Last Saturday the 19th, we celebrated my birthday (which is really August 15) by having a big party at our house. It was a ton of fun, and ranks amongst the top 2 parties I’ve ever had. There were just under fifty people here and the evening was filled with excitement. It started with a surprise showing of Mr. Universe Absolute
Fitness 2005 from Spain. The guests were lined up to take pictures with him with his shirt off. He was very sweet and patient with our horny guests.

Next came Esteban, the fire-spinner. He lights poi on long chains with kerosene and spins them all around very artistically to dramatic techno music. For those of you who have never seen such a thing, it’s quite impressive. Next time I’ll take a video to show you.

By this time, most everyone had shown up and we were eating a ton of delicious BBQ meats, salads, a yummy maple syrup squash dish I made from butternut squash out of the garden and much, much more. DJ Isaac had prepared the playlist weeks in advance and everyone was grooving to the beat and beginning to dance.

Tequila shots started circulating, as well as this crazy orange drink in bottles that were being poured down everyone’s throat directly from the bottle. We went through about 3 gallons of the stuff! Oh, speaking of drinks, Esteban also made these crazy things out of plastic that attach to the beer bottles to help you drink it (beer bong style) in about 4 seconds. So, of course, a competition ensued.

About 11pm the stripper, Iceman, showed up. He put on three numbers as he progressively took more and more off. Our new client (from our Cultural Enrichment Program), Tanya, showed up in time for the show and was picked out of the crowd by Iceman for quite the spectacle. He picked her up, spun her around and I think shocked the hell out of her!

At this point I thought the shows were over, but about an hour later I heard music coming from the end of the driveway. The mariachis were here! They entered the house singing and playing their instruments as all 50 of us started to dance and sing to songs like, “El Mariachi Loco Quiere Bailar.” One of the friends who flew in for the party from San Francisco, Brett, started crying. I do have to say the whole thing was very overwhelming having about 60 people in one room hugging me, kissing me and saying Happy Birthday. This really wasn’t a party of clicky groups. Everyone was talking, dancing and hanging out together. It felt like a real love fest!

As soon as the mariachis were done, but still in the room, Mauricio brought out my birthday cake. Everyone sang to me and then I got the entire cake shoved into my face! It was actually so funny, that I couldn’t even get mad. But it did take quite a bit of time before I got all the frosting out of my ears.

The party finally broke up about 4am and I tried to go to sleep. But I was still so wired from the whole event that I didn’t really sleep. Now Isaac says we have to top this party with one in November for his birthday. Should be fun!

View all the pictures here.