As Fun as it Seems

After countless emails and messages back and forth, I was FINALLY able to nail down a weekend for Kiel's birthday shenanigans. Four of Kiel's best buddies (3 of whom he's been bff's with since KINDERGARDEN) came in from LA/Orange County/Fresno for a weekend of fun and Sun in SLO. Everyone trickled in on Friday evening for a night of pizza, beer pong, and White Castle cheeseburgers. Oh yes, I treated the guys to a gourrrrrmet meal! Then this amazing "hyphy wifey" graciously offered to dd and I do believe I drank the Frog and Peach pub out of Diet Coke...2am, exhausted, with a car full of definitely-not-sober boys=FUN FOR LAUREN. I did, however, get treated to some late-night Belgian fries, and got to read the funniest comment card I have ever seen in the process- "You should serve fried chicken with your waffles, you'd make more money and Snoop Dogg may even come in".

I delighted the boys in the morning by whipping up my version of Irma's super yummy banana-chocolate chip pancakes. Seriously, the best pancakes ever- especially when served with whipped cream in lieu of syrup!

My San Jose cousins (well, 2 of the 5) were in town for Mere's soccer tourney, so while the boys recovered, I went to cheer on the West Valley Wildcats! Nolan was an EXCELLENT babysitter for Pepper, until she decided to sprint ACROSS THE FIELD after me on my way to a potty break.
The guys hit up the golf course while I was at the game, and when they came home immediately passed out on the couches. It took me a solid 15 minutes looking for Pep until I finally caught this angle... lazy bones! No trip to SLO is complete without a trip to the insanely delicious Firestone Grill for their famous tri-tip sandos.

Nor without a stop into Powel's Candy Shoppe. You HAVE to love a place that has Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing nonstop.You could say they were, well...like kids in a candy store. :)I'm sorry, but if this isn't the most hilarious thing I've ever seen I don't know what is! I love Kiel's friends for two main reasons: the first being they are all kind-hearted, sweet, generous men. The other being they share my love of whiskey.

I kind of like Frank's arm covering my face, it makes me look tan.Let's just sum up the night that ensued after the above picture was taken: we went downtown, partied our faces off, danced like there was no tomorrow (um, I swear 'DJ Donk' watches SYTYCD because he played EVERY song from that show...I busted out my NapyTabs moves, don't you worry), Alan and LB got into a bit of an "altercation" with one of the bouncers, we picked up the jackets and comfy shoes we had stashed for the walk home, we stood in front of a house and watched the college party get broken up by police at 3:30 in the morning, and we then spent about an hour convincing Kai that one of the girls he had been macking on was "less than attractive". I swear, I haven't seen 4:45am on the clock since that was the time I used to get up for work!

The next morning, Kiel helped himself to a breakfast of champions: cold french fries and ranch dip that had been left out all night. Lovely. For those of you who didn't watch this past season of The Bachelorette, you can stop reading now. I hope you have a fantastic start to your week!

But, for those of you that did: you may have seen this picture on Facebook. Haha.

As I was stepping out of the ladies room at Mother's on Saturday night, I look up and just saw Kasey standing right there. I burst out "I will guard and protect your heart!" and went back to the dancefloor laughing hysterically. Well, as the bar closed I see my work friend Johnny (pictured on the right in black) and start talking to him...well, turns out Kasey is his roommate! After hanging with them for about an hour, this is what we've learned:

• Kasey gave Ali a "5 on a scale of 10" (our friends that know her from Palo Alto said it was more of a 6.5- ouch!)
• He said Frank really was a tad obsessed with Ali, and the guys would say things like "dude, she may not even pick you"...so that may have led him going back to whats-her-face.
• While he seems much taller in person, his voice sounds much WORSE
• Girls were flocking him all night taking pictures and dancing with him, however, once the bar cleared out he was looking for anyone who wanted to come "after party" at his place. No takers, including LB and I.
• He kept saying, over and over "don't you worry, big things are coming for me" and that he couldn't tell us if he was single or not... trying to convince us he was the next Bachelor. No way, Jose. That spot belongs to Chris L.
• Oh, and just so you all know: I sang with him. You know, to completely round out the "let's make fun of Kasey" sesh. As we were sitting on the windowsill, I go "As I sit here, on this crazy Saturday..." and HE GOES "on this busy sidewalk in the middle of the ciiiiiiity" I die. (The next morning, I got a text from my friend Lauren "Um, you realized you SANG with Kasey last night, right?")

I think my fave part was when Alan walked up and said "Dude, an Ali tattoo? Lame."

All in all, the weekend was a great success. I have to give some props to my hubby and all of his buddies for sitting there and waiting while we asked Kasey all these questions about the show "Were the Craigs really as douchey as they seemed?" "How long were you really stuck on that glacier alone?" "Did anyone tell Justin he missed a spot shaving his chin" etc... they knew we loved that season and let us get our dirt. Here is probably the best clip from the entire season...