Happy Birthday to Me

Friday night was my birthday party (yes, I'm now 26), and it was pretty fun. Lane usually tries to throw something together because she's really outgoing. She decided that it would be fun to go to Top Golf and then head to Uptown for more drinks. That sounded good to me, and it was settled.

So Friday afternoon, my coworkers got some red velvet cupcakes that were delicious. It was a nice gesture that made me feel a little loved at work (and that almost never happens). After that, I headed home to meet up with the fellas (Tucker, Ashley, and a visiting Woody). Since dinner wasn't on Lane's agenda, the guys asked me what I wanted...and I chose a steak cooked by Ashley (one of the greatest things ever, by the way). It was nice of Tucker to oblige on this because he had literally just finished three weeks of being vegan. And steak is pretty close to being as anti-vegan as possible.

Anyway, the guys cooked steak, quail, and corn...and it was awesome. Woody tried to make new potatoes, but Ashley's stove just wasn't strong enough to do so. More on that later.

So after that, we headed to Top Golf. Ashley brought his clubs, being the only one who'd actually ever been there. We sat inside for a minute before my sister and her friend Bonner showed up. We got a table outside and were eventually joined by a few others (Keely, Claunch, Carrie, Tyler, and eventually Beau). We sat outside talking, and it was really nice and relaxing. They bought me drinks, and I got pretty drunk. Here's the tally:

1 Lay Me on the Green (like a hurricane)

1 Vodka and Diet Coke

1 Jager Bomb

1 fruity shot suggested by the cute waitress

1 can of shiner

1 firefly sweet tea

2 Jack and Cokes

1 Coors Light

I don't think there was any more in there, but it was a lot for me. Particularly with no water or food in between. Not as crazy as the previous two years, but that's probably as much alcohol as I usually have in a couple of months.

Anyway, we had such a good time outside that we decided to just skip the golf part. We were basically just enjoying some relatively good weather outside, talking with each other. It's always a bit odd when I do this kind of thing because there's just such a wide variety of people - people from work, from college, from later in life, and Lane's friends. But most of my friends (and all of the ones at the party) are pretty chill and get along with everyone.

After that, we headed to Uptown and had a couple of drinks. I was pretty drunk by this point (and getting old because I thought the music in there was disturbingly loud). The crowd whittled down pretty good, and we left about an hour later. I went to bed, and that was it.

Except that it wasn't. I was glad that we went out on Friday because Saturday (my actual birthday) was gone for me. I typically get pretty bad hangovers, and this one was about as bad as I've ever had. My usual hangover symptom is simply nausea...and that's exactly what attacked me on this day.

(Caution - nausea stuff is about to be discussed. You've been warned).

So I knew I was going to have a hangover...particularly when I still felt kinda drunk when I went to the bathroom in the morning. I had dry mouth so I tried to drink some water, but that was a pretty big mistake. As I was trying to get some more sleep (seven hours seemed to be my cap that night), I had to fight through going back and forth to the toilet. Two sips of water was sending my stomach through Hell - not a good sign.

Tired of sitting in bed feeling gross, I took a shower and went into the living room. I grabbed a Vitamin Water - thinking it'd be the best combination of water, vitamins, and flavor. My body vehemently disagreed with me.

I drank about a gulp and a half of the Vitamin Water over the course of about six hours, and I didn't keep any of it down. And I was epically vomiting too - too the point where absolutely nothing was left to throw up. I was miserable, and it really questioned why people drink. Why would you sacrifice an entire day in honor of a couple hours of fun? I guess people spend the day hungover and then go out as soon as it wears off...but that just doesn't sound fun at all.

By about 4pm, the worst was over. I still felt gross the rest of the night (and even some parts of today), and I consumed a shockingly low amount of food that day (about a half bottle of ginger ale and some of the potatoes from the night before). But luckily I felt better today...and was able to use today as a buffer day.

It sucks that I lost an entire day of my weekend because of one night of fun (especially since that lost day was my actual birthday), but I think it was probably worth it.

Thanks to all my friends who showed up for me. You guys rock.