Erin's Birthday !

Warning - This will be a LONG blog but at least it has pictures..! Today we went out to celebrate my friend Erin's birthday. Normally the ritual is: girls go out to dinner, girls have drinks after and maybe see a show or live music. Instead today 8 of us went to the see an American Modernist exhibit at the Bellagio then out for the longest (but one of the most fun) lunch I've ever been too. This was such a cool idea.

Erin is such an amazing chick. She's hysterical, a great momma, and an extremely talented artist. She and her best pal Diane (whom is also incredibly talented and I also love but pick on constantly..luv ya baby!) own Studio 11 Las Vegas ;-) It is so wonderful being in their 'tribe' as they call it. I feel like I've known them for much longer than a year.

The exhibit was cool even though I don't know a lot about the Modernists. I've always been more of a lover of Berninni, DaVinci, MichaelAngelou and other painters of the Renaisannce era although I walked away though very interested in Georgia O'Keefe and Max Weber. I'm definitely going to read and study them further. Anyway, after I almost got us kicked out of the exhibit about 2 seconds after walking in, we studied, laughed (very quietly), studied, whispered and enjoyed the paintings immensely.

Ok back to how we almost got kicked out. I have this ability of becoming obnoxious (I prefer to call it funny)in the most inappropriate places. Don't know why. It's always been there. My brother has it as well. It either comes in handy or can be a curse. It doesn't surface as much as when I was younger (whew) though but since Erin and Diane bring out the worst in me (I'm sure they'll say that's debatable) it came out pretty quickly. So we walk in and started talking about a Georgia O'Keefe piece. We got on the docent's naughty list (he was glaring) because we were loud. Anyway, we had these bulky audio guides that looked like the first cell phones in existence. After using mine for 2 paintings, we come to one that we all congregate around. Noticing that we're all together at one painting and that it's extremely quiet while we read the little sign next to the piece, I put my audio guide to my ear and deadpan "Hello room service? (the snickering starts) I'd like you send to send up the Thunder Down Under dance guys and a box of condoms please." Loud, raucous laughter ensues that was way too inappropriate. Here comes the docent...After something like a "Be quiet or you'll have to leave" to us, we quickly try to put on our best art game faces and sally forth.

The best thing about the exhibit is that a handful of gals I'm with are professional artists. It was so interesting listening to them study the Modernists' techniques, ie-talking about brush strokes, what the artist was trying to convey, etc.. I wish I was able to take pics inside the gallery but no go. If anyone is interested, here's the official Bellagio link about the exhibit: http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/gallery-of-fine-art.aspx

After going through the exhibit gift shop and believing that we are now all American Modernist experts, we head on to Firefly, a Spanish tapas restaraunt. I must say that I felt sorry for anyone else on the patio within earshot distance of us and most of all our waiter who took a lot of good natured abuse from us. I've always firmly believed that women are way worse then men when they get together. Today proved it but more about that later.

The food at this place is AMAZING! We ordered tons of tapas (little dishes) - stuffed dates, baked brie, camarones a la diabla, gazpaucho, ahi tuna skewers and firefly fries to name a few. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with a light breeze coming across the patio so between that and this fab cuisine, it was a magnificient lunch. We ate and ate and ate. Ok so didn't I title this post as Erin's birthday?

8 Crazy Girlies

Erin and Me

So Erin opens her presents then in the midst of all the laughter, she gets mushy for a minute and tells us all that she having these friends in her life is one of her greatest blessings. Loved it..

Fake Tears

Back to the laughter - I can't even remember half of the stuff we talked about but it seemed like every single person was funnier than the next..Oh yeah, one huge debate we had was if porn was healthy or not. Didn't I mention that I felt sorry for the people around us? So there was this certain gal at the table, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, who had her eye on our hot waiter. It didn't help that someone else (have no idea who) was egging the situation on everytime the poor guy came to our table. The funniest thing is that Erin and I INSTANTLY knew as soon as this man came to our table that our gal pal was going to start salivating. Fortunately this guy was a good sport about it and even dropped a few hints that he may be interested. Poor guy - his butt was burning everytime he walked away from the table from our gal pal's eyes. We all agreed that women are SO much worse then men when it comes to being obnoxious..

Finally after about 3 hours we FINALLY ordered a pitcher of Sangria..YES, until then this had occurred at a liquor free table (pretty much). Oh except for Erin's birthday shot. Middle of the day drinking indulgence is soo 20 years ago (I say that because I had to drive home). Anyway, that pitcher disappeared rather quickly. Cut to when everyone finally decides to head out. Melanie and Terri want to see Erin's house (she just painted some stuff) with Meegan (Erin's sis) before they go to Bette Midler, Kelli has to pick up her grandson, Erica goes back to paint (sign of a true artist - she had paint under her nails), Diane heads home to her boys and I head home as well. About halfway home I seriously start having to go to the bathroom..Traffic on the Strip was madness as usual so it took me 20 minutes to drive the 3-4 blocks to the freeway so by the time I hit it, I was dying. I then get a call from Erin, Meegan, Terri and Melody to meet them at this new bakery near Erin's house. I'm saying I have to go home because I have to pee BAD! They tell me to just go at the bakery..so in the spirit of Erin's b-day, I skip my exit and head on. A bathroom run (literally) into the 7-11 next door saves the day then I meet them at the bakery.

Ok, Retro Bakery is cool and so are the owners. A young couple who are hip and pretty funny. Example - I make some vague comment about wine while we're all sitting on the couches munching on yummy cupcakes when Kari (owner wife) leans on the counter and says "Oh, you like wine?" rather sweetly. I say "Yes, I do" and she says "Aww how sweet, I like HARD LIQUOR" while staring down her nose at me. Of course, more laughter explodes..Ok, I can tell she could SO be a part of our tribe. Meegan goes in there every morning on the way to work so she told us this couple was cool..She was SO right! I'll have to blog about Meegan soon. She is a hip chick as well. In the meantime, during all of this laughter Brian (owner hubby) comes out of the kitchen looks at us, turns around and walks back in the kitchen. More yelling and laughing.. Check out Kari's blog 'Building a Bakery' in our Faves list.



That's the end of the story. I went home to my hubby and kids and relaxed with them 'til we put Pip to bed then Hunter and I decided to go see a movie. Paul went to bed. He was pooped after running with the kids all day. We saw Vantage Point. Not bad, not bad...

As I read back on this I quickly noticed a common theme of the day..Laughter. Obnoxious or otherwise, I think the best days are the ones where there is lots of it.