Rehashing the weekend...

I do not even know where to start with this entry...It was a weekend that was made for a spectacular 24th birthday celebration. It all started Friday morning when I picked up Sanjida from the ariport and drove she and Jenne to Iowa City.

It was a fun filled adventure all the way down the road. Along about tollway 88 a very guido looking man driving a tan Lexus around about the age of 65 kept passing us and pulling up next to us. This went on for about 10 miles and he would smile from ear to ear, as if he had never seen 3 girls in a car before and went as far as to blow us kisses. He even tried to flash us hand signals, but we had no idea what he was doing. Before too long, he exited off the tollway and we all had a good giggle about how we always manage to attract randoms...even on the road.

We arrived in IC around 4pm where we picked up my brother and his friend TJ at his apt and drove them downtown where we checked into the Sheraton and prepped for the night. There Sanjida presented Aaron and I with a nice birthday gift. She gave us hot pink cowboy hats that have tierras on the front(you can see them in almost every picuture). Since one of rooms wasn't ready when Aaron had checked in earlier, we had free drinks at the hotel bar.

The first stop on the schedule was It's Brothers(1/2 price drinks and $2 pitchers) where we ate dinner and had some refreshing beverages from 5-7pm. There I had an incredible long island ice tea and an amaretto sour. There lots of friends stopped by and joined us for the night. Aaron and I had a deal that we would not buy eachother birthday gifts this year, instead suprise eachother with one shot throughout the night that we had to take together. Aaron used up his turn early in the night when we took a lunchbox together. Leaving Brothers, Aaron did a series of cartwheels for the camera.

Moving on down the street we did our 2 hour shift at the SpoCo. There we enjoyed $2 pitchers of beer and $1 bottles. (Try and find those specials in Chicago!) There the fun really started. There was dance and lots of posing for pictures. The place was packed before 8pm and there was lots of spillage due to people bumping around. Jill the thrill joined us there and I saw a few people that I went to high school with and Jenne even felt the need to stick his pitcher of beer and stir it for him. Jenne also made friends with John the old man that is always at the bar and likes to buy us shots. We took a picture with the giant wooden indian that hangs out in the bar. Aaron and I recreated the infamous beer pouring from the pretty in pastels party at UNI and Aaron felt the need to use his cowboi hat as a beer bottle holder. After a glorious and crowded 2 hours at the Column we crossed the street.

Atlas welcomed us with open arms down in the lounge. After doing a 14 person round of the traditional sexy alligator shot...I did another. While Mel did 3, after getting a free shot because the bartender accidently spilled water all down the front of Zimmer. There Aaron and I recreated the napping picture on teh leather couch from the night he got accepted to med school and he did a solo of pretending to vomit over the side of the couch. We teamed up for another pic shortly after to recreated flying on the pool table as we did the night of formal my senior year. I attacked Jenne on the leather couch and we cuddled for a moment. The time at Atlas was short lived, but bursting with memories.

At 10 bells, we meandered over to Bo James for $2 big beers. Jenne and I took a small detour through Whitey's so she could get some of the good ice cream for the first time ever. While Jenne sat on a park bench and ate the treat, I headed on in to find the crew. Mel popped on out of Bo James with her gin and tonic still in her hand and joined Jenne on the bench. Melita and Jenne popped on into Panche's and Mel ate her burrito straight off the table and headed home for the night while Jenne joined back up with the crawl. At Bo James, I ran into former RA Jason Bouska...now a dental student and I had him look to see if I had a cavity. Yes, imagine me with my big mouth wide open at the bar with Jason sticking his whole head in my mouth trying to see to the back in a dark bar. Quite the funny scene and no, he couldn't see anything. We all piled in a booth and had some nice chats and I got cozy with my girl Sam Brown who I hadn't got to chat with in a long time. Josh and TJ called it a night and I ran into Angela and Tim(who was wearing some spiffy new glasses) and Kori(who is in law school with my brother) gave us a bunch of free beer(Thanks Kori!).

Aaron called and said that he had ran to the Summit so the whole crew rolled on over. Things had started to get pretty crazy byt that point. Some people started to mellow out while others were just getting amped up. Aaron and I were feeling adventuresome and decided we soudl dance on an table in the outdoor patio of Summit. When the man came to ask us to get down, I just responded "You lived in Burge." Sure enough, he did. We left the Summit and headed back to Brothers...always and ending spot. There I saw "new Matt" and tried to convince him that we shoudl hang out and go to a Sox game when he is back in town...ha ha ha. That'll never happen. We didn't stay at Brothers for too long before heading to Pancheros where I got an incredible burrito to go and ate it at taco bell. The clan really split up there and the city dwellers headed back to thier respective places and we out of towners went to our hotel. We brought Vanis with us where we had a good long heart to heart. At some point, Aaron got an energy surge and and felt the need to pester us all. Aaron jumped on my bed to I tickeled him until he fell off the bed. When he pounced again, I flew back and my head SLAMMED into the headboard. It hurt so bad that I thought I was going to cry. Jenne being a health science major came up with the great idea to slove my aching head issue by taking me to the ice machine and sticking my head under whiel she held the ice button in. Thre ice pelted my head...which didn't make it feel better. Aaron got jealous and wanted his head in the ice machine too...you'll just have to wait for Sanjida's pictures on that one. Back in the room I was sitting on the bed and Aaron felt the need to pick up the whole mattress adn flip it over with me on it. There I sat on the ground with a mattress on top of me. We all settled down after that and got some good sleep.

In the morning Aaron flexed his big arm muscles for us and we said our good byes. I drove Jenne and Sandy back to Chicago where I dropped Sandy off at the airport. The drive back was much less eventful than the one there. It was a great weekend overall.

I am sure I left some stories out that will have to be added later.
Thanks for a great birthday weekend everyone that came and added to the fun (sorry if your name didn't get specifically mentioned...I am sure you are in one of the pictures!)

See the drama that occured...pictures galore(listed as 24th Birthday). Sandy's to be coming soon!