Happy Birthday, Joe!!!

On Tues my aunt Mary took me and Joe out to dinner for Joe's birthday. His birthday is actually on Thurs, but Tues was when we were able to get together. Joe picked the restaurant: McCormick & Schmick's in Tysons Corner.

M&S is one of Joe's favorites and we've been there several times with Mary. We always have great food, great service, and a great time. This was no exception. Mary had made a reservation, and when asked if it was for a special occasion, she said yes it was for Joe's birthday. When we were seated at our table and presented with our menus, our server said "Happy birthday, Joe". Then when we looked at our menus printed across the top they read "Happy birthday Joe!!!" It was a nice touch and we had a great time!

Then on Thurs I had flowers delivered to the house for Joe. He loves cut flowers and I love to send them to him, so it works out great. Per my request the florist designed a lovely bouquet of summer flowers, including sun flowers, iris, snap dragons, and some others I couldn't identify. That evening we kept our usual Thurs routine and picked up Evelyn for dinner. We ate at Bertucci's, then went to Mary & Eric's house for birthday cake. We all sang 'Happy Birthday', and Mary and Evelyn gave Joe a tiny MP3 player he'd been wanting.

Fri I drove Joe's car to work and then took it over to Best Buy to have a new stereo with CD player installed. That's what he asked me for for his birthday. I picked out a stereo that also has a jack so you can plug in an MP3 player so you can play your favorite CDs AND MP3s in the car. Then Fri evening we met up with Ron & James and Mike & Clark for a birthday weekend at the beach. James' birthday was 3 weeks ago, on June 30. Mike's birthday was 2 days before Joe's, on July 18, and Joe's was July 20. We got to the beach house in the typical 2 1/2 hours, got everyone settled in, made some martinis, and talked for a while. When the guys went to bed Joe & I slipped over to the 24-hour grocery store to pick up some things for the weekend's breakfasts. Just before we went to bed it began to storm. Loud thunder, heavy rain, and lots of lightening.

Sat morning it was raining so we lingered over blueberry pancakes, bacon, fruit, juice and coffee. It was wonderfully relaxing to just sit around and talk and read and laugh. We got them caught up on our plans to relocate to DE, and we caught up on their job and family situations. Shortly after noon we headed out to the outlet malls and did some shopping, followed by lunch at the 'Dirty Finger' restaurant.

Okay, its not really named the 'Dirty Finger' restaurant. Its really called the Ocean Point Grill, but we've renamed it the 'Dirty Finger' restaurant. After eating there a few times, we recommended it to our friends Doug & Jim. Then Jim told us of a time he & Doug and his parents ate there and were served by a waitress with dirt under her fingernails. It creeped him out so badly he couldn't eat his food. Wildly entertained by that story, we renamed the place the 'Dirty Finger' restaurant and continue to eat there. We've never seen a waitress with dirt under her fingers. Plus, the owner/manager of the place is a Greek woman who makes the BEST 3-layer coconut cake EVER! I get a slice every time I go there. And this time, we made converts out of Ron & James and Mike & Clark. They loved their meals and the coconut cake too.

For some strange reason, the traffic on Rt 1 was worse than we'd ever seen it before; much worse than any Memorial Day, 4th of July, or Labor Day weekend. It took us nearly 45 minutes to go 3 miles! When we finally got back to the beach house, everyone was ready for a nap. Since I'm not a napper, I washed up a few dishes and read. After everyone woke up, we got ourselves spiffed up for dinner and the show. We'd bought tickets in advance to the Christopher Peterson "Eyecons" show http://www.atlanticsandshotel.com/Hotel_Events_Eyecon_Show.html, along with dinner at the restaurant a few floors below in the same hotel. I really enjoy Christopher Peterson because he doesn't lip-synch. He speaks and sings like the stars he impersonates using his own voice! Our meals were delicious and I had a chocolate martini that was divine. Since we had a few minutes before we needed to go to the ballroom for the show, we took a little walk on the boardwalk, then headed upstairs. The show was great! Christopher did singing/speaking impersonations of Cher, Julie Andrews, Peggy Lee, Bette Davis, and Liza Minelli. It was a lot of fun. Then we went for another walk on the boardwalk before heading back to the beach house.

Sun morning it was sprinkling again so we once again lingered over a breakfast of fresh bagels, scones, cheesy egg souffle, fruit, juice and coffee. Since the weather simply wasn't cooperating for a 'beach day', we headed into downtown Rehoboth to do a little shopping, followed by lunch at the 'Dirty Finger' again, which included slices coconut cake again. Despite all the repeats, everyone seemed to have a good time. Then we came back to the beach house, packed and tidied up, and left at 4pm. It was a terrific birthday week for Joe and a fabulous birthday weekend for all of us.

Drag Queen name of the day: Georgia Onmamind