another installment of the things we love and miss about ali. i’d like to make this a friday tradition if you all can continue to send me stories!

*****

“funny how every time we went shopping, she’d spend more of MY money than hers.”

“My nephew’s first birfday is sloooowly creeping up and I can’t help but think about how much fun it is going to be. So I daydream about his party and try to come up with things that his cool Auntie Em can do to make it more fun. Then I thought back to how much I loved it when Ali got Nori to “wash” her hair with cake on Nori’s first birfday. So I hope on March 11th Ali will be helping me to get lil Sammy to “wash” his hair, too!”

“the ali/hula dynamic gave me endless amusement. at the time it was pretty much a love/hate relationship. i.e.: i hated when hula would poop and pee EVERYWHERE but outside, and eat the crotches out of any laundry i left anywhere but behind the closed doors of my room, but i loved watching ali treat her like a human being. yes, hula would sleep in bed with ali and follow her around with every step she took, but i’m thinking specifically of the clothes. i mean that dog had a better wardrobe than a lot of toddlers i know. it was so funny to take walks with ali and hula and just watch people’s confused, somewhat-amused reactions to the dog with clothes. i think ali really got a kick out of those reactions in particular.”

“I also get a personal thrill out of going places I am not supposed to.. Fly under the radar or use an English accent. I even surprised myself with that one.”

“she always so kindly told me how hillbilly i was with my 3/4 chipped off toe polish.”

“the way you found a way of having everyone else offer to be your chauffeur. And when you did drive, you sometimes insisted driving in an awkward one-foot-up-on-the-dash position. (this comes from my grandma, whom Ali had never met, offered to drive her to my wedding location. my grandma asked her a little shocked like “is your leg injured?” haha!) always in comfy mode!”

“I make a prize winning apple pie, but Ali wouldn’t eat it because she said fruit pies felt funny in her mouth. I wonder if they make apple pie in heaven….maybe she’s hooked up with my mom and ended up trying a piece.”

“Ali, how come after all these years of yelling at you about removing your shoes and leaving them in the FR in the middle of the passage way into the entry are your still doing it at 30 yrs old? ‘Because I forget and I know you’ll move them out of the way if it is driving you nuts. AND you’re my mom, you love me in spite of it!!!!!’ ugh…”

“Ali had given many of the Xavier crew nicknames in college. My senior year she decided to change my nickname from “Mary Pat” to “Mary Slut”. Please note that I was far from being a slut due to my catholic upbringing. I believe I inherited the name for making her go out with me every Thursday night, where I showed off my “wonderful” dance move at the late night (fake) rave to try to get the attention of a boy I liked (who is now my husband). The name stuck even after college. When I was getting married 5 years ago, she called my “Mary Slut” at a wedding shower in front of non-Xavier people including my mother. After that day we had an agreement, she could only call me by that name if we were at a bar around the Xavier crew. I hated that nickname, but I’d pay anything to hear her call me “Mary Slut” again.”

“Ali had a way of not spending money. We drove all the way to Buffalo, NY one weekend and she didn’t pay for any of the gas bills. She may have been tight with money, but she’d give you the shirt off her back.”

“I remember Ali’s first PM Happy Hour at O’Bryon’s.  She had made a neat little pile of peanut shells on the table and asked what she was supposed to do with them.  She didn’t believe that she was supposed to throw them on the floor.  She had to call the waitress over to make sure it was OK because she “was never allowed to just throw food on the floor.  Who does that?”  Once she was given clearance, she let those shells fly with one smooth swoop of her arms…and a very loud WEEEEEEEE to go with it!  That was the beginning of peanut shell baseball…using the menu to send shells flying across the bar!!”

“Ali said this referring to her hair color while I was mixing up her color, “So how do you know what to mix up?  Is it called ‘hooker blonde’?”  I now refer to “REALLY BLONDE” as HOOKER BLONDE….love it!  Made me laugh! (Love me some HOOKER BLONDE!  Who doesn’t?!)”

i invite you to share any funny moments you’ve had with ali. email me at pace@loft3pd.com. they are supposed to make us laugh though, so don’t get too sappy! not too long, just something like you see above. lets show the world how quirky but awesome ali is.;)

peace, melanie

i’ve asked some of ali’s family and friends to share funny some things we never thought we’d miss about her and things she said or did that made us laugh. i’m just tryin to keep things light around here whenever i can. 🙂 remember the book fair is this sun & mon!

*****

“When we’d go to rock shows or festivals, you’d be back stage faster than the band would, conning yourself into getting rad VIP gifts! I.E. those awesome shoes you got for acting like G-Love’s g/f at lollapalooza one year.”

“she got regular calls from a grown man who wears diapers as a fashion statement. at least i think that’s why he wears them… p-nut would call ali everytime george clinton and parliament funkadelic came into town. i’m pretty sure she even had him programmed into her phone? and sometimes he’d even just call her to say hi (by “sometimes” i mean, i know this happened at least once that i personally witnessed…) so that was one regular concert where ali was guaranteed a backstage pass and the occasional stage dance!”

“when we played indoor soccer together in high school ali did not exactly take the competition seriously. she used to run around the court with no particular regard to the actual game that was happening. just kind of running in circles laughing, and would scream-shriek if the ball came anywhere near her, and/or she actually had to make contact with the ball. i thought this was hilarious.”

Ali Nunery on how to score VIP band swag: “You silly girl, just act confident, claim to be a girlfriend. And get the hell out of dodge before they realize you aren’t!”

“Only person I’ve come across who showed up for dinner in her pajamas………and the tops and bottoms usually didn’t match.”

“I found out Olivia picked up more little tidbits from her mom than I realized…..at such a young age. Instead of playing with her toys….she carries them around in paper shopping bags…..most often 3 at a time, and pretty heavy. she threw two of them over her shoulder yesterday and one in the other hand just walking around the apt.”

“I was able to spend a few days helping and visiting with Ali. As I left I said, “OK, so now we’ll go back to me texting or emailing you every day and you responding whenever the heck you feel like it!” She started laughing and said, “OK!” That was Ali!”

“Every time I put on mascara. I put on one extra coat. Because when you think you have enough. You need one more coat!”

“I second the mascara comment and would add that I can’t look at or eat cotton candy without thinking of Ali.”

 “Lily Pulitzer dresses, guacamole, and zulily have invaded my life thanks to Ali.”

“her phone would ring and buzz and ring some more and she would totally ignore whomever it was. but God forbid zulilly send a text with girlie girl outfits for Olivia on sale and the world stopped while she bought another outfit-cuz she ALWAYS bought another outfit.”

 i invite you to share any funny moments you’ve had with ali. email me at pace@loft3pd.com. they are supposed to make us laugh though, so don’t get too sappy! not too long, just something like you see above. let’s show the world how quirky but awesome ali is.;)

peace, melanie