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I hurried out of Urbana at around 12:30 to make it to the burbs for JoeW and Meredith's "Belated Birthday/Engagement/Housewarming/Graduation Party in the Western Suburbs." The party started at 2:30 and I arrived in Wheaton at around 3. I was STILL the first one there. Come on people, how can I arrive a half hour late and still be the earliest one?
One of Meredith's friends arrived shortly after though, so I wasn't first by too much time. JoeJoe and Alina and Maureen came soon after too and we bummed around and ate Meredith's delicious bean salsa and watched the Sox game.
Then we headed downstairs to play mini golf, because their apartment looks right out over a mini golf course. Joe, Joe, and Maureen teamed up to play their way and the rest of the girls played the fun way. I swear we didn't cheat. I mean, we had TWO lawyers on our team which meant we obviously were playing by the rules.
It was a pretty straight-forward course, but there were water traps everywhere into toilet-cleaner blue fountains.
Our team obviously kicked ass :-)
We headed back up, watched the U.S. win the last Olympic volleyball game (seriously, how is it that all I ended up seeing was men's volleyball?) and ordered some delicious pizza. One had sausage and onion and the other Mushroom and spinach.
Everyone was pretty exhausted though so after watching some of the ending ceremonies and determining that a) I want to play drums with my feet and b) I want to ride in a circle and c) that the dude riding in the circle whose lights went out probably got shot, we ended up calling it an early night.
So happy Belated Birthday and Engagement and Housewarming and Graduation JoeW and Meredith!
Mini golf photos here!
Yesterday I turned 22 (+5). Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me!!! It was definitely a day filled with the three things a woman wants most: chocolate, wine, and naked men!!!
1. Chocolate
In the afternoon Nadia and I met at Chocolate for Your Body. Nad got a regular mani and I splurged on a "chocolate signature". It's my party, I can splurge if I want to!
The manicure involved a cocoa scrub that made my hands nice and soft (and tasty I can assume), truffles (to eat, not for my hands), and coating my hands with a layer of chocolate.
After getting our nails all purdy Nad and I headed next door to Kristoffer's Café and Bakery
for some chocolate flan and coffee. It was a cute place but, let me tell you, I have never before peed in a bathroom that had a urinal in it. Ew.
2. wine
After gussying up our nails and caffinating ourselves, Nad and headed over to Jen's place. In the time it took to walk from the car to her place, walk down the wrong pathway and get locked in the alley, I seriously felt like my hands were going to fall off. Luckily we finally found the way in to thaw off. Then Josh called and apparently the bar lost my reservation for 15. Fuck. Isla came and drove us to the bar and they were working on setting up our table. Thankfully they were still able to accommodate us.
The restaurant we went to was Volo Restaurant and Wine Bar and it was delicious. We had good wine, good food, good friends...
I tried some marrow bones and will never ever eat them again. Honestly, I really think all those chefs pretend they like such things to be all pretentious. But how can anyone like that crap? It had the texture of sandy snot and tasted horrible. On a better note the steak tartar was DEVINE and the duck confit was DEVINE. Josh and I also shared some Seared Yellowtail Tataki, but we still haven't decided what kind of citrus was pickled.
15 people showed up, which was totally awesome. Sarah came and, despite the fact that she hardly knows me, she completely gets me because she gave me a pink sparkly dragonfly and a Victoria's Secret gift card (pink, dragonflies, and VS are three of my very favorite things). Chelsa from work came and brought a friend. Rob and Chris and Aimee showed up despite having to be at a party in Milwaukee later that night. Meredith and Isla and Jen and Alina and Jenny and Adam and Nadia and Josh came too!!! Jen gave me a cute Smurfette tee and a pink candleholder. And Nadia gave me what she described as a "lame" present of a candleholder. It totally wasn't lame! But she said it was my fake present because my real one, a pink Rabbit wine opener, didn't arrive yet...In talking about this some people overheard pink rabbit and assumed it was something else...
Josh showed me what he really thinks of me by getting me a bottle of Bitch wine.
The label is PINK and, well, I am a bitch, so it's only appropriate.
Honestly I did not expect anything from anyone, I was just happy people came out during the zero degree weather!!!
My wine was yummy too. I was bad and ordered whites then proceeded to order a lot of red meat. But ohwellz. I had a lovely white wine flight. Then I had a Gewurtztraminer. Later I also had a yummy muscado d'asti.
They brought me a yummyyummy flourless chocolate cake with mint ice cream and everyone sang and I got to make a wish on my candle, which is always my favorite part, because I wish on just about everything you can wish on.
3. naked men
