A March of 30.

I know I am so behind so forgive me as a play a bit of catch up in the next week. The months have gotten away from me but some real good times have been had.

In the month of March alone, I celebrated three of my best friend's birthdays - all of the 3-0. The crazier part? There were more best friend's birthdays that I missed out there (PY! Eener! Anika!).

Andy, my cousin, my brother from another (aerobic teachin') mother and my best friend - turned 30 the beginning of the month. We celebrated with a dinner at Steuben's where I stuffed myself full and then insisted on ordering a Boozy Milkshake.

Come the 16th, just in time for St. Paddy's, Suzy's birthday was up. 'Walk Me Home' - a boozy stroll down Colfax was the plan, but when we showed up to our first stop - PS Lounge - we quickly realized we may never want to leave. All of the ladies are gifted roses upon arrival and after not one, not two but three shots bought by the house to celebrate the occasion, we bellied up at the bar and soon felt like we were home. Until, of course, it was time to go home.

Celebrating 30 on the 30th, Linzi's celebration kicked off with a Brunch at Park and Co. A few drinks on the patio at the Tavern (quickly becoming a tradition for this one's birthday) eventually led us to the Atomic Cowboy. Since we started at 1 p.m. that day, and were well - 30, we figured we would last until all of 10 p.m. but somehow, someway - we saw 4 a.m. (and paid for it the next day).

I love birthdays. LOVE. And had so much fun celebrating the three above - now if I could only be everywhere at once but just know, if its your birthday and I, for some reason, am not next to you - that I am somewhere, toasting to your day, singing.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A Birthday Surprise

We pulled it off!

Two weeks ago, Mr. Wiz called to ask me what I was doing the following weekend. I had plans to go to Utah with Eener for her birthday. He goes on to explain to me that his wife had been a little down in the dumps lately, she wasn't really looking forward to turning 27 and was missing her besties like crazy. He then offered to fly me to Denver for the ultimate birthday surprise.

I, of course, accepted.

I arrived to DIA late Thursday night. Lauren's flight was delayed because of the HOLY TORNADO out of NOWHERE in Vegas that hit Thursday evening. I killed some hours poking around on Facebook (shocking) and catching up on some reading. Josh came to pick us up and we were just giddy with excitement. He had told Linzi that his friend Cory had an overnight layover in Denver and would be staying with them that night. This guy went as far as creating a fake email account and then reading the email aloud to his wife, as well as putting Lauren and I under Cory's name in his phone. We were so sneaky!! The Wizzes live up in the mountains now so it takes a little bit of time to get up there. Around 2:30 a.m., we got to the house, and Josh went in to wake Linzi to tell her that "Cory" wanted to say hello. "Babe. It's 2:30 in the morning. I don't have a bra on." He told her, "Come on." After realizing it would be rude not to come out and say hello, she did.

SURPRISE!!!!
She was soooo happy she cried herself to sleep that night (sorry Wiz, it's just so touching!). That was the start of the best birthday surprise weekend ever.

And of course, on Friday, Denver got over a foot on snow. What do you do on a snow day? Hit up the bars, OBV. It took us an hour to get about 20 miles from her house but we arrived in Morrison and our first stop was The Holiday Bar because they have a Big Buck Hunter. As soon as we arrived to that bar, we heard that 285 S...our way home, was closed. Maybe it's because it looked like this outside.



I could definitely think of worst places and worst people to be stranded with so we made the best out of the afternoon. We ate at the Morrison Inn for some delicious Mexican fare and then went to an old favorite, Vinny's where the SHOTSKI happened. That's right. Shotski and I'm not even being cute right now. They put four shots in a ski, you tip back and take it all down at once. As you can see below, it was not the best tasting shot I'd ever had.


