Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Poker party, Edwardian Ball, and Birthday

My friends at the warehouse have decided to create a series of Wild West Poker Parties complete with western character dealers, special guest performers, and a bar fight/duel that I helped choreograph and direct!  :)  SO FUN!  The first party had low attendance, due to lack of advertising and the rain, but we have high hopes for the next one!!  I'm weirdly excited about this project because the characters are great, the space looks amazing, and it's soo much fun to work on the fight!! 

...and then, the Edwardian Ball... :)  Gabriella invited me and her friend Shelly over for dinner before the ball.  Shelly had planned to bring dinner, but had some complications last minute, so Gabriella whipped up a delightful pasta dish that had me almost busting out of my corset -- soooo good!!  After dinner, Morgan (Gabriella's husband), drove us to the ball in his awesome old car (I have no idea what it's called, but it was *singit* awesome!), dropped us off at the door because it was raining, and then found us later for the muzak!  After the show, we roamed around the ballroom, shopped at the booths downstairs, and then headed back out into the rain.  Fun night!  I tend to go a little steam punk to the ball because I'm not really a good ... Edwardian.  ?  ... but steam punk's cool, and (as a side note) I've discovered that I love having really big hair.  

And, my birthday...

For years I would count on my boyfriend at the time to occupy my birthday making it a good excuse for me to not have to plan anything...but in the last few years I've been single and have made attempts to get my lovely friends together to celebrate.  Actually, the first year I did this, Josh and I were still together when I started planning a very simple movie night/bar get together for my birthday -- but then Josh and I broke up before the actual day, so I ended up being single for the event... it was like I knew... (haha, no... i don't know *shakeshead*).  

Anyway, I really did want to start celebrating with my friends more, so last year I decided to go all out and do the most daring thing I could think of that would include all of my friends from all of their different places. I threw a giant party/show -- AND, after years of not inviting people to my performances because it makes me so nervous, I decided to perform at the party/show.  It was amazing, but one of the most stressful things I've ever done.  

This year, I wanted something simple. Michael, one of my best friends, offered to take me out to dinner and a show.  (Side note: When I first met Michael, I tried to take him out to a comedy show one night, and when we arrived at the venue there was no comedy going on... at all.  He's been giving me a hard time about that ever since... :) ) For my birthday, Michael and I decided to finally see a comedy show together!!  It was awesome. :D  

I still wanted to celebrate with the rest of my friends, but wasn't sure what that would look like... so, I put off planning anything until a few days before when a handful of friends started asking me what we were going to do for my birthday.  I ended up inviting my close friends to an acrobats show the night before, and then to the piano bar near my house.  It turned out to be perfect.  My last minute planning made the attendance low, which made it great for me to really get to hang out with the people who were there, and it was sooo fun!!  On the day of my birthday, Josh also took me to brunch and to see a matinee movie.  :)

My friend Alex said he would drive me home after the piano bar because I had had one drink and was wasted.  :)  His friend Brian was with us, and when I was drunkenly complaining about being 37, Brian said, "Alex, is she sh*tting me?  She's not 37..."  I actually love it when people talk about me like I'm not there...(it's true!)  When Alex confirmed that I was, in fact, 37, Brian said (to me, this time), "In the two times I've met you, there has not be one moment when it has even crossed my mind to consider that you were not 24."  ...yes, I am writing this to make myself feel better about being SUPER OLD!!  :P  

To another year!

*clink*

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