My Sweet Sixteen +10!

Time to blog my birthday. It has been less than two months! Not a ton less, but less...nonetheless. What? How absurd is that sentence?

Anyway, Cari came up for it, which was nice. It's always wonderful to see my nexus. And in a little bit of hilarity, she had taken the train, and since she had a bbq to go to during the day, she borrowed my car. She told me she was going to put gas in it. I jokingly told her to vaccuum it while she was at it, because I had spilled trail mix in it when I was on a road trip for a shoot in Michigan that week (and by "that week" I mean "several months before, but I don't want you to know how lazy I had been by not cleaning my car over a six month span"). Anyway, she did it! She said she wasn't sure if I was kidding.... But I definitely had been!

Anyway, we got a late start getting ready, and then the four of us went out to eat. It was supposed to be a much bigger group, but people Darryled out and were running late, as usual. No big thang, though, we still had fun!

We went to Pizza Man, which is on North Avenue. LL had always wanted to go there, because apparently it is run by gay men, and the sign is shaped like a giant erect penis. I don't know about the gay men, but I definitely see the penis.

Anyway, I had been craving Fetuccini Alfredo (macaroni and cheese for adults) for a while, so that is what I ordered. I don't remember what the other ladies ordered, but I remember thinking that mine tasted weird, and that LL's what the best. The cheese bread was phenomenal, though.

We also ordered wine for all of us to share. Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite, and since I was the birthday girl, and since I probably like wine more than the other three ladies, I got to pick the wine we got.

Little did I know I was ordering wine from a box! Like a giant juice box, but filled with Cab. It was yummy.

Here's Danielle and Cari with their cute haircuts and with the box of wine....



And here's a closeup of the box itself. I love that it is called Bandit. That makes it fun, too!



After dinner, we went straight over to Decibel, which was really weird. Decibel itself wasn't even open yet. I would say that I had never been to such a place that early in my life, but that is definitely an untruth. When I did the Drambuie Den promo, I was there at like 1 on a Sunday, and then the days of the promo itself, I was there at like 6:30 pm. Bru-tality!

Anyway, so we just kinda sat around in the Deep Bar side. The Badger game (vs. UNLV) was on tv, so we kinda watched that and talked, enjoyed a cocktail, waited for people to arrive. You know.

We had arranged for the party to start at 10, to make it a reasonable time for people who aren't like us who go out at times of the day other than post midnight, haha.

A photographer that I shot a jewelry catalogue with knew my birthday and party were coming up, since we are friends on myspace, and asked if he could come and take pictures. He also works for themilwaukeescene.com, so he kinda speciailizes in event and bar photography. I thought it'd be nice to have a bunch of candids from the night, so I was excited to have Rafal there.

In the first picture, you see me talking to Arinze. Arinze works security at Decibel. I met him when I did the Drambuie Den promo. He has an amazing body. He is a personal trainer, and his abs and torso are ridiculous! Whenever I introduced him to my friends that night, I told them that Arinze doesn't know how to shake hands, and that you are just supposed to rub his chest and stomach, haha. Also, he gives the best hugs ever. Seriously. LL and I get the hugs every week, and the phenomenon is spreading! Apparently that first night I met him, he gave me a hug, and I enjoyed it so much I proposed to him. Whaaaaaat?

Totally didn't remember it. So the next time I saw him, which I am pretty sure was right before I went to Vegas (like the night before, when I was at Decibel until forever, and time warped to Vegas), I proposed again, and he told me that I had already proposed, and that he had already said yes. Who does that?

I don't know if I am having deja vu, but I feel like I may have blogged the Arinze proposal story. If so, I apologize. I just think it's funny.

And, it's relevant. Because here's a candid of me talking to Arinze! You can also see part of Joee's smile, and Cari (in my dress and bracelet, haha) on the right, watching the game.



And here's Arinze and LL, having a serious conversation about SOMETHING. Haha. Arinze sure does wear a lot of wristbands!



Next is a shot of the little group that was there so far. LL, then me in Arinze's arms, then Arinze, then Mara (who came from Madison) and Danielle, then Cari, then Jamie (also in from Madison). Fun times! I love my legs and shoes in this pic. Haha. Sexy shoes!



