Welcome to Serene's Birthday Week 2014!
MONDAY:
Visited DYE SALON, and my HAIR GOD, Billy. Here are the before and after shots. Yep, Im a rockstar! (and yes, that's purple!)
BEFORE
AFTER
TUESDAY:
I woke up to a warm thunderstorm. This was the best wake-up ever. Have I told you lately that I love rain? And that LOVE thunderstorms? The rain was making glorious music on my roof, with thunder as it's drums accompaniment. It smelled so good, and I didn't have anywhere to be immediately, so I laid in bed for about a half hour listening to the rain and cuddling with my cat. It was heaven.
Then I got up and had the most amazing massage (Thanks Tanya!) at OPTIMAL WELLNESS. Seriously, this girl is awesome and so intuitive! Then a much-needed adjustment with Dr. Michaella Walter. No, the picture isn't me, but I thought it would kill the mood to ask Tanya to pause the massage and take a selfie. It's really just for effect. Ahhhhhh.
Feeling fantastic, I stopped by ZUMBA for some birthday tacos and guacamole - and 50% off with my birthday coupon!
WEDNESDAY:
Since I had a few hours to fill before dinner, I met my friends Katy and Jennifer at the pool. Yes, handstands happened. Yes, I fell in first! But look! Pointed toes!!
Dinner at Michael Symon's ROAST in the Detroit Westin Book Cadillac (read, fancy schmancy). Thanks Bri, you're AMAZING! Holy whah this dinner was so good. Michael Symon really knows how to prepare food. Other than the slightly disturbing GOAT (yes, the entire goat) that was spinning on a spit for the entire meal, the food was divine. We had a few stand-out dishes (shown below). Then they asked if we wanted dessert. We almost turned them down because we were so full, but then decided to try TWO! And guess what ... we finished both of them:
THURSDAY:
I met my great friend, Sherri, at TIC TAC NAILS for a mani/pedi. Look at my toes! I love it! They really pampered us. We then went to lunch at IRONWOOD in Plymouth. The french dip was really good, and really big! I ate the rest for lunch the next day. Love you, Sherri!
Some of my gymnastics club staff was also planning on going out after work to celebrate, but it was a bad night for everyone, so we decided to postpone until the following Tuesday. YAY! We went to the MOOSE PRESERVE. Great little patio in the summer time, and crazy menu items like Duck Tenders, Rabbit Ravioli, Venison, Quail, and my favorite menu item to say, Buffaloaf. We have also recenly discovered that they make the tastiest, crispiest, parmesan brussel sprouts in town. I don't usually even LIKE brussel sprouts, but WOWZA, these are amazing. But more importantly, I love the people that I work with!!
Samantha, you are a spider monkey! Check us out at the WEST BLOOMFIELD ADVENTURE PARK. SO MUCH FUN!! For 2 hours we climbed, balanced, zip lined, and worked our little tails off. It was mostly a ropes course - extreme balance and arm strength needed for some of the obstacles! I can't WAIT to go back! I keep saying how much I like the warrior dash, but I hate the running. Well, this is pretty close! As Sam has coined it, "The fun without the run."
Much higher than some of the pics reflect ... Some examples of how high. Do you see how far my foot looks from the ground?
And then we ended the night with tacos and margaritas!
How could we go wrong?
SATURDAY:
After brunch at ONE EYED BETTY'S (Really really good mixed berry waffle and a mimosa - sorry, no picture!), I relaxed on my back deck for a bit before getting ready for an EPIC night!
My HOTTIE FRIENDS arrived at my house to pick me up and have a quick drink. Then my brother arrived to drive me around all night in his Porsche Speedster. YES! I felt so cool. Apparently it was black dress night!
We started for a drink (or two, or three, depending on who you are) at VALENTINE VODKA. I was so excited to see so many people show up! YAY! I love my friends!! If you haven't been there, definitely try it out! They are a distillery, so they only serve their own liquor. The have their basic Valentine vodka, then my favorite, an outstanding White Blossom Vodka, which has flavors of elderflower & grapefruit. SO GOOD! In fact, I need a new bottle - maybe for Christmas? They also distill a fantastic whiskey, that was only recently debuted since it is aged for 4 years. There is a gin on the menu, but I can't tell you anything about it because I don't drink gin!
The bar brought over a free birthday shot. Now, I don't do shots. Everybody knows that. Don't buy them for me - I'll just give it to someone else no matter how much you try to guilt me into it. BUT when a bar sends one over and stands there waiting for the glasses back, you can't just give it to someone else. If it had been the elderflower vodka I may have been ok, but it was a straight vodka shot with a spicy (and I mean SPICY) pickle juice chaser. So I took it.
And that's how THIS face happened ....
An important part of the evening: DINNER! We all tumbled onto the patio at COMO'S. Service was mehh. The food was really good. The best item on the list: MEATBALLS! I don't know why ... they are phenomenal! I loved having a whole crew there!
Next stop, per big brother's request, was a drink (or two or three) and THE STONE HOUSE in Detroit. Great dirty little bar that reminded me of the WOODEN NICKEL in Marquette, MI. And we got this FABULOUS group photo. This is my posse.
Next pics are GREAT FUN, GREAT FRIENDS,
AND GREAT LEGS!
And to end the perfect evening? WHAT ELSE? Karaoke at THE INN PLACE. Ok, I got yelled at for singing with other people, when they had entered the song under just their names. But WHO CARES! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! We sang several songs and closed out the night, headed home drunker than we intended, hoping for a few hours of sleep before waking up early for our tubing adventure!!
SUNDAY, Aug 10th (Birthday proper):
The birthday birthday day. Perfect 80-85 degrees, very little humidity. Lots of sun, but not sweating and burning! We all arrived, eventually blew up our tubes (damn blowers kept pooping out!), and some of us rented tubes. We didn't get as close to the location as we wanted to, but a short block walk wasn't too bad. We grabbed our large group of people, plopped into the water, and enjoyed the day. There are mini rapids for a little bit of fun.
We stopped to have a little picnic lunch, and then back on the river for more. Katy took this picture from a tree ... she's a little monkey. That makes me want to climb trees!! (I guess that's another blog) Ok, so we used the rental tubes for a lot longer than 2 hours. Actually, someone was called out on it (Im not sure who), and they said "Just one more run!" and ran away! : ) Oh, children!
Finally the end of the day involved getting the air out of the tubes (Sam & Mary Jo)
and other shenanigans
It was a great week with great friends. I don't know how we could have fit any more fun in there! Who else wants a birthday week? I can help you!
I love all of you guys!!
Peace. Love. Serene.
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