After the wine bar I bid adieu to a few of my female friends and all of the few guys left and the remaining chicas headed to Annoyance Theatre. We hung out at the bar there and played the game of Memory that I found on the shelf. Did I ever mention how much I suck at Memory? Ask me exactly what a certain person said to me at a certain time and I can probably repeat our conversation word for word. Ask me to remember where the little black boy is and I go blank.
After a couple rousing rounds we headed into the theatre for SKINPROV and the perfect night of entertainment to get your mind off of the fact that your best guy friends all ditched you for another party and none of them even bothered to call to wish you a happy birthday. But who cares about that when you've got drinks and half-naked men!!!
We beat the rest of the crowd into the theatre for prime first row seatage. The show was basically a bunch of men improving scenes and taking off all their clothes. They ended the first scene by all taking off their shirts. A couple short scenes later they paired up for small scenes that each ended with "Let's take off our pants." By the end of the show (and some taking off multiple pairs of underwear) we were left with g-stringed and jock-strapped men and a whole lotta nakedmanass.
After the show we headed back out to the annoyance bar to talk with the guys, still walking around shirtless. They got me a couple of shots and I ended up having both a buttery nipple and a pussy shot on them. The one naked man told us that he'd sucked more cock than anyone else there...and then introduced us to his lovely girlfriend.
We stuck around until they closed, drank some drinks, chatted up the bartenders, then headed off to Uptown Lounge...mostly because it was just around the corner and fucking freezing.
The bar definitely wasn't my cup of tea. Mostly because I hate talking to people I have absolutely no interest in. And because every three minutes the waitress came up and asked us if we needed anything else. We stayed out till about 4:30, well past the text message the guys sent to say their party was over.
All in all my party was totally awesome and I am so happy that everyone came who did! I have tons of amazing friends and I am glad they came out to share my night of turning 22+5!!!
INCRIMINATING PICTURES HERE!
New Year's Eve
I have spent every New Years that I can remember with my best friends from grade school. OK, so maybe that isn't exactly true as I do remember two times where I didn't see them, but basically, it's not a New Year's celebration unless I'm with them. It's also usually not a New Year's unless it's the day before the big day and we still don't know what we're doing. But this year, we all surprised ourselves and managed to plan ahead.
The night started off at Fuego for some Mex food. I met Jen and Adam at their house and we headed off to the restaurant. Due to her work kidnapping her, Nadia was running a bit late but that was OK as it took a while for us to get seated and we were able to get some yummy tableside guac and drinks. I had two strawberry coladas that tasted like milkshakes and were the tastiest drinks ever.
Nad finally arrived with her husband Bryan and Joel in tow.
We exchanged Christmas presents. Nad really liked the Kobayashi trading card and cloud necklace I got her and Jen liked the photo frame and softest sweetest socks I got for her. Jen got me some hot cocoa mix and a Starbucks and movie theater gift cards and Nad got me a cupcake cookbook complete with a cupcake tester and spatula. The first cupcake recipe I turned to contained smoked salmon. Score!
Dinner came. Jenny's tostadas looked like they would feed ten people. I just ordered an appetizer (thankfully because I was pretty full on chips and guac) of shrimp and scallop tamales. They were OK, but the sauce on top was way too hot for my taste and the shrimp were those baby shrimp that come in fried rice that I don't consider to be real.
After dinner we headed down the block for our show. We went to see the Second City Dysfunctional Holiday Review. None of us had seen Second City before so that was kind of awesome, even though it was the touring group (how the first time I go to SC is a touring group when the real group is 12 miles away, I have no clue). The show was funny though! I wished that there was more improv, they only did two improv and the rest were sketches. Artificial insemination! Hopefully I'll be able to catch another show soon!
The show ended with 15 minutes before the big countdown. We grabbed some champagne and noisemakers and awaited the big moment. They brought out Father Time and Baby New Year and counted down. Come midnight I celebrated with my best friends, and toasted some toasts.
Soon after, Jen and Adam called it a night and Nad, Bryan, Joel, and I headed to a house party at one of her coworkers. The party was fun. The woman whose house it was sings with this guitar dude. So they played music and later it turned into karaoke style where we all got to sing. Then Joel told a joke and totally killed the party. Just saying. Bryan nicknamed me "Valgina" and I kind of hate him for it because I kind of like it. And then one of Nad's coworkers asked me "Are you seriously with him?" And then I said way way too loudly "OH GOD NO!!!!" And then the guitar player started hitting on me and told me that he thought I was a foreigner because of my broken English.
