Black and White you say? Yes, everyone had to wear black and/or white and we included black and white streamers hanging in the hallway, black table cloths, white cups, a black sharpie to write names on the cups, black plates, black & white servingware, and even black & white cookies from DZ Akin’s. NICE. Celebrating the 27th birthday of Victoria and I was very nice.
I spent all day yesterday from 9am-7pm cleaning the house. Scrubbing the floors (literally), cleaning the carpet, vacuuming, sweeping the patio and cleaning the patio furniture, moving furniture, just all kinds of hard labor. Lately I’d really gotten on myself about my physical shape (OK I’m really rather fat alright?) but Saturday I put out more work than I thought I could do. Sweated a few pounds off I’m sure. The hardest part was moving a 25+ year old hideaway couch from my living room, up some stairs, across the parking lot and to the dumpster. Tony helped me with this arduous task and it was rough. The couch couldn’t fit through the front door so we had to bring it out to the patio and toss it over the fence. Upon picking it up from there, I realized most of the weight rested on the back end of the couch so I shifted my hands to gain some balance and promptly puncture my finger on one of the nails that holds the couch together. very nice. Now I’ve got to worry about keeping it clean so that it doesn’t get infected. Anyways, we got the couch up the stairs to the parking lot and together pushed it along the asphalt and up and over the speed bump (that was a blast) breaking off one of the legs to the couch in the process. Finally got it in the dumpster but that took a bit of work for an out of shape fat man like myself.
In order of appearance was Becky who arrived around 7pm, Tony who got there shortly after, then Kelly, Annam and finally Steph and Josh around 8:45. We had done so much work to get the living room clean and yet until about 9:30 we spent all our time in the dining room. Well, that’s where the food was!
Homemade eggrolls, chicken tacquitos, chips with Salsa from Coyote Grill in Carlsbad Village, Trader Joe’s Artichoke-Spinach dip kept warm by a fondu pot, crab snacks (crab, cream cheese, green onions, and a little garlic powder in a lumpia roll wrapped up like a little box then deep fried into little crab puffs) and of course the black & white DZ Akin’s cookies. Add in a variet of drinks (Pepsi, Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Squirt, Sprite, and sparkling lemonade) and we had no reason to visit the living room. All that did was put us further from the food. We had a BYOB policy. It was allowed in the house but it was understood that we weren’t providing because Victoria and I are both dry. So Tony brought some white wine, Annam brought some Gin, and the S&J combo brought some Malibu Rum. Most everyone drank but Victoria and I. Becky, Steph, and Kelly didn’t have much. In fact I think Kelly didnt have anything but lemonade but I could be wrong. Anyhow we all just spent the first couple hours in the dining room.
Finally Josh gave Victoria his birthday gift to her: Apples to Apples. A nice little game. Victoria had wanted this game for a long time but I was always skeptical. Well critical I am no more. She immediately broke it out and started an impromtu game. A lot of fun. Especially when played backwards. We decided to just all place one red card down before the green card was revealed. That opened us up for a lot of fun. If you’ve never played and don’t know what I’m talking about buy the game or read the instructions online somewhere. I just gave you a list of the food we had so I’m not about to bore you further by typing out the instructions here. So here they are: http://www.otb-games.com/apples/apples_crate_rules.html have fun and don’t hurt yourself.
A little dancing scene broke out in the dining room. Included was Tony standing on a chair while the girls circled him, Victoria getting a chair dance (completely clothed btw…no dirty minds here) from Annam and I was there to capture all the action on film.
Afterwards we opened up the gifts that Becky gave us. I got “Short Hops and Foul Tips” which is a factoid book on baseball like weird facts, hobbies, jobs, etc. As I type Victoria is going through the weird injury list. Hough breaking a pinky by pinky shaking, Smoltz ironing himself, Eaton stabbing himself opening a CD, though I have to say Clint Barmes and Jeff Kent aren’t in there. Daisy Dukes and the mad stair climber. Victoria got some Victoria’s Secret scents and a really nice homemade bookmark. After a short game of Cranium Turbo (which we didn’t finish…but the Booyahs were winning of course) We all just hung out and chit chatted.
By that time Tony and Annam had gotten pretty sloshed and were discussing the dating scenes in San Diego and Los Angeles. Just mainly how superficial L.A. is compared to San Diego. Steph and I were discussing our relationships with Josh and Victoria. Kelly had left shortly after the Apples to Apples game. Not sure she had much of a good time. Annam and Becky left after a while when Annam had sobered up a bit. Tony however just had too much. So we gave him plenty of water and let him crash. Josh and Stephanie naturally crashed cause after a night of drinking I wasn’t about to let Josh drive all the way to Irvine. So we went to bed around 3am and when I got up at 6:30 to use the facilities all our crashed guests had gone. Tony, Steph and Josh were outtie. So I went back to bed and woke up around 10:45. Now we have a bedroom full of junk, a kitchen full of stuff, and we have to clean it all up. BLEH. The bad part of parties at home is all the work to clean house, cook food and decorate, and then the clean up afterwards.
I'm gonna put you to bed 