62. May 22nd, 2011 Picture.

I channeled my best Mommy Dearest impression while helping Ratty clean out his closet.

NO WIRE HANGERS!

Ratty's closet needed a good ol' purge and I was the perfect person to help him.  One of the first points of order was to get rid of all the horrible, disgusting, vomit inducing wire hangers that were holding up all of his clothes.  HIS GOOD CLOTHES.  Nice work shirts were hung haphazardly on icky hangers, not buttoned, off center, with the corner of the hanger poking out of the chest.  Deep breaths everyone, I've set Ratty straight, no need to worry.  But you're right, IT'S APPALLING the way that he treated his clothes!  Try not to break out in hives like I did.

I just couldn't explain it enough. 

Me: Ratty, don't hang your $600 suit on a hanger you got from the dry cleaners.  FOR FREE.

Him: Why?

Me: Ugh.  JUST THROW THEM AWAY!  OKAY?!  THEY'RE HORRIBLE!

How is that not easy to understand?

We went through his entire closet, throwing away clothes he didn't want, and filling an entire garbage bag full of those items that can no longer be named.  I showed him how to correctly hang a pair of pants...

Me: You line up the seams...

Him: The what?

Me: The seams.

Him: Why?

Me: Ugh.

And then I showed him how to properly hang a dress shirt and explained that he needed to button the top button so it wouldn't slide off the hanger.  His entire closet was finally organized and pretty, and there were no things that could physically harm your or gouge your eye out.  Mission accomplished!

62. May 21st, 2011 Picture.

Saturday afternoon, Ratty and I headed down to Eddie and Christine's house for a little get together for Eddie's birthday.  My lil 'baby' brother turned 47 - isn't that just insane?  Eddie was 18 when I was born and honestly, sometimes I think we all still believe he is still that young.  Just ask him, HE can't even believe he is in his 40's, let alone his LATE 40s!

Abigail's dance recital was earlier in the day, so the plan was for us to go down around 4pm for some Chinese food and cake - sounds like a pretty awesome birthday if you ask me!  I mean, who doesn't love cake and Chinese food?  Nobody, that's who.

I spent the majority of the time outside running around with all the kiddos.  Eddie's yard, is absolutely massive, almost an entire acre, so as you can imagine intense games of kick ball, soccer, hide and seek and sometimes even a little dizzy bat tend to happen.

You can blame getting the kids hooked on dizzy bat totally on me.  They all think it is absolutely hilarious to watch each other spin around and then immediately fall down, grabbing at the grass trying to make the world stop spinning.  I mean, what isn't hilarious about that?!  I think it 100% stems from me teaching the kids at Cameron's party last year.  That infamous one where Ratty talked smack the entire time leading up to his turn, only to have him fail miserably and collapse in the driveway before he even completed his 10 spins around the bat.  This was also the time that Chloe screamed 'IN YOUR FACE', directly in Ratty's face, for a solid 5 minutes after.  Aren't kids SO cute?!

62. May 20th, 2011 Picture.

For my christening a few short years ago ::cough 28 years ago cough:: I received a number of savings bonds as gifts - when the government actually cared about its future.  I KID.  My mom kept those tucked away in safe keeping, until recently when she told me to cash them in.  I brought about 20 of them to my local bank and sat patiently while they calculated, recorded and processed all of them.  Before they took them all from me [seriously I had anxiety parting with them, I was all like 'but they're miiiiine!], I was able to snap of photo of one which said my name was Amy Catherine Deveau.

My middle name is Charlotte, a family name, which also belonged to my great aunt and my mother's only sister.  Initially, my mom and dad had planned to name me Amy Catherine, but at the last moment they had a change of heart and decided on Amy Charlotte instead.  No offense to the Catherine's of the world, but I like Charlotte better.

It was actually SO last minute that when the priest asked 'and what do you name your daughter?' and my mom replied Amy Charlotte, he literally said 'I thought it was Amy Catherine?!'  So there is an adorable Deveau story for you, I'm glad I was able to snap a picture before having to hand it over!  I am sure the lady at the bank thought I was crazy, but these are MEMORIES!  We have to savor them!

62. May 19th, 2011 Picture.

This photo was VERY topical at the time, but judging from the fact that we are all still here, on earth, very much living, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this whole 'Rapture' thing isn't at the top of everyone's minds anymore.  Am I right?

