birthday weekend recap.

So…somehow I am still alive and in one piece after a totally fun birthday weekend.  It started off with mom coming in..then Saturday, we headed uptown to Beer, Bourbon and BBQ, a festival with music and the aforementioned treats.  We drank a good bit, sampling all the vendors and they had some killer BBQ.

This is my mom, double-fisting, with my sunglasses on her head.

Here’s my mom, me, the SM and our friend Ben, taking in the sights and sounds; like an old man band playing Allman Brothers…and someone who was a mix between Bo Bice and Tarzan.

After we sweated (swote?) out most of our beer and bourbon, we headed home for a nap and a shower before the real festivities; karaoke and chillin’ at one of our favorite hometown bars.

Got there about 8:15 for the 8:30 start time, and Sam was already there, a few beers down.

We got a huge table and the friends started flowing in.  Sadly I was the only one in our party to sing karaoke that evening.  But I do think everyone had a pretty good time, getting their drink on, socializing and just hanging out.  I know that I had a great time, despite being sick from the whole day of being out in the sun and trying something close to 20 beers.  Thanks to everyone for coming out and celebrating with me!

Due to the crazy shenanigans that were Saturday, Sunday was a load of nothingness.  Mom and I went to the mall for a bit for some shoes and then I took her to the airport and crashed on the couch the rest of the day.  I swear, I am still hungover.  Its pretty sad.  Today has been a mass exodus of productivity out of my brain and I swear a tribe of “fuckitols” are squatting where my drive use to live.  It’s ugly.  But it’s a paycheck.  I gotta get back to it.

burfday weekend: day 1.

So yesterday, my real birthday, started off the “weekend” pretty well.  work went by as quickly as one could expect, and my mom’s plane got here in one piece, so that was totally boss.

We headed home, got freshened up and headed to the Rusty Rudder…a fun, chill place up on Lake Norman.  We ordered some crab dip and a load of coronas and chatted it up.  Some fish tacos and a good buzz later, we headed back home only to realize how totally exhausted we all were.  But before we could crash, the SM gave me my presents.  He was torn between a few things for my big gift, so he said we’d get it together and that is totally fine with me.  But I got a rashguard for surfing, a few DVDs; John From Cincinnati (the show on HBO), PS I Love You and the whole Beatles Anthology. All totally awesome and much appreciated.  now I can just hope for some more fun times, good conversations and some nookie later on.  I can’t be going my whole birthday without wearing my birthday suit.

We watched a little Ghost Hunters on Sci-Fi and by that time, it was time to go to sleep.  Nice, chill….but pretty mundane first day of what may turn out to be a pretty epic weekend.  I guess we were just saving up all of our energy for the rest of my mom’s stay and the karaoke shenanigans tomorrow night.

thanks guys.

Here is the birthday “cake” I got from the guys in the office today.  A Brownie with ice cream and whipped cream.  I am a lucky girl.  Thanks guys.

i can haz burfdai?

Twenty eight years ago today, my dear mom, Cindy Marie, squoze me out, into the world, to change the world forever. Who knew after one last Lamaze breath and a push at doctor’s Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, the world could be so totally boss?

My dad wanted a boy. I was going to be Dallas Ryan, named after his favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys. He had stocked up on little footballs and other boy stuff, despite my mom’s un-encouragement. Little did he know that that little 6 pound, 6 ounce, 19 inch bundle of slimy goodness would change his life forever in a way that a little boy wouldn’t.

But alas, I had a va-jay-jay.  I was going to be Jennifer Ashleigh, but my mom realized that everyone in America was naming their kid Jennifer at the time, so with the coercing of my grandma, I turned out to be Ashleigh Nicholle.  They saw it in the newspaper about a week before I was born, and that seemed like a good enough reason to give me such a consonant-intensive name.

I wasn’t so healthy when I popped out…I had a heart murmur (until I was 12) and had to stay in the hospital for a little while. I like to think it was because the outside world wasn’t ready for my awewsomeness yet. The doctors had different reasons. Whatever. Details are stupid.

Almost 3 decades later, I am here to rock your worlds, make fun of the world and hopefully make it a slightly sunshinier place. i hope I have made the best of my last 28 years and I hope to do even bigger and better things in the next 28.

Fun Trivia: Other (less) important things that happened on July 10th:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_10

happy birthday.

Happy birthday to the luckiest man in music and my favorite Beatle, Ringo Starr. Born Richard Starkey in the Dingle neighborhood of Liverpool just a mere 68 years ago today (1940), he somehow managed to become the drummer of arguably the best band to ever grace a rock and roll stage. Formerly of a little-known band (outside of the Mersey River area, anyways) Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Ringo made the transition to the Beatles when their usual drummer, Pete Best, couldn’t make it to a gig. John and Paul asked Ringo to sit in for the evening. He was such a cool MFer that they asked him to stay on full time. Besides, Pete Best was a whiney douche and wanted to be the “cute Beatle” when Paul McCartney obviously already had that on lock-down.

Ever since my obsession with the Beatles started in 1995 (I bought my first album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), Ringo has been my confident, quirky, adorable old-man crush. He was the oldest Beatle and the only one with blue eyes. So today, we at the AOT wish Ringo a happy happy birthday. In honor of the man himself, today - - choose love.

a truly blessed day.

On this day, 33 years ago, the delicious, sexy slab of man meat we call David Beckham was born in London, England. I wasn’t alive yet, but I am pretty fairly confident God came down from upon his throne and personally touched David saying, “This is my son, I am well pleased,” just like he did for his other Chosen Son.  According to my calculations, David Beckham is just behind Jesus in my short list of favorite guys of all time.

Happy birthday, mate.