You gotta fight...for your right...

I remember the days when I used to skate in endless circles at Skateaway, singing the Beastie Boys at the top of my lungs. Those were the days before (WAY before) I was thirty.

But now, I am thirty. And you know what? It doesn't sound so bad.

"How old are you?"

"Thirty."

Yep, I think I am okay with that.

Anyway, Saturday night was definitely one of the more fun weekend nights I have had in a while. Usually, I am either resting up for working or prepping for clinical on a Saturday night. This Saturday night? I was at a party! And it was MY party! And it was fantastic.

Picture our relatively little ranch house. Picture it crammed with fifty people. Picture these people spilling out onto the deck and into the yard, even though they were cold because they hadn't brought sweaters and sweatshirts because they didn't realize that the weather in the mountains* would be about ten degrees cooler than the weather in the valley. Picture me, slightly overwhelmed, flitting about and trying to talk to a crowd that included (a) my best friends from high school, (b) my best friend from college the first time around, (c) my best friend from college this time around, (d) Bill's and my friends that we have made together, (e) Bill's friends that have become my friends over the past almost-six years, (f) various members of Bill's family, (g) various members of my family, and (h) the date of my best friend from college, who was someone I had never met before. It was a little crazy. But it was crazy in a fun way. And it was definitely very touching for me to see the big turnout and spend time with people who had traveled all that way (see "mountains," above) to celebrate my birthday with me.

We had food items galore. I asked all of Bill's aunts, along with my mom and his mom, to bring with them my favorite foods that they make. It was using this method that we got chili, ziti, potato salad, macaroni salad, taco dip, and brownies to share with the guests. I also added some other foods to the mix, and it was a yummy night. Many people brought wine, and we also had a keg of Coors Light, which isn't the best beer ever for drinking but is one of the best beers ever for the late night festivities, which centered around four hours of Beer Pong.

And I am proud to say that Bill and I were on the Beer Pong table for almost the entire four hours. It must have been the birthday mojo.

Now, around 8:45, there was what looked like was going to be a serious crimp in the plans when THE TAP STOPPED WORKING. Tragedy and horror. Number one, what were these people going to drink? Number two, what were we were going to do with a practically full keg of beer AFTER THE PARTY??? Luckily, our friend Jason came to the rescue (side note - you sort of have to assume that at a party that included the crowd that this party included, someone would be able to fix the tap...thank God that was true!). The tap worked a bit longer, and then it broke again. The engineers** decided that it needed to be oiled. As they were discussing whether oiling it with WD-40 would poison the beer, Sarah's husband Abe pointed out that we use a variety of oils in our cooking. He suggested peanut oil. We only had olive oil. It worked just fine.

Anyway, many laughs were shared and much fun was had, and because I stuck with beer all night, I didn't even wake up with a hangover. Life is good.

Oh, yeah, the wallet? People were generous with their cash gifts. My sister was generous with her gift of a Coach purse. Oh, my wallet doesn't fit in my new purse? What a shame. One trip to Macy's the next morning, and here's what I am carrying now. It took all my birthday cash, but I love it. It was totally worth it.

*We live sort of at the foot of the Pocono Mountains. But it's the mountains, people. It gets cold there at night.
**Guys interested in drinking all the beer.