Well anyway, for those who are still somewhat interested, these vans were driven around Boston for weeks leading up to May 21st, which coincidentally is also Eddie's birthday, so had the Rapture really occurred, it would have really put a damper on celebrating.

I remember how convinced some people were that this whole end of the world thing was actually going to happen [Full disclosure: I did not.  At no point did I drink the proverbial, maybe literal kool aid and think the Rapture was real, but I digress].  Some did.  So much so they drove these Winni's around Boston while we all scoffed at them.  But I mean, I'm still scoffing!

62. May 18th, 2011.

These pictures are absolutely horrible because 1) I was in a moving car 2) I was the one driving said moving car and 3) traffic was absolutely insane because the President was speaking in the South End.  YES, that President.  Of the United States.  You know, POTUS.


I took a small detour on my commute home so I could drive by Cyclorama, a function space right in the heart of the South End, where Mr. Prez was speaking.  I cannot remember for the life of me what Obama was there to talk about, but I am sure it was important.  I'm SURE of it. 


I honestly tried really hard to get some good snap shots of the people outside, cops on patrol and those freaky rapture folks that were protesting the entire thing - I mean, whyyy waste your last days protesting a government that you don't believe will exist in like, 48 hours.  Seriously, go on vacation.  Sleep in.  Have some glasses of champagne.  Max out ALL your credit cards on awesome stuff.  That's what I'd do.  


ANYWAY, enough rambles, I circled the block TWICE attempting to get a picture, but it was so chaotic that this is all I could come up with.  So, don't judge.  K, thanks.  KISSES!

I think you might be able to see the faint bright yellow of all the police jackets and all the break lights, which was obviously the traffic and chaos I was dealing with.  Don't worry, I had pulled over at this point to take the picture.  Don't ever say I don't work hard for this blog!

62. May 17th, 2011 Picture.

So obviously this post seemed more exciting in May than it does in October, but I think bonfires in general are all sorts of awesome, any time of year.  You know, except when it's snowing.  Or too cold to be outside.  Or when it gets dark at 3:30pm.  Which on average is about 7 months out of the year in Boston.  Sigh.  Anyway, I was flipping through a Martha Stewart magazine and there was a whole feature article about bonfires and I had to take a picture.  I honestly dream of having a house one day with a big back yard in which will OBVIOUSLY have a fire pit, obviously.  I also sometimes like to take that dream up a notch and say that I'll have a house near a beach and be able to have awesome bonfires on said beach.  Because it would be my own private beach, naturally.  Wouldn't that be lovely?  You're all invited. We'll make s'mores.

62. May 16th, 2011 Picture.

I could have sworn that I'd already written about this, but once I combed through my previous posts, I realized that I must have just imagined it.  This picture is one of my all time favorite photos ever, and it was taken by the extremely talented Edward Fetter, aka my brother.  Eddie went to MassArt and got his Masters in Photography from the San Fransisco Art Institute [we all went out for 11 days when he graduated, pretty sweet family trip!].  


I had been asking Eddie for this print for a little while, I'm being generous, I'm pretty sure it was YEARS, and he finally gave me this a few years ago for my birthday.  FINALLY!  I absolutely love it and it has hung prominently on each bedroom wall in my multiple apartments.  Those adorable little feet belong to Miss Cassie, when she was just a wee lass.  She is walking on rocks at the Big Eddy in New Hampshire and holding her mom Christine's hand.  I mean honestly, let's be real, Christine is the ONLY one I know that could look that great after having a baby.  Hell, I'd love to look that great right now!  I secretly hate her for it.  Kidding, I love her.  But she does look great, dammit.

But seriously, can we look at Cassie's little feet?  She was the most adorablest little girl ever, and I just love her so much!  It's hard for me to imagine when she was this little, as she is NINE now, but I love looking at this picture and remembering just how sweet she was/still is!

62. May 15th, 2011 Picture.

Sometimes you just need a day where you do absolutely nothing.  May 15th was my day.  I took this picture because I literally sat in bed all day, watching TV and relaxing.  It was seriously so awesome.  Some might call it 'extreme laziness', but I think that everyone needs  an absolutely 'waste of space day' every once and a while.  I couldn't do this everyday, no absolutely not, I'd get far too bored, but once in a while is always nice.  Plus, my back started hurting from laying down all day.  Sigh, first world problems.

