KIMBERDAY! yeah..yeah.. I know.. its late

My apologies to the 900+ blogs in my reader that I have not read. I'll get there. Please be patient.

My trip started out on Thursday August 20th, I won't get into details, but I will state that US Air can suck it. Cause they do SUCK. When I finally arrived in Birmingham, AL, I was late for the big bday bash dinner. (I SHOULD have been there a few hours before.)

Not one to show up and be quiet about my arrival especially on Kim's ACTUAL birthday. With people around her that I have never met. (shit my pants much? Just a little.)

Let's just say that I made it clear I was there to celebrate Kim. Our buddy, Karl got this entrance on video. I was too exhausted, pissed and just too damn happy to finally be there, that I let him. What the hell was I thinking...

Three Minutes Over KimBerday is the short video Karl put together of this march to the Birthday Woman, as well as a few other notable moments over the weekend. Worth the 3 minutes to watch and see how I 'introduced' myself to Alabama and Kim and her friends whom I've never met.

From there, we went to a place, Buffalo Wild Wings. Kim has tweeted about this place a few times. It was pretty cool. And it was Trivia night. Of course we were sitting right under the tv with the questions, so eventually I had to quit or I was going to fall over backwards off the bar stool.

We were going to try and Karaoke, but we went to this other bar, and it wasn't Karaoke night, so we were going to play pool. Lo and behold some of the attendees weren't even 21. I didn't even KNOW... so we all got thrown out of the bar. That was kinda fun.

We went back to the house, where we all got to relax in Kim's media room and watch some TV... we stumbled upon her grandfathers videos of lil Kim growing up. Learning how to swim, throwing her tricycle in the bushes for the 2 wheeler (with trainers). It was so awesome. I think we watched a few hours of it. I'm bummed I didn't get to see more. But I thought it was totally perfect for her actual birthday to be seeing all these great videos.

She also has two amazing dogs. Beaux and Teddy. Now let me tell you Beaux looks like this little cute puppy in his pictures. He's HUGE. I'm talking almost as tall as my short ass huge. But he was also the biggest baby. Him & Teddy were just so adorable and lovable.

Here comes the best part. Kim is the MOST AMAZING hostess. Up there with Turnbaby. I didn't stay at TB's house, so my experience with Kim was a little different. Her home is amazing. Immaculate and beautifully decorated in style. She has amazing taste. She makes Marta Stewart look like the Matre'd at a crack house in South Philly.

She offered snacks, drinks and anything we could possibly want to eat or drink. SMORK. She was/is the most eloquent wonderful southern woman. I've heard rumors about Southern hospitality. Thought they were kidding. Boy was I wrong. She is a Southerner through and through, and I was lovin every second of it.

We stayed up way way way past my bedtime, til about 2am. And I'll tell ya, when I finally went to sleep, I slept long and hard. And I slept in when morning came. Hell - Karl was up before me every day. That's how comfortable and relaxed I was in her home, I was able to sleep in and it was totally amazing.

Here is where I just had to mess with her though. Immediately realizing she was a neat freak, well, particular. I refused to make the bed. Left it a mess. I KNOW it bugged her all day, and I would say "That's buggin ya isn't it? I'll go make it." and then not go do it. My own little piece of fun on Friday.

We pretty much hung out on the porch talking and just relaxing most of the day. We were awaiting the arrival of GeekyTaiTai. After the trouble she had getting to ConFab, we were glad to hear she was driving instead, and bringing her little doggies! Yeah doggies! Hunter and Clyde were just the cutest most adorable puppies ever.

Since Kim's local peeps were coming over to celebrate that night, we needed to head to the store and get some supplies (like there weren't enough!). It was totally awesome to drive around with her while she pointed out some really cool stuff and gave me stories or background to what we were driving by or looking at. I got great awesome photos while we did our 'drive bys'. I'll post the Flickr link at the end, it's really worth checking out. I was even nice enough to 'rename' the pictures as to what they were. And I have a great Church story I'm saving for a post of it's own... you'll see why when it goes up...

We spent the afternoon relaxing and watched this great movie calle The Gift. I have to buy it now. Thanks Kim.

GeekyTaiTai arrived mid-afternoon. And from the moment she joined us, it just made everything that much better and more fun. She is a total joy to be around. And I'm working on my ninja moves to steal Clyde. Cause I totally fell in love with him. Well, ok, maybe not Clyde exactly, but a Clyde cousin, if I can convince the hubs to get pet #10. So far it's a big fat NO.

