A Reunion

Last weekend, Linzi Wickler arrived by plane from Denver, CO. I picked her up at the airport on Thursday evening, we got back to my place, popped a bottle of champagne and the fun didn't stop until she left on Monday afternoon.

That bottle of champagne led us to ladies' night at Sedona where we met up with Lobo for some cheese fondue and a few (more) glasses of wine.

Somewhere between Thursday night and Friday, we created Baby Bruce who quickly became our starlet of the weekend. It was decided that Baby Bruce would go everywhere that we did, and that we would create a life for him, much like we did for Club Monster Curtis. And let me tell you, Baby Bruce really knows how to party, as you can see from the photos throughout this post. That crazy baby.

Friday brought a (much needed) morning of sleeping in followed by some shopping at Town Square before we headed downtown to check in to our room at the El Cortez. Yes, my friends, we were staying classy Labor Day weekend. Springing for a $70 room at the EC is a lot cheaper than a DUI. After bring disgusted by our stop by in the room and figuring we should probably not head back there until we were nice and toasted and no longer cared, we headed to Downtown Cocktail Room for Globe's celebration of being named one of the Top 100 Salons by Elle Magazine. There, we met Lauren and Aunt Karen who was in town for the weekend from Arizona. We said of congratulations, took our (awesome) gift bags and headed to get some dinner before picking up Mr. Wickler from the airport.

Once we had him in tow, it was time for the reunion. For the first time in I don't know how many years, we had myself, Shelly, Lisa, Lauren and Linzi all in town. It was like junior high school all over again - except with more booze. We hit First Friday heading up and down Fremont St (and Fremont East). The night was one of those that ended with breakfast at the El Cortez.

Saturday brought some recovery time before heading over to Pep's for a reunion barbecue. She out did herself, as usual, with brats, chicken and steak with homemade Mac-n-Cheese, prosciutto wrapped melon and (brace yourself), homemade ice cream sandwiches with mint chips. Oh and lots and lots of drinks. We had Aunt Karen, Pep, Sam, Lisa, Suzanne, Lauren, Josh, Linzi, Jeffrey James and myself.

With full tummies we headed to Three Tomatoes and a Mozzarella for their late night Happy Hour. There, the reunion flourished as Clayton arrived, Woos met up and Anika and The Germ made an appearance.

My heart was so full that night.

Sunday we spent the day over at Shelly's for a barbecue complete with sangria and more catching up. The afternoon was sublime as the weather was beautiful and so was the company.

If only every weekend could be so sweet. It was simply divine to have everyone in town, in our hometown, where all of these relationships originally blossomed 15 years ago. I feel truly blessed to have so many best friends that I can call family. And that can fill my heart with an abundance of love that can be hard to find.

X and Os to each and every one of you. Let's do it again soon.