We interrupt the usual Saturday Night dinner Monday MBIP post because last Thursday we celebrated my friend, Amber’s birthday. I’ve kind of turned her birthday into a national holiday through the years here on MBIP and this year’s was a thundering, righteous blast!
Check out all the festivities, food and fun below!
The Posters and Stickers
This year we surprised Amber with a Amber Monologues Birthday Party.
Chelsie Tamms from Lettering Works designed the party poster and stickers and I put together a poster with photos from the past five years of Amber Birthday Extravaganzas!
The Birthday Cake
Of course the birthday cake came from Trefzger’s Bakery and it was baked and designed by the MBIP resident cake artist, Kayla!
Great job as always, Kayla, thanks for a beautiful cake!
Casa de Arte
The party was had at one of Peoria’s coolest places, Casa de Arte. Casa de Arte is an art gallery, lounge and restaurant specializing in tacos and tequila.
It’s open on Friday and Saturday from 6 to 10pm, but you can also rent the space for private parties and receptions, which is what we did for this year’s Amber Birthday Extravaganza.
There’s our private party sign and we put up Amber’s posters at the front of the dining area.
As you can see, there’s a nice dining area and a full bar here at Casa de Arte. There’s also tables and art opposite the bar.
Carla and Arturo
Here’s the owners of Casa de Arte, Carla and Arturo Vargas.
They’re both friendly hosts and if you’d like to rent this space for a private party you can contact them by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
They were recently featured on the news and you can see that by clicking here.
Artist Of The Month
Carla and Arturo use the space to promote local artists and the artist of this month is Michael Jermain Adams. His artwork is on the walls of Casa de Arte for this month and you can read and see more of his wonderful art by clicking here.
The Birthday Girl: Amber!
Here’s the guest of honor, the birthday girl herself, Amber with her husband Joe.
She had no idea that we were doing a show in her honor and she was a little nervous about what the monologues might be about!
She loved the poster and stickers that Chelsie designed for the show and party!
The Guests
Shortly after Joe and Amber arrived the guests started coming to Casa de Arte. They are:
1. Amber, Roger, Sue and Joe.
2. Virginia, Brent, Danielle and Steve.
3. Adam and Amber.
4. Steve and Kathy.
5. Luke.
6. Jon.
7. Andy and Jackie A.K.A. Noion Cities.
The Food
They have a full menu at Casa de Arte and when you rent the space you can have your choice of many appetizers and entrees.
For dinner we had the homemade chips with salsa and guacamole and three different styles of their fabulous tacos
We had steak, pork and mushroom tacos and the food was so delicious! Everyone was raving about it.
Stop by every Friday and Saturday to try this magnificent cuisine out for yourself!
The Amber Monologues
After dinner we all gathered in the front room for the debut of The Amber Monologues!
The show opened with an original birthday song written by Jackie and Andy.
They perform under the name of Noion Cities and the song was equal parts humor, affection and beautiful music!
Then it was time for the monologue portion of the show.
Jackie, myself and Joe told our Amber tales and the guests enjoyed the storytelling.
Jackie and Joe told great stories and I wisely put myself in the middle so I’d look good sandwiched in between them!
Happy Birthday To You!
After the storytelling, Noion Cities sang the traditional Happy Birthday song to Amber and the guests joined in.
Then the Trefzger’s cake was brought out and Amber successfully blew out all the candles without spitting on the cake!
Fantastic job, Amber!
The Presents
After the cake, Amber opened up her presents.
This was such a fun party, thanks to everyone who came and special thanks to Chelsie from Lettering Works, Noion Cities and Carla and Arturo from Casa de Arte for the wonderful food, drink and hospitality.
Happy Birthday Amber!
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1227 SW Adams Street
Peoria
309-839-2535
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Related Posts: The Amber Birthday Extravaganza: Saturday Night Microwave Buffet @ Amber’s Birthday Party!, Saturday Night @ Amber’s Birthday Party...Plus...The First Annual Amber Birthday Pizza Delivery Derby!, Saturday Night @ The Third Annual Amber Birthday Extravaganza! Featuring Dave “Elvis” Stovall And A Half A Dozen Birthday Cakes, The Fourth Annual Amber Birthday Extravaganza and The Fifth Annual Amber Birthday Extravaganza.