'd like to blame it on the lack of sleep delirium, but let's be real: I'm always just a little ridiculous. Anyway, this night's topics led me to acknoweldge how much I complain about lots of little things that don't matter, which in turn led to the creation of...my own political party! That way I can complain about random things that don't matter AND make money while I do it (like all great politicians)! My movement is aptly named the Ann Hamilton party. The slogan is, "There ain't no party like an Ann Hamilton party!" Everyone who joins my party gets to be an Ann Hamilton. Brittany said that everyone should get a badge with my face on it to identify loyal Ann Hamiltons. We're gonna change the world, guys.

My name is Ann Hamilton and I approve this coffee.

And if that hasn't sold you, the day after our milkshake adventure, Brittany made dinner so I could study, and then she ate a whole bunch of oreos with me.

So yeah. I think this whole roommate thing is gonna work out just fine. 

PS - You're welcome, Sonic, for the free advertisement.

EDIT
Y'all. As I was getting ready to post this tonight, Brittany and I had an epic roommate bonding sing-a-long in the kitchen. For some reason, I had the Strong Bad email "Montage" stuck in my head. Specifically, I had part of the end credits on a loop in my head. When I asked Brittany if she knew what Homestar Runner was, she said yes. And we both got really excited. And I sang "Partyin'! Party party party in a wagon!" And then we proceeded to sing "Trogdor" in high pitched voices. And it was amazing. It's like we were meant for each other!

Burninating all the people who live in THATCHED ROOF COTTAGEEEEES!

Also, Brittany needs me. Today I taught her about organic milk, which she didn't know doesn't expire as quickly as regular milk. I also taught her the word "wonky," which I said when I couldn't get the cookies we made to transfer from pan to cooling rack in their perfect cookie shapes (Brittany somehow managed to get them to come off the pan without breaking, which is just plain typical. She's like Queen Spatula).

 

Paula Deen's got nothing on me.

Then she said, "Have a wonky cookie sandwich!" in a somewhat crazed voice, followed by, "Ah've gawt tha wonky cookie on mah fwace!" as she tried to eat said wonky cookie.

But I also need Brittany. She's making me pot roast for dinner tomorrow. And she likes to drink coffee in the morning. And she gets stern with me when I need to do Econ homework and threatens to eat all the ice cream if I don't. What a good roommate.

Life is always interesting in E26. Stay tuned for updates about zucchinis, meeting neighbors, and Olympic hanging ceremonies.