Wonderful Weekend, Part 1

Wow! I don't even know where to begin in explaining that wonderfulness that was my very busy weekend. I suppose I'll start on Thursday, since I worked a half day and then Hank and I headed down to Mesa. Amber rearranged her moving-home plans so she could spend the weekend with me (what a great friend), so she and her Dad arrived around 8pm, after driving straight from San Francisco to my parents' in Mesa! Talk about a long drive! After we got settled, Hank had the bright idea to go to Filiberto's late night for some greasy Mexican, mmm! Filiberto's is a Mesa tradition- both Laur and I have spent many a drunken high school late, late night there with our friends, so it's always funny to go there and grab a bite to eat. I had a little of Lauren's carne asada burrito and it was so delicious. I knew I could have eaten one of my own, but I also knew I wouldn't feel too hot or happy if I did, so I chose to just have a little piece, which was enough! After Filiberto's we headed home and all of us pretty much just went to sleep.

Friday morning I got in a great workout, but unfortunately did a heavy leg workout without even thinking about the fact that I had a three hour rollerskating party to attend that evening...but more on that later. Amber and I decided to spend the day shopping so we ran around to a million different places and we both ended up getting a few cute summer dresses. I love shopping with Amber, we have such different styles and I always enjoy seeing what she puts together. So we shopped, went to the bookstore, ate lunch, ate more frozen yogurt, then headed home to start getting ready for my birthday party! My birthday isn't actually for two weeks, but since we are going to be out of town, my sister thought she'd do an early celebration, and I'm so glad she did.

Lauren invited all of my close friends for dinner before the actual party started. It was so nice to have all of the people I love at one table- minus Autumn, Em, Suki and Meli though. If they would have been there I don't even know what I would have done! Too much love in one place! Ha! But it was so nice. We decided to do dinner at Caffe Boa on Mill Ave. If I could have done it again I may have chose a different place, as the menu was a bit pricey for what we got, but it was great ambiance and in a fun area. I got a salad, but after trying Amber and Laur's ravioli I really wished I would have gotten their dish. I forgot what exactly was in it, but it was so delicious. Hank got a caprese type salad that he loved a lot too. So dinner was awesome, I received such wonderful gifts from my friends and I am so thankful for all of their generosity. Here are some photos from dinner (you can find a million more on my flickr if you click on any of the photos).

leaving my parents' house, en route to dinner


pretty girls in the car


Alana, Erin, and Shirl - some of my college girlfriends/best friends


Shirley and Lauren


one of my amazing presents from Erin- I didn't get photos of my other presents, but I love them all :)


the whole group, plus John's middle finger. THANKS JOHN.


zee lovebirds


Jonathan and me - friends since 1996!


Ha, I love them.


After dinner some people walked down to Mojo for frozen yogurt and some of us headed to Skateland to get squared away, bring the cupcakes in, etc. I hadn't been rollerskating in years and years so I was actually feeling a little nervous about skating. I am not much of a risk taker, especially risks where I can break bones, so I did have little butterflies in my stomach as we pulled up. They went away pretty quickly though, and I remembered how much I loved rollerskating! Some of my friends were so, so good on skates and it was super adorable. The entire night was perfect to me. A huge empty roller rink, with the people I love all skating and having fun. Nothing could have been better. Hour of the Wolf played a little set, we all skated to fun music, and the night ended around 2:30am.

It meant a lot to me that my friends came out and spent the night celebrating my birthday. I have the best friends in the world and I was yet again reminded of that.

Here are a lot of photos from Skateland- there are so many so I just picked a random bunch!

Lance


Shirley and skeeball


girls!


Elisa, Ambs, and me


Suki (Sarah), me, and Erin doing who knows what. I love this photo!


my skate partner for life!


O'Hagans!


silly me


the lovely Erin


my Sarah and me!


Shawna and Holly- Shawna is one of my oldest and dearest friends, she was one of my best friend in high school and we still keep in touch, which is awesome. I love having that history!


This is my favorite photo of Zoe from that night- she is the best rollerskater!


the Peters!


Lance and me being weird.


Janay and Danny!


Hour of the Wolf playing a little set- I was skating by and accidentally cut out Hank! Oops!


The night was just wonderful and I also love the fact that my real birthday isn't for two weeks! That means I get to celebrate a few more times. I love it. One thing I didn't love though was waking up so, so sore on Saturday morning! The combination of squats, lunges, machines, etc and then skating nonstop for three hours really did a number on me but today I am feeling a lot better and I love that my birthday incorporated so much exercise! :)

I will end this by saying again, thank you to all of my amazing friends for celebrating with me, I love all of you more than you'll ever know! I appreciate all you do for me.