girls gone wild.

here's what you need to know: my friends and i are loud, rambunctious and completely inappropriate. that said, we had a perfectly fun-filled weekend, celebrating alana's 25th birthday (she will be sure to remind you that she's still 24 until wednesday). i really can't say it enough: i love my girlfriends. and when birthdays roll around, all hell breaks loose.

friday night was spent out and about; we took a party bus (ahem, the local natives tour van) to the peninsula and ate dinner at el ranchito. we were quickly accosted at our table by a guy in a dress shirt, slacks, and shiny shoes. he asked how everything was going, and, assuming he was the manager, we answered him. stupid move. turns out it was his friends' birthday and he thought he'd "surprise" him by getting some pretty girls to go over to their table and take shots with him (huh?). after he did what seemed like a 45-minute standup routine, we got up and headed over to their table. now, i consider myself pretty independent. i don't go out to bars with the expectation of having my drinks paid for, and i would sure as hell rather buy my own drink and go on my way, than be stuck talking to a creeper just because he shelled out $7 for my vodka-sprite. so naturally, when this el ranchito manager (whom we now decided worked at a t-mobile kiosk) asked us to take shots with him and his friends, we "pretty girls" assumed that said shots would be paid for by said creeper. we ordered, and let the waitress know that they were being picked up by mr. congeniality. a couple minutes go by. rosie comes back over, and tells us that our new friend "isn't paying for the drinks." shocking. when we look across the bar to give him the stinkeye, we realize that they're gone. vanished. five guys, all too scared to admit they couldn't pay for cocktails, have snuck out of the back door of a mexican restaurant in utter shame. we stopped laughing just long enough to let rosie know that she could keep our shots coming, only on our tab, instead of houdini's. then we did our own disappearing act; the kind that entails visiting several bars and finding that somewhere along the way, your inhibitions have vanished.

saturday began a lot more mellow, and then somehow ended up being just as ridiculous. after a few hours of sleep, we got our lives together, picked up some groceries and started preparing for the fiesta. alana had come up with the idea weeks ago to do a mexican-themed party, complete with sangria, cervezas, and a taco bar. all we were missing was a mariachi band, but i think i made a good enough ipod playlist to satisfy the crowd. grilling and eating tacos soon turned to a game of king's cup, followed by a few rounds of flip cup (which i'm pretty sure is what did me in). after that, a small dance party formed, and the rest is a blur. i can recall bits and pieces of hilarity; amanda trying desperately to dance like a black girl, nicole handing out glow-in-the-dark jewelry, and alana drinking sangria straight from the spout.

i was worried that we wouldn't be able to top alana's birthday party from last year, but i think it's fair to say that we did a pretty decent job. now i just need to work on finding some more tricks to put up my sleeve for next year.

mood music: katy perry - use your love