The Dirty Thirty Edition - The Bash

Three decades of dirtiness culminate in one crazy night...

Wendy had been cooking up my 30th birthday bash for several weeks, so I had a feeling it was gonna be pretty great. We had all the pieces: an amazing wife/master negotiator, all five of the Ken Cluleys, a few dozen crazy friends (old and new), and an awesome neighborhood bar. It was sure to be an epic evening. But more on that in a second....

Earlier in the day I had walked out into my living room to find a big basket of coozies with my mustachioed mug on them. Wendy and Erin had been collaborating on this for several weeks and the finished product was quite handsome, if I may say so myself. As many of you know, a good ol' Texas party isn't complete without coozies to commemorate the occasion.

Standing next to the coozies was a big white board with a picture collage marking several different milestones in my thirty years: my first bath, me riding my Dukes of Hazzard tricycle(Confederate Flag included), my large collection of participation trophies (circa 9 years old), me in my Cowboy gear, and a couple of obligatory 'stache pics, among many other gems. Wendy had left a big white margin for everyone to sign. Essentially, my wife has already knocked this party out of the park, and we haven't even gotten started.


Bruno arrived a short time later with an additional "touch" for which Wendy had arranged. She had placed the coozie design on a t-shirt for me to wear out to the party. Unbelievable. It's also definitely worth reminding everyone that earlier in the day (with no knowledge of this t-shirt) I had bought a different t-shirt with Magnum PI's face on it. The coincidence is just too much.

We headed over to Citizen Bar at about 4:30. Citizen is a great spot that is less than two blocks away from our place. It's pretty unassuming from the outside, since it is essentially one big cube with a rooftop and a deck along the side, but this place is pretty awesome and good times always seem to be had here. We had chosen it for it's proximity and because it is one of the best places to be on a beautiful Chicago evening. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't exactly cooperating so we had to set up shop inside. In hindsight, this may have worked out better since Citizen can be quite the cluster on a nice day. Instead we pretty much got to take the place over.

The parents Mandy and Clark arrived from the hotel a short time after we got there. Wendy had arranged for our favorite waitress, Jamie, to take care of us, and we all had drinks in our hand in a matter of minutes. Let the party begin!

We were graced early on with the presence of Eliya and Erika, both nurse friends of mine from the hospital who blended in seamlessly with the family. Chris Houston showed up a short time after that with a nice clean polo shirt, the perfect canvas for spilled beer. Chris Therasse, one of my best buds and "Texas Forever" partner in crime (he's from Indy) was also one of the early birds. Luckily, he showed up wearing his party pants.

MillerCoors also came out to play. John and Melissa Wilhelm joined us all the way from Ukranian Village on the day before their triathlon. Ryan Hemsing and Jamie Mueller also strolled in from River West, and would prove be fixtures on this evening of sobriety. Rob and Karen Tune made it in all the way from the 'Burbs, leaving their newborn for one of the first times in the name of The Cluley Dirty Thirty. Priorities are intact at this point.

My work friends would continue to trickle in. Tim and Fran Caprio, our wonderful friends who we saw get married almost a year ago, made an appearance (and receive the award for the most creative signage of my poster). Danielle Sterrenberg, one of my favorite co-residents, and her boyfriend Shelby were in attendance. Kristen Scully, a fellow RiverNortherner (or RiNo), can always be counted upon to party it up (she brought her friend Nikki along. Jami and Jud, also RiNos, were also among the early minglers.

The rest of the nursing contingency showed up in a big way. Kristin Busing, Sarah Frazer, and Thara Gagni came representing the MICU with new friends Nicole Santi (a fellow Leo) and Mike Uren. Kris de la Vega, wielding her party camera and dancing shoes, came representing the medicine floor/13E (my home base). Sheri(baby) Rylko and Katherine Hunt, both of whom I also know through 13E made a late-night appearance with their frat-tastic crew. Kelly McCardell and her husband Tim rounded out the 13W representation, along with Erika.

NMH Pharmacy's presence was felt through Yvonne Tsao...always great to see her.

How bout those Nelsons? Courtney and her brother Jeffro rallied (and I mean RALLIED) to come party even after they had spent the entire day drinking at the horse track. Alex Wehrley, aka Alvin, rounded out their crew.

As always, Dan Sarles (our friend from Wendy's b-school days and fellow Chicagoan) was out and in full Dan-mode with his friend Prashant. My buddy Jason Biehl and his twin sister were awesome enough to stop by after taking Grandpa to the ER. Again, solid priorities.

Relatively early on in the evening, an exceptionally large black guy weaved his way through our group and sat down at one of our tables by himself. He took a quick glance at the 'reserved' sign and, being visibly underwhelmed by it, returned to texting. Now I'm not a mean drinker, but one can get a little territorial on one's 30th birthday. I turned to Clark and said, "Who in the (heck) does this guy think he is?" Clark responded, "He's Antoine Walker, that's who he thinks he is." (You may know Antoine Walker from his days playing with the Celtics or, if you're a Texan, the season he spent with the Mavs in 2004. He's not quite what he used to be, currently playing in the D-league and declaring bankruptcy just last year.) Before long, his posse had moved in to take over one of our tables, which was fine by me at this point since we weren't using it and I knew it would make for a good story. Come to find out that Antoine and I share a birthday. Once we discovered this, he immediately ordered us a round of Patron shots. I'm not sure how he paid for them (hot check maybe?) but that didn't stop me from indulging. This all made for some pretty hilarious conversation throughout the evening. After all, what would a 30th birthday be without a D-list celebrity?

Other highlights from the evening included but were not limited to:

- Me, with the help of booze and birthday, thinking I'm Timberlake on the dance floor .
- Our crew taking over the whole outdoor deck at Citizen once the rain stopped .
- An awesome birthday cake!

- Aerial shots of the whole crew from the roof of the bar. (see above)
- Random Midori booth being set up in the middle of our party and me some how drinking like six of these disgusting samples. A couple of which I shared with my dear Mother.

- Heading over to English for late night with all of the troopers .
- Our Citizen waitress being so enamoured with our party that she followed us to the next bar.

What an evening this was! Wendy did an incredible job, as always, of planning and making every detail so special. My parents and my two big sisters came all the way to Chicago to help me celebrate as only an awesome family could. My old buddy Clark made for a big birthday surprise, and now it's hard to imagine having had my 30th without him. All of my awesome Chicago friends came out strong to make this the best 30th birthday ever. Thank you all for making me feel like the coolest 30 yr old around. Love to everyone!

Hard to believe this weekend was far from over...

FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OF THE EVENING IN THE COMMENTS!