I partied like it was 1999 « Shena-na-na-na-nanigans

September 7, 2008...5:37 pm

I partied like it was 1999

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It's easier to see the colors in the sun.

Last night was my 30th birthday party. I spent the first part of the day getting my hair done. Many of you may remember that I was going to get purple highlights. No, I did NOT chicken out. The salon happen to not have any funky not-normally-human-hair colors. So I went as drastic as I could. My hair has SIX different colors in it now. Reds, blondes, browns… (yes, I spell blonde with an “e,” get over it. My spell check tells me this is not correct, I can only imagine, then, that it IS the proper way to spell it in French and so it stuck.) Behold, my bitchin new ‘do. I heart my new hair. I’m going to keep it like this. It’s insanely easy to style it. Yes, I will style my hair every morning even though I spend most of the day inside with a 4 month old.

It started off pretty low-key. I was pulling out the food to get it ready and Marylynne knocked on the door shortly followed by Erica and then Jessie and Rob. Then Rachel, Ryan, and Connor strolled across the street as the first goodies came out of the oven. Amanda and her entourage were supposed to come (that would be my sister, etc. for those curious readers), but couldn’t, as well as George, an old friend from the Catholic Review. At that point I thought for sure that my party would flop. I don’t know why, I just had that feeling I got when I planned big parties in high school and not many people would show up.

Heidi showed up without directions from me…which I deem to be impressive since the area can be confusing without them. Ok, Heidi was here. Cool. Party getting better. Julia was getting cranky because it was her bedtime, but there was no sign of Jim or Cat yet. I really wanted them to see my baby girl. I knew Cat was on his way, but the Jim radar was silent, so I figured he wasn’t coming. At this point I decided to delve into the liquor that Charlie (my neighbor) so lovingly provided. What I wanted to do was make something special, some unique drink that would be named after me and everyone would clamor for, much like my hot pizza dip. What I ended up making was a horrific concoction of peach schnapps, watermelon rum, and peach seltzer water. It tasted like sugar dipped in corn syrup, coated in splenda. My dear, sweet friends pretended to like it for about 5 seconds. That’s when I took a sip and declared that it was THE WORST DRINK TO EVER CROSS MY LIPS. I think they all sent up a silent prayer of thanks and proceeded to pour it all down the drain. Never let me spontaneously invent a cocktail for you.

Jim and Cat at the poker table.

Then there was a knock at the door. It was JIM! I thought I was going to look down the stairs and see Cat. I was so surprised that I ran down to give him a big hug. Seriously, if I could, there would be two people I would adopt as my little brothers. Jim is one of them.

Shortly thereafter, Cat showed up. It was the earliest Cat has EVER gotten to my house on a party night. I had to promise that, yes, I did, in fact have other friends besides Marylynne, Erica, and Jessie. I had always wanted Cat to meet Jim because I thought they might get along. I was right! Ha! I’m getting better at this people observation thing.

Once they were all there, we could have cake. I made it and decorated it all myself, not just for me, but for everyone who turned 30 this year: Marylynne, Erica, and Jessie. And you know, I just realized that I forgot to make a wish!

Jessie, Marylynne, Erica and myself

After that, it was poker time. At this point, I had been drinking red wine and some of my favorite mix: Bailey’s, Frangelico, and milk on the rocks. I wasn’t very drunk. Finally, Jim took things into his own hands and made me a drink. It was a tall one with margarita mix–one of those dangerous mixes where you can’t taste the alcohol at all. I barely put a dent in it and I could tell I was on the road to complete inebriation. yeah. I couldn’t feel my lips. Or my cheeks, or the back of my head. Hell, everything from the neck up was numb. When I tried to form the following pose, it took an inordinate amount of time to get my fingers in that position.

It was a pretty successful party. Oh, and did I mention that my husband rocks? He was designated parent. He spent the whole day with Julia while I was getting my hair done. He took care of her while I was preparing food, while I greeted my guests. He rocked her back to sleep three times when we were being loud. My husband is a trooper and I’m a very lucky woman. I love you baby!

I’m sure that those who read this who were there will comment on funny things I forgot to mention. I highly encourage it. That way I won’t forget anything.

I woke up at 6am this morning to feed Julia. Side note: this is the THIRD time that I’ve walked in and found her on her belly. I have yet to see her actually roll from her back to her belly, I’ve missed it all three times.

Then this morning, Joe yet again acted as the valiant husband by going to the Krispy Kreme store and bringing home freshly baked donuts. They were divine. I have no other words for it. Marylynne what quite delighted. And so I leave you with this temptation: