Sip Bacardi like it's your birthday.

[chestnutcurls]

Thanks so much for all of your birthday wishes! :D My birthday weekend was excellent.

Friday night was build-the-computer night. Evan and Ryan came to my parents' house, followed by MaryElaine, and we ate pizza and watched my dad's computer friend at work. After he was finished, Ryan installed some other things and transferred a bunch of his mp3s for me. Songs on the old computer: about 30. Songs on the new computer: about 200. Going from a 4-GB hard drive to an 80-GB hard drive: priceless. :) I can't believe how fast my new computer is. It's greased lightnin'! Also, my birthday present from my parents was the HP all-in-one scanner/printer/copier, so I am now able to digitize like a normal person. Amazing!

Anyway, Luke called Ryan and wanted to go to a movie, so we all went to a late showing of Pirates of the Caribbean (after I made it clear to Luke that under no circumstances did I want to see Freddy vs. Jason, even though he insisted that I needed to see it "for my own sanctification," which sent Evan into total hysterics). It was a good movie, but insanely long, so by the end of it I was very irritated knowing I would be tired the next day. (But thankfully, I wasn't.)

Saturday was the big day. In the morning, my dad brought my computer over, since I hadn't been able to take it home the previous night. I'm still trying to get used to the extra space left by a flatscreen monitor and a tower. I listened to all my Clay songs and danced around in anticipation. In the afternoon, I got a fun birthday call from Jessica and Jonathan, and an adorable bunny card from nikichick4 in the mail- thanks, Nicole! :) Shortly thereafter it was time for Kathy and I to go to Peabody Place to meet Danielle and the gang. We found each other fairly easily and then went to the actual Peabody to see the ducks. At 4:30 we went to TGI Friday's as planned, but the host insisted there was a 35-minute wait, despite the fact that half of the restaurant was empty. After much waffling and stressing on my part, we went to Huey's instead since it was only a block away. Evan and Ryan finally showed up right after I was harassed by a big blue dog that was walking randomly around downtown. Danielle gave me my birthday present (in an adorable bag)- a gorgeous candlestick, one of those that looks like a lamp with a little lampshade. Also, a beautiful bracelet. It was so nice of her. She has excellent taste. :)

Anyway, then it was on to the show! After some confusion all around about various ticket issues, Kathy, Danielle, Danielle's mom, and I found our way to our seats, which were awesome - great job, Danielle! :) The show was absolutely wonderful. Trenyce, the hometown girl, got a lot of stage time, which I thought was great - she had a lot of friends and family in the audience, as did Kimberly Locke (who's from Nashville) and Rickey (I'm not sure where he's from). Speaking of, I liked Rickey on the show but was never that impressed with him...but he really blew me away Saturday night. So did Julia Demato. She must be taking voice lessons or something! The only people who didn't impress me much were Kimberly Caldwell and Ruben, and from the general lack of crowd response, I guess others felt the same way.

But Clay. Clay, Clay, Clay. He was just...wonderful. The place went nuts every time he came onto the stage. I used to see those films of people freaking out at Beatles concerts and think, "Why would anyone act like that?" Now I know. Oh yes, I know. :) He is absolutely phenomenal. And he's so good-natured. People were constantly throwing panties and things at him, and he just matter-of-factly picked them up and made faces. During his song with Ruben, he strolled casually over to him and put a red thong on his head. It was hilarious. Also, I have now officially crowned him the Hottest Man Alive in my book. (Kathy kept repeating, "I'm engaged, I'm engaged.") I took about a million pictures. I was going to share the digitals today, but I just noticed that I saved them at a really small size since I'm not used to the new computer yet. I'll try again tomorrow, but for now, here's a preview. :)



Anyway, it was a fantastic birthday, and it was so great to meet Danielle and her mom and Christy and Regina. They're all very fun people. :)

Sunday after church, my parents took me to Macaroni Grill for my birthday lunch (my mom just got back from Miami yesterday, so we were waiting for her). Then we went to see Freaky Friday. Then I wanted an ice cream cake since it was about 97 degrees, so we found one at Kroger and it was delicious. It was a nice day, and the last Sunday I'll get to spend with my sister for a long time, since she's leaving for college on Friday.

