I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

Saturday started off with my best Mr. Mom impersonation. While Karen was out and about with all her friends looking at bridesmaid dresses for our friend's (Hot Amy) upcoming wedding, I got to spend some quality time with my baby daughter (Briana). And by quality time, I mean I spent the entire afternoon cleaning the house.

The house, after all, had to be cleaned because we were expecting guests the following day. And truth be told, were it up to me I wouldn't have guests over on the day that my son (Braden) passed away, but some things are out of my control.

Needless to say, the only time to clean the house was... well... Saturday afternoon. So, I decided to strap Briana in an infant carrier and go at it. I, of course, turned Briana around to face outward so that she could watch and learn from her daddy as he vacuums the house. Some day, Briana will learn this task of vacuuming... along with washing dishes... cooking... taking out the trash... mowing the lawn... and perhaps using a table saw, etc. After all, if she is going to be a princess, what better princess to be than Cinderella, if not for the whole slew of chores that she performs.

And might I add, vacuuming the house while having Briana strapped to you in an infant carrier is not as easy as it sounds. Things take a lot longer.

When Karen got back from her day out with the girls, it was practically time to go out and celebrate my friend's (Marc) birthday. Too bad I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

Marc's birthday was actually the week before, but as he was in Las Vegas that week we decided to celebrate his birthday on Saturday. The dining destination: the Halfway Cafe located in Holbrook.

With Briana's recent separation anxiety, to which she constantly cries... and cries... and cries for people not named mommy and daddy, we thought that my mother was our last hope at finding a babysitting. After all, my mother spends a good portion of the week watching Briana while Karen and I work. So you would think that Briana would be okay with my mom.

Well, things didn't start off that smoothly. Briana immediately burst out in tears when we arrived at my parents'. Eventually she settled down, but it took awhile. We think it may have been the fact that there was another baby (my cousin's daughter) in the house. My cousin wanted to see Briana again. Regardless, it was a little worrisome to leave Briana with my parents after the incident because we weren't sure if she would remain okay.

I thought the celebration at the Halfway Cafe was great. In addition to Marc and Kelley, joining in on the festivities were my friends (Cass, Ellen, Garv, and Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). Of course, the celebration would have been exponentially greater had we been seated at a circular table, but that's just my opinion. (I have a thing for circular tables because I think the shape is more conducive to overall group interaction.)

That's not to say all of us weren't involved in the conversations around the table. Some of the interesting items that I remember are that Kerry has graduated from her swimming class; Cass was classy according to the waitress based on the drink he ordered; and Kelley had some fun with Garv's phone.

For anyone curious, Garv was showing off his new phone to Kelley. Well, while Kelley was checking out the phone, she noticed that the phone could automatically log Garv into his Facebook account. Needless to say, Kelley took full advantage of the opportunity and began to update Garv's status on Facebook through the phone. The funny part was that Garv had absolutely no clue what Kelley was doing until someone told him. It was quite comical.

After dinner, all of us headed back to Marc and Kelley's for some more merriment. By that time, Karen and I picked up Briana (to make sure she was still okay) from my parents. (And yes, Briana was okay. No uncontrollable tears... at least not from Briana.) A few of us also made a little pit stop at Frozen Freddies, which is an ice cream shop located in Quincy.

The trip to Frozen Freddies was rather interesting because I found out something that I had not known earlier: Garv's wife (Leeann) has a thing for monkeys. The only reason I know this is because Garv asked if I had a dime so that he could purchase three plastic monkey figurines at the counter of Frozen Freddies. And I'll admit, the monkeys in their various poses were pretty cute.

As I did not have any change, nor anyone else in the group, one of the patrons at Frozen Freddies gave us the dime. The patron apparently also liked the shirt I was wearing. So as to not lead you into thinking the patron was hitting on me, I was wearing my t-shirt that read "And Buffy staked Edward. The End. The t-shirt was a gift from Marc. Apparently, this patron had been trying to read my shirt while in the store but I kept moving around.

Anyway, to end the night all of us hung out at Marc and Kelley's and caught a couple of episodes of Wipeout. As usual, it was fun just to be with everyone. As it also turns out, Briana likes playing with Kerry and Garv. I am not sure Garv had ever held Briana before Saturday, so I was quite surprised that he started playing with her. If only I had my camera! Oh well. Next time.