Simmie Day!

You guys! 

My friends are awesome. 

This past Saturday my friends declared it “Simmie Day”. It was a surprise, belated birthday all-day adventure that came in phases. So many awesome phases.

Phase 1

The morning started bright and early with derby boot camp. Andrew told me he wanted to come with me, which I thought was sort of weird since I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, but he seemed insistent so I just went with it. After derby camp, Andrew offered to drive home so I could take a nap. 

Phase 2

For once in my life, I didn’t actually want to take a nap, so I was awake when Andrew suddenly veered in a direction that was not towards our house. I was super confused as we drove into the Sandy Spring Adventure Park. I was even more confused when Betsy, Liz, and Lea were also there. Mel and Nick, Josh, and Rob also joined us as we spent three hours swinging and ziplining in the trees. It was so awesome. We ended our day there, a hot sweaty mess, but enjoying a picnic lunch in the parking lot. 

I was totally surprised. This whole thing came out of left field. For the first ten minutes after we arrived I was mostly just in a state of shock and confusion. It took another ten minutes to figure out what was going on. It was revelation after revelation. “Oh! That’s why Andrew wanted to come to practice.” “That’s why he drove and he was so insistent I take a nap.” “Wait, Mel, I just saw you 30 minutes ago? You were in on this?” Apparently my friends have been planning this day of adventure for weeks. They told me this was just the beginning, and there were many more surprises in store. 

Phase 3

I had been talking about going to see a DC All-Stars roller derby bout on Saturday for a while. My friends had all been fairly non-commital about going with me, but it turns out it has been in the plans since I first brought it up. So, even though we were all sore, sweaty, and gross we headed over to watch the bout. It was cool to get to see the people who have been teaching our boot camp for the past few weeks in action. It also got me excited to work on improving my skating (or more importantly, stopping. This seems to be a problem for me).

Phase 4

After the bout, we headed back to my house to shower and change before heading into the city. Our dinner reservations weren’t until 10 (I know! I’m too old for this stuff), so we hung around first at my house then at Betsy’s before making our way into the city. We ended up at Zaytinya, which is a Meditterenean place in Chinatown. We basically stuffed ourselves silly with tasting plates of like 12 different things. My friends decided they were going to teach me to drink more than 2/3 of a drink (seriously, I’m the lightest lightweight ever), so they started me off with this delicious cucumber lemon concoction. We had a leisurely meal until it was time to head to the next mystery location.

Phase 5

And, a mystery location it was. This was so cool. Betsy took us to a top-secret speakeasy that was reservation only. After getting dropped off in Eastern Market, she led us to an unmarked door and up a narrow flight of stairs, before knocking on what looked like a nondescript wooden wall. Turns out that wall was the door to a 1920s style speakeasy. While Andrew, Lea, and Betsy enjoyed an impressive tasting menu, I made it through my second (!!) drink of the evening. It was pink and tasty.

The fourth drink that came with the tasting came in these adorable tiny mason jars. I drank half of one (they accidentally made four instead of three, so they gave me the extra one since it was “birthday”). We had some fun comparing Lea’s tiny hands with Andrew’s giant hands.

We got the bartender to sneak downstairs to the closed restaurant and somehow scrounge up a few desserts for us. A ricotta cheesecake and a flourless chocolate torte made a delightful combination. We ended up closing down the bar. There was a little accidental knife-tossing incident that resulted in the group devolving into a fit of hysterics, but was so kindly documented by our bartender. I think the best line of the night was when Lea asked for a giant magnet to help fish out the silverware, the bartender replied with, “Oh yes, let me go get it. It’s right next to all of my other Acme supplies.” Let’s just say the silverware may have found a final resting place. 

They also let us pick the music to close down the bar with, so the evening ended with four ladies serenading Andrew with some Taylor Swift. It was magical.

We ended up staying out later than I have in a long time, but the entire day was amazing. It was a whole filled with fun activities, awesome company, great food, and delicious drinks. It was all such a surprise (considering my birthday was two months ago), which made it all the better. It was such an amazing, memorable day, and I have to give props to my friends (especially Betsy!) for planning this whole thing. Thank you for making me feel like a rockstar for a day. I’ll never forget it. You guys are the best!

See, I told you my friends are awesome.