It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since Amber’s birthday party last year. We had a microwave buffet last year, expertly prepared by Jon and enjoyed by all. It was really a fun night! If you didn’t see that post, here’s a link to it. Well a year has gone by and that can only mean one thing: Time for another Amber birthday party! Hells to the yeah and let’s get this party going!
Here we are at Amber’s front door, but before we go in, we must go and say hi...
To the front lawn deer! I love him and it’s cool how he’s always got the perfect outfit on! What a deer boy! Okay, we can go in now and see what’s happening.
Wow, the party’s in full swing already! Here’s Amber opening up some of the gifts that Danielle brought, while Danielle takes an impromptu nap on Amber’s left shoulder. It turns out that Danielle brought a truck load of really cool and fun presents for Amber and they’re placed along the piano.
Here’s Joe and Brent watching the action unfold in Amber’s front room.
Amber’s bird that she made in her taxidermy class last spring is looking the wrong way but what are you going to do?
A week earlier it was Danielle’s birthday, so I brought gift bags for both Amber and Danielle with matching presents so they wouldn’t have any birthday gift jealousy happening. I’m always thinking...sometimes way too much!
I loved watching them open up the presents! These two crack me the fuck up! Check out how their reactions mirror each other and they weren’t looking at each other either. The one in the lower left really makes me laugh, that’s a creepy porcelein head I got from Relics Gift Shop and they both put the head in their mouths at the same time! Ha ha ha! I love these two! Sadly, the MBIP camera fuzzed out the fourth shot. Hate the MBIP camera. HATE HATE HATE it!
Shortly after the presents were opened, Amber’s parents, Chuck and Diane showed up. Amber’s parents are really cool and fun to hang out with! And are Amber and her mom two of the prettiest women in the world or what?
Jeremy and Kathy were at last year’s party and they’ve just joined the party, which has decided to move to...
The basement bar! Amber had just started working on this last year and she’s really done a great job of decorating and putting it together.
Here’s the bar in the back of the room.
I love the booth in here and the wood paneling. And that Schlitz sign is so cool!
This table is the bar’s, “Last Call” table. When Julie’s Corner Store was closing, I went to say goodbye to the store and saw the base of this table, which is an antique casket holder. I immediately thought of Amber because she’s a licensed funeral director and got the base. It needed a glass top and I took it to Stained Glass Overlay on Sheridan road and the owners, Bruce and Helen really did a great job of making the glass top and putting the Last Call cards in between two layers of glass. It’s just the way I imagined it and I love this table!
Vintage beer signs and an Old Milwaukee clock hang on the wall over here. Hey, looking at the clock...it looks like it’s time for...
The First Annual Amber Birthday Pizza Delivery Derby!
Joe, Jeremy and myself called Marco’s Pizza, Domino’s and Monical's all at the same time and ordered a medium cheese pizza from each place to see who would come in first, second and third. I believe this is the first Peoria Pizza Delivery Derby ever and I’m proud to be a part of it here at Amber’s birthday party!
Here’s the prize packages for the Derby drivers, First Place gets a foam hand, a 20 dollar gift card, a drink chip from Champ’s West and an official MBIP card. Second place gets a ribbon, a free pass to the Peoria Riverfront Museum, a drink chip to the Owl’s Nest and an official MBIP card. Third place gets a ribbon, a Peoria magnet, a drink chip to No Wake Zone and an official MBIP card. The betting page is over there to the left. The excitement is building in the air and it’s simply dizzying! (The ribbons and foam hand were purchased at the School House.)
The bets get placed on the entry sheet. It’s two bucks to bet and the winner gets the pot. My friend Lisa gets a special shout out for being the only write-in vote as she was in Champaign that night. Ironically, she was eating pizza with friends over there! Okay, the bets are in place and now...
We wait. Well, I wait. Everybody else has gone back to drinking and having fun, but I’m totally obsessed with this and I’m waiting at the front door like a dog who wants to go out for a walk. After 22 minutes and a couple of beers there’s a knock on the door...
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! If you’re playing along at home and picked Marco’s Pizza as the first place winner, you’ve won! In addition to the prizes he also got this frozen chicken dinner to go with the winner, winner thing! I have to note here that I forgot to write down his and all the drivers names, sorry about that, but I was just caught up in the moment! Now time to wait for driver number two to show up!
That red, white and blue domino on top of that delivery car can mean only one thing: Domino’s has arrived and scored second place in this excitement-filled pizza delivery derby!
Here’s Amber and Danielle congratulating the Domino’s driver!
There’s a slight break in the Pizza Derby excitement as Dan arrives with a case of Miller Lite! Dan came all the way from Chicago fro Amber’s party and it’s great to see him again!
Headlights are there in the distance and that can only mean one thing...
It’s Monical’s who came in third place. All the drivers were great sports and I appreciate them all playing along.
Danielle, Jeremy and Brent picked the right combination of pizza delivery arrivals and they split the pot! This concludes The First Annual Amber Birthday Pizza Delivery Derby and we now return to the MBIP blog, already in progress...
Here’s Dan and Adam sampling some of the pizza. My favorite was Monical’s, I love their pizza!
In addition to the pizza, Amber’s parents brought a homemade enchilada salad and Danielle spent all day cooking up three of Amber’s favorite dishes: Quinoa salmon avocado salad, bean and veggie dip, and vegetable soup with tofu. The food was delicious and very nice of Amber’s parents and Danielle to bring such homemade goodness to the party!
After the Derby excitement and the food portion of the party everyone went out to the back patio for more festivities. We called the MBIP Spiritual Guru, Tim Hennessey back here, but he didn’t answer, so we all shouted a message at him and then had more beers.
The night ended up down in the bar in the basement playing games. Here’s Danielle in the middle of an iPhone app game called, Heads Up, where you act out clues for the person with the phone. The teams were Amber, Joe and Danielle on one team and myself, Adam, Brent and Dan on the other.
You make the call: Is Amber imitating a reindeer or has her hangover started early?
Here I am giving it a shot. By now I’ve drank about 42 beers (I started before the party) and I’m not to receptive to the clues being given me.
We ended up losing, mainly because I suck at games!
After the Heads Up game, Amber and Dan are simultaneously making a grandiose sweeping gesture towards...
The poker table over on this side of the bar. Here’s Amber dealing out cards for a game called, Cards Against Humanity.
Sadly the game requires reading and announcing questions and statements from cards and my motor skills weren’t up to it, so it was time for me to call a cab and call it a night.
It was another epic Amber Birthday party! Thanks for the fun times, Amber and happy birthday to you! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Post: Saturday Night Microwave Buffet @ Amber’s Birthday Party!