62. May 14th, 2011 Picture.

Saturday afternoon I decided to head into Boston for a little day drinking with Mark, Jamie and Dave.  Dave had a friend visiting from out of town, so he wanted to take her on a tour of Faneuil, which obviously included a few Scorpion Bowls at the Hong Kong followed by $1 drafts at Sissy's.  You know, the extremely important Boston landmarks.  

Including some kareoke from MahkG.

We hung out for a little bit before Dave had to head home and take care of his adorable little dog PJ, and Mark was his ride.  We kept trying to convince them to come back out and meet us someplace, but we knew our begging was futile.  Once someone heads home, no matter what time it is, it's really hard to convince them to come back out.  It didn't stop us from trying though, we kept begging AND texting, until we finally accepted the fact that both were gone for good.  Well for this night at least.

We decided that the absolute best place for us to go would be The Banshee.  I've talked about it a few times on here before, and it always is a really fun time.  We always say we're going to go for a 'few beers', but somehow insanity always ensues.  Not that we're complaining, of course...

Here is us having to say goodbye to Mark and Dave.  How is it that Mark doesn't look sad?  YOU SHOULD BE SAD!

We made our way to The Banshee where we met a group of guys who were carrying around this framed statue of the Blessed Mother, you know, for fun.  One of the guys, who I think was named Steak, told us that they found it in his Grandmother's basement and they decided to bring it out with them.  Obviously, it was totally for attention.  It worked.  It might seem like, uber sacrilegious, but it was also absolutely hilarious.  They'd start singing hymns at random and scold someone if they swore - 'not in front of Mary!'  They took really great care of her all night - she was the center of attention.  Obviously.  I'm pretty sure this is only something that could happen in Boston, either Southie or Dorchester specifically, where almost everyone is Catholic.

Me, Joe, Steak and Mary.

So yea, that happened.

62. May 13th, 2011 Picture.

I am sure that this will seem like I'm behind the 8 ball, but let's remember that I took this photo on May 13th, so I probably was way ahead of the curve in real life, or IRL.  I've recently become obsessed with Pinterest, like where I spend hours pinning, repinning, commenting and liking things.  


Okay, first off, what's Pinterest?  I"m going to do my best to explain, but I might not be able to convey the absolute awesomeness of it.  It's a website, which a commenter [Things To Do] recommended I try after I posted my blog about my decorating folder, since Pinterest is almost like an electronic version.  It's basically a place where can store all those awesome things you see online.  If I see a great article with beautiful pictures, I can 'pin' the picture and both the pictures AND articles magically end up stored in my Pinterest account.  I can see what other people are pinning, whether it be pictures of stunning houses, decorative inspirations, awesome recipes, gift ideas, crafts, and so on and so on and so on.  I'm obsessed, it's awesome, and you should join!  I have a red Pinterest icon on my blog homepage, so I should be easy to find.  I'm trying to get Ratty to join, because I think he'd like it, but he keeps going 'what would I pin?  It seems like a girl thing where you can pin recipes and all your girlie ideas.'  He has a point, I have LOADS of girlie ideas!

62. May 12th, 2011 Picture.

 May 12th was Thursday and after work I had plans to go to an accessory's swap with my roommate Jamie.  The swap was at a nearby shop in South Boston, and the idea was that you'd bring various accessories  that you didn't want anymore.  All the items were laid out and we drew numbers out of a hat.  We each got a turn and picked 2 'new to us' items and then we'd restart at the beginning.  There were a few nice things that people brought, but most got scooped up right at the start - I guess picking lucky number 7 wasn't so lucky this time around!  I did walk away with a few cute necklaces and things like that, and I offloaded a few things that I definitely didn't need anymore.

I've been to a few of these, including one that Jamie hosted at her old apartment, but I've come to notice that everyone brings things they don't like anymore, whether they are out of style or just kind of beat up.  I mean, I definitely brought a few things that I just straight up don't like, but could also part with, I struggle with giving things away, hi, we've talked about my hoarding.  I love the concept of these, but sometimes they aren't all that great in execution.

There was however free wine and snacks, which obviously was awesome!

