birthday week

My deepest apologies to those of you who read our blog on our daily adventures. I have not forgotten you. As all of you know, it was my birthday on the 12th and being the diva prince that I am, there were days of celebration, and I couldn't find time to blog. But here I am. Ready, again, to share our happiness with you. My birthday celebration started Friday night after work with a shot of 99 bananas with Rachel in the kitchen. 99 bananas is a 99 proof banana tasting poison that one get buy in the liquor store in a tiny, airline suitable bottle. We had seen an empty one carelessly discarded on the ground one morning while walking Beau and then coincidentally found ourselves in a liquor store later that day buying ingredients for mojitos. We saw the bottle and thought we'd like to try it. We saved the bottle for the stroke up midnight that marked my birthday beginnings. We filmed the moment and plan to share it with you. It was like swallowing fire that had been disguised as liquid banana by some evil force that likes to watch adults cry. But let me yell you, if you're looking for a quick buzz and don't have a lot of time.... this little bottle of liquid hell is an excellent route to go. My birthday morning we woke up at 7:30 to cold air and rain clouds. We were scheduled to volunteer at one of the gardens on the garden tour that was being sponsered by the Conflict Center that my pal Julie interns at. She was the volunteer coordinator and we had signed up for this way in advance. We drove to the conflict center to receive further instructions. Turns out, Julie assigned Rachel and I to the Children's Puppet Theatre in Denver. We were the only volunteers assigned to this specific garden. Our only job was to hang out there for three hours and say hello to people coming to visit the garden. Nice and simple. It was cold and rainy the whole time so Rachel and I spent three hours sitting in the little puppet store attached to theatre. For about forty five minutes our inner children/inner actors came to life and we played with all the puppets, giving them voices and personalities. This soon lost its charm and we sat on some steps and played the geography game. About five people probably walked through the garden all day. While we were there, we got a text from Rachel's boss Liz. The original plan of the night was that Rachel and I were going to work the private party at BOA. We'd get to be together and we'd get to make some money too. Liz texted Rachel to tell her that because of the weather, my help wouldn't be needed but if I wanted to come in around 8 or 9 I could just hang out. This put a damper on the rest of the day. I didn't want to just to stand around a party and watch Rachel work. I understood but it still made me sad and kind of put a damper on my mood for the rest of the time. After volunteering was over and the afternoon volunteer came to relieve us, we went to brunch and drank a bloody mary. Still in a bad mood and no sun to cheer me up, we went home and relaxed until Rachel had to leave for work. After she left I was pretty depressed. It was my birthday and my plans had changed last minute and I couldn't be with Rach on my big day. I was even too upset to call Julie to see what she was doing. It's a good thing I didn't because after only an hour Rach texted me to see if I could be at Boa at seven. Turns out they really did need that extra person. Well, I didn't have to be asked twice. I threw on a black button down, sprayed some good smells all over and was outa there! The party ended up being a blast. While Rach barteneded I floated around doing anything that needed to be done. I served, cleaned, bartended a bit, and spent a lot of time as the dishwasher which was actually really fun because I'm not used to being in the BOH (back of the house). Drinks for the staff started flowing a little before 10. By 2 am the party was still going but we had had enough and were free to leave. The party was so much fun, it felt like we were at a party rather than working one. I went home feeling satisfied with my birthday night. I still had more celebration to come though, Rachel promised. I had to wait until Tuesday though for our schedules to realign and for the sun to start to shine! I'll tell you about Tuesday tomorrow. Cross my heart. -lj