my birthday post... finally!

ok, so my birthday was almost a whole month ago and i have yet to write about it. it is now buried in my other posts, so i figured a whole new post would work better.

as i stated before, this was by far one of the best birthdays i've ever had and i owe it all to my wonderful friends! devon started things off right by suggesting the venue: tizi melloul and also by sending out the evite to everyone. thank you dev dev!! the official party started on sat, the 19th (my birthday) at my house for some pre dinner cocktails and wine. after my house, we all went to tizi melloul which is a very fun mediterranean place. following tizi melloul, a few brave people ventured onwards to several more bars.

the party started at 847 w fletcher #2 around 745 in the evening. devon was the first to arrive and then alice and her roommate trisha arrived. i don't remember the order of everyone else, but i can tell you who was all there! it was quite a full house and so fun!

alice (high school friend), trisha (her roommate), yena (a former coworker from nnn), adam (yena's boyfriend), matt (former nnn coworker), elizabeth (matt's gf), laura (high school friend), katy (high school friend), devon (scrippsie), nicole (scrippsie), adam (cmc), neringa (realtor who sold me my divine home), and mitch (neringa's hubbie)
culver high school group
claremont colleges group
NNN former coworkers group
neringa sold us both our great places group


our reservation at tizi melloul was for 10pm in their special room. they have a room off the main dining area that is kind of like a circus tent in that it is very bright colors and round. it has an amazing light fixture in the middle of it (see picture). it was a $35 prix fixe menu and the food was fabulous. we had the whole room to ourselves and we took full advantage of that. it was such great company and good food. what a marvelous dinner!
the pretty light fixture!
almost the whole group


after dinner, katy, elizabeth, matt, and i trudged on. because dinner had been so long and didn't end til well after midnight, i couldn't blame anyone for going home afterwards. we'd certainly consumed a massive amount of wine and food from my house and the restaurant! but the four of us were ready for more and out we went. we got some bar suggestions from the restaurant and took off. i have no idea what the names of the bars were, but i think we went to two and maybe did shots at both, but definitely at one. the clock quickly turned to two am and we were all kicked out... but lucky for the four of us... chicago allows some bars to stay open til 4am! so off to rockit bar and grill (site of new years) we went since it was the only place i knew open that late. the four of us were silly drunk and had a blast playing around and dancing and posing for pics on the pool table... i don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time! around 345am, we all decided we were ready for bed and so we went home.
me and elizabeth
me and katy
and me and matt dancing, i think. i just love his face here!

the next day, i had a raging headache, but managed to pull it together to go have some afternoon football at messners on sheffield with katy and her brother mitch as well as some of his buddies. i then left them and went to a birthday celebration dinner with my aunt and uncle at a restaurant called chalkboard. it was delicious!


and this is why i had the best birthday ever: amazing friends from a variety of phases in my life!!