29th Birthday Party

This year, I wanted to do something a little different for my birthday. Instead of having a party here at my place, a bunch of friends got together and we went out to the new National Harbor, specifically, Bobby McKey's, a piano bar.

I read about Bobby McKey's in the Washington Post a few months ago when it was favorably reviewed. I had first been to a piano bar while I was in San Antonio for work and had a great time. Drinking and good music, what else do you need? Then when I was on the cruise, Chris, Andrew, and Whitney spent several evenings in the ship's piano bar and had a lot of fun.

So 26 of us caravaned over the Wilson Bridge a few weeks ago to National Harbor to the piano bar. Our reserved table was VERY close to the front, so it was a bit louder than I had expected, but I think a good time was had by all. We talked, we danced, we drank...dear god, I drank. In fact I was so hung over the next day I had to miss the Fairfax Chocolate Festival, but in retrospect, I think it may have been more the beginning of the flu that hit my full force the next day. Which makes me seem slightly less pathetic. It seems kind of sad to be 29 and lying in bed nauseous and sad because you drank too much the night before.

But let's get to the good stuff! Pictures!














See you all at my 30th!!


Oh, dear god. I'm going to be 30!

Long time no see, Mr. Flu.

Oh, influenza. It's been a long time since we met up, or even talked on the phone. Maybe, what? 5 years? Since that time at Christmas you made me so miserable that I couldn't even stay up more than 2 hours on Christmas morning to enjoy my presents. But let's not dwell on the past. Let's talk about the future! And how since I contracted you a week ago I won't have to look at your ugly mug for another half a decade.

That's right. Exactly a week ago today I began to exhibit flu-like symptoms. Headache, sore throat, nausea, an achy body (I thought at first maybe I had overdone it on the elliptical machine the day before, but quickly realized that's not going to make my entire body ache). The only thing to do was to load myself up on Alka-Seltzer and lie in bed moaning. You know you're sick when you're whole body aches so much you can't even fall asleep.

I thought I might be able to drag my sick ass into work on Tuesday, but alas. It was not to be. Which was really unfortunate since I had started mentoring a new attorney the week before and am basically in charge of teaching them. The way it works at my job is All I Need To Know About Veteran's Law I Learned From My Mentor. So when your mentor isn't there during your second week? Not good.

Luckily for me, Alicia is a quick study and had plenty to keep her busy. So my absence was not really that big a deal. On Wednesday I put in a half day, since the achiness struck again. In an attempt to make myself feel better, I procured some ice cream of the chocolate peanut butter cup variety. But then I spent the whole of Wednesday evening freaking out that I might get salmonella. Plan = backfire.

In any event, by Thursday I was feeling much better, and good thing too, since I flew out to the fair state of Michigan to visit my brother and sister-in-law for the weekend. We had a great visit, which included lots of movie watching, cookie eating, and even a trip to the Second City comedy group outside Detroit. AND I picked out the new kind of flat panel tv I'm going to buy when my fed tax refund comes through. Although who knows when that's gonna happen.

So, see ya flu! Go turn someone else's life into a misery. You jerkface.

Coming soon: Birthday celebration stories and pictures!