Which is Better - NYC or DC?

Junior League Headquarters in Washington, DC

Junior League Headquarters in NYC

My sister has been trying to convince me to move to NYC ever since she deserted me to move there this spring.  Ok, so their Junior League headquarters look a little fancier than ours, but I think ours is incredibly charming!

I am using this as a barometer for which city is better because I think the Junior League is such a great way to join a community and make friends.  I have been a member of the DC chapter for a few months now and I have met some great girls and learned a few things, too!  Here are the most important things I have learned thus far:

1. I need to go shopping
2. Don't spike the punch

The first one is obvious.  Most girls who are in the Junior League are impeccable.  We had a meeting at 8:00AM last Saturday and girls arrived in full-on Chanel suits.  I'm going to be honest, I put my shirt in the dryer with a wet washcloth instead of ironing it that morning.

The other pearl of wisdom came from an experience I had at our first meet and greet potluck at the headquarters.  We were all assigned what type of dish to bring based on the first letter of our last name, and I was assigned to bring a drink.  True to my competitive self, I assumed that the purpose of this event was to see who was the best cook and I set to work finding the cutest drink recipe I could.  Since it was a summer potluck I decided on a girly punch with spritzer, lemonade, vodka and some fruit garnish:

Turns out I was literally the only girl, of the 40 or so girls who had received the drink assignment, who had not decided on a bottle of either white wine or Perrier.  Literally, the only one.  A few minutes later some girls came over to tell me they were enjoying my drink and that they were grateful for something non-alcoholic to drink other than water.  Oops, I guess I should have labeled my drink.  When I let the girls in on my secret, their smiles flickered a little.  “Well how much alcohol is in it?”  they asked.  Wait, you’re supposed to measure out the alcohol in your drinks??

The moral of this story is that this is one of those fruity drinks that completely masks the flavor of alcohol and so, if you make a similar drink, you should probably be smarter than I was and measure it out.  The recipe is actually very similar to a drink we used to make in giant trashcans in college called a Pink Panty Dropper.  If I had remembered that while I was making the drink I might have watched my vodka a little more carefully.  I definitely don’t think my social status would be helped by making a bunch of Junior Leaguers lose their panties!