And then around 4:30 or so we called it a night and I went back to my car. I was frozen out of the front and so I had to crawl in through the back door, and scrape the hell out of all the ice that had frozen on my car. But alas I finally cleared it out enough and headed back home.
More New Year's Pix here!!!
New Year's Day
I slept entirely too little. I got home at around 6am then woke up at maybe 10am. :-( Then I basically bummed around until it was time to head to JoeJoe's for the Rose Bowl. Quite honestly, I don't think I've ever watched a Rose Bowl game in my life. But the Illini were playing so I was totally psyched.
I, of course, arrived at Joe and Alina's way too early and told Joe that I must not have taken his advice on a New Year's resolution. Then more people came and it was game time!
There was lots of yummy food like brushetta and dips people made. And Joe tried out his new drink pouring machine and it seemed to work.
The Illini...well...sucked. I guess that's enough said on that.
What didn't suck? The phenomenal cake I made! I spent three days on this thing and dyed my hands completely blue in the process. It was a 2-layer cookie cake with blue frosting, an Illini I made of orange rice krispies, and orange roses I made from gum paste. Everyone agreed that it was very sugary.
About three quarters from the game I leaned over to Joe to ask him what USC stood for. I really never had bothered to find that out. He said University of Southern California. It was a toss up for me between Southern California and South Carolina, but I had had no clue.
Whatever team they were they were much hotter than ours. Sorry Illini, it is true. Glen made fun every time the announcer said "John Davis Booty" and Julie was sad that there was no one named "Dick" on our team to tackle him and how it was too bad he wasn't the tight end.
Alas, the Illini lost. No, wait. The Illini were slaughtered. Throw the damn ball once or twice, will ya???
I hope everyone had a very Happy New Year!!! Can't wait to see how this year turns out!
1. I can't believe that Alina kept the "Master" on my name that we added into her database as a joke.
My invite to her wedding was delivered to "Master Valerie Bromann"
2. I am also dissapointed that there are only two choices...
what if I want to accept with regret (because I want to marry Joe) or deline with pleasure (because I want to marry Joe)?
3. Earlier this week the receptionist at work called me and said "Jennifer Reeger is here to see you." My first thought was that she must have dialed wrong because I have never had any one there to see me and I had no appointments or anything. Then I thought about it for a while and it took me entirely too long to realize that "Jennifer Reeger" was "Jenny Johnson" who has been one of my BFFs since third grade. I am never going to get used to her new name. Her and Adam were in the area so they came to say "hi." :-) It was great seeing them too since its been forever and a day since we've gotten together!
4. Friday night I was sick so I spent the night watching "Alice Sweet Alice" which was an AMAZINGLY GOOD movie and New Years Evil which wasn't quite so amazing.
5. Last night I went out for Julie's birthday. I was getting ready and was all set to drive to the bar when Julie called and said that Dave could come pick me up. Score! That meant I could actually drink for once! And I didn't have to find parking! We headed out to The Central where we chatted, watch the game (I really don't know which one) and drank and stuff. I had a Tom Collins, a sunset martini, and a tequila sunrise. Then we headed out to Red Ivy for a bit where I had another Tom Collins. Then we called it a night and when I got home I threw up two Tom Collinses, a sunset martini, and a tequila sunrise. :-( At least I didn't puke in Dave's car. I then proceeded to pass out and fall asleep still wearing all my clothes and with the lights on. I am really not a good drunkard.
Anyways, Happy Birthday Julie!
1. My gingerbread house is still in one piece! I decided against decorating though. Why decorate a crappy house with candy when you can just eat the candy?
2. Over the last 2 weeks I have fallen asleep almost every night with the tv and lights on at a pretty early hour.
3. Work holiday parties are always fun. Free wine and food (who can resist eggnog cheesecake bites on a stick), gossiping with coworkers, finding out who else is obsessed with the Hills, finding out who's going to get the drunkest...
4. Oh. My. God.
1. I don't know whether I am disappointed or relieved about that photo.
2. The other day I saw the fattest squirrel ever. It looked like a fuzzy ball with a tail. I wish I had had my camera.
3. Last night I stopped by a party at a coworker's condo. It was seriously the most amazing condo ever: a ubercool lofty condo right overlooking the Chicago River and the city. I am in love with it. He had good food too. And a chocolate fountain, although I don't think he keeps that up year round.
4. This morning I finished all of my Christmas shopping.
5. I found the most awesome dress ever that I plan to wear to Joe and Alina's wedding!
6. Tonight I went to see Good Boys and True at Steppenwolf. It was a pretty good show, but not spectacular. And I never think anything ever has a good ending.
