The Big Three Oh: Happy Birthday, Chelster!

December 3, 2005

Prior to the birthday festivities, a few of us met up at Cafe Bolero for dinner. I walked in shortly after two other women, and shortly thereafter realized we were all attending the birthday dinner.

I sat down with Nicole and Megan, two DJs at WLUW that also work with Chelsea. We were soon after by Nuanda, Matt, Tracy and Malachi.

Sadly, the music coming through the loudspeakers was pretty… well, loud. You had a radius of maybe one and a half people, and after that your voice became lost (unless you yelled). Malachi wasn’t having a good time with the noise levels and, despite the staff turning down the music… couldn’t really hang. Matt ended up excusing himself to take Malachi back home, and bowed out for the night.

I tried taking a few shots, but the interior was pretty dark… and all the group shots didn’t come out that well. What I did get though, was a shot of Chelsea after receiving a surprise birthday dessert from the restaurant.

This was awfully cool of the staff to do. On top of the dessert, they did her up right with the drinks. A few folks ordered mojitos, but when the waiter brought out Chelsea’s – it was served in a HUGE glass the size of a small vase.

After the meal, we all headed over to Lincoln Square Lanes for some birthday bowling action. I ended up hitching a ride with Nuanda and Tracy. En route, we stopped to get a bit of gas. I was waiting inside the car, and when I saw this earring hanging off the vent – I decided to snap a pic. At first glance, I thought it was a saint of some sort, like the one that Justin has.

After filling up, we prepare to leave and out of nowhere… Nuanda’s car wouldn’t start! He mentioned his car dying yesterday, but the instant he got a jump from a friend, it was fine. None of us noticed any sort of dulling of the lights (or anything else that suggested a low/dead battery). It just up and quit, and wouldn’t turn over.

He ended up buying some jumper cables at the gas station, and got a stranger to give him a jump. No dice. From the sounds the car was making… it wasn’t the battery that was the problem.

So, after a bit of deliberation, we decided to ask the gas station manager if we could leave the car on the premises, and pick it up tomorrow morning. He was nice enough to allow us to leave it, and we pushed it out of the way, against some nearby guardrails.

I should also mention that another helpful stranger overhead us talking, and offered to help us push. Let’s hear it for our fellow Chicagoans! This may be a big city, but it’s still the midwest. Good to know folks like that are around.

Here’s the car, after we pushed it into place – somewhere out of the way.

Having nothing else we could do, we walked to the intersection, grabbed a cab and headed off to bowl.

This is Tracy and Nuanda, outside of Lincoln Square Lanes. There was a baby seat in Nuanda’s car for Malachi, which Tracy decided to take with her. Earlier, the three of us were laughing as to how weird we must look – two guys and a girl, holding a child safety seat, trying to get a cab.

Lincoln Square Lanes – this was my first time here, ever. A bowling alley on the second floor – who woulda thunk?

By the time we showed up, a lot more folks had already arrived. The group was halfway through their first game. Since I had to wait around for round 2, I decided to do a lot of picture-taking.

A shot of the lanes. I loved the feel of the place – from the mural on the walls to the seats and the return mechanism for the bowling balls. Great, great place.

I’m not sure who got the funny hat (I’m guessing Sarah), but it’s pretty spectacular. Always a good idea to have one of these guys around, just in case people forget who the birthday girl is.

Leslie and Dave (with Nuanda and Tracy in the background).

LOL. This is just pure class.

Sarah sent out a message to folks, asking if anyone had some good pictures to use for the cake. I ended up sending her two high-res photos: one from Chelsea’s 2003 Birthday Party and one from Tracy, Matt and Nuanda’s birthday. Both images are of a fairly classic Chelsea pose – tongue out and her throwing the horns.

I found out though, that the cake place that Sarah went to LOST the pictures she sent. And so she had to scramble to find another one. She tracked down one via my blog, and used that for the cake. For those that may find this image familiar, let me point you back to the 2004 Cinco de Mayo party.

If nothing else, this blog is a good respository for embarassing photos of my friends.

Marcus, Carla and Jessica. I realized tonight that the last time I saw Carla and Jessie was nearly a year ago. A year! God, what a crappy friend I am. I made it a point to get their number, as I’d like to hang out with them again.

Like I said – love the feel of this place.

L to R it’s Dave, Chelsea, Sarah’s boyfriend (whose name I’ve forgotten – Ben?), and Marcus.

Sarah, Chels, and Marcus.

After two games (I bowled a pathetic 112), we decided to call it quits and headed over to the Green Eye. Though I started things well with a strike in the first frame, it was all downhill from there. Thankfully, I’ve learned my lesson and didn’t make any expensive bowling-related bets. He CAN be taught!

En route to the bar (I hitched with Dave, as did Nicole and her boyfriend Andy), we passed this sign. None of us knew what “pegaditas” meant, nor why 25 of them would be significant. I took a good amount of Spanish in junior high and high school (and came close to majoring in it in college), but I have no idea what this word means. Well, other than “little pegado” or something like that. Which… doesn’t really help.

Anyone have any ideas? I’d love to know just what in the heck this is all about. And what leggy women wearing shorts has to do with it.

The Green Eye – literally right at the Western Blue Line stop. This was also the venue for Chelsea’s birthday last year. Because so many people bought her shots last year (and because she had an early night as a result), she vowed to do no shots at all this evening. Any shots people bought her would go directly to Sarah.

Earlier in the night, I think there was a round of shots at the bowling alley. Because she had paced herself, Chelsea did give in and do a few shots (as you’ll see below).

A girl in the bar had several carnations on her, and as she was leaving… passed them out to me, Allen and Chris. Hey – every once in a while… boys like getting flowers too.