Happy Birthday Dave!

In honor of friend Dave's birthday his friend Erika organized a huge dinner out. Sadly, due to strange forces of nature the party of 12 turned into a party of 5 (hmm, that sounds familiar.) Over wine and yummy nibbles at Union (on get this... Union) in downtown Seattle Dave's people enjoyed a small but lively evening.

Conversation mostly roamed around the perils of dating. J boldly inquired about why Erika (totally cute) and Dave (completely wonderful) hadn't ever dated. While the two friends awkwardly tried to explain that they'd been 'friends for 20 years' J endured the claw of death while my hand gripped his knee under the table. Hey, you never know...

In anticipation of shared bottles of wine, I booked J and I a room downtown at the Fairmont Olympic. The corporate travel discount at former MegaBank still has some pull. I am shocked that we got such a good rate considering the ENTIRE Washington Redskin football team and their subsequent posses were in the hotel. The lobby was teeming with huge men followed by little people drafting off of their speed. Some of these folks reminded me of those little fish that swim along with the shark and feed off any of the bits the shark misses in its frenzy.

After dinner, J and I slowly walked (super high girl shoes on TP) back up to the hotel and had a night cap. We found a little table in the corner near the piano man and watched the hoopla. Eleven PM must have been the first warning for curfew because all the huge athletic men got up, signed tabs and exited the lounge area leaving pockets of people who suddenly seemed just a little bit less cool.

At breakfast this morning, J asked me why Shawn Alexander (my Christmas card buddy from 2006) hadn't stopped by to say hello. My thought is that he probably thought that since we met for only about 90 seconds a couple years ago that I wouldn't remember him. But that's not the case Shawn, I remember the little people, you should have felt comfortable to stop and say hello.

Our room was lovely, as you would expect at the Olympic Hotel. I did find a 1 1/2 inch piece of metal screw on the floor near the perfectly coordinated chair and almost stepped on it. J, who surprised me with this touch of evilness, suggested we call to the manager and claim I injured my foot and see if we couldn't turn it into complimentary nights at the Lake Louise property in Banff during our honeymoon. When I suggested we jam it up his foot and pretend he was the injured party that idea quickly faded. (What a pussy!)

Taking a "stay-cation" in a local hotel, even at a good rate quickly adds up. As a future unemployed MegaBank employee this might be the last adventure out for a while. However, it was completely worth it because we had so much fun at dinner with Dave and his great friends and didn't have to worry at all about driving.

We did have so much fun that I had to take a nap when we got home. I'm rested now, and J (who doesn't nap) is "watching" the Seahawks / Redskins game with his eyes closed. He hasn't moved in over 30 minutes and I assume that he is either dead or in some sort of meditative state.