7. At the show there was a guy in front of me wearing a pink button down, but I am pretty sure he was there with his boyfriend.
8. The Steppenwolf garage is my newest enemy. Damn, tight driveway sharp cornered concrete monstrosity. :-( It wrecked my car :-( There is a big gash in the side of it now. This makes me sad :-(
Happy Birthday Andy!
Last night was Andy's thirtieth bithday celebration at the froggy bar. Because I was early and determined not to always be earliest, I walked around a couple of stores before heading to Hugo's Frog Bar to meet up right on time...of course the one time I am not early everyone else has already been there for half an hour and is finishing eating :(
It was fun, especially since I never see Chris and Aimee and Robert(pronounced the French way) and KennyK anymore since Scotty is gone. (tear.) Oh, and since we always get massive amounts of choclatey goodness on peoples's birthdays. :-)
So Andy is older and I met his swell gal (I have to now use old people terms like "swell" and "gal" around him) and some others who I have never met before and ate a crab cake on a bun.
KennyK's new ladyfriend brought up a good "hypothetical" situation about if you borrowed someones laptop and saw a file on the desktop with your name on it, would you open it?
I would be good and say "nope," but who are we kidding? I am a terrible snoop... :)
Pictures Here!
although, I'm afraid I did not live up to my reputation because I only took a handful and am not very good at taking pics in very low light without blinding people to death...
My day on Saturday ended up with me putting 180 miles on my car without leaving a 20-mile radius of my house, seeing people I haven't seen in a while, people I've never met before, and someone I know I won't see again for a long time...
Charlie
First up was the Benton House Meme festival to see Mr. CharlieD. I haven't seen Charlie in a while (after not seeing him in a ridiculously long while) so when he said he was showing some of his art at Bosley Park, I was there.
I headed over there around 11:30...When I got there it looked kind of empty and small, and I thought maybe I got the time wrong and got there while they were still setting up, but it was just a very small festival.
There was some live music and a puppet show and a few artists. And I talked to Charlie and Jeff and force-fed Charlie a Twinkie because he was hungry. And then the puppet show booth collapsed and while I was worried and crying that the puppets were still inside and might have died, Charlie was hoping they did :( meanie.
MORE PICTURES FROM THE FESTIVAL HERE!
Scott
Around 2 I had to leave because it was time for the Whatever Annual Scott and Ken BBQ. I got to the yK house (home of MattyK, BobbyK, and ChrissyK) a few after 3 (I tried my damndest to be late) and KarryK opened the door...
Kari: Mathew's not here
Me: I know...is Scott here?
Kari: Scott?
Me: He said that he's having a bbq here.
Kari: Oh, yeah, I just found out about that.
So I arrived to the house and Kari was the only one there and hadn't even known that there was going to be a bbq thrown by people who don't live at that house at that house. Oh wells. So I called up Scott and he was on his way and chatted with Kari who just got her license but does not yet own two cars (she must be adopted).
Scott finally came (yay!) and then KennyK (who doesn't actually live at the yK house) and Becca...then Andy and Rob and Cynthia and her boyfriend who I always forget his name when I sit down to type.
Scotty is leaving today to live in Seattle, so it was his going away party :( tears.
The BBQ was superfun, but alas I had to leave after a few hours (and NO BBQ!) and head back to the city...
MORE PICTURES FROM THE BBQ HERE!
Kurt
I've been a fan of Kurt Halsey for about two years. I love his art (see the index page of my website to see the picture he drew of me after I won a livejournal redesign contest for his fan community). It's not necessarily "complex" work, but it's cute and emotional, and pretty much sums me up as a person (so I guess by that theory it is way too complex...). So, when about a year ago, I found out that he was going to be showing at a gallery in Chicago, I marked my calendar right away.
I've passed by the gallery in Lincoln Park a few times before but had never been in. But now I braved hectic Bears traffic and LPParking (I actually found a plum spot just two blocks down the street!!!) and headed for DVA Gallery.
When I got there I heard that Kurt's plane had just landed and that he'd be there shortly. It gave me some time to wander, mingle, and check out the art!
It was a 2-person show with Kurt and Julie West (there are some pics of Julie West stuff in my photo gallery, it was pretty nice stuff!). I loved the Kurt work (fortunately, as I cannot afford it, there was nothing I felt I needed to buy...and as much as I kind of wanted to...I didn't want to buy something just to have it). It was really interesting to see it all so close and in person. You notice so much more detail and can read the words and really see the linework.