62. May 11th, 2011 Picture.

So I drive a cute little semi-eco friendly car, a 2 door Honda civic that holds just shy of 10 gallons, where each tank lasts close to 2 weeks.  Well, you could have picked me up off the floor when I went to fill my tank and it cost me almost $50.  I know, I'm late to this whole 'gas is SO expensive' movement, but this is the first time it ever really hit me this hard.  I am going to totally date myself here when I say that when I first started driving my first little 2 door Honda Civic [RIP] it cost me less than TEN DOLLARS to fill my tank - every time!  Once it cost me $14, in Lexington no less, and I thought I was getting ripped off.  Man, how times change.

62. May 10th, 2011 Picture.

I was at a happy hour after work, celebrating one of my co-workers new positions, when I got hit with a migraine.  They come out of nowhere typically, sometimes I can feel one coming on, but that's rare.  It starts with a spot of blurry lights in the center of my vision, almost as if I looked at a car's headlight, like that spot you have when someone takes a picture with flash.  The blob is moving, almost pulsating and has jagged, brightly lit edges.  Honestly, it's so bizarre that the first time I got a migraine my mom thought I was having a stroke.  I get these auras right before the headache comes on, and they last for about 30 minutes.  They start at the center of my vision and it slowly grows, eventually wiping out my entire line of sight.  It appears to only happen in my right eye, which means the headache will be on the left side of my head - this sounds crazy right?  Right.  Totally thought it was a stroke.

Once I can't see anymore, the blurry blob starts to move out to the edges of my eye, I can actually see and feel it moving behind my eye, into my head.  Once I can finally see again I get smacked with a dull painful headache at the base of my head, and an insatiable hunger.  No honestly, I do.  I left the happy hour last night, stopped off at Tasty Burger, got a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings, for the record I don't even LIKE onion rings, ate the entire thing while sitting on my bed in a hoodie and was STILL hungry.  So I ate 3 mini Krackles.  I could have easily eaten another order of onion rings, and maybe but definitely a frappé, but I wasn't totally sure my heart would make it.

Now, here's the weird thing.  Even though migraines are totally miserable and usually debilitating, though they've gotten better, I used to have to go to sleep for at least 3 hours every time I got one, I don't like to take medication for them.  I don't have a prescription and I probably wouldn't use it even if I did.  Usually you can't take medications until the migraine hits, and there is no treatment for auras, which are usually the worst part, plus I hate how drowsy they make me feel.  I pretty much always have Excedrin Migraine on me, which is a delicious cocktail of acetaminophen, Ibuprofen and caffeine, but I only like to take those if I get a migraine while I'm at work, or out doing something.  Since this time around I knew I'd be heading home shortly, I opted to skip the meds.

Am I the only one that is wary of pills?  I don't like taking painkillers unless absolutely necessary, I had a visceral reaction to percocets once and don't even get me started on cold medicine, plus I don't like and/or really believe in vaccines and have stopped getting flu shots.  My mom thinks I'm crazy, but I just don't like the idea of over medicating.  If I'm honestly sick, of course I'm going to take something.  If I have to get on a boat, plane or bus I'm popping a Dramamine, maybe even 2, so I'm not totally insane.  I'd just rather take something when I'm really sick, rather when I just feel blah.  I think our bodies can handle a lot more than we give it credit, so if I can get by without taking 3 Advil at a time, I'm gonna do it.  That doesn't make me nuts, right?

62. May 9th, 2011 Picture.

Everytime I go home, my mom sends BAGS of food home with me - she is assuming that I don't go grocery shopping, and she'd be assuming right!  I always leave with a bag filled with extra pasta, cereal, sometimes Vitamin Waters [girl knows I have a soft spot for them], maybe a few Fresca's, leftovers, and probably whatever else happened to be on sale that week.  I am definitely not complaining, I still don't consider myself an adult, so 'food shopping' at my mom's is perfectly acceptable!

62. May 8th, 2011 Picture.

I obviously spent all day on Mother's Day hanging with Steph, you know, since she is so awesome and it was HER day.  I took a few photos of the two of us, but none of them were really that stellar.  So here, I present a little retrospect of me and my momma!

Me & Steph at my friend Kerrie's wedding 2 years ago.  I was squeezing so tight I almost broke her glasses!