When we were planning the party, we were going to get a table or two in VIP. Then people were not really responding, so we cancelled it. Then Dustin made us an offer we couldn't refuse, so we took it. In the meantime, however, Drew booked the table we had reserved in VIP to someone else, which was totally fine. One of the reasons that I was ok with cancelling our table anyway was that I tend to be flighty and all over the place anyway, especially at Decibel (I've been known to disappear for a half hour when I go to the bathroom because I end up talking to thirteen hundred people en route), so I wasn't at all upset about this news.

Dustin, however, wasn't having it. Here he is discussing it with us.



The solution would be to kick people out of a certain section in Deep Bar and give us our bottle for even cheaper than initially planned. We agreed.

Here's a shot of Jamie, Cari, and Danielle in our little VIP section.... Something good must've happened in the Badger game, haha.



As usual, since I get service sometimes in the Deep Bar section, I had many texts coming and going. That started to get old fast. I just wanted to hang out with all of my friends who were there! LL, nice facial expression! Haha.




Ugh. Looking at pictures from this night kinda make my hand cold. As I am sure that I mentioned in previous blogs about Vegas, I was lacking my luggage at this point still. That means that I was wearing reject make up, and I didn't have my precious flat iron. I should name that thing, it's my baby. Anyway, though, looking at pictures from this night.... I look straight up rough!



Good. I am not the only one caught texting. Cari had to talk shit to her brother, because the Badgers won, and his team lost. Haha! Go Badgers!

Then, as you can kinda see, Jamil, Ous, Broseph, AC Gilman and Lers arrived. Lers rolls deep with an entourage (almost all of whom were my friends as well, and you'll see pics of them soon). Here's another candid shot of us enjoying ourselves, because it was a celebration, bitches!



Wow, I am sure being lady-like here. Bru-tal!

Almost every time Ous and I are out in public and around other people, I feel like a picture needs to be taken. It just cracks me up to be next to someone who is 6'10". And Jamil's smile is a hand-warmer. Rafal, the photographer, wanted one of me between them for humor's sake, so here it is! It cracks me up how many pictures Ous takes where he looks hammered. Then man has never even tasted alcohol!



Thoes two gentle giants borrowed my car to come to the party, which was hilarious, because the next time I went to use it, both seats were back all the way and reclined. Just how I like it! Ok, I only like that when I am sleeping in the passenger seat on a long trip, haha.

Next is a picture of LL and Mara. Awww. So cute! And in the background, you can see Broseph on the left, and then Cari and Joee on the right. Smiles all-around! And Badger game watching. Haha.



Next picture, we have a candid that was taken right after Lers' arrival. The pictures got a little out of order when I put them on facebook - please accept my apologies!

Here, on the left, is Lers' sister's friend. Then LL, then Juj - Lers' sister. Next we have Lers, whose shirt I love. Then me! What an absurd face! Next is Meams, then AC Gilman, then AC's brother. Quite the group!



And again, all the same people, but I look a little less absurd.



By the way, a comment about my dress.... I bought in May at Fred, which is a boutique on Water Street that I often love. I hadn't worn it before, because I didn't really have occasion to, and it's a little on the scandalous side for me. I love the cut, (which is a little scandalous) but am not really crazy about the leopard print. Not really my thing. It was when I was a freshman in college, but I am over that! Anyway, when I was at Forever 21 yesterday, helping Danielle shop for her Halloween costume, I saw about a billion of those dresses on the rack there. Whaaaaat? That makes my hand so cold. Now a bunch of stupid girls are going to be walking around wearing a dress that I thought was kinda unique. Damn.

Anyway, as I said, I am more fond of the Decibel side than the Deep Bar side. Plus, I was getting mightly tired of texts. Normally I love them, but there were all these people with all these issues with getting there and getting in. I had never known that people had problems getting into Decibel, but apparently that was not the case the night of my birthday celebration. I was sick of running upstairs to talk to the bouncer, and getting Dustin to sort things out, and blah blah blah. And, apparently, the bouncer was acting like he didn't know what was going on. Blah blah blah. Lame. I found it amusing, though, that one of my friends who came down from Madison went across the street to Cush, where they knew of my birthday party, but the bouncer at the door at Decibel pretended like he didn't. Lame.

Anyway, we were kinda stuck in the Deep Bar side until our bottle was gone. So, we started giving drinks away like they were candy. Then LL decided that we should just make it rain and pour it into everyone's mouth to get rid of it in a hurry. So that is what we did. LL did most of the pouring. This first pic, though, is her getting it poured into her mouth. As I said, they are not in proper order!

