It's just another f@%$ing day, but happy 50th anyway!

my amazing father turned 50 on january 23rd. My family and I have been planning a surprise party for him since about..september. It finally all went down this weekend. We had about 75 people show up, including my best friend from childhood, Adrian - who flew in from nebraska JUST for this party. we had family members, coworkers, and friends of everyone. there were people there that we hadn't seen in YEARS too. liz came up from maryland and we had many many family friends chip in with food, decorations and set up. i made a whole collage of pictures and we had a cake that was perfect for my dad - it had a picture of him in his kanye west glasses and his well-known saying "it's just another f@$%ing day, but happy 50th anyway".

it was at my godson's father's gun club and i couldn't have asked for anything to go better. I have never seen my dad cry OR drink as much as he did on saturday. i admit, i was nervous as to how he'd respond to the surprise but he cried and hugged my brother and i as he opened the door. throughout the party, whenever i came near him, he would grab my beer and drink the whole thing. I didn't think anything of that - it was his birthday, why not? UNTIL later that night when EVERYONE was saying the same thing - hence why he couldn't feel his feet at the end of the night and literally had to be helped to the car. it was by far one of the best parties i've ever been to, let alone thrown, and it's definitely a day i'll never forget. here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night (visit my facebook for two whole albums of pictures!)

Micahwave

This past Thursday night, I met up with Annie and some of her friends at the Shannon Rose. This was my first encounter with "micahwave" aka the prankster from Annie's office. He tried to fool me before I was even introduced to him - telling me his name was something ridiculous.

Of course, we had to take a picture together.


I was even nice enough to bring some half eaten cupcakes (courtesy of Mike Petite, even if they are "3 weeks old")...


It was a pleasure meeting you, Mernst, but I'll have you know your "friends" were helping me plot my revenge as soon as you left.

=)

moms just know.

i noticed today something that happens without fail in my life.

i call my parents on my ride home from work every day. i don't get to see them as much as i'd like since i've moved up to clifton, so i have to settle for phone calls. today wasn't one of my best days (it was a monday, afterall..) and I called home like i always do. I asked how my mom was doing and she replied with "what's wrong????" how do moms know? i didn't drop any hints, i didn't sniffle, i didn't give her anything. i had no intention of calling home and complaining but that's exactly what i did. I only hope that I have the type of relationship with my daughter (that is if I ever grow up).

Good News

So just before Christmas my mom was in and out of the hospital with stomach and back pains that pretty much no one could explain. They gave her a TON of pain meds and sent her home. Later that week, she had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor who finally told her that she has a slipped vertabrae and would need surgery. However, she couldn't get an appointment with the surgeon until January 7th (today). Up until now she's been in and out of different doctors to get a back brace, more medications, etc. They all basically told her the same thing: her vertebrae is so far slipped that her spinal cord is in danger of being ruptured, in which case she could become a paraplegic in the blink of an eye. Her surgery would fuse the vertebrae on top and the vertebrae on bottom would be fused together with the slipped one after it was pushed back in. Needless to say we were all very nervous throughout the holidays and we're pretty relieved that she would finally be meeting with the surgeon today to schedule the surgery. This morning when she called me on her way home from the surgeon's office, I picked up and all she said was "I don't need surgery."

Now, while that is great news - we're a little confused and surprised and not sure what to think. How could one doctor tell us that surgery is a must and this doctor tell us she can be healed with therapy? Apparently, from what I understand, the vertebrae that is slipped is so far down her spine that the spinal cord isn't actually intertwined in the vertebrae so its not at serious as they originally thought. Now, this still confuses me, because isn't your spinal cord long? But whatever. I'm just excited that my mom is safe and that we don't have to sit through another surgery with her (she's already had two knee replacements - on the same knee!) Not to mention that this definitely frees her up for a certain surprise party that's in the works...

New Year

It seems as though mostly everyone has fallen off the blog bandwagon during this holiday season, and I have to admit that I have as well. A lot has happened since my last update. I’ll try to recap in as little words as possible:

-Christmas: it was great. I worked on the 23rd and then headed to my parents house for about a week and a half. I didn’t have to be back in work until Jan 2nd so that was a plus. My top gifts included a black ipod classic, a Bluetooth headset, new ugg boots, an automatic car starter from my brother, a zebra purse from annie, an adorable notepad with a picture and quote of us on it from liz and a ring/bracelet set from my grandma.

-New Years: Also great (from what I can remember). My friends and I went to a bar called Bourbon Blue in Manayunk for New Years Eve. It was $80 for a top shelf open bar from 9-1, which included a complimentary coat check and champagne toast, a dinner buffet and a $20 gift card to go back to the restaurant/bar in the future. I have to say that the place was really nice and it was good for my friends and I to be able to get dressed up and look very nice. The Bacardi and cokes did me in though, and at one point I took off my heels and must’ve stepped on a broken glass (considering my parents dug glass out of my foot for a good hour the next day…)

-Friends: With 2008 ending and a whole new year upon us, I realized how important it is to realize who your real friends are. I feel like I’ve finally stumbled upon a very nice mix of people who I find myself extremely comfortable around. I have a whole list of resolutions but the most important is that I am no longer going to tip toe around friends. If I don’t feel comfortable around them then they clearly aren’t a good friends. So far it’s been working out great.