binky's birthday!

This past weekend was my sister's birthday! You've heard me reference her as Binky a million times because that's pretty much what everyone calls her. In case you want the back story: before she was born, when my ma was prego with her, I would touch her stomach and say "my binky's in there!". I have no idea where the name came from, but it has stuck. 

And in case I've never stated this, her real name is Scarlett. We are just about 4 years apart (around 3 years and 9 months), which makes this her 24th birthday! 

I went to Auburn Thursday night because my mom was taking us and a couple of friends out to a birthday dinner. We ended up heading over to Opelika to eat at the Irish Bred Pub. It's delicious, y'all. I've been several times. I got the BBQ bacon burger (awesome) and my mom got the shrimp and grits. They were amazeballs. She let me have her leftovers, and they were even good warmed up. ENOUGH ABOUT THE FOOD.. my mouth is watering. 

Irish Bred Pub is in downtown Opelika in an old restored building. The downstairs is rustic/industrial with exposed brick and whatnot, and upstairs there is a have bar.

Well wouldn't ya know, they had karaoke going on that night! We moseyed up there (even ma), and Binky sang a few of her favorites. 

The next day ma was still in town, so we went to my favorite place for lunch: the Barbecue House. There were several football players in there, and I was starstruck. Mom realized one of the guys was Kodi Burns, former AU player (on the 2010 championship team). He just happened to be walking out of the restaurant when she yelled "KODI!" with the same volume and inflection that the mom on Home Alone yells "KEVIN!". He turned around (along with everyone else in the restaurant), and he came over and chatted for a bit. He was SO nice and let us take a couple of pictures with him!

You might've seen my picture on fb or instagram. What a day to not wear makeup or fix my hair, amiright?! At least I'm sporting my AU sweatshirt and War Eagle sunglasses. 

After Binky finished up with class, we packed up and headed to our lake house on Lake Martin. Several friends came to celebrate!

Binky brought a whole ribeye from Sam's, and we cut it up to cook. They were delicious!

Dad had left this note for Bink (her birthday is Feb 2nd aka Groundhog's Day). Hilarious!

Chloe brought these petit fours from the BEST bakery ever (Rolen's in Dothan). She realized soon after that Bink was turning 24, so it was decided that these marked 23 full years. Ha! 

Josh and Bink. 

Bink's roommates, Caroline and Tom, with moi in the middle.

Dothan ladies! Texas, Katie, Chloe, Bink, and the grandma on the right. 

I had the brilliant idea to do one of those "hold someone horizontal" pics. 

Somehow I ended up with the entire torso, which made for perfect Jabba the Hut impressions from my chin. 

And she's finally went down..

Sweet Possum pup pup.

Mustache solo cup!

Chloe and Bink a link. 

Bat dog! She really didn't want to dance.

We are clearly related.. steak and beer birfday!

The candles didn't stop there. 

Yes, this happened. 

and then a jar of jalapeños were added..

Friday night at midnight (technically early Saturday) was the beginning of her actual birthday, which prompted all the candle lighting.

Of course they were trick candles, which are, in my opinion, THE BEST.

This awesome new game was introduced this weekend. It's called Timber, and it's like a big Jenga, but each piece has a lowered chalkboard painted space where you can write rules. That way the rules change every time so you never know what's coming up! 

You play like Jenga, and once you pull the piece out, you do the rule. 

So much fun! We ended up just randomly making people go over and pull a piece from the stack. 

Possum came to check out the commotion.

The next morning, everyone arose, and we made the most bombass breakfast. 

Bacon, eggs, biscuits, leftover steak, potatoes.. 

We realized we were missing something very important, so some of us ran up to the gas station to get supplies for

MIMOSAS! 

Is this my kinda meal, or what? That's a beer biscuit there. It sounds gross, but it is delicious. 

We headed to the dock to hangout after our glorious meal. It was a beautiful day!

A couple more of Bink's friends got there and brought some balloons.

I did one of these panorama shots to capture everyone. Ha! 

Lake Martin is a man made lake, so in the winter, they open the dam and lower the lake, which explains all these rocks.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day? It was chilly, but the sunshine felt good.

Possum agreed.

Silly gooses.

What a good day for a birfday! 

I tried to get everybody in there!

The cheese stands alone.

She found this "stick" and was so proud of it.

Drug it all over the yard. Silly goose.

Tucker and Texas

Timber was brought out to the dock for a bit.

Everyone ventured into the house for naps to get ready for the evening. 

"where'd everybody go?!"

We had burgers for dinner, and then went down the street to the World Famous Rodeo Club for, what else, KARAOKE! 

Binky has a small sampling of songs that she sings at karaoke. It just so happened that there were about 2 other groups of people in the bar, and we were the only ones singing, so Bink sang a few of her songs twice. One of the staples is "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" by Cher.

The boys went with "Should've Been a Cowboy". In the words of Murray: I'm gonna sign us up, and we're gonna WIN karaoke!

The star of the evening needed a little break at some point.. 

Don't worry, she came back out all Barbara Streisand, cross-legged, sitting on a chair. It just seems like something Barb would do, doesn't it?

The decor is just how you'd imagine it would be. Stuffed animals all dressed up!

What do you sing once you've tapped out all your favorites? The Star Spangled Banner. 

We ran the other two groups out pretty fast, so the audience consisted of just our posse. HA!

The next day, per the birthday girl's request, we went to Oskar's, a local restaurant up the street. They have these magical cheese balls, so of course we ordered some and I took a picture to make you jealous. They are DELICIOUS.

We cleaned and packed up before headed back home. I had one of my seats folded down due to some items I was carrying in the back of my car, so only one seat was up for the pups. 

Diesel was up there first, then Cotton jumped onto the floorboard before stepping onto the seat and lifting him up. He held this position for a while haha!

WHAT a good birthday weekend!