Andrew's 30th Birthday in Key West 2013

Sorry everybody's 30th birthdays. Andrew's won by virtue of being in Key West while temperatures in the Northeast dropped below the 30s. We stayed in these cute cabins called "Courtney's Place" with a pool and a breakfast that stayed open late. We were a two-block walk from Duval Street. We got in Friday afternoon and after some relaxing by the pool we had dinner and partied at Irish Kevin's, The Green Parrot, Smallest Bar, The Hog's Breath Saloon, and Sloppy Joe's. That was our warm-up.

Me, Kevin, Katie, Andrew, and Mike at Irish Kevin's on Friday night

Andrew, Stephanie, Corey, Ken, and Tatiana outside Irish Kevin's

 

Andrew, Doug, Marisa, and Tana dancing at The Green Parrot

Everyone had a lot of beers and jello shots, and I sipped water like a champ. We easily walked 4 miles going up and down Duval Street. Who says we're old? Mike S. may or may not have danced on a table at Hog's Breath, and Kevin may or may not have unbuttoned all the buttons on his shirt at Sloppy Joe's. Suffice to say, I have pictures I am not blogging here. Kevin's mom got some fun drunk texts from various phones. Thanks for babysitting Ma!

Ken plus the cousins at Hog's Breath Saloon on Friday night

It took a while for everyone to recover on Saturday, even me, even though I only drank water. So we started the day with some Cuban coffee at Cuban Coffee Queen, a walk along the waterfront, and some light window-shopping on Duval. A good number of people made it over to the Hemingway House, and everyone regrouped at the pool at Courtney's Place by the afternoon.

The Clou men at Cuban Coffee Queen for coffee and Cuban sandwiches

Some mad posing at the waterfront: Corinne, Matt, Andrew, Mike M, and Kourtney

Contrary to appearances here, most of us went in the pool. 

We did a little walk to Southernmost Point, but the sunlight was bad for a picture. So after the boys stopped for cigars at the Dominican Republic Cigar Shop,  we all headed over to Mallory Square for the sunset. Some of us just missed the actual sunset but we were mostly there for the party. A few people were psyched for The Cat Man at the Sunset Pier so we checked that out too. Finally we gathered for a 22-person dinner at Finnegan's Wake! Andrew gave a really nice toast where he said he felt like he'd become rich by 30-- with friendship.

Me and Kevin at Mallory Square

Andrew giving a thank you toast to everyone who came out for his birthday

Everyone who went to Key West (except Dave who graciously took this picture)

After dinner, we would have liked to see some turtles race at Turtle Kraals, but they only do that on Mondays (!) so we settled for playing some really intense bocce. Kourtney impressed us with her kinetic super powers. If you'd seen it, you'd be a believer. There was much mischief at Captain Tony's Saloon, and thanks to Kevin, Katie met a man named "Bottom." Probably that's not going anywhere. We rejoined a bigger group at The Green Parrot and enjoyed some tunes from the band Xperimento. Google Maps tells me that means we walked at least 5.5 very fun miles on Saturday.

Kourtney, Mike M, Andrew, Stephanie, and Ken at Captain Tony's Saloon

Matt, Corinne, Tana, and Mike M at The Green Parrot

The weekend was epic, and will be hashed and rehashed for many years to come. Happy birthday, Andrew! Oh, and we had a little spa time before we came home from Florida, by which I mean:

I got Kourtney to walk on Kevin's back because I am the best wife ever. ;)

• Check out the last time we visited Andrew in Florida in December of 2012 or
• Kevin's 30th birthday in New York in February of 2010

Brian's 30th Birthday 2013

We went to Virginia last weekend to celebrate Brian's 30th birthday! That's 30 years of awesomeness, now with harder abs. Haha. We celebrated with drinks and cupcakes at Copperwood Tavern in Arlington, Virginia. The bar is pretty new, and everyone loved it. It's big and cool-looking, and Kevin said the beer on tap is good. I enjoyed their delicious water.

Brian (argyle sweater) and his Crossfit peeps!

Cupcakes


Carrie and Brian- Carrie made the cupcakes

Me and Kevin

Roger and Lina

Cory and Robin enjoying cupcakes

Kenny and Beng

(Special thanks to Jaime who babysat while we went out.)

