Make Room in the Hot Tub!
Oh, what a fabulous day yesterday! For those of you that know me well enough, yesterday was supposed to be a significant day for me. Things changed and the plans for yesterday changed along with them. It could have easily been a sad day of self-pity and keeping to myself but instead I decided to make it a day of celebration with friends. After hemming and hawing earlier in the week as to whether it was something I wanted to do, Wednesday I bucked up and set the plan in motion for what was to be a stupendously wonderful evening of drinks, reminiscing and laughter. Ryan and Lisa graciously opened their country home for all of us to enjoy and we took full advantage, but we will get to that in a little bit.
First, the day started with sushi. It was a last minute idea, and a brilliant one at that. Last minute, impromptu sushi always seems to taste better for some reason. Jen picked me up at home and we headed to the little sushi place down the road from my place. We put our order in and then went to the grocery store next door to grab our drink mix while our lunch was being made. Upon returning, our sushi was waiting for us at the table and we dove in. The spicy tuna was especially tasty this day, but really it was all very good. Stuffed with sushi, we hopped in the car and headed for the west end, trying to get across town before rush hour traffic – minus a little bit of construction we were successful.
Our first stop was Karters’ Korner. Why? Because Jen had some mini-putt vengeance to dish out. Why? Because on Wednesday I kicked her ass on the green carpet and she needed revenge. It was up to me to pick the venue for the latest tournament, and since the last one was more of a technical course this time I went with windmills, barns, planes and the sort. Perhaps the whimsical atmosphere inspired Jen as she rattled off 2-putt holes like they were nothing. Perhaps it was the Red Bull giving her a jolt. Maybe it was her golf shorts intimidating me. Whatever it was, it worked! She bested me by one stroke with a final score of 52. Needless to say, a rubber match is in the works once we find a location. Our grudge match out of the way, we hit the liquor store before reaching Costco to pick up burgers and buns. We learned our lesson last time we were at Ryan’s, making sure that whoever brings the burgers brings the buns so that we don’t have cooked burgers and no buns in the event that the person in charge of the buns is really late. An important life lesson to remember there!
Once at Ryan’s the good times continued. My drink of choice for the night was Malibu Rum & Cokes with fresh mint leaves. Judging by how many I had, they were good. We all sat around and caught up as we waited for everyone to arrive, little Isabel stealing the show with her blond curls and big blue eyes. Once all invitees were on location we dug into the delicious grub that everyone brought so that the hot tubbing and bonfiring (yup, I am using them as verbs – sue me!) could commence. Those that jumped into the hot tub clearly did not heed my “no hot tub 30 minutes after eating” advisory, but I couldn’t blame them as I didn’t either. Forty-five minutes to an hour in the hot tub and I was sufficiently pruney enough to call it quits and head to the bonfire. There we continued to drink and fondly remember the old times… and then the skunk hit! We don’t know if one of the dogs attacked it or if they even got sprayed, but we do know that the stench wafted over us and we had to head inside for shelter. That was until the house began to stink more than it did outside, at which point we returned to our revelry around the fire into the early morning hours before heading home.
It was a great night and exactly what I needed. Thanks Ryan, Lisa and everyone who came. I really appreciated it! As usual, here are the photos to go along with the day’s events. I hate using flash and so keep that in mind for the night shots…
Tags: bbq, bonfire, celebration, friends, hot tub, mini-putt