Getting ready....

Make it rain!

Joee's turn....

LL again, this time with Cari pouring instead of Mara....

Then Cari thought it appropriate for us to do our obligatory body shot. This occurs almost every time we see one another, and definitely is a birthday tradition! Holla at ya uncle pat ron!

More texting. Ugh. And my hair is so bru-tal!

AC Gilman thought that the photographer situation was hilarious. He kept telling Lers that he couldn't believe that my birthday party had paparazzi. He wanted the paparazzi to take a picture of us, like I did with Ous (who Gil LOVES and dreams about and is constantly trying to recruit for his intermural bball team) and Jamil, so that's what went down.

Then I went over by Meams, and gave her a hug, which apparently surprised her. She just looks pumped! Haha.

Awww, cuteness!

I think this should've been the first picture of pouring the pink into our mouths, because I am pretty sure I went first, but seriously.... Will this bottle ever end? Come on!

Lers' turn!

Now it's Cari's turn!

Apparently, it was a little messy! Haha. And look how cute LL looks with Ous, with him practically kneeling to talk to her, since she's so short.

It was also messy when I poured in Jamie's mouth, as she freaked out and got pink vodka in her eye. No pictures of that, though!

Next we have a super cute picture of Lers, Nads, Jerry, Juj, Juj's friend, and Meams. Awww! I'm so glad they all came out! Wish they could've stayed out longer and that I could've hung out with them more!

And next we go to the middle bar.... I wasn't over here at this point. In fact, I refuse to go to this bar in Decibel when Alleged Marcus is working, because I don't want him to know I see him back there, haha. Silly Alleged Marcus.

Then the photographer left, and it was my camera the rest of the night.

Sharif popped in for a couple shots. We went to HS and college together, and he did a stint of playing for the Badgers. It's always a treat to see Reef!

Is it me, or is he kinda doing the shocker with his right hand? Whaaaaat?

Of course I had to take a picture with Curti, who came down from Madison with Rob and came with a bunch of other chicks I don't know.

Wow. I must've been really sober, since I don't remember this picture being taken, and since I look like Samara from The Ring (LL's old roommate). You have seven days.

And I don't know why I was so worried about Reef's hand, because look at mine!

Ok, that picture's a little better, but what is up with my hand again? Seriously? Is that bracelet arm, or what?

And here I am with Broseph too. Still have weird hand action. Am I fondling my upper chest and lower shoulder area? What the hell? I just wanna know!

Here's Broseph with LL and I. Awww. Those two were both in for the long haul that night. LL was because she after-partied all over and left her phone on the stoop at Bayou, which I would get a phone call from each twin about the next day, which was funny. Don't those two talk or communicate telepathically or something? It was also funny because LL would leave her phone at six degrees exactly one week later. She should get a leash for that thing or something!

Broseph was in for the long haul because he ended up sleeping on our love seat, which is far too small for him. I'm pretty sure that when I woke up, and went into the living room, that he was laying there with his ass in between the two cushions, which had separated. Too funny. Couldn't have been comfortable! What a sweetheart, though.

There he is with Jamie and Cari. I loved Jamie's shirt that night! So cute!

Cari, LL, Jamie, and Danielle. I love those ladies!

And the ladies in black.... Mara, Joee, and LL. How cute! I always thought that LL was a few inches shorter than Mara. It's nice to have confirmation, though!

Haha.

Oh, for those of you not in the know.... LL and I always make fun of eachother for being short. I always talk about how I am three feet taller than her. In reality, though, it's only a couple inches (;-P) or, we're exactly the same height.... Haha.

Anyway, there you have it. My sweet sixteen plus ten. Other people were there, but didn't get pictured, like Joe and Terrail, who came from Madison, for example.

I don't know if I am going to be doing many more birthday parties for myself. Although LL did most of the organization (thank you, LL!), it was still really stressful, because it was I who knew everyone there, and who people called or texted when they had issues. I think I will just stick to celebrating birthdays of my friends and random celebrities in the future! =)

Alright.... More to come. Still gotta do Summerfest and Danielle's birthday and the fourth of July.... The last few days might be blog worthy, with my mom's visit, and Halloween.... Plus, there are still a couple more Halloween parties to attend..... Fiff.

Time for me to go have a romantic candle-lit bubble bath. Always nice to have romantic evening.... With myself. Haha.