The next morning a few of us had brunch with Brian on his actual birthday at Medium Rare in DC. Despite reservations, being there first, and ample space, they didn't put us at one table? Everyone had a good time though and the food was pretty good. Even James thought so.

Some UVA Brunch peeps

Gloria, McKenzie, Alexis, and Beng

Opening presents from Kenny and Diane

Happy birthday, Brian! 

Mike's 30th Birthday 2013

For his 30th birthday, Mike invited all his awesome friends to the Cape to celebrate with his family. They came from New York and Boston in amazing numbers. We were there Friday night for some of the early festivities, grilling out and party games. But everyone stayed over and the party continued into the weekend.

Some of the early party people, Mike is top left, third in.

Ryan starting a fire, I mean, cooking delicious burgers

Mike's sister Megan and her boyfriend Chris

Wee, party games

Some confusion over how to act this one out

Everyone thinks they have this one: disco monkey?

The stars of the next reality show: Tractor Garage on TLC

The whole group at the beach on Saturday 

Happy birthday, Mike! As everyone's presence proved, you are extremely loved!

We're not in the Saturday beach picture, because we were on the way to our third birthday party of the weekend, this time for Casey....

Sarah's 30th Birthday 2012

I can't believe I met Sarah when she was just a wee-bitty 23-year-old starting law school. Her first niece had been just been born and she constantly admired Rosie's picture on her laptop in Contracts class.  Now she's married to Donald, who sat across the room in that same class, she has 3 nieces she admires on her laptop, and she and Donald have their own baby boy on the way!

For Sarah's birthday, Brian made a delicious multi-course dinner: chicken stuffed with goat cheese, potatoes au gratin, perfectly broiled brussel sprouts, and the pièce de résistance, bacon-wrapped scallops. He also made dessert! It was a light mango pudding with strawberries on top. Afterward, we gave Sarah baby-gifts that we hope Baby Burke will enjoy soon.

I felt Baby Burke kick!


Brian serving his amazing dinner

Wednesday's 30th Birthday 2010

We went out with Wendy and Clark because we hadn't seen them in a little while and Wendy turned 30 last weekend but I wasn't free to see her.  We caught up on some important stuff including the progress of her band Pigeons. They're going on a national tour starting this month!


At Momofuko

Here she is being gorgeous in a video:

Pigeons "The Paradise" from OLDE ENGLISH SPELLING BEE on Vimeo.


The tour dates are updated on the Pigeons website:

THURSDAY,OCTOBER 28th: Union Pool, Brooklyn w/Electroputas http://www.myspace.com/electroputas

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31st: SPECTACLE, Boston w/ Many Mansions, Invisible Circle

TUESDAY, November 2nd: PERMANENT RECORDS, Chicago, IL

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd: EMPTY BOTTLE, Chicago w/Wet Hair, and Running

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd: OBERLIN COLLEGE, Oberlin, OH

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4th: WHITE LIGHTENING, Iowa City w/ Wet Hair

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5th: CLUB MED, Minneapolis, MN w/ Wet Hair & Robust Worlds

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6th: HEXAGON BAR, Minneapolis, MN w/ Leisure Birds, Brute Heart

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th: The Manor, OMAHA, NE w/ The Praries, Hominoid and Wet Hair

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10th: Missoula, MT location TBA

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11th: The Business Records, Anacortes, WA, http://www.thebusinessanacortes.com/

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11th: NoHouse Bellingham, WA w/ Jazz Magazine and PRND

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12th: Josephine, Seattle, WA



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13th: The Know, PORTLAND, OR w/ Monopoly Child Star Searcher

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14th: Lil Red Lion, Eureka, CA

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15th: Holland Project HQ, RENO, NV

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16th: The Hub, Sacramento, CA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17th: in-store AQUARIUS RECORDS, San Francisco

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17th: Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA w/ Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18th: ECHO CURIO sponsored, Los Angeles, CA w/ METAL ROUGE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19th: UC IRVINE OPEN MELODY FESTIVAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20th: The Dressing Room, Phoenix, AZ w/ Eddie Detroit

