Happy Birthday Kerry!

Today is Kerry's birthday and we had such a great time celebrating it last night! We went into Manhattan for a night on the town :)7 mommies piled into Kerry's minivan and we left New Jersey around 5:15 PM. We met Kerry's friend Erin (the only single one without kids) at the restaurant, Brother Jimmy's on the upper west side. Kerry ordered a pitcher of raspberry margaritas and it came out with these silly long straws. Kerry and her friend Andrea

Erin and Amanda

Everyone at Brother Jimmy's ... going around the table counterclockwise, starting on the right: Jessica (Kerry's next door neighbor), Amanda, Erin, Wendy (Kerry's younger sister), Andrea, Kerry, Robyn (Kerry's oldest friend from 4th grade), Pam (Robyn's sister).

We ordered lots of appetizers for everyone to share and that was our dinner. I insisted that we order the "Frickles" which were fried pickles. It's a good thing no one liked them as much as I did, since I got to eat the majority of them!

After Brother Jimmy's, we walked over to Stand Up New York Comedy Club. Wendy had suggested we go there because a guy with which they went to high school was one of the headliners, Russ Meneve. The show started at 8:00 and went until 10:00 ... in less than 2 hours, we saw 7 comedians, all of which were really funny! I think my favorite was a woman named Sunda Croonquist, she was hilarious! No pictures from the comedy club because they didn't allow photos taken there. After the show, we walked back toward the parking lot, but it was only 10:00 and we were feeling a little hungry. We decided to go to a sports bar called Blondie's ... it was perfect because the Olympics were on! We timed it perfectly because we were able to watch the USA men's swimming team win another relay (another gold medal for Michael Phelps).

Kerry and her sister Wendy

Kerry, Amanda, Erin and Wendy ... last year, the 4 of us celebrated Kerry's birthday by going to a concert at the PNC Arts Center. KTU, one of NY's radio stations, puts together this concert called Beatstock every summer. Here's a picture from the parking lot last year:

Amanda (pregnant), Wendy, Kerry and Erin - 8/18/07

The tickets for Beatstock said there were no cameras allowed, so I opted to leave my camera in the car. I was so upset once we got inside because I would have LOVED taking pictures of all the freaky people that showed up for this concert! It was a fun night of people watching.

After our second round of appetizers at Blondie's, we left to get the car out of the parking garage. Next to the garage was a sign for a psychic. We saw the sign earlier in the evening and Jessica said we needed to make sure Kerry had her palms read. Wendy and Jessica went in first while we waited outside. Wendy came out after hers and she was very disappointed. She said "Miss Lisa" didn't get anything right. While Jessica was getting her palms read, Wendy asked a passer-by to take this picture ... from left to right: Pam, Robyn, Wendy, Erin, Kerry, Amanda, Andrea

Jessica came out and said she'd already paid for Kerry to go, so Kerry went first, while Wendy, Erin and I watched. Miss Lisa was right on with Kerry's palm reading! She said initials of names would come to her, so when she talked about Kerry's husband, she said, "P, like Paul" ... Kerry's husband's name is Paul. She said she had 2 kids, both girls, and that she needs to do work on her house because it's causing her stress (they are making plans to remodel). It was pretty cool to listen to it. Erin decided to go next, but hers wasn't too exciting. Miss Lisa said she's always been unlucky in love (which is true), but she'll find a great man soon. She said she'll need to meet this man on her own, and not be set up by friends ... this was pretty funny because John and I are constantly trying to set up Erin on blind dates! Whenever John's friends ask if John knows any great single girls, he always thinks of Erin. I guess we'll have to let Erin find her own man now :)

After Erin, I just couldn't resist ~ I had to see what Miss Lisa said about me! Here are some of the things she said when she read my palms:

• I'm going to live a very long life, into my 90s
• I'm a very good friend and a good listener
• She sees a little girl coming up for me, but she said to wait until next year, or else I might have to have a c-section - next year at this time would be a good time to have a baby
• We might expand our house, make it bigger, or get a bigger house "later on in life"
• John has a good heart, but he's a little stubborn lately
• I need to pray more and good things will happen

Erin was videoing the reading up until this point, then Miss Lisa said to turn it off because it was distracting her and keeping her from feeling things. As soon as she turned it off, Miss Lisa said there was someone in John's family who wasn't in good health, then she said, "his mother? I can tell she's in a great deal of pain." This was pretty crazy to hear because John had admitted her to the hospital that morning because she was in so much pain. She even said she could tell she had cancer (Leukemia is a blood cancer, so I guess she was right). Miss Lisa said she was going to get through this, but that things might be really difficult around the holidays.

It was a really fun night, great to get out with 7 other women in the city. Happy Birthday Kerry!