My super-awesome birthday weekend

Deviled Eggs. Lemon Drop Martinis. Yellow Knobs.Rooftops. Familiar Faces. Rum Punch. Neck Tats. Misspelled Neck Tats. Arm Tats. 16th and Minnesota SE. Young Boys. New Friends. The Right People. Green Pants. Bandages. The General and his Blondie. The Woods. Peace. God. MexiCAN. Winery. Chocolat.

I had an awesome pre-birthday weekend. After consciously making a decision not to "freak out" about birthday plans (though that wasn't 100% the case), I've had the BEST birthday I've had since moving to DC and it isn't even my birthday yet!

This weekend was really great. I started Friday night with deviled eggs and a couple lemon drop martinis yes, I am aware of now disgusting that sounds . We hit a rooftop party for someone's birthday to indulge in the finest of bow ties, seersucker suits, and rainbow stripes that DC has to offer. We ventured to Dupont to Current sushi. Ok, so I'm not really one down for paying to get into lounges/clubs unless I'm 1) on vacation, 2) venturing to a new venue, or 3) really interested in what's going on inside the spot and since Current wasn't fitting the descrip of any of the above....I was good with rolling on when the "owner" wanted to charge for entry and his bouncer suggested a table. Hello, this is a sushi spot, the crowd is "Fayetteville" as CR described it, and I'm just not that pressed. Anyway I was asked to remain silent after I told the bouncer he could roll on with the table talk, but my method worked...I mean we were let in no charge-no problem after that. Anyway after what seemed like an eternity of MJ hits, girls with their arms in the air wearing flip flops and getting sloppy drunk disgusted....we left and trekked to the next spot. Now, I'm wearing the highest heels in the group (being one of only two ladies in the entourage), but the guys were the ones whining about the walk lol. Anywho, we got there and *cough* made a decision not to enter, at that point we piled into a cab and went home BUT it was still a pretty great night, not to mention that the lemon drop martinis made by Jason at the Liaison Hotel Bar were absolute perfection!

FF to Saturday. I scored a few really pretty knobs for my DIY dresser project that I'll start tomorrow on my day off. Then we hit not one but two day parties. The first the more typical bougie "DC" crowd. Full of familiar faces, flowing weaves, men who are more interested in talking to other men, and the one guy who referred to himself as Collective Bargaining or Soul or some foolish name he gave himself. He was probably the highlight of my experience though, donning lime green khakis and a tangerine and white plaid shirt WITH suspenders and braided leather loafers. He had the sporadic Anthony Hamilton facial hair going and was grooving and rapping along to EVERY SONG. Yes, I gave him my number! Why not, he was much more amusing than the guys walking around with misspelled neck tattoos and those who were too perfectly groomed to touch in 90+ degree weather. So being the person that never forgets a face, I looked up and saw I guy I was pretty sure I'd met like 6 years ago at a random party in Atlanta, and sure enough it was him. Turns out he just moved here like everyone else on earth because DC is the new Atlanta and we know some of the same people because DC is the size of the pupil of my eye.

So we blew that joint and decided to hit the second party. Now, before we went there, I asked LWW who was hosting this party. He didn't know but said that one of his phrat brothers was spinning. So that PLUS the fact that it was a bar in Dupont led me to believe it would be more along the lines of the first party we went to. I. Was. Wrong. The guys went ahead of us and by the time we arrived, we were greeted by two groups of three 'rats who were literally about to fight over a parking spot. Seeking to escape that, we rolled up to the rooftop where we were greeted by the stench of purp, mariJUWANNA, or whatever you kids call it these days. Walked in and I was in the middle of the hood.I literally felt as if we were in on a video set. There's baby daddy tats, strippers, Kelly Rowlands, hood dudes with good hair, brothas who obviously got jumped-went to the hospital-and then came straight to the party, keloids, gel, weaves, stilettos, pumps- ALLL OF THAT. The funny thing is that the DJ was awesome (S/O To DJ Schemes) and we had a really good time. I felt a little under-tatted considering that I have none and there was apparently a 4 tat minimum that I skirted when I entered. But the crew I was with made the whole thing worth while. We stayed for a couple hours and then had dinner. I even tried to go back out that night but once prompted to pay a $20 cover for a place that didn't meet the aforementioned criteria, I sashayed back to my car and drove home but not before seeing a familiar face in the line. I spoke, mentioned my birthday, and then got hit with the "well I'm off Tuesday" line, to which I'm sure my reply looked something like o_O. Did this brotha just invite himself to celebrate my birthday with me on my day off? (SN this is probably why so many women are single-just turning down people who make an effort to be polite, but I'll take my chances on this one).

Sunday was the big day. I'd sent out cute little invites, found a cute and appropriate 'fit, and was ready for my birthday celebration at the Mariott Ranch. Yup, last year it was guns, this year it is horses for the official bday celebration. I met up with the boys and we headed out to western Virgina where the deer and the antelope play to do a trail ride. Ok, so as we were driving I was feeling a little bit of a punk out coming. I don't really like the outdoors and this looked to be like uncivilized land...but I was there, I'd committed, and I manged to get five men out of bed pretty early in the morning to drive 1.5 hours west to do this. So we did it. OMG it was amazing (aside from my horse's need to smell his girlfriend's butt the entire ride, the random pit stops for potty breaks, and the fact that my butt hurts now). We got there in this open land. The first four guys of our party got on their horses with no problem. The last, however, when to get on and his horse walked off. Her name was Goldie and she had other plans. So I thought they took her away since she was being uncooperative, but apparently they only had ME fooled with the walk around and brought Goldie right back for him to mount. Second go round wasn't so bad. Then it was my turn. I got "The General" (not the first I've encountered, and like the first-this one was pretty sweet). And that's when my punk out really kicked in. I was legit scared once I got on the horse but after a few moments, I settled down. I pleaded not to be put in the back but of course I was the last one followed by two of the ranchers and their horses "Ricky Bobby" (cuz he likes to go fast) and Aislyn, this super cute newbie who was wearing boots because she hadn't gotten her shoes yet. The ride was so peaceful. Really quiet and just relaxing. I spent a little time talking to God and being thankful for (almost) another year and taking in the scenery. And after a little more than an hour, it was over.

We left the ranch which is situated in VA wine country, so we headed to a winery and did a tasting. The last wine was paired with a piece of chocolate which was really good. We left, I ran off the road, we had a three hour lunch/dinner. It was perfect. What I really appreciated was that all the right people were there. Everyone I spent this weekend with was relatively "new" in my life and it was stress and drama free, I didn't have to make special accommodations, and we had genuinely good times. That was just the weekend. My actual birthday is tomorrow and I'm not sure what is in store (other than finally getting cable and Internet in the new place) but I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!