Wendy DeCora.com

I just sat here for ten minutes trying to come up with some clever title for this post to no avail. And I wonder why I don’t get more important things accomplished…

Am I digressing if I haven’t even said anything yet?

So the weekend. Yeah. Ok, Friday after work I made the always exciting drive over to Des Moines to see Jewels and enjoy some good New Orleans music. We went out to dinner at the Raccoon River Brewing Company. I had the Lobster Mafaldine and I would definitely recommend against that dish. It was just not very good. Though you probably won’t have to worry about it since the waitress said they’re taking it off the menu next week and she didn’t think it was very good. Which would’ve been a nice thing to mention BEFORE I ordered it when I was asking exactly what mafaldine noodles were. Yeah, she decided to keep her opinion to herself until after we had our food and she came back to our table to “see how things were tasting” and I told her I didn’t really like it, and she just agreed. Gee, thanks for the help.

Thankfully, the after-dinner entertainment did not disappoint. We went to a club called Vaudeville Mews to see Stanton Moore perform with his trio. I’m familiar with Stanton because he plays with Bonerama from time to time (as well as performing on their last two albums), but he’s way more well known on his own from his own groups like Galactic. I wasn’t sure what the crowd would be like, or even if there would be a crowd. Its not a huge venue, but it was non-smoking and it had a balcony. Jewels and I got a couple of stools upstairs where we had a nice view of the stage and the sixty or so people in attendance. It could’ve been more, but it wasn’t a large space, but it was full without being packed. The music was great. Its Stanton on drums with organ and guitar in a cool funk/blues/jazz mix. At the break, I got his new cd, III, and they all signed it. Its a great album. Not that I’m biased in anyway since Mark plays on it. We had a good time and Julie enjoyed the music, now I’ve just got to get her to a Bonerama show sometime.

Here’s one photo from the balcony:

Saturday morning I headed over to Josh’s house to watch the Iowa/Indiana football game. All I will say about that is that I’m surprised someone else in the neighborhood didn’t come make sure we were ok after the amount of anguished screaming that was coming out of his house. Stupid losing. I then headed back to IC, thinking I’d seen the last of Julie and Josh for the weekend… but I would be wrong. When I got home, the house smelled like baking, but there were no baked goods to be found. I was a little suspicious, but in the end, I figured Rachel had just baked something for a gathering she had gone to and the tasty items were just gone. I spent the rest of Saturday night watching TiVo and movies (I saw enough movies this past weekend that they will require a separate post).

Sunday, I watched some more dvd’s and also went to see The Illusionist in the theater. I knew I had plans to have dinner with Jerry & Sara & Antalya and Doogie & Colleen that night. I thought nothing of them picking me up since they often do when we go places together. We arrived at the Brown Bottle (which I remembered was where I had my 21st birthday dinner, where the hell did the last nine years go?!) and Doogie & Colleen weren’t visibly anywhere which I thought was odd. As we headed to the back to sit down somewhere, I started to hear singing and there was a whole table of my friends and balloons! I was surprised.

Josh and Julie had come over from Des Moines on a Sunday night! And Diane redeemed herself. ;) She’d sent me an email earlier in the week in response to a dinner invitation I had sent out on my own and said she was free. Then a couple days later she sent me another email and said she was busy. I was so mad. *chuckle* My friend Adrienne was also there, who now just lives a block or so from me, but who I haven’t seen since the spring. It was Adrienne who introduced Rachel and I and it was Rachel who threw me the surprise party! That was a huge surprise. I was really touched and impressed! Dinner was kind of a blur just because I was overwhelmed and there were so many people and so many cards and a bit of wine. Actually I think most of us had a wine sampler, so that meant three glasses per person, so we really looked like a party of lushes. HA! The restaurant brought me a piece of somekind of brownie pie with a candle, but I wasn’t permitted to get dessert beyond that. There was more to come apparently.

Rachel invited everyone back to our place for dessert. I knew there had to be a cake somewhere! I rode back with Julie since she wasn’t a local who knew where she was going. When we got home, the whole place was decorated with streamers, balloons, confetti, and candles! There was my favorite chocolate chip surprise cake (recipe supplied by my mom), ice cream, candy, and frozen drinks such as mojitos. Rachel had really gone all out! And then, as if I wasn’t surprised enough, the doorbell rang and there was Frosty and Margaret! And since Frosty can’t go to a party without making something, he had brought over the stuff to make hot spiced apple cider. So thoughtful. :)

Pictures from the evening are up. More thanks to Rachel for taking pictures. I only took the one of my food and the one where Sara looks dead. (Now you have to go look, don’t you?)

After everyone headed home (since most of them had to work the next day. Suckers), Rachel and I cleaned up the place and she was kind enough to deflate all the balloons that were going to give me nightmares if I got up and found them all over the floor the next morning. (If you weren’t aware, I have a serious aversion to balloons laying about. I can’t handle the potential for popping. Helium ones are fine.)

Whew! Its not even my birthday yet! Ok, so my birthday finally did arrive, in all its rainy Monday glory, and I had been smart enough to take the day off. I slept in, then Sara and I took Antalya and we went and had pancakes at Lou Henri’s. After that we went and picked up fresh shrimp and crab from the Fabian Seafood truck. Get on their mailing list if you like fresh seafood. After that, I headed home to check my mail. Yea cards! I got a nice amount of cards in the mail and a lot of e-cards and emails from friends and family. Then I headed back to the theater (yea movie theater gift certificates!) to see The Departed. By then, I was just kind of done with the eating out and the running about. I spent the rest of the evening eating leftovers from the weekend and catching up with TiVo.

It was a fantastic birthday weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so!