Me, my sister Kate and my mom, er, our mom at her surprise __th birthday party a few years ago.  I think it might have been the best surprise party I ever planned, not considering the fact that it's the only surprise party I ever planned.  That fact doesn't matter, it was still pretty spectacular.  We arranged for my mom and my siblings to go out to dinner at Legal's at the Charles Hotel and had all my cousins and aunts and uncles meet at Noir [the bar at the Charles Hotel], obviously without her knowledge.  Once our dinner was over we all casually suggested we head to the bar for a nightcap and SURPRISE!  My mom was absolutely floored!  There were probably 50 people there and we spent the entire night having a great time.  I'll never top that party, but I can try! 

Ronny and my, ahem OUR mother at her surprise party!

Apparently we all like to hug her so tight that her glasses almost pop off her head.

Mom and me at my cousin Keri's wedding last July.

Late night at Labor Day last year.

My cousin Kara's wedding on the Cape last October.  Gosh we go to A LOT of weddings!

Out in Harvard Square for Ronny's 50th birthday party.  Yes, my brother is 50 and yes, my mom is old enough to have a son that's 50.  Wrap your head around THAT one!

And last but certainly not least, Steph and me at Miss Erin Rowe's wedding a few weeks ago!

62. May 7th, 2011 Picture.

For Mother's Day I decided to organize a family dinner with my mom, Ronny, Sybil, Christine, Eddie plus Ratty and his mom [since it was Saturday night, my sister Kate had to work].  Typically my mom hosts family dinners at her house, but since it was MOTHER'S Day after all, I wanted to have us all go out and not burden my mom with any cooking or cleaning.  Initially I was thinking of having us all go to Eastern Standard or Gaslight [a restaurant that is RIGHT next to our 'new' apartment and has free parking], but both were already booked up with reservations, looks like I waited too long to get in there!  I eventually decided on Foundry on Elm, which is a relatively new place in Davis Square.  I'd been only once before, for drinks with my friend Maura, but I was really looking forward to going back.  I made a successful reservation and alerted everyone to our plans.


Even though the whole point of going out to dinner was so my mom wouldn't have to cook, she still decided to host a 'pre-party' at her house, with champagne and shrimp cocktail.  We all met at her house about an hour or so before our reservations, and enjoyed the little spread my mom put out.  This was the first time Ratty's mom Michelle had been to my mom's house, and also the first time she was meeting Eddie and Christine, so really the shrimp cocktail and champagne was just icing on the cake.

I wish I got a group picture of all of us, but the opportunity never really presented itself.  I know I said I'd work on getting REAL people into my photos, and not just take pictures of inanimate objects, and I promise I'm trying!  You know what we all look like anyway.

Dinner was really great, we had a nice long table in the middle of the dining room, and we ordered a few rounds of appetizers, followed by steak frites.  Pretty much everyone at the table ordered it, I think the only exception was Eddie, who only eats fish.  Even though my meal arrived slightly cold it was still delicious and I absolutely inhaled it.  So did everyone else, we're all successful members of the Clean Plate Club.

We had a great time sipping martinis and chatting the night away.  Everyone was really excited to spend some time with Ratty and his mom, so it was really nice they were able to come out to dinner with us.  What a nice way to celebrate Mother's Day!

62. May 6th, 2011 Picture.

Ratty received a save-the-date from one of his college friends - just add another one to the list!  I feel like Ratty and I could be professional wedding attenders.  If such a thing existed.  This one just happens to be in Cabo San Lucas, meaning that we most likely won't be able to attend, which is a SHAME because I've never been there.  It's two weeks after my Dear Erin Rowe gets married, and flights are upwards of $650.  Those boring facts aside, I thought they're save-the-date was super cute!  It was a little passport, with their photo and wedding information on the main page, with all the hotel/accommodation information on the other pages, the ones you'd stamp on a real passport.  Isn't it cute?!

62. May 5th, 2011 Picture.

Twice a year, my department goes off-site to do an all day training.  Sometimes we go to another BCBSMA building, or a training facility, but this time we were having it at my bosses house.  I was given a task of making giant puzzle pieces that would be used in a group project.  There needed to be 9 pieces, 3 rows of 3, which each row a different color.  I spent all morning mapping my pieces and creating a mock drawing of what the puzzle should look like.  What made it more challenging is that it wasn't just random puzzle pieces, but they all needed to fit into one another, like a real puzzle!  I drew my diagram, which served as the muse for my creation.  My plan was to just draw the exact shapes on the poster board as I'd drawn them on the piece of paper.  I then decided to draw the shapes on the back side of the piece, so that the black marker, and any mistakes I made, wouldn't show.  This caused utter chaos, some of my pieces were backwards, some didn't fit in correctly, and I even had to redo a few, which was so annoying.  Who knew that a project as 'simple' as this would take me THREE hours!  Time well spent I guess!  They weren't joking when they said every day would be different than the last.

