It's my party and I'll . . .

Well. . . I guess I'll just have a dang good time.  A few snaps from a great evening follow. 

Deanna (rider and community organizer extraordinaire -- she also pours a mighty stiff drink) and me.

A slightly fuzzy Joaquin and Ann.

Bronwyn and Dave.  Dave ate about 67 cookies and I packed him up some to go.

Allison, Jeff, Coral.  Awesome pic.  Awesome people.  Only thing is, this is the only photo I've seen of Allison where she's not wildly waving her arms. 

Ah ha.  That's more like it.

Bill and his fabulous syrahs with hidden identities.

Melis and Angela.  Such a cute photo.  Cute girls.

Smiley group in the kitchen.  Which reminds me -- I don't think any of these photos show that I finally got crown molding installed.  Tangent. . .

Kristie and Bettina. 

Jana and Coral.

Kristie and Jen.  Cute couple.

Me and Christine.  Christine hates having her photo taken.  Good thing my massive head of hair is protecting her from full view.

Jen kept telling us there were too many to get in one photo.  Looks like she did okay.

Tallying up the wine's scores -- Bill has us vote on our favorites.  Angela got out a computer and started making a spreadsheet.  It was all very official.

Tami and her guy whose name escapes me right now. . .

Awww.  Staci and Todd.  I think we could read into this 'look' many different emotions.  You can choose.

Hmm.  Look who's letting their collective hair down.

Jen and Vanessa.  Always smiling.

Cute cousins.

Me and Coral before she ran off. 

Jeff and Kristie harassing my cat.   If you look over by those feet in the photo, you'll notice there is not a puddle of wine on the rug. . . for now.

Greg and Vanessa.

Showing D some love.  I went over to fill people's wine glasses.  The kiss just comes with the wait service.

Jana and Christine (sorry Christine).  Jana is always posing for a picture.  Even when there's no camera, I've noticed.

Intense kitchen chats.

Friendly Jen draping herself over Allison.

Me and my crazy old bag lady aunt.

Me and Jen.  When it gets late in the evening, Jen comes over and insists we have a photo taken together.  And there you have it.

Benj's favorite thing is Melissa, his least favorite thing is getting his photo taken.  Because of the former, he puts up with me.  Because of the latter, he makes faces.

Ron always tells me I'm one of his favorite people.  It's very sweet.  I like this photo commemorating our mutual affection -- and that I've just sold him an NCAC shirt.

Right about the time I should have gone to bed.

And when they should have gone home.

Before this happened . . .

Courtesy of Jana and perhaps she had a helper.  Yes, I have a carpet cleaner.  No, I do have have a miracle max.

The morning after.  Never pretty.  No self-portraits here, either.  Rough.

Great birthday, great party, great way to raise over $700.  Amazing.

The cutest NCAC T-Shirt ever!

How cute is this shirt?  So very cute, I think!  Want one?  They are only $20 and everyone will be jealous of you (priceless!).  S-XXL.

Marvelous weekend happenings

My sister Karen is quite proud of herself for being the one to introduce me to this lesbian singer-songwriter who she (Karen) has been seeing at a CO folk festival for years.  On her recommendation, I went to see Ellis in the lovely city of San Francisco on a cold, clear Friday evening. 
Small cafe, girl with a guitar, and a small crowd.  It was like getting back to my roots. . . if my roots involved all that stuff.  I've attempted to explain the evening on isolated occasions with little success.  For whatever reason, I was in the right place at the right time, and I was able to hear what I needed to hear.
So anyway.  Here are some photos.  This one I asked Ellis if I could take so that I could send it home to Karen. 

My view of the concert.

A little playin'.

Can you see this video?  I might have to re-load it. . .

Coffee from H M R on Vimeo.

Driving home through the lit-up (in more ways than one I imagine) Castro.

Jerry of Under One Roof had this sign made to promote his Team One.  If you're in the Bay Area and are ready to ride, Join his team!

Later that weekend. . . 

I went to this "Tree Skirt Party" -- wear a tree skirt in whatever way you wish, bring a gift certificate for a grocery store to support Breaking Barriers.  Some folks got *very* creative.  I just tied mine around my waist like a . . . skirt.

Jeffy and Mindy.  How cute are they?

*Love* Mindy.  She's too fabulous for words.

Mindy's husband Steve and his tree-skirt twin.

Jim and Miguel.  Jim was a riot the other night.

A little gang.

That dispersed when Mindy demanded that she get more wine in her glass immediately.

The handsome hosts.

How come gay boys get all the looks?

Not my best work on the self-portrait.  And you can see, Doug is only begrudgingly complying.

Fred dresses the bartender in . . . well, pretty much all the decorations he could find, including from his own costume.

The event raised over $2200 for Breaking Barriers to provide holiday dinners to their community.  Pretty dang fantastic.