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd: AUSTIN, TX TBA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd: NOTSUOH, Houston, TX
Wednesday, November 24th: Circle Bar, New Orleans, LA w/ Hosannas FREE!!!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26th: The Handle Bar, Pensacola, FL w/ Heavy Kid

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27th: location tba, Gainesville, FL

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28th: Far Side, Tallahassee, FL

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29th: Wonder Root, Atlanta, GA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30th: NIGHTLIGHT, Chapel Hill, NC w/ Dan Melchior und Das Menace (http://www.myspace.com/dasmenace)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1st: Location tba, Richmond, VA

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2nd: TBA? Somewhere between Richmond and NYC/

Rachel's 30th Birthday 2010

Rachel had a three-day birthday celebration, which is exactly what you should do when you turn thirty. Janice was in town visiting so we joined her for the final leg of her celebration, her surprise party at her apartment. Tim planned the party and made her the most amazing cake. My friends Christina and Dan went too, and I finally got to meet some of Rachel's sisters.

Blowing out her candles with help from her son Isaac

The awesome cake that Tim made and decorated

With her Cake Boss hubby Tim

GW Girls at the party: Rachel, me, Christina, and Janice

I was biased towards this particular day of the birthday weekend because Rachel and Tim recently had baby Eleanor and I was eager to meet and hold her. She slept the entire time and was highly cooperative. Both Christina and I offered to adopt her.

Holding new baby Eleanor

Happy birthday, Rachel!

Jon's 30th Birthday 2010

Happy birthday, Jon! And may your life be filled with delicious cupcakes and friends.

In Astoria Park

 

Rawrr. Still got it at 30.

Kevin's 30th Birthday 2010, Part 2

Since he had so many friends in town we basically continued the celebration from Friday through Monday. We had dinner on Friday, lunch and drinks on Saturday, brunch on Sunday, and a big walk around some of his favorite places in Manhattan on Monday.

On Monday, a lot of people had off for President's Day, plus it was Kevin's actual birthday date, so we went big. We started at the new park in Chelsea, the High Line Elevated Park.  It's weird and urban, but definitely cool with a nice view of the city.  Afterwards, we went to Chelsea Market to warm up and get lunch.

Kevin's friends in High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea

Observation deck area of High Line with bleacher-like seating

Being a writer, Kevin is really into bookstores.  So we went over to the Strand, a huge bookstore in the East Village with the city's largest collection of rare books. It's maybe the second-largest used bookstore in the world (after Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon), and it's family-owned.

Perusing books at the Strand

We dipped into a costume store, and I thought it would be funny to buy this mask for a gag because we're always singing "Fox in the Snow." It a long story, but it was funny. It's New York, so no one even noticed.  Finally we ended up drinking at Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village. Such a fun active day!

Jon, Fox in the Snow, Briggs

At the Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village

Kevin's 30th Birthday 2010, Part 1

Kevin's birthday was really fabulous, if I'm allowed to say that as the organizer. First his buddy Jim from LA surprised him, then his brother Andrew flew in from Florida, and for his third surprise his friend Briggs showed up from Austin. It was a national party.

A few of us went to eat the most delicious steak and cheesecake at Luger's. We ate everything family style, and even though wee were there at lunchtimeJon gave him a fourth surprise. Jon got Kevin's childhood Dee Brown jersey signed by Dee Brown, the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest winner.

Outside Luger's

Kevin loved Dee Brown's signature. Best present ever, Jon!

Self-portrait of us on the subway by Jon (bottom right).  I learned this trick from Ash.

Then we had a lot of time to kill in the afternoon so we went back to our apartment, drank, and watched the Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony. We particularly enjoyed the difficulty the torch bearers had lighting the torch. Finally, a larger group went out to his favorite bar in near home, the Brooklyn Inn, where we spent a shocking number of hours. I encouraged people to "dress like a professor" as the theme.  Here are some of the best dressed.

Rocking the professor theme

With the pipe that Ash lent him for the occasion

The guys at Brooklyn Inn

The ladies, "bringing it"

  What a great all-day celebration!  I had a fabulous time and it looked like other people were loving it too.  But this was just Saturday... the fun continued through Monday!