Finally Kurt arrived and attracted himself a nice crowd. I waited in line to meet him. He recognized me! I had sent him pics when he drew me and it was awesome that he remembered me from those! It was awesome to meet him in person and he seemed smaller and quieter than I expected him to be. I didn't bring anything with me but he was nice enough to sign a postcard and take a picture. H really is a great artist and a great guy who is so nice to his fans. It was great to meet him and check out his work up close!
Since I was heading back to the burbs anyways I offered up a ride to a girl I met since she lived in Downers (and when I asked she told me she was not an ax murdered...it's always good to check these things out)...
MORE PICTURES FROM THE ART GALLERY HERE!
Scott (again)
Since I was then already in Downers I called up Scott and he said they were still at the yK house so I headed back there to catch the end of the Bears game (which wasn't even a real game...)
Afterwards we played some guitar hero...
Me (trying to adjust the strap on the guitar): I can never figure these things out. Am I making the strap shorter or longer?
Rob: But isn't that how bra straps work?
Me: Yes, and that is why my bra is always either way too loose or way too tight.
I did OK on my easy version on Cherry Pie with Rob...then later I went with ChrissyK (after he showed me that I was holding the guitar all wrong) and totally sucked it up. We were playing some song called Jessica (which apparently is the theme song to Top Gear?) and for the first part of it he was carrying the entire song because I missed almost every note and the game finally stopped us completely...twice. After that I was kicked out and KennyK took over for me. But then I went back and did Chris (semi-)proud by at least getting through the next two songs :)
Then everyone started leaving and Scott started gaming, so it was time to go home.
On the way home I managed to totally get lost (I wasn't paying attention and thought the I55N entrance was the S entrance and didn't feel like turning around, so I just continued on random streets until I finally hit the street I needed), heard a dance remix of Hey There Delilah, and almost hit a deer.
(p.s. the three links for photos go to different photo galleries)
Happy Birthday Cynthia!
(Please note: this is not Cynthia...I just thought it was a good photo)
Yesterday was Cynthia's birthday party! It was a Russan/Polish/Star Wars theme (I say Star Wars because that was what was on the Happy Birthday sign). We ate some very weird tasting "cookies," looked at photos from Cynthia's trip to Russia, listened to odd Russian hiphop/teen bop/dance music, and played with the horseys. One of them had only one eye (Hood asked me later if it granted my magic wishes, but alas I did not ask it to) and the other one tried to eat me. It bit my hand while I tried to feed it (even though I swear I kept it flat) so then every time I tried to feed it from then on I just ended up screaming and dropping the carrots all over whenever it came near me. :(
We ate some bbq, and drank some frozen wine. It actually tasted pretty good...despite the fact that it had been in the freezer for way too long and froze. I had to listen to technical explanations of the molecular composition of it or whatever (seriously Scott, can't things just happen without you having to give a scientific explanation of it???) Oh, and everyone liked my strudel. :)
and it was fun.
More pics here.
Scotty McHotty and KennyK turned a year older this past week, so it was off to the froggy to celebrate last night!
The frog bar makes the best Tom Collins ever. And I mainly say that because it tasted like really sugarry lemonade. Their orange juice with belly-button lint is good too.
Everyone is fascinated by laser pointers and blinky light things.
Their fish sammich is good. who'd have thunk putting a bunch of coleslaw on bread would be so yummy?
Scott is either very very short or has a whole lot of meat...you decide.
Andy has dared me to order the slice of carrot cake as my meal next time and I have to eat the whole thing. He doesn't think I can eat a whole slice of carrot cake.
Did I mention that this slice of carrot cake costs $15 and is the size of a small African country?
Andy thinks my idea of opening a brothel is a good life plan.
MK dropped some of the ice cream cake they brought out on the floor while trying to cut it. Then he picked it up and ate it. Then he licked off the chocolate that got on my arm.
MK plays way too drunk after not so much martini. And then he plays way too asshole when he readily agrees to do anything with anyone else but when I ask him to do something he says he'll think about it, which really means he's just waiting for anything else better to come along. Oh, and also when he talks on the phone to other people and texts other people and makes plans with them when he acts like he's always way too busy working to ever hang out and therefore never has any time to do anything with me.
Just saying.
More pics are below. I was playing around with my camera settings, despite the fact that I have no clue what I'm doing. I want to use the flash less because it's less conspicuous. Some turned out good. Some turned out crappy. Some turned out crappy but cool. They all turned out kind of grainy. I must have set the grainyness dial to high. Maybe I should learn how to use that damn camera.
I don't care what you say, this is a cool picture:
Matt beginning to get drunk:
Handy Andy:
 