I mean, they do look pretty awesome if you ask me, totally unbiased of course!

62. May 4th, 2011 Picture.

 So, this actually happened on Friday night, but it was Royal Wedding Day and I didn't want to overshadow that by complaining about my closet shelving once again.  Turns out, my shelving was a mere second away from crumbling to the ground, I really pushed it to it's limits.  The second I put something on the shelf it fell in a massive, overwhelming heap, pulling sections of the wall out with it.  I mean, honestly who builds a HOLLOW closet wall anyway?!  That just seems like utterly poor planning to me.  

There was no way I was going to be able to reinstall the shelves this time around, I'd completely butchered my wall and there wasn't one non-crumbly spot to try and screw in a nail.  What's even worse is that the wall is literally made out of chicken wire and plaster [a la a 5th grade diaorama] which meant that little pieces of white plaster and dust would coat my floor an clothes anytime I tried to drill, move, breathe, sleep...you get the idea.

And yes, I used duct tape to plug all the holes.  Duct tape fixes everything, much like Windex.

I had no plans on Friday night [April 29th, as I was resting up for J's birthday party the following night], so I took that as my cue to tackle my closet and declutter.  I went to the basement and grabbed my extra large suitcase and started filling it with clothes that I didn't need between now and the time I was moving.  I like that when I declutter I mean I just bring everything to my mom's house - it gives her anxiety but me peace of mind!

Since one whole side of my closet was now out of commission, I had to fit all my hanging clothes onto the one stable shelf that was already filled with clothes.  I ended up throwing away lot of things that I'd just tucked out of the way but obviously never intended to use.  I also discovered that I tend to hoard plastic hangers and shopping bags, so I made it a point to clean house and keep only the things that were actually in good shape, which let's be honest, wasn't a whole lot.  My room seriously looked like a landmine had gone off and clothes had rained from the sky.  I called my mom around 10pm in a slight panic telling her that I was knee deep in stuff and couldn't see my bed.  I told her all about the closet sitch and how I was packing up garbage bags of clothes and things to either store or throw away.  She immediately was like 'are you bringing all that stuff HOME?'  My panic was washed away after talking to her, but it's very apparent hers was just beginning.  That is how most of our conversations go, I feel better at the end while she is wracked with anxiety.  

SO!  After a night of decluttering, purging and un-hoardering, my closet looked like this!

In the long run, I'm glad the shelves fell, it forced me to clean out my closet and prepare for my move.  I would have had to do it at some point and knowing me, I would have waited until the last.possible.second.  Being forced into it wasn't ideal, at the time, but in the long run, it was the best thing that could have happened.  Now at least one part of my room is perfectly organized!

62. May 3rd, 2011 Picture.

RED.VELVET.ICE.CREAM.

Need I say more?  I mean, really.

62. May 2nd, 2011 Picture.

Monday night I had to head down to Bridgwater for a Gamma Phi Beta chapter meeting, ah the joys of being an advisor!  My trip to the lovely Bridgewater campus required one thing, and one thing only.  A stop at Mary Lou's!  Even though it was 6:30pm on a Monday, I needed my fix, and opted for a decaf Girl Scout Cookie.  It is seriously all kinds of awesome, all chocolatey and minty and yummy.  These are a definite treat, I don't think I could handle more than one every few weeks or so.  Last year when Ratty and I were staying in Scituate over the weekend I had one three days in a row.  Big mistake.  Buy the 3rd day I felt disgusting but couldn't NOT get one when the place was so close.  Ick, too much of a good thing.

As a bonus, here's a shot of the main building on campus at Bridgewater.  Isn't it so pretty?  My school has such a nice campus!

62. May 1st, 2011 Picture.

I woke up the morning after Jamie's party completely forgetting I did this the night before.

Let's just keep the party going, shall we?

