Very Spoiled

Turning 30 couldn't have been better. Friends, family, fun, and laughs. What a great last few days (with the exception of poor Andrew locked in the bedroom for three days, of course!). Thursday night was a great dinner with my mom, Mom Mom, and brother Jeremy along with Andrew and Maggie. After dinner, Andrew and I went to Rooms To Go. Our birthday present for ourselves? New living room furniture and kitchen table/chairs!! I'm so excited. Everything should be arriving mid-February since the loveseat is on back order.

On Friday, we all abandoned the office for some sushi! Dana Eisenberg joined the HFC staff (Larissa, Cheryl, Christi and Cricket) along with my good friend and board member Cameron Smith. Delicious sushi and great conversation. It was a treat to sit and visit with Dana and hear all about how the twins Sam and Ethan are doing. First grade! And doing fantastic!! And Dana? Well, she's Dana. Which means she is freaking hilarious, kind and compassionate all at the same time. Just love her. Cameron just had her fourth beautiful daughter this month. I have yet to meet little Kate due to being sick this month, but I hope to hold her soon. She looks exactly like her daddy, especially in the crying picture! We were of course, swamped when we got back to the office, but it was so worth it. I love these girls so much.

Friday night was our time with the Kriegers. We had dinner at La Hacienda Ranch where Maggie was an absolute nightmare. She refused to sit in her seat and threw at least two fits. Plus, countless trips to the potty. Once at the Krieger's house, she looked at me and said, "I want to go night night." Listen, my kid doesn't do that. Ever. She went to bed without even a muffled cry before 8:30. A miracle. We played games until past midnight laughing hysterically and telling stories along the way. We have such a great connection with Mike and Angela. And of course, we love Josh and Joey! Only downside of the evening was when I was called an "embarassing disappointment" while losing during a Wii trivia game. I'm going to let it slide though since he did get sick in the middle of the night that night. Obviously, he just wasn't in his right mind, right?

Saturday was an easy lovey day with my sweet love while Andrew slept in our bedroom. She struggled for naptime, so we had to make an extra long car trip around the neighboring small town (one trip around Fairview usually gets her to fall asleep!). Then she was off to my mom's to spend the night. I got to relax and do nothing Saturday night, finishing a book and starting another before going to bed at 10pm. It was perfect!

But my favorite part of the weekend was still yet to come. Dinner with the girls. Through a string of emails detailing the plans, I knew that Tracey wasn't coming. How could she come all the way from Austin for my birthday dinner on a Sunday night? Amy was going to be late, and Jenn was going to have to miss as well. She sent me a sweet email telling me she was so sorry and that she couldn't believe it had been so long since we've gotten together. So, it was me, Jen, Deb, and Megan, with Amy possibly joining us late for dessert. I was looking forward to our dinner all evening. Maggie and I went to Josh's basketball game to watch the Rockets beat the whoever they played--22 to well, I don't know the score. Josh was very happy until a kid on the opposing team punched him in the chest instead of giving him a high five at the end of the game. Now how's that for sportsmanship? After the game, we hightailed it to Deb's house to pick her up. She is having episodes of dizziness, and it has now happened twice while driving down the highway. So, Brandon drives her most places, and I was more than happy to drive to dinner. We dropped the little Munchie off at my mom's and headed to my favorite restaurant, Houston's. I mean really, they don't call them the "Fork and Knife Ribs" for nothing. Divine.

When we walked in, I was greeted by my sweet girlfriends--yeah!! Amy was taking a picture of me walking in, which only made me giggle and thus look a bit bewildered and stupid in the picture. Once I got through some initial hugs, I got to quickly tell Jenn how excited I was that she was able to make it. She wasn't coming, but there she was. But wait, Amy was supposed to be late, and yet there she was! How fun!! More girls than I expected. Amy rustled us up for a big group picture, which I thought a bit odd since we were crammed in the bar, but oh well. She stepped back to get a picture. Then a little bit farther. A nice lady stepped over and offered to take her picture. But Amy kept standing there. So I said to Amy, "come on, get in the picture--she said she would take it." And with a very recognizable voice I heard, "I'm happy to take your picture." Holy crap--it was Tracey!!! YIPEEE!!! My sweet friends are the rottenest, sneakiest, best friends EVER!!