A real-life professor:
Matt thinks he's cool:
  
Player Piano:
KennyK, Rob, etc.
 
Me and Rob:
Cake!
  
  
  
 
Me and MattyK:
  
Scott's Ass:
1. So, I put off touching most of my big final class project for the ten weeks I had to work on it. I managed to go to work on it Sunday morning and finish by 3pm. I'm either really good or the project is really crappy. I don't care though, I'm done until September! And then I'll be completely done in November!
2. I am moving out of my bigbig office and into a smallsmall cubicle :(
3. Tonight was Scotty McHotty and KennyK's b-day party at the froggy. I will post tomorrow when I have time to upload all the pics. Happy birthday!
4. I bought a book on Amsterdam today. Maybe I should go?
5. WHAT
6. THE
7. FUCK
8.?!?!?!
Congratulations Scotty McHotty!
So Scotty McHotty got word yesterday that he's shipping off to phddom in Seattle. I was really happy for him until I realized I will be losing one Scotty. :( I guess I can go visit him though because he will be in valrydreamland of rain, coffee, and grungyboys...mmmm...maybe i should move with him!!!
Anyhoo, tonight we celebrated at the FroggyBar. I had two fuzzy navels (so much for giving up drinking) and some yummy bookbinders soup. Scott wouldn't buy me the $110 surf and turf...I told Andy that I'd sleep with him if he got it for me...he said then I'd "win" twice...I said yup, 'cause first I'd have the surf and then I'd have the turf...and I didn't quite realize how wrong that sounded :(
Rob and Cynthia and I decided to start a jazz band. I think that would rock.
I got to meet Jess for the first time, which meant lots more doggy pics!
Funfun times. I'll miss you scott!!!
pics here
Friday:
i appologize in advance...i did a really crappy job of taking incriminating pics at Jen's bday. sorry! Here is the ONE pic I took all night:
I'll post a pic of me and Jen if she ever sends it to me :)
So, Friday was Jen's Birthday Extravaganza in which we did a bar crawl through Lincoln Park.
Mickey's: The first bar was A-OK. They usually have free alcohol for the hour we were there...but they weren't doing it that night. Whatever, I kind of gave up drinking anyways, but not really. But I didn't drink at all anyways. Anyways... It was OK but mostly because it was still early and so it wasn't crowded. Jen starts getting drunk.
Goodbar: Then on to bar two in which we crashed someones private party. But apparently they didn't care. It was hothothot (in the temperature sense) in there though. Jen starts getting drunker.
Delilahs: Bar three was my cup of tea. There was good music and Sin City playing and all the bartenders were covered in tattoos. My cup of tea. I had JoeJoe get me a Sprite. I went to give him money but he didn't take any because his mixed drink plus my Sprite cost $3 so he had no idea how much mine would possibly have cost. MattyK and ScottyMcHotty disappeared at one point and no one knew where. They were gone for at least an hour. Yeah...MK left his credit card at the last bar. :) We texted Glen to ask him his stance on lesbians. Unfortunatly he does not know. At one point a woman asked me where the men's bathroom was. I was a weebit confusaled. Rory tried to piss me off. Jen got drunker.
Next we stopped at Hoagie Hut so some people could eat because it was now around 1-2 and Joe still hadn't eaten. We watched a guy take about 30 tries at getting mony from an ATM.
Maxbar: Our last stop was one of those pretentious dancey places I don't really like where they make you stand in a line outside even though they are going to let you right in anyways and there are a bunch of scammy annoying guys and women in too little clothing. Jen got drunkest.
:) It was a funfun night.
Saturday:
