Christine turns another year older...

...and no, I won't say exactly how old. All the viewing audience really needs to know is that Christine's 40-something birthday very closely resembled my 21st birthday, except she was far more in need of a designated driver.

I, for the record, had just a drink and a half over the course of the evening. Please, keep that in mind.

Before I joined up with the group, they had dinner (and several margaritas) at a restaurant called the Mayan Palace. Around 9:30, I found them at Spin, a gay bar in Boystown. Say what you will about gay bars, but these two things matter most: The music was fantastic and we could dance without being accosted by any nasty individuals. Here is Christine, somewhat obscured by the contents of the smoke machine...

[smoke and mirrors]



From there, we headed to a bar called Wilde's (after Oscar Wilde) which was, by far, the most sophisticated establishment we were at all night. We picked up Christine's friend Mary D and her husband, Art, who was also celebrating his birthday. It was at this moment in the evening that we had enough personal space and presence of mind to take a group photo. You can see the top of my forehead in the back. :-)

[with santa at wilde's]


[group shot]


Our next location wasn't classy, but it was...memorable. Any place with the name Hogs & Honeys would have to be. We had two primary objectives at H&H: Christine wanted to dance on a bar and ride the mechanical bull. Check and check. [As you'll see below, I skipped the bar dancing and joined in the bull riding.] She also got a "bonus" experience of having the very lovely bartender pour a shot directly into her mouth. Gross! But for Christine, high on the adventure scale.

[bar beauties, christine and renee]


[a lot of bull]





[shot in the dark]


[buddy pics]



Thanks goodness we ended the night at Howl at the Moon. Not as "chill" as Wilde's, it was a good capstone to the night. The dueling piano bar had actual seats we could sit in, a thinning crowd and a closing time: 3am. That forced a curfew—thank goodness!—and I made it back to Downers Grove shortly before 4.

[our fellow howlers]


Needless to say, this isn't my typical Saturday night, but for Christine, it was worth schlepping around the city. I got to dance and definitely found our fellow club-hoppers more than entertaining.