The Hangover

I turned 41 on Wednesday.

 I am considered an 'older' lady....

It's true.  I see it.

I  get called 'mam' and never 'miss' anymore.

Whatever!

I'm so over worrying about what number I'm on.

It really doesn't matter at this point.

But please don't mistake my words and think that I am giving up on myself!!!!

HELL NO!!!!

I'm just getting started with a new lease on life!!!!

There is  a lot of freedom letting go of the 'age' ties that bind a person.

My motto for 41:

~Accept what is.....

~Stay away from mirrors.....

and always have the intention of 

good times over good looks!

The day started with a birthday breakfast brought to my bed.

Hand cooked by my boys!!!!!

Riv did the eggs and toast, Jax made the 'smile' cakes.

After my delish breakfast from brotherly love,  I hurried out the door to get to my physical therapy appt by 9:15 to be fitted for what I call,

"the cast that never ends and is a torture chamber and is fug with a capitol F and makes me want to Mr. Roboto since it goes to my elbow and I have constant stiffy bent arm".

'WELCOME TO 41 BeeeeyotCH!!!!!'

I heard myself yell inside my head!

aint it great?!?!?!

reeeeeeeeal effin great!

[After spending $1600 on an MRI, we now know that I have a tear in my cartilage and ligament.  The ideal end result would be for the cast to keep me from having zero movement, which would let the injuries heal themselves.  The 'not-so' ideal result will be surgery.]

[don't worry...I was thinking the same thing!!!

"geez Jolie!!!  Why the long face!?"

apparently when you start your 40's your face turns into a horse head.

yikes!!!!]

Paula and Lola met me at The California Pizza Kitchen at 11:45 to split a yummy pear and Gorgonzola pizza.

We declined the dessert menu, but couldn't resist the free birthday sundae that was brought to the table.

Fudge, pecans, and toffee lined the serving dish with ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry to top.

YES, it was as good as it sounds!!!

Paula gave me a gift card to my fav tea store and the cutest/rockin shirt with a sequinned owl on the front for some fowl bling!!!

In the midst of my morning eat-a-thon(s), I received a text from Lisa saying,

"hey!!  let's go to Park City tonight!!!  A street band and a lot of athletes will be there for the World Cup skiing."

So I said, "OK! wahoo!"

We decided to have this event  be our annual girls night birthday celebration for Paula and I.

 (Paula's birthday is on the 6th)

Lisa arrived to my house at 7 pm to pick up me and Lyns.

She gave me a very generous gift certificate for a facial.

The shoe bag is something we have passed back and forth for each other's birthday for over 7 years!!!

It's taped, and tattered, has seen many bars, and could probably tell countless fun stories!

Lyns gave me a tea gift card and a  set of 3 oriental  tea tins.

They're gonna look spiffy on my counter!!!!

We made our way through the street crowds and a fart infested bar to grab a drink.   Because of the rank stank and lack of breathing room, we heel-toe'd outside.  It was snowing but wasn't cold. 
The large flakes and all of the happy street people
 combined with music, created a
"this is what makes Utah kick-ass!!" ambiance.

We were talking, talking, talking about everything under the sun.

It was for the most part mellow, relaxing and  a well needed girl time.

until.............

Somewhere along the way events led up to us experiencing a girls Utah version of 'The Hangover'.

Many of the deets are blurred for me as we go back and try to make sense as to 

why I had a coat and a camera of someone that I thought had left it in the bar.

Maybe this was why???

Too many drinks could have been a BIG contributing factor in my lack of sane judgement and the strange maternal instinct that kicked in.

We called  the "lost and found" coat

 the baby.

I took great care of that baby and even had people thinking I was carrying a real baby down Main Street.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only 20 minutes, a camera dropped out of the baby.

We looked at the pics and realized that the baby belonged to a kid that was still in the bar, 

and NOT to the group of people who had left.

[which is why i had to adopt the baby!!!  

i thought it had been abandoned]

After we all had the DNA and knew who the baby's daddy was, we went back to the bar to give the dude his kid.

As Paula and I walked past the coat check, she asked the guy if the bar had a lost and found.

He said yes, but there hasn't been any lost and found action for that night.

I then proceeded to ask with a brow raised and untrust in my voice,

"exactly how does your lost and found process work?"

He looked at me like any sober person would......

like I was a total fool!!!!

He replied,  "It works like a lost and found."

I turned on my heel and said, "well I don't trust you!" and walked into the bar until I found baby daddy!

I had put all kinds of love and care into that baby and I wasn't about to hand it over to an oversized door man that wouldn't appreciate the worth of this baby!

Needless to say, 

baby had been taken, 

went on a fun adventure against my chest, 

was in many of our own personal pictures, 

was dropped a time or two

 and returned back to daddy 

without daddy even knowing his baby had been gone!!!!

The oblivious daddy was way cool about the kidnapping and thanked me for taking great care of his bastard child :)

This was one of the most unexpectedly FUN girls nights.

