'Tis the Season

'Tis the season of one party after another, spending time with family, and eating like there is no tomorrow. This weekend was packed with all three. Friday my co-workers went out with me to celebrate my birthday. It's hard getting a bunch of night shift workers to all have the same time off, and that is why we were a bit late. But better late than never! We went to Blue Martini and my dear friends made sure everyone knew it was my birthday. I've never been out on/for my birthday so this was a slightly new experience. I've never had so many drinks bought for me, first by my friends and then by complete strangers. It was slightly awesome. I had so many drinks offered that I was giving them away.

I can always count on Maribel for a great time.





To continue the festivities, Jordan and a couple of his coworkers decided to host a Christmas party. Due to the bad economy EA had cancelled their official Christmas party, which is really sad since it's the most anticipated party of the whole year. But Jordan and a couple other people stepped up to the plate and decided to do their own thing. We had it at a friend's house which has a huge court yard. We decorated it with white Christmas lights, had a bar, karaoke, Rock Band, another friend fried a turkey and worked the grill. They even had the traditional cigar lounge and Sharkie Awards. The whole thing was pretty awesome. There was a good turn out too! Considering it was such a minor party compared to what EA is used to (Hard Rock at City Walk), I would say it was still a complete success.

After that party we got home about 2am only to open our bedroom door and find out our glass sliding door had been smashed. As you can imagine this was pretty scary to come home to. Our alarm hadn't been set off, so the doors hadn't been opened. There was just a moderate sized whole in the glass, but not something someone could fit into. At the time we thought someone had probably started to break in only to be scared off, maybe by the dogs, although they didn't appear upset at all when we came home. The next day we looked around the backyard. Everything was in it's place, no bushes smashed, the gates were closed (which is hard to do from the outside), nothing was missing. There is a chance that the door could have broken on it's own. Either way, it was unnerving to try to sleep in there that night. Jordan will take the door somewhere today to get the glass replaced. I think I want to buy a heavy duty lock for the screen door. And maybe a German Shepherd for a little added security!

On Sunday I got to meet my cousin Jennifer's 3 week old baby, my second cousin. I have about 35 first cousins, who knows how many second cousins. It was nice getting to spend time with family I don't get to see often. It was a good ending to a long weekend.