Today is my 31st birthday. The day itself promises to be a little subdued, but only because we had a wild adventure over the weekend. To wit:
- sketchy-ass "winery" near Carthage that we said "no" to and drove away;
- Osceola Cheese Factory, where I ate a LOT of cheese;
- drinking champagne out of plastic cups while crammed in the backseat of a car;
- crocheting a bottle holder while drinking champagne out of plastic cups;
- using the empty bottle to test out the bottle holder (it works!);
- stopping by Red Fox Winery on the way from cheese to KC;
- asking the guy guiding our wine tasting to open a bottle of wine for the rest of the drive to KC;
- meandering around KC, drinking coffee and visiting fancy grocery stores in the P&L district;
- located new ciders for me to drink;
- drinking free champagne in the lobby of the hotel after some drama getting in;
- more wandering around, but with gelato!
- going to eat at the fabulous Extra Virgin, which was incredible
- going to the arcade at the Alamo Drafthouse, where I got my ass handed to me by all the retro games (all the iterations of PacMan, Paperboy, and this strange game where I was serving Budweiser to patrons.)
- Some sleep!
- Brunch at Succotash, which was incredible and amazing and had gluten-free pancakes
- A bit of shopping at the Trader Joe's and World Market before we hit the road;
- Locating some new GF things at Trader Joe's;
- ...and, drinking wine/cider while crammed in the backseat of the car as I crocheted a new project on the way home
- Stop at the White Oak station in Rogers (we had mentioned it on the way up)
(Lest you think we were being irresponsible, let me assure you that our driver was totally sober, and Missouri has no open container laws, so we were totally legal.)
I can't believe how much we did in two days, and it was a blast. Not only did my friends plan this incredible outing and shower me with love and affection, but I can't think of a better to celebrate my birthday than cramming five adults over 30 into a car and acting like we were barely 21. I think it ranks in the top 5 birthdays, for sure, perhaps even one of the best in recent memory.
However, with all that fun, and because I'm 31 now, I have basically been recovering today, which means the actual day of my birthday will be much more low-key. And I'm okay with that. Balance!
Thank you, friends, for the marvelous birthday.
