I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

On Saturday, Karen and I celebrated my friend's (Kelley) birthday. Happy birthday Kelley! Too bad I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Luckily for me, there were others there to celebrate Kelley's birthday. In addition to Karen and I, joining in on the celebratory fun were my friends (Marc, Cass, Andrea), Kelley's co-worker (Rianna), my BFF (Kerry) and my BFF's significant other (Pat).

To celebrate Kelley's birthday, Marc and Kelley invited a bunch of people over to their place to hang out, grab some dinner, and enjoy the upcoming UFC fight later that night. Interestingly enough, Karen and I were the first ones to arrive. The only reason why I think it is interesting is because since having a baby (Briana), our schedules have been slightly off. And by slightly off, I mean it takes Karen and I a little longer now to get ready because there is always baby things to pack and prepare for whereas before it was just Karen and I.

Of course, even if we are running late we can always count on beating my BFF, who has a penchant for being tardy. She'll of course say her tardiness is due to her living in Salem and meeting us down on the South Shore. Having driven through Salem on the days I visit the office for work, I am inclined to agree. I hate driving through Salem. It takes forever. It almost reminds me of driving through Quincy, which I equally dislike. Alas, I don't think it's just Salem.

Anyway, sure enough we did beat Kerry who was running a little late. It was actually pretty comical early on at the party. As a sign that all of my friends are getting older, the topic of discussion included things like gout and sciatica and how we're just getting old. Luckily for Karen and I, neither one of us are experiencing those physical symptoms. Karen, unfortunately, already happens to be an old person trapped in a young person's body with her Golden Girl addiction.

After ordering takeout from the Little Duck in Quincy (and neighboring Nick's because Kerry doesn't like Thai food... and also since Marc forgot to order himself some food), we hung out and had some fun. Kelley's co-worker simply cracked me up with her vomit story. She actually has a bunch of interesting stories. One of them even included her meeting martial arts icon Chuck Norris. And as we all know... "If you meet Chuck Norris in real-life, and he talks to you, 'Hello' will be the last word you'll ever hear." Luckily for Rianna, she survived to tell the tale.

For me, probably the highlight of the night involved seeing Marc and Kelley dress up in their respective Halloween costumes for this year. Marc donned on the ever form fitting costume of legendary superhero Green Lantern, while Kelley dressed up as Phoenix, another costumed superhero. Apparently, they were planning ahead because they have been toying with the idea of going to Comic-Con 2011. Coming in as a close second to best costume of the night was Marc wearing his football jersey from when he was a freshman in high school. Let's just say the jersey is likewise very form fitting these days.

All in all, it was definitely a fun night. The UFC matches that we did end up watching were rather vanilla this time around. No third eye. No exploding cauliflower ears. No blood. It was very disappointing. Don't UFC fighters know that blood sells? That's the only reason why I watch it... the blood! That, and also seeing Brock Lesnar get his butt handed to him. Unfortunately, that has not happened since he became so dominating in his weight class.

Anyway, it was fun. And hopefully Kelley enjoyed her day.