Thursday, May 6, 2010

Viva La Diva

Main Entry: di·va
Pronunciation: \ˈdē-və\
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian, literally, goddess, from Latin, feminine of divus divine, god
1 : a usually glamorous and successful female performer or personality ; especially : a popular female singer
2 : a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team
A Diva bride, but DEFINITELY not a Bridezilla!

The Divas are my very best friends from college.  There are 5 of us, all with vastly different personalities and interests that somehow compliment each other perfectly.  Sometimes when we hang out I feel like we might be characters in a Baby-Sitter's Club-esk series of novels. Each of us fits well into an archetypal fictional role.  Dianna is the perfect one, but in a TOTALLY lovable and not alienating kind of way.  Sarita is the organizer and a small business owner.  Jello is outrageous and politically active.  Molly is adorable and crafty and a Catholic school teacher.  I'm not really sure what my role is, but I think it mostly involves creating zany situations.

Baby-Sitters club cover courtesy of What Claudia Wore, which is one of my new
favorite time wasters!  If you are a child of the 90s, like me, and devoured these
books, like me, you've GOT to check out this blog!
If this was a picture of the Divas, I would probably be the one kneeling with
my mouth wide open.

I'm not exactly sure why we started calling ourselves the "Divas" - the word certainly has negative connotations that do not fit any of my lovely, talented, smart friends- but now that I see it's the Italian word for goddess, it makes PERFECT sense!
The initial Diva bonding began my second year at Washington State University, when we were all RAs together.  Despite being so different, we found that we had much more in common than just a passion for dorm living and a dislike of underage drinking.  We became pretty near inseparable that year.
Diva Dinners became a Friday night tradition.  Every Friday, a different Diva hosted a themed dinner party, complete with a minimum of three courses and coordinating outfits.  I hosted a "spring" themed night, where I served spring mix salad, spring rolls and desserts topped with caramel springs, and everybody dressed in floral attire. 
In my mind, the most memorable Diva Dinner was Greek night, hosted by Jello.  We wore togas and ate an obscene amount of garlic, but the baklava was the highlight of the evening.  It sort of caught on fire in the oven.  Sarita sprang into action, pulled it out of the oven and ran out the front door with it.  Jello, trying to keep the rest of us from seeing the flaming baklava, ran out of the apartment after Sarita shouting "Everything's normal!"  They stayed outside a few minutes and then came back in, acting just like everything WAS normal.  They had pulled the top layer off the filo and expected us to eat the dessert that filled the whole apartment with smoke.  To this day, we all shout "everything's normal" at each other, despite the fact that it is a poor diversionary tactic.

Jello's baklava pretty much looked like this one, except,
you know, on fire.

Since college, we've all gotten pretty wrapped up in our big-girl lives and we definitely don't see each other as often as we'd like, so we've decided to reinstate Diva Dinners!  This time, we're doing them potluck-style.  To avoid more flaming baklavas, I was assigned to dessert.  To match the Mexican theme, I made Mexican Fried Ice Cream Cupcakes, which I found to be both impressive and delicious!

I am so thankful for my lovely, fabulous friends and for the adventures we've shared and all those yet to come!  And I L-O-V-E that we've decided to bring back Diva Dinners!


The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.
-Elizabeth Foley