Saturday, we slept in and then started prepping to entertain. A few of our nearest and dearest came over to ring in the festivities. Linzi's cousin, Erin, brought the party with a SpongeBob pinata that was half the size and weight of the largest guy at the party. This thing was so massive, we couldn't even hang it from the ceiling so we decided that a LAUNCH meeting a ski pole would definitely be the way to get this thing done. Here is what happened when SpongeBob met Lauren.

Sunday was spent recovering. Oh wait, no, we woke up and started drinking because the sun actually decided to come out and it was the actual big 2-7 day which seemed like two VERY GOOD reasons to start drinking red wine at noon. After a few hours of soaking up the sun on The Wizzes porch, we headed over to Evergreen to visit the Granquists. This was the first time in many years that I was in the same room as my complete second family. Jim, Cheri, Amy, Michael, Linzi + AND MORE. Not to mention the latest (and cutest, sorry Michael) addition to the clan, Mr. Henry James, son of Amy and Ben.





It was a fun-filled weekend fulls of lots of love and laughter. A special thank you from the bottom of my heart to Josh Wickler, for winning Husband of the Year award and bringing the three of us together for this unforgettable weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A Celebration

If you know me, you know I don't need a reason to celebrate on a Friday night. Just the fact that it is Friday seems like a fine enough reason for me to put on a dress and hit the town. However, this past Friday called for not one but TWO occasions to celebrate so you can imagine how excited I was.

The birth and return of Miss Anika Jones.

You know Anika, she is the one I make bad decisions with on a school night. I've known Anika for YEARS, over a decade (as I am lucky to have known most of my friends for that long). We had photo class together in high school and then were lucky enough to reconnect (thank you Facebook) and reunite at Don't Tell Mama over the summer. And what a summer it was. We were inseparable! She was my Plus One and I was hers. We ran this town on The Strip, Downtown Freemont East, at the Hard Rock Concert Series, Britney Spears, UNLV Football games and the infamous Zappos party but the nights we enjoyed most were sitting on my patio, sipping cocktails and running our mouths away. After all, we had a lot of catching up to do. And then one night, in walked The Germ and love happened.

And then she went to live in the NYC with him for what felt like eternity, but winter does that to a girl sometimes.

Then came early March and just like Springtime, FUN arrived. Chris and Anika are back and for good if I have anything to say about it. So we celebrated. Anika turning 27 and having not one, but now two, friends back in my life.

26!

Hello, 26! I have been waiting and waiting for you. 25 was a real piece of shit (pardon my language but it is the truth) and 26...you are already like 100 times better than 25. I am so glad that my nearest and dearest RANG YOU IN the way we did.

Since we took approx. (or exactly) 143 photos that night, you know we had a good time and even better, you will SEE that we had a good time. We started the day at Pep's where she cooked up a delicious little barbecue complete with that Nothing Bundt Cake. Then headed to the Golden Nugget where Double L had decorated the room complete with Happy Birthday, Katie! signs that her kids from school made for me.

The first stop was Downtown Cocktail Room where Edward created a special birthday cocktail for me consisting of champagne and watermelon foam. SO DELICIOUS. This is where I am going to stop telling you about the drinks though because if I try to think back on all I had, I might puke now...yes, 2 days later.

Don't Tell Mama. We walk in and they have reserved a spot for us complete with birthday balloons and wands and cards. SO SO SO SWEET, I wanted to cry. Our girl Bianca serenaded me with Happy Birthday and the drinks and the fun were FLOWING. After a few hours there, we headed back to DCR to finish off the night. But, like any good birthday, the night didn't actually end until very, very early the next day.

June 7th was spent lounging by the pool at the Golden Nugget with my favorites, followed by dinner at Joe's Stone Crab (how I love you Jennie's Mashed Potatoes...) and topped off with a bottle of wine at my place with Eener and Miss Anika Jones.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with me (and to Panda for doing my lovely make-up). I wouldn't change one thing about the evening....it truly was a FANTASTIC way to kick 25 out the door and welcome 26 with open arms.