21 July 2009

The Busy Time of Year

This is the time of year I both love and hate, all for the same reasons.  I am a person who likes to be included (or at least offered) to be in on all the fun.  There is so much going on, and to do it all requires sacrificing sleep or work ... too bad you can't pay the bills with rest.  This weekend was a busy one, even with a half day off, and naturally it began early ... on Wednesday.

Sarah's birthday was on Wednesday, and immediately after work I went and picked her up at her house, and I took her to dinner at Biaggi's Italian Grill across from Boys Town.  Well, it was me, and a dozen and a half friends.  Thank you to everyone who showed up, I know she appreciated it.
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Linda, her daughter, and Chris show off some happy smiles.

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Chris finds out he has to share the lemony cupcakes that Jenny made.
 
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Sarah gets her special milemarker gift, or at least a photo of it.

See all the photos here.  After we ate, we went downtown with the intention of seeing the Madness Sale show, but due to reasons beyond our control (21 and over only show), we decided to meet up with Merinda, Ben, and Suzie at Ted and Wally's and get some ice cream.  There was fun, fire, tree climbing, and most impressively, Ted and Wally's had one good flavor (see rant later).

Thursday after work I had a few minutes at home, enough time to throw in some laundry and then scoot out the door to Jazz on the Green to meet Sarah.  The band for this week was less than swingy.  So, we left there pretty quickly, and met Suzie, Erk, and Sarah's parents down at Zio's downtown.  I'd like to give a shout out to the people running the Joslyn: you really messed up the Jazz on the Green space, nice job.

Friday, I had a half day at work to make up being on call the week before, and so finally in the afternoon I was able to get some rest.  It was still Sarah's birthday week, so she wanted to go the the Music and a Movie at the Holland , the music was provided for by the Solid Brass Quartet, all four who play with the Omaha Big Band, so I was familiar with them.  The movie was White Christmas.  The last time that I saw White Christmas I was not a dancer, so it was enjoyable to watch it again and admire both the music and the dancing.  

After the movie ended, we went over to Jitterbugs Night Out.  We arrived around 2300, so Sarah managed to get out of her birthday jam.  We stayed for around ten songs or so, then grabbed Maeg and Jenny and ...

... went over to Kaleb's for the remainder of his monthly game night.  There was pizza, homemade hummus, and other treats, I mention it because a) it was very good, and b) I hadn't eaten since around 1400.  It was Jenny's first game night, so we gave her a break and ... no we didn't, just kidding ... we dove right in and played Tsuro, this was also mine and Sarah's first time playing also.  It was interesting, but we only played once, so it's kind of hard to tell if I actually would retain it's interestingness.  We also played two games of Lupus in Tabula, a.k.a. Werewolf (a mafia like game).  I have come to the conclusion that I need an entirely different way of reading C.J., I was fooled again, and would have had no clue if Kaleb didn't give it away.  We then played another new game, 25 Words or Less, which turned out to be a very entertaining party game, especially since our team won!  That took us to around 0115 or so, and we called it a night ... no we didn't ... no game night is complete without Rock Band until 0500 or sunrise, whichever.  Props to Maeg for hanging in there until the end even though she had to work at 0800.  Sarah sang, and Jenny played bass and then sang a country song I never heard of, but was really fun.  I worked on my drumming skills.

Despite the late (early) bedtime on Friday night (Saturday morning), I was awake at 0915, I don't ever sleep much past that.  I was up and moving and at headed over to Mel's housewarming.  Before I left my house, I texted Micah asked when she would be there ... "headed there soon".  When I got there, Brad and Isaiah were already there, shortly after Rob arrived.  So it was four gentlemen and Mel, I can't understand why she felt so picked on.

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Rob teaches Mel a new dance move while Isaiah captures the moment on film.

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Tux decides to hang out with the cool kids.

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Oh, look who showed up, I guess "headed there soon" means an hour and a half.

There are more pictures here.  Unfortunately, Ginger and Oreo were sleepy, and didn't wake up for the party.  I went home, and I actually got an afternoon nap in, after which Sarah met up with me and I went to take care of my two weekend charges.

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Sarah and I then headed over to Red, White, and Que at Haworth Park in Bellevue.  This festival has been going on for the better part of a decade, however, despite living right there in Bellevue, I've only made it once before.  We parked and walked, and walked, and walked, finally arrived at the river, paid our buck and found a nice spot on the grass to eat BBQ and enjoy some music.  The first band was pretty good and we danced a little after eating.  After a short intermission the second band came out, and they were not as good, and if that weren't enough, they played 80s music, and Sarah hates the 80s.  Since she didn't like the music and the weather was getting cool, Sarah decided to walk back to the car and get her jacket.  While she was gone, I took the opportunity to relax and watch the crowd.  There was a gentleman with a very fuzzy dog who walked by me three times while Sarah was gone, each time closer, and the dog was eying my kettle corn to be sure.  Shortly after the third pass I closed my eyes and suddenly felt hair on my face and something wet kissing me, so I shoved it away, oops, it was Sarah. Overall, It was one of those special nights, the BBQ we had was very tasty, the night was pretty, cool, and bug free, a beautiful clear sky and us laying there with the river just thirty yards away, and to top it all off, fireworks!

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This is why you go to a BBQ contest.  The food!

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Haworth Park is a great place, it can make the Missouri River look this pretty.

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Oooh! Aaah!

You can see more sillyness here from the Red, White, and Que festival.

After we left the festival, we decided we hadn't had enough food, so we headed downtown to Ted & Wally's.  As much as I would love to support a local business that makes fresh ice cream on the spot, there is one problem, the flavors often suck.  No I don't want to try "Grape Clover Honey" or "Lemon Catnip Green Tea".  Yes, you have chocolate and vanilla, but it's allergy and lame.  Feel free to mix in a berry based fruit or something creamy every once in a while.  So we left without any ice cream, and took a short walk around the Old Market.  Right around then we got a call from Jenny, and we decided to meet us at Village Inn for pie ... just so you know, Village Inn had tasty pie flavors.  Thus ended Saturday, although it was Sunday morning at the time.

Sunday morning Sarah and I met and went to church.  Oddly enough the sermon was about making time for God, and what do I complain about this time of year, not having enough time ... go figure.

After church we went to get some lunch and then headed over to Halleck Park in Papillion for the Lindy in the Park World Tour.  We sat down by the "duck pond" and had a nice lunch, virtually uninterrupted by the Canada Geese.  Afterwards, we walked over to the dance gathering.  Many thanks to Amanda, Dan, and Cliff for putting it together.  About a dozen people showed up.  There was a grill, a nifty little iPod capable boom box, and as it turned out, it was just as much about friends and enjoying the day as anything else.

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So willing to help out with lunch.

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At least one dancer was amazing, maybe all of us were.

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What a perfect day.

There are 37 more pictures here.  Unfortunately, I developed a headache and headed home for medicine and a :45 minute nap.  

But, wait, the weekend wasn't over yet.  I picked up some Chipotle and went to Ben's new place.  Sarah, Ben, and I managed to play two games of Arkham Horror in just three hours, both victories.  Just as we finished up, Kevin showed up with his friend Kat about then and we ate, set things on fire, but mostly played a game of companion cube volleyball.  Evidentially you get points when you knock over something or hit someone in an inappropriate place.  Eventually it was another late night, and I made my way home to too little sleep.  

I hope next week is more of the same.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

You screwed up and called me Sarah at the very end. ;) I wish I had been more up to doing stuff this last week.