WEEKEND O’ FUN TIMES

Ate celebrated her 29th birthday this weekend. I know we “young ‘uns” give our older homies grief for being old (ahem Annie, Fernie, Ate Cyn, Gary…hee hee) when we see them, but as they’ve proven (without having to so), you’re only as old as you feel and age is definitely just a number. Friday night proved just that when six 20-somethings (2/3 almost 30-somethings…hahaha, just kidding!) spent an evening at California Adventure for Mickey’s Halloween Treat.

Not meant for the Knotts Scary Farm enthusiast, Halloween in the Magic Kingdom’s strictly-enforced, kid-friendly atmosphere called for more princesses, princes, cutesy bears and tiggers (and one baby Yoda) than vampires, ghouls and monsters. We took mental note and came in kid-friendly as ever, in our improvised Halloween costumes: dressed in white from neck to ankle, topped with my silver halo, I was an angel; Annie in her dad’s plaid polo, overalls and Blossom straw hat was a farmer; Will in his Bob Marley shirt wore his beanie with attached dreads proudly (which is an understatement. He grew rather attached to that thing and hopes to wear it as often as he can); Jeff & Fernie came dressed in their camouflaged best; and our birthday celebrant, Ate Tin-Tin came in her homemade lady bug costume! It was 3 hours of time well-spent in the company of such great friends (even though I had to pee before Hollywood Tower of Terror and Ate made me HOLD IT!). We scaredy cats who declined Knotts Scary Farm this year should opt for a wussy, but Disney kind of Halloween next year.

On Saturday we had Ate’s birthday lunch at C & O Trattoria in Venice. MMMMMMMM linguini de mare and awesome garlic rolls! I swear we pop those in our mouths like popcorn or potato chips! The meal was superb as always, the conversations I either partook in or listened to were amusing, and having buzzed Ate Tin-Tin (with her natural eye shadow and blush caused by alcohol intake), calling our waiter Donald (his name is Donan) was hilaire at best. After watching “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” with my girls Gwen, Fantone and Leia (oh, and Joemama – don’t pretend you were reading a magazine) and scheming a European invasion in 2007, I swung by my aunts’ housewarming back in Glendale to grub and concluded the evening in front of the computer formulating yet another paper which is due today (I finished last night, thanks very much!).

After a Sunday spent praying (2000 Hail Marys in the church auditorium – I prayed for a few hundred), eating or keeping Kelsoe amused (which is a worthwhile, but tiring task), the weekend finally caught up with me. In any case, I can’t complain. Now if only I could’ve squeezed in a couple hours of GRE studying…THAT task remained to go unseen this past week.