From left--Amy, Jenn, Tracey, Jen, Megan, me (feather boa and all) and Debbie

Dinner was perfect. Filled with delicious food (the spinach dip? Yum), hilarious giggling, lots of profanity, and even a discussion that left us all blushing just a bit. I couldn't ask for a better time. And then, they gave me my present. I kept insisting that the dinner and all of them being there was present enough. But, with a giggle in her voice, Megan insisted that I needed my gift, and thrust a pretty package at me. Hmm...what could it be? A box--oh wait, a Tory Burch box?? Oh yeah!!! With gift certificates to help me purchase the shoes I want!! The shoes--the shoes that mock me wherever I go because I see all the women wearing them and I desperately want a pair. The shoes that look so damn cute but yet so damn comfortable all at the same damn time. Yeah, those shoes. I'm so excited! Of course, when telling Andrew about it when I got home, he quickly responded, "you mean those ones you like with the weird symbol on the top? I don't like those." Tough, they're going to be my shoes and I don't care.

As the evening progressed and a couple of girls had a few more martinis (sorry Megan and Deb--nothing for the preggo girls), it just got better. A few of the husbands received text picture messages of their wives at the table. And we laughed like school girls when someone's phone would beep with a response back from one of the men joking and egging us on even more. So funny.

After finally chasing away the other tables around us with our laughter, we decided it was time to depart the restaurant and head to the next location. Did you know the Starbucks at Midway and Beltline closes at 9pm? On Sunday's it does. So, standing cold in the parking lot in front of Starbucks, Jenn has a genius idea--that's a DENNY'S across the street--yeah, let's go there!! We jumped back in our cars, crossed the intersection and pulled into Denny's for another hour of laughs. It was the greatest night. I couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday.

Throughout the entire drive back to my mom's, Deb and I hashed out the evening. How much we love sweet Amy and her quick wit. How Jenn is one of our heroes that we like more and more every time we're with her. Or how we could absolutely eat Megan up with a spoon. I seriously emailed her the other day that if I didn't love her so much, I would just love to hate her--gorgeous, funny, sweet, talented, and kind? Just not fair. We talked about how Jen lights up a room with her smile and makes can make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts (which Jenn M. kept saying throughout the night, "oh, my stomach hurts" as she was hunched over laughing). And of course, we said that Tracey was the glue that holds us together and that we love and adore her even more for driving from Austin on a Sunday to be with us. It's always been me and Deb. For over 13 years, its been us. We each have our own set of friends, but we never really shared a group per se. Now, we've found our group. This is it. And it's awesome. I've never been happier and I am thankful for each and every one of them.

A few more pictures from the evening:

The nice lady at the bar. Hmm..looks a little familiar to me??

Holy crap--it's Tracey!!! You can tell my surprise--and check out the girls cracking up behind me!

Ah, now the Dallas Posse is much more complete.

Best Friends Always and Forever. The best there is. And she's mine!! I'm so lucky!

Sandwiched between two beautiful pregnant girls. I'll live vicariously through them, thank you very much.


Giddy at my shoes. That my friend is called a Tory Burch high.

A first kiss. Slightly apprehensive Jen to a yelling Tracey, "Kiss me, dammit, I'm CUTE!"

More laughter, more kisses. Can you tell Tracey had a few martinis? I believe they were lemon drops, Rich--for future reference.

So, you see, I'm very spoiled. I have the best family, co-workers, and amazing friends that I could possibly ask for. Thank you to everyone that made my birthday so very special.