Tracy Calabrese

Friday was my birthday. I planned everything out - dinner at Fireside Pies, Zane Lamprey comedy show at House of Blues and then back to the Henderson area for drinks. I invited my friends, who invited their friends and was ready to have a great time.

And I did have a great time, but I am just so over birthdays. It sort of felt like any other weekend night, just that people were buying me drinks and I got a few presents. And there is always some kind of drama, which I will leave out of this post.

Next year, when I turn one year closer to the big 3-0, I just want to do something for me. Have a really nice dinner. Take a trip. Go to a spa.

The rest of my birthday weekend was spent staying in bed on Saturday until 3pm and catching up on Glee and Parenthood. On Sunday, I went grocery shopping, cleaned my entire house, went to Half Price Books, did 5 loads of laundry and finished the book A Thousand Splendid Suns (which I highly recommend).

So yeah, happy birthday to me.

I had one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.

• Friday night - Went to the Gilda’s Club of North Texas Rock the Red Door event at The Loft. The Spazmatics played and they were awesome. I definitely need to catch them the next time they play. After the event, I went to the am/pm lounge with my friends Ashley and Makenzie. We were in the mood for a change of scenery from Uptown and trust me, downtown is definitely a change. We danced, probably a little too crazy, and had a really good time. We saw and attempted to take a picture (FAIL) with Mario Lopez! Who knew random celebrities hung out in downtown?!

• Saturday - Headed to Ikea, the Allen outlet mall and Home Goods with Ashley. We really made the rounds in the ‘burbs! I bought a shelf/pot rack for my kitchen and a muffin tin. After a long day of shopping, I headed back to the ‘burbs with Ashley to a Halloween party at her friends house and then we came back to Dallas to hit the Dervish Club Halloween party at Madison Ave. Saw some good costumes, which gave me the idea to be something more creative than a cat next year. I might attempt to come up with a way to be a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Madison Ave. was packed and we left around midnight.

• Sunday - Grocery shopping. Six loads of laundry. Mopped the floors. Cleaned the bathrooms (cleaning 3 toilets sucks). Watched the Cowboys beat the Seahawks. Baked apple spice muffins. Got my car washed. Bought pre-sale tickets to see New Moon (shut up). Started re-reading New Moon (shut up again). Relaxed before another exhausting week of work.

Thanks to my client I was out until 4:30am last night…or this morning.

I saw the world premiere of Rock Prophecies at AFI Dallas last night. Good flick. I highly recommend seeing if you have the opportunity. Robert Knight is inspiring and makes me want to take more pictures and be a better photographer.

Both Tyler Dow Bryant and Sick Puppies, who were featured in the movie, played the after party. It’s been a long time since I have seen a band play live and it was amazing to see two awesome performances.The Sick Puppies put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen.

The after party turned into an after after party and we hung out with the bands backstage, got some badass hats, drank too much, went to Donnie Nelson’s apartment, ate cold pizza in the Melrose Hotel and then I rolled into my apartment in the wee hours of the morning.

It was the most fun I have had in a while and well worth feeling like ass today.

I hate having high expectations. I am almost always let down.

Tonight started out with dinner and drinks with friends at Hully & Mo’s in Uptown. I got there and everyone was already talking about an impromptu trip to New Orleans tomorrow (or today!) and I was so down with booking a ticket tonight. I could leave tomorrow early afternoon and come home Sunday morning in time to meet with my dad and the real estate agent to see condos/townhouses and be to work on Monday for my daily 7:30am conference call.

We all went to our (me, Ashley and Makenzie’s) office and attempted to book tickets.

It all sounded good when we “talking” about it, but when it came down to spending almost $400 for a plane ticket and who knows how much for booze (first priority) and food, I just couldn’t justify it. I am sorry, but that is a lot of money for less then 12 hours.

I know it is/was a once in a lifetime experience, but still. My dad is taking me out on Sunday. Maybe it is only child syndrome, but when my father takes the time to do something for me, it really doesn’t matter what comes up. I have to be there. He is my dad and I wouldn’t just bail on him for however many hundreds of dollars and a once in a lifetime experience. He is my dad, my family, and I couldn’t - wouldn’t - do that.

I honestly don’t know why I take things so personally, but I do. And now, I feel responsible for my friends NOT going to New Orleans tomorrow. I ended up bailing on them tonight and coming home early. I ended up upset with tears in my eyes. I missed cheesy 80’s music. I missed spending a few more hours with them. I bet I missed some good times.

For a night out with good friends.

There will be good food and probably one too many good drinks too.

I woke up this morning and went for a 2.5 mile walk down the Katy Trail and picked up some Starbucks on the way back to my apartment.

Now, I am going to put on a black shirt (perfect color for a single girl), some Valentine’s Day socks that say “love” on them (because they will be hidden) and run errands. Maybe stop by Whole Foods or Central Market (I haven’t decided yet), get birthday cards for my mom and dad (both of their birthdays are this week) and drive around town looking for condos for sale.

I was invited to an “I Hate Valentine’s Day” party this evening, but I haven’t decided if I want to go or not. Drinks do sound very tempting though.

Valentine’s Day is just another normal day…