birthday shenanigans

Having a birthday on the 23rd of December is like punishment to a kid. People forget it's your birthday because they're busy preparing for Christmas. Friends can't come to your birthday party because they're on the way to grandmother's house for Christmas Eve. And worst of all - it's always cold, which means no pool party like the kids who had summer birthdays. Lucky jerks.

I was that kid who had a birthday on December 23rd. And while my parents were always awesome about celebrating (Do you know my mom? Have you seen the amazing cakes she's made over the past few decades?) and did a great job keeping my day from getting overshadowed by Christmas, I was still bummed out when my friends couldn't come to my birthday party. My parents even complained about the inconvenience of my birthdate and suggested we celebrate my half-birthday in June instead, but to this I respond, "They only people you can blame for my almost-Christmas birthday are YOURSELVES."

(Public Service Announcement to my friends trying to conceive: USE BIRTH CONTROL IN MARCH. And in April, too, just in case your kid is born early.)

Well, I'm no kid anymore (sob) and now birthdays are more dreaded than eagerly anticipated, but still, December is a pretty lame time to have a birthday. Luckily, I have Larry (who is one of those lucky jerks with a June birthday) in my life and he paid attention to my childhood sob stories lamenting my inconvenient birthday and has always done a great job of making December 23rd a special day for me (even if I can't have a pool party).

Last year, he set up a winery tour by limo through Virginia wine country. We had such an amazing time that we decided to make it a tradition and do it again this year. This year, Larry rented the LIMO PARTY BUS and a few more friends were able to join us to celebrate. 
We hit up three wineries in the Purcellville area: Bluemont (Go for the views!), Doukenie (Go for Leanne - the most hilarious 'wine educator' we've ever had! And also the horses!) and North Gate (Go for the chocolate truffle pairings that accompany the wines!).

Shenanigans ensued. I'll let the pictures do the talking:













There was also a special guest along for the ride - Naked Man! If you're not familiar with Naked Man, you must follow Jane's Instagram feed!


After seven, yes seven, hours of wine tasting and cruising around in the party bus, we returned home for some post-partying. There was more wine drinking, beer consumption, and also a bottle of tequila that was mysteriously empty the next day. Some more friends showed up. There was a bonfire. I don't remember much else except that it was awesome:


Oh, and Naked Man passed out. The next day, he had quite a headache.

He might not have been the only one...

Thanks so much, friends, for making my day so special and for cheering me up out of my pre-holiday funk! It's impossible not to have a smile on my face with such awesome people in my life. 

I think it was even more fun than a pool party!