The Birthday Post

File Under: Birthday Fun

My 41st birthday occurred on Friday May 2, 2008. I was born at 10:13 am on Tuesday May 2 1967 at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago. Hillary Clinton was also born there, in the same delivery room (but not at the same time).

Given that my birthday was on a Friday this year, I decided to take the day off from work along with the following Monday (Cinco de Mayo).

The fun started Thursday night when I met up with Vahona and we saw The B-52's at the House of Blues. We first had Thai food for dinner, both of us were having sinus issues, the spicy food helped to open up our sinuses and allowed us to enjoy the show. The B's were great, they performed a lot of songs off of their most recent album, "Funplex." Since the HOB does not allow cameras, the only picture I was able to take was with my camera phone.

From Vahona, I received a stuffed dog that sings "Closer to you" and the promise of a ticket to see "Avenue Q" when it arrives in Chicago. :) What fun!

After the show, Vahona dropped me off in Boystown where I decided to have a drink at Sidetrack. I ran into Anthony there and he insisted upon buying me my first drink of my 41st year along with a shot. I stayed at the bar until almost 1.

On my actual birthday, I got up, went to the gym, then to get a manicure/pedicure. That evening I was taken to dinner by Denise, Tina and Polo. We ate at DeCero, where we polished off two pitchers of mango margaritas. Extremely delicious but apparently void of alcohol.

Dan and Luis were noticably absent from the festivities. They were in Key West, enjoying some fun in the sun. They were there in spirit and wished me a long-distance happy birthday by sending me flowers. I received a beautiful bouquet of ranunculus.

Also sending birthday greetings were my friends Alina and Giselle, they sent me a stuffed bear with a bouquet of helium balloons. My friend Andy from Dayton also sent me a very generous Amazon.com gift certificate.

Denise gave me Ingrid Hoffman's "Simplicy Delicioso" cookbook along with some themed accessories, Tina and Polo gave me gift certificates to some of my favorite stores.

Saturday was low key. I wandered around some stores after going to the gym. I ended up at Crate and Barrel where I chatted with and got the phone number of a guy named Andy, not to be confused with my friend Andy from Dayton. :)

Sunday was fun, the weather was beautiful and I enjoyed being outside. I joined Denise, Tina and Polo for dinner again, this time at Ole' Ole', where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with margaritas and good food. The restaurant lacks good service at times and we had a long wait before we finally got our check. I also bought myself a birthday present on this day, a new laptop. :)

Monday was my last day off, and I spent part of it setting up my new computer. I managed to get most of my files transferred. It was also another beautiful day so I went to the gym, had lunch outside and wandered for a while.

The celebrating continued this weekend. Dan and Luis returned from Florida and on Friday night we went out to dinner at Charlie's Ale House. From them I received a gift certificate for a posh spa in the area where I can go for a massage or a manicure/pedicure.

Last night, my friend Gillian hosted a dinner party in my honor. She made a wonderful dinner. We had pasta bolognaise, ceasar salad, a cheese and meat platter and cupcakes for dessert. Patrick and his partner Mark gave me two cookbooks. I guess I'm cooking the next dinner. :)

I may be biased, but I think I've got the coolest friends on the planet.