Her peeps showed up and I'll tell you, some of the nicest bunch of people I've met in a long time. Very interesting, intelligent and we had some great conversations. I had to disappear a little bit cause there were a lot of people and I started to wig out a bit, but Geeky was right there and talked me through it and was totally awesome.

We watched some first season SNL that night. It was so cool to see these skits with George Carlin (with hair - lots and lots of hair) and Chevy Chase, Gilda Radnor, Garrett Morris, John Belushi, etc. And the first skit that Andy Kaufman ever did which is total classic. Hysterically funny was watching w/a 20yo that was like OMG! That guys dead, so that one and that one... and me thinking "He wasn't when I saw this!"

On to Saturday. Or as I call it "The Day Kim and Alabama ganged up on me and tried to kill me"

Kim's brilliant idea was to take us all tubing down the river. A good 3-4 hour trip. I have to say, the weather was AMAZINGLY beautiful the entire time I was there. Little to no humidity, gentle breezes and lower temps. Everyone there kept saying how unusual it was, but I was thrilled. It was nicer there then it was in PA. Go figure.

This beautiful day, we went tubing. I took lots of pics from the jeep that were totally cool.

I did miss the picture of the blue canoe. Cause once you turned that corner, it was banjos and deliverance.

So we get all pumped up, do what we gotta do, throw our tubes in the back of this pick up truck, and head to the river. The Cahaba River to be exact. Or as I now affectionately call it "SATAN'S FLOW".

We climb cautiously down this steep embankment with our tubes, that we throw into the water and then attempt to get in. Thank god there were NO pics or videos. My ass squeezed into that tube and that was it. Stuck.

So we're going la la la, fun fun fun, beer beer beer, and wow.. little tiny rapids.

Karl goes down head first and gets stuck in his tube. Scratches the shit outta his back and thankfully the nice river people helped him. So Geeky & I decided to walk down them instead. I should have seen the horns right then and there. Took us a good 20 mins to get over them walking.

I'll save specific details from there. But let's just say there were a few times I stood up in that damn tube and screamed "I HATE THIS FUCKING RIVER!" all in good fun, causing the young'ens and old'ens around me to laugh at me which in turn caused me to laugh, and have fun.

While Kim tried to kill us in conjunction with Satan's Flow, she did not succeed, and after all was said and done, we had an amazing time, even if our asses were bruised beyond purple. Ask GeekyTaiTai, she was all banged up too. I still have scratches on my legs. And I'm finally peeling from the sunburn I got even if we did use sunscreen.

From there, we decided on a quiet night. We came back to the house for sloppy joes in the crock pot, and sides and we decided to watch a movie.

Kim spent most of the evening yelling at Karl to put his damn phone down for 30 seconds and watch the freakin movie. Wasn't really his kind of movie though. Steel Magnolias. I love that movie. We all cried. Except Karl. He was too busy texting and tweeting. Heh.

Sadly, Sunday was my last day to enjoy the hospitality, warmth and comfort of Kim's home and of Kim herself and my friends, Karl and GeekyTaiTai . We got up, had a great breakfast that Kim prepared for us. Relaxed a bit, hung out. Took some pictures, then headed out to the Mellow Mushroom (another place Kim likes to tweet about).

Again, Kim is awesome about pointing stuff out and telling details about buildings, landmarks, etc. I could drive around with her for days and totally enjoy it.

We hung out at the MM for a little bit, had a few drinks, chatted, took pictures and it was awesome. Then I went to the tiniest airport I have ever been in.

And had to go home.

When I got home, I didn't feel that great... so what did I do? Had a few drinks, played some Wii and watched some TV with the hubs.

Monday. That was it. Satan's Flow was in my blood. I was sick as shit. Bronchitis with a touch of pneumonia and a great sinus infection. I shall dub thee the Alabama River & Airplane flu. God I love travelling.

But ya know what. It was so totally worth it. I am glad I went, and I'd go again. In a heartbeat.

Kim, I know it hurt. I know there were shadows hanging over you and our weekend. But I hope that our visit at least helped a little bit. Reminding you that you are loved. Adored. And very special to a lot of people.

I miss you more every day now. And I can't wait to see you again soon. Even if we take a trip down the river. (cause it really was fun)

Now go check out my Flickr shots... KimBerday Weekend and if you make it to the end you'll see that Karl does a pretty good Tom Jones. And we love bubbles.