There were one liners bouncing off each other like a pinball machine!!!

I can NOT relay in words the amount of belly laughs and near 'pee pants' we were.

[maybe the pee pants was just me?]

The energy between the four of us was free, witty, and all about celebrating life!

There was a blip moment in the evening that I truly stopped and took in the amazing woman as friends that surround me.

I do not take for granted each one of their qualities, their morals, their beauty, their thoughts, their  joys, and their commitments that they stand strong to hold.

I always think, "birds of a feather flock together".

I am sooo proud to be a part of this gaggle.

***that energy alcohol stayed in my system for two full days!

OH NELLY!!!!

I was HUNGover!!

I don't say that to brag by any means!!

At my age, a person should really control themselves and keep to moderation.

I am recovered today and can look back with less fuzzy mind of 

'the night I found a baby in the bar'.

Lick you up at 6

A girls night on the town was well over due.

In fact, I don't think we've actually done one since my birthday,

LAST FEBRUARY!!!

I know!!! 

 What is wrong with us?!?!?

I mean, we've had many 'couples' nights and quite a few 'garage girls nights', but there is nothing like getting all gussied up and hitting the pavement with your entourage of gals in heels.

Lisa's upcoming birthday was a very good reason to celebrate......

and let me tell you!!!!

Celebrate is what we did!!!

I could predict the way the evening would go since I had already started the day with one of those messed up texts.

The kind that the smart phone over rides what you really wanted to say...

I texted Lisa that afternoon with the GNO deets:

"Hey girl!!!  So excited for tonight!  It's gonna be waaaay freakin' fun.

I will lick you up at 6"

"Hi, It's me again.....

I meant that I will PICK you up at 6!!! 
 I don't think we need to be licking each other.  

Stupid phone!"

So as you can see.....we were well on our way with the giggles and demented minds!

We all love to try new venues, and since the Zy Restaurant was a new one for all of us, I didn't hesitate to make the rez for 7:15.

It's downtown location (a block away from the evenings destined bar) was an added bonus!!!!

The birthday girl was looking gorgeous and radiant as usual.

The restaurant had a nice wine list that accommodated us sharing a couple bottles of yummy red.

We paired our drinks with a cheese selection.

Every girl's tastes were different as to what their favorite flavor was.

It was a great starter to our wonderful meals.

(introducing all of the lovely ladies of the evening:

Lynsie, Paula, Carrie, Lisa, and you know who)

 We chose to have a cup of french pressed coffee as our dessert.

The service was tops, and  the company was divine.

Zy Restaurant.....give it try.

ROUND 2

DING DING DING!

Our next gathering hoorah for the evening was scheduled to be at The Keys on Main which was exactly one block away from the Zy.  The beautiful weather allowed us to walk to the bar.....but NOT without a stop along the way.

KUTV News was broadcasting live with the city streets as it's backdrop.

Paula texted Jay D to tell him to watch the news to see if we were on it....

We weren't very hopeful because we couldn't see ourselves [on the big screen] standing behind Brian Mullahy as he read the teleprompter.

We proceeded to dance like freaks...

.ie:  the running man, the roger rabbit, and swinging an invisible rope to lasso the girls and pull them in....that one was my move!

We also noticed a fuzzy thing on Brian Mullahy's jacket.  It was on the left side on top of his shoulder pad. It was driving us nuts, so we pretended to be picking it off of him secretly.

Lisa commented on what dorks we all are because nobody is going to be home on a Saturday night watching the stupid news!!!!

Well, what do ya know?!?!?

Jay D said he saw us, and Paula's son was wondering what she was doing staring at him through the TV.

Lisa got a text from Odum asking, 

"was that you and Jolie on the news?"

So the moral of the story is:

You are never alone.....

someone is always watching, so be good for goodness sake!

Once we were in the piano bar and the music was running through our veins, we chose to celebrate Lisa's birthday by drinking her birthday cake!

These little lovelies tasted like chocolate cake....well, kind of.

Not really, but we shot them down our throats anyway.

Which helped start the picture extravaganza love fest :)

After many drinks, shaking our money makers, and singing songs to each other (I think the above picture is "touching hands" by Neil Diamond), we called upon our men to pick our drunk asses up and safely drive us home.

Our menz.....

the pimps in our ride.

(boy Jay....that nose hair wax really came in handy!)

Awe :) Lyns  lubs her hubs 

And the rest of us showed our D.D. appreciation to Jay too.

I LOVE this picture!!!

Jay looks so happy :)

I'm not sure if it was the wine, the beers, the cake shots or the copper camel shots that made me say,

"OH! OH! Take our picture while I grab balls!"

Randy didn't mind so much.....

We considered it RD's taxi cab payment.

It was an evening of necessity for all of us.

I hope that I can speak for everyone when I say that the 12 hour, next day hangover was worth every minute of the good time put into it!

Happy Birthday Lisa my sweet friend.

How wonderful life is with you in the world :)