62. April 30th, 2011 Picture.

My roommate Jamie's birthday is May 2nd, and this year she was turning the BIG 30 - a definite reason to celebrate!  Her two best friends Mark [otherwise known as MahkG] and Rachel pulled together an amazing surprise party for her at a bar downtown.  Here is Mr. Party Planner himself - so handsome!

Now, Jamie knew something was going on, she was told to make herself available, but she had no idea where the party was, who was going to be there, or really how large the party would actually be.  There had to be upwards of 40 people there, such an awesome turn out!

We all arrived around 6:30pm and anxiously awaited Jamie's arrival.  Girl had issues with a hair appointment earlier in the day, which pushed her arrival time a little later than planned, much to the stress of everyone involved in the party.   Thankfully there were plenty of drinks, snacks and good friends to keep us all entertained until the birthday girl arrived, looking all sorts of fierce!

Jamie looked fab and was SO surprised!  She thought the party would be a small affair at someone's house, or at a bar someplace, but I think she was honestly taken aback and just how above and beyond Mark and Rach went to pull the whole thing together!

And of course, it was only a matter of time before the faux fur coat and 30th birthday tiara got passed around.  

Some might recognize TJ from the LOGO show A List: New York.  He is somewhat of a NYC Gay Socialite.  Kid knows how to rock a crown.

But I think Kev hands down won with the best look.

Once Jamie made her rounds saying hi to everyone, Mark and Rach played a slide show they had made for her.  They included a ton of pictures of friends and family, and played the whole thing to 'Isn't She Lovely' which is the song that was playing when Jamie was born.  I mean seriously, if they don't win BFFLs of the year, I don't know who would.  The video slideshow obviously made everyone cry.  If you didn't cry, you have no soul.  And probably hate puppies.

And now let us introduce a series of photos that I would like to title: The Best Haircut Amy Has Ever Had.

And scene.  I mean, am I right folks?  Best hair cut ever.  It was so good, that I am actually nervous that my hairdresser Andrea will NEVER be able to do it this well again.  Man, she really set the bar high this time around.

After a few hours the downstairs opened up to the public, which included potentially one of the worst DJs ever.  I guess I would classify it as 'House' music, but it was totally undanceable.  To even further how bad this DJ was, he had a shirt on that said 'I don't do requests' - how awesome is that?

People started to peter out around midnight, but we were just getting started.  We all needed to dance, so the remaining soldiers hopped in cabs and booked it to our favorite Dorchester bar The Banshee for last call.  

Erin and I shared a cab and we were SO IRRATIONALLY EXCITED that we were in cab number 7!  This was my first time in any of the Top 10 cabs and I made it a point to have this entire conversation with the cabbie:

Me: OMG you must be SO EXCITED that you are the cab driver of cab number 7.  It must be such an honor!

Him [being ridiculously nice to me]: I like driving my cab - yes!

Me: Is there like, a ranking system?  Did you start with cab number 256 but you have worked your way up to number 7 as people have retired because you're just SO GOOD AT DRIVING CABS?!  When the driver of 6 quits does that mean you get it?

Him: No, it doesn't work that way, you are just assigned to cabs, I happen to be number 7.

Me: So, driving number 1 isn't your greatest goal in life?!

Him: No.

Me: That really sucks.

So irrationally excited!  NUMBER 7!  It's totally fitting that Erin and I would be in number 7, our suite in college was called THE SEVEN because 7 of us lived in it.  Sigh, I miss us!

I obviously need to pose with him once we arrived in Dorchester.  I mean, when I tell you that this guy answered all my questions and thought that we were potentially genuinely hilarious, I really mean it.  He was SO nice and really didn't flinch at all my crazy questions.  How come I am so obsessed with cabs, huh?  It makes zero sense.

My new best friend.  The driver of Cab Number 7.

Once we got inside The Banshee we tried to explain why we were so excited, but no one was having it, so we danced our faces off instead.  And did some birthday shots.

When the lights came on and the bouncers were yelling at us to 'GET OUT', I somehow got handed a bunch of colorful balloons.  I'm not sure whose they were, or why I got them, but they were definitely coming home with me.  I made sure to ask our next cab driver [sadly not number 7] 'do you mind that we have flair'?  He didn't mind and let me bring the entire bunch back to our apartment.  Photos were taken.

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY J!  Well, now we're actually closer to your half birthday, so happy 30.5!