Some of us (me, MK, Jen, and Isla) slept over at Joes. Jen had work early but the rest of us slept till 1 and then went for some pasta bowl (mmmspinachgnocchi). Then it was off home for like 10 minutes to take a shower before heading off to Bourbonnaise for dinner.
Rob was in town for Easter and he brought Christine!!! So JoeJoe, Sid, Sarah, Walter, and I met them at the Steak n Shake for dinner. mmmmilkshakes and steakburgers. :) We managed to convince Christine to go for it and get a Steak n Shake dinner. Good choice.
Afterwards we went to Rob's place and hung out for a bit...I did a better job of taking incriminating pics there :)
first let me present "val has fun with rapid fire on her camera and imageready: :)
and now more randomness:
   
  
Since I have no life to report on right now and haven't had human interaction outside of work in weeks, let's think back to happier times when I was having fun...
Tonight we go back to my infamous 21st birthday party. The night ended with Sid throwing up on the floor, Erika throwing up in my bedroom, and Mike throwing up in Amy's room. I didn't throw up though because I was too worried about everyone else to really drink (despite what the photographs might imply). :( Maybe it wasn't a happier time...
See pics here.
I am so glad that birthdays still excite me. I still get that giddy feeling all day just waiting to go out and celebrate. :)
So, yesterday I turned a big ole 26. And a big ole thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate! We went to my fav little wine bar Parallel 42, which I went to for the first time a year ago for my last birthday. It was a ton of fun! So many people came too! I think it was the biggest turnout I've ever had besides my infamous 21st. We had a Jenny, Adam, Nadia, Bryan, Josh, MattyK, JoeJoe, Alina, ScottyMcHotty, Wilkey, Plecki, Andrew, and Jen. Woohoo! I was especially excited to see JoeW and Plecki because I haven't seen either of them in forever.
I started out with the flight of French whites. Basically because a glass of one cost $8 and a flight of three (which were almost a full glass each) cost $8. Best deal around! All of them were mighty yummy too! Then I had some Rosa Regale, which was a mini bottle so I got 2 glasses out of that. And then I tried another wine...it was a dessert wine, and damn yummy...this was MK's reaction to it...
I'm too sweet for his blood :) So, yeah, I didn't have a lot to drink at all ;-) Especially since I sure didn't have any wine at work before I came to my party :) shhhh. I'm sure everyone will vouch for my loopyness after drinking. :)
I also had a hot date for my party ;-)
Hehe. Get it...it's a date...wrapped in bacon and stuffed with blue cheese with apple cider sauce. Yummy. Me and my girls also shared a warm cookie with ice cream. Delicious.
Josh brought me flowers because he knew I wanted flowers from a boy...
He also brought me chocolates and didn't bring his girlfriend. Me thinks he's trying to tell me something ;-) hehe.
Nadia and Jenny both got me oven mitts! Hehe. They rock because I wanted new oven mitts, and I like them both. Nad got me an apron to match the ones she gave me and Jen got me a matching kitchen towel. I'll be doing some good baking!
After we wined for a few hours most everyone called it a night so me and Poulin headed to a little Irish pub near my house so we could girl talk and such where this weird guy wouldn't stop hitting on us. Even after Jen first told him we were there "together" and then later after she showed him her engagement ring.
The night was tons and tons of fun and I am really happy so many of you came out for it! I love all of you guys, thanks for making my birthday so amazing!!!
More pics...
Val takes too many pics with MK
  
