Birthday on the town

Not my birthday. Don’t worry. You didn’t miss it.

Yesterday was my BFF Melanie’s birthday. I won’t say how old she is. We’ll just say she’s a few months older than me, and I’m 36. tee hee.

We started the day meeting at the YMCA to test out some guest passes. We’re wanting to join, so we thought we’d go workout and see how it went. It was a great workout, some girlfriend therapy included, of course, and we felt really jazzed for the day. She hung out with her guys for the day and then we met up to go out on the town for dinner and whatever else we felt like.

Theme of the day: How in the heck is it possible that we’re this old??? We don’t feel any older than we did 19 years ago when we met on our first day of college orientation. We might look a little different, though.

Want proof?

Here’s us all ready to head out last night for dinner.

Now get ready for a very scary trip down memory lane… don’t take a drink, though, you’ll spit as you laugh.

Where it all began….St. Louis Christian College. Fall 1991.
Yes, that’s my dorm room. With Andre Agassi on the wall. LOVED that poster. Kinda still do, now that I look at it again. We were the trio, the three amigos, not to be separated. Melanie, Anissa, and me. In this pic, right at the beginning of our freshman year, I was 17 and they were 18. We thought we were something special.

A very frequent scene. Me and Mel at Wal-Mart. It was almost daily. I don’t know why. Wait. I DO know why. I had a car. I was 17. That was all that mattered. “Where can we go? We need to go somewhere??” (Note the marks because this was a yearbook pic. Frightening.)

Choir Tour, Christmas 1991. Oh the damage that could be done if I could figure out how to get the VHS video tapes onto DVD. And yes, I know you’re totally jealous of my beautiful bangs.

St. Pat’s Day 1992. Me and Mel in a photo booth somewhere. I don’t remember this at all. And that’s weird because I remember far too much. But this one surprised me when I was going through the old scrapbook.

Spring 1992. Awards Banquet. I was the chairperson.

Check out those smokin’ decorations. Pink and green. Can’t beat it. And yes, we were dressed up. Thought we looked good.

May 1992. We were one of the teams going out for the summer to represent the college and recruit. Churches, church camps, conventions, we did it all. Music, drama, teaching classes, being the coolest of dorm moms.
Clearly, I thought I was too cool for this picture. And no that’s not our dad. It’s Tim, and Tim was SO old. He was 28. Totally makes me laugh out loud right this second. (Interesting side note…Tim ended up marrying a girl he met that summer, she was 12, or something like that. He didn’t marry her right then, don’t worry. It was all legal and respectable, years later. Just a little surprising.)

February 1994. We had these pictures taken because I wanted to give mine to my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day.

He didn’t like them. So much for that idea. My grandmother thought they were great, though, and had them all over her house.

March 1994. On the beach in Florida. First time I ever saw the ocean was that week. Maybe that day. We were packing buddies for choir tour, of course.
Only snag was that she was just starting to date my aforementioned boyfriend, then my ex of 3 weeks…made for some awkward moments, but we made it through. And she married him.

We had some years of very sparse communication. We lived alot of life, both of us did, in those years…

In 2002, the trio started going on yearly trips together. The OTW Tour, as we called it. Explanation another time. This was March 2002 in Chicago.

We got thrown in the hoosegow in Brown County, IN in March 2003.


Don’t miss Mel’s face… so typically funny.


And just in fairness to us both…. I’ll close with us now, one more time. Older, wiser, a little more jaded, but lookin’ better than ever! (Mel has lost 80 lbs in the last few years, is the most committed health and fitness nut I know. My physical wellness guru.)


After living in a few different places, we’ve both ended up back here…only a few miles from each other. I am SO thankful for that!

We went to a VERY nice dinner, went to downtown Old St. Charles and walked around a bit and got some great coffee, then hopped across town to a dueling piano bar* for a little while.(*where we did NOT get carded…and it was a little sad even though we weren’t exactly there to “par-tay”)

Wild women, that’s us. (Truth is, we had to consult my younger, cuter, and much more hip and sophisticated little sister to get tips on what to do with this rare opportunity to go out and be sassy.)

Happy Birthday, again, Melanie!!! 37 never looked so good!