And that's it. If you read this far, thank you and congratulations! :)

Comments

[aardwolf.livejournal.com]

Haha... until I saw the picture of the blue dog, I was thinking... Man, Brenda needs to lay off the crack...seriously. :P

[tingilya.livejournal.com]

Wow, that picture is so clear! I can't wait to see it bigger! Claaaaaaaaaay! :-)

Oh, I forgot about the bracelet thing. I thought it was just a little charm for the candlestick or something (it came with it), but the woman checking me out said, "Don't forget, this is a bracelet, too." I put it on, and there ya go. So it works either way. Woo!

I'm making a post now about the high drama that ensued after we left y'all. Yes, there was more! *g*

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

:D Yeah, I couldn't believe how clear my digitals came out. Now I'm even angrier about the battery dying. :P

At first I did think it was a charm or something, so I didn't want to be stupid and go around with a candlestick thing on my arm. LOL. But now I can tell it's a bracelet. :)

[my-everafter.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an AWESOME birthday! Macoroni Grill is without a doubt my most favoritest restaurant. But I only like to go there on my birthday cause it's more special that way. Did they sing to you in Italian? I love it when they do that! :-)

[violetvale.livejournal.com]

Also, my birthday present from my parents was the HP all-in-one scanner/printer/copier

LOL, I'm so ridiculous. When I first read that, I thought, "What?! There's a Harry Potter scanner/printer/copier?" A little obsessed, perhaps? Naaaah. ;-)

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I did the same thing while I was WRITING that! I thought, "Maybe I should change it, people will think Harry Potter," and then decided, "No, no one is as dorky about that as me." I'm glad I should have listened to myself! LOL.

[violetvale.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe we are the only dorks. hehe!

[sominfun.livejournal.com]

Fun, fun, fun. :)

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

That's Blue! You know.. Blues Clues. :) Ha.. can you tell I have nieces? I'll have to show them that picture, they'd love it.

Thanks for the writeup! I can't wait to see the pictures. Did you meet RJ like Danielle did? Maybe you don't even know him, but he was always really nice-seeming on AI1. When does the third one start? I'm anxious!

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

I thought it might be Blue, but he looked awfully...tattered. :P

No, I didn't meet him! I wasn't even sure who he was. I knew enough to know his name was "something-J" :) but that was all. He was sitting down on the floor with Christy and Regina. I didn't see him until Danielle's mom gave me the binoculars and pointed him out. Fun, though.

[alissamarie.livejournal.com]

I never did watch American Idol much . . . but from the pictures I've seen of Clay . . . yeaaaaaah. ;)

Was Freaky Friday any good?

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it actually was. My sister pointed out that Lindsay Lohan keeps playing roles in which she's pretending to be someone else. I guess that's her special talent. :)

[imaginarylove.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooooooooo, fun fun! :o) I heart Clay, oh so very much.

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D Never fear, more visible pictures will be posted tomorrow. :)

[eleutheria.livejournal.com]

Doh, i missed it! Happy belated birthday, Brenda! You're one cool chick!

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks! :)

[nikichick4.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a wonderful birthday! I'm glad you got my card!

And I was cracking up at the blue dog and the description of Clay with the panties! haha

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks so much! It was a really fun surprise.

[mzspearz.livejournal.com]

Going from a 4-GB hard drive to an 80-GB hard drive: priceless. :)

AHHHH! I HEAR you, girl! My comp before only held 3GB! LOL. Granted, I only have a 20GB now, but if I went any higher, I would never back up my computer like I do a lot more with a "smaller" HD. So even though it's new & fast & huge....don't forget to back it up! I learned my lesson after my 3GB comp crashed about 4 times & I lost some really rare stuff :P

(Kathy kept repeating, "I'm engaged, I'm engaged.")

LMAO, that is so great. I look forward to the pics! :D

Happy belated birthday chica..

[purple-reign.livejournal.com]

I was so gonna use your subject line in my subject line...*single tear*

Oh man...you saw Clay....:O PICTURES!!!!!! Did you swoon?????


I think we still have a 4 GB hard drive (haven't updated since we got the thing)...I can only imagine...80 BG's of music...*perishes at the thought*.