  
JoeJoe arrives:
 
Me and JoeW:
Me and Alina:
Jenny, Adam, and Josh:
Nadia and Bryan:
 
Me and Nadia:
"JoeJoe...pretend you like Alina"
 
Jen and Andrew:
Me and JoeJoe:
  
MK and Bryan are BFFs:
  
  
MK and Scott are just BFs:
Me and Scott:
 
Me and Jenny:
Matt was left home alone:
 
Wine is good:
  
Me and Jen:
Josh...Adam...Jen...
  
Scott and Matt are pretty:
 
Andrew, Me, Jen, and Jen:
So, yeah, next Friday I become old. Super old. :(
Since I am turning really old, you are invited to come wallow with me.
Or I suppose you can have fun or something, whichever you choose. :)
What: My 26th birthday!
When: Friday, January 19, 8pm
Where: Parallel 42, 34 East Ave., Riverside, IL
If you are reading this, you are invited!
Hope you can make it!
Happy Birthday Andy!
Tonight was Andy's birthday celebration at the Froggybar. Many people I semi-knew were there, I had a fuzzy navel and Derek and I had sex on the beach. That last one wasn't the drink. I also kept sipping MK's martini (he thinks he's James bond) and KennyK (who also thinks he is James Bond) asked me to be his fake girlfriend for the night. Of course I agreed as long as we fake slept together at the end of the night. MK wouldn't let me undress him in the bar so I undressed Andy instead, people misjudge me if they think I won't do that. Although Jen misjudges me too by saying that she was quite surprised that I had standards and wouldn't be Hugh Heffners nasty girlfriend for $200,000 a year. Ah well, pictures below:
Scott and I have cigars:
 
Andy gets cake:
 
More close-ups of matt:
  
Close-Up of Glen:
Me and Rob:
Derek McHotty:
Glen and Jen:
Me and MattyK:
Me and my "boyfriend" KennyK:
MattyK tastes my wine (some French dessert wine) and makes the same face I make when I taste his martinis:
Matt: This tastes like a pixie stick...It tastes like Tinkerbelle was killed and ground up and juiced into the glass
Val makes her signature sad face: "That makes me a cannibal!"
Last night was Valerie's Employed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration at Salt Creek Wine Bar. Highlights from the night include:
• Josh brought me a little gong to put on my desk at work since I told him it is completely empty.
• Jenny ordered a beer!
• Reiden doesn't hate me she just only likes me for very short periods of time.
• Brandana's friend said that prettier people get hired over unprettier people. I said that's how I got my job.
• Joe called me from across the table, then he hung up on me.
• Alina told me I could have JoeJoe once she breaks up with him.
• I agreed to sleep with Josh and he will leave me in the morning, that makes me a Bond girl.
• Joe was going to blow me a kiss but he blew it to MattyK instead.
• Brandana blew me a kiss and I made out with it.
• Brandana offered me and Alina $20 to make out.
• I touched matts lips then touched joes so they indirectly kissed
• Matt said he would make out with himself but didn't know how. So I showed him how to by making out with my hand then I wiped the slobber on his mouth.
• Umm, I am sure there is more that I am forgetting that didn't involve making out :)
Pictures:
Jenny Drinks a Beer:
 
Josh thinks he's 007:
Random Close-Ups: (Scott, Josh, Adam, Brandon, Matt, Matt, Joe, Matt)
  
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