Google Experts Karaoke Apocalypse Party

Google Local is basically a competitor to Yelp. If you write a lot of reviews on Google Local, and you keep up with it, they'll invite you to cool events. This was Karaoke Apocalypse, which is when you do karaoke with a live band instead of a machine.

Karaoke Apocalypse was the Very. Next. Night. after my birthday karaoke. Because of that, I took that day off work to recover from my birthday night and rest up for my Google Local night.

Mason did "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. I did "Waiting Room" by Fugazi and apparently rocked the hell out of it, which shocked everyone, but me most of all! Everyone told me to immediately make that my go-to karaoke song!

Some of these pictures are stolen from other people who shared their photos publicly on the event page.

39th Birthday Karaoke Extravaganza

OMFG I am so incredibly loved. Around 30 people came out to Gourdough's on a Wednesday night to celebrate my birthday. On a Wednesday night. Every single person got a close hug when they arrived and again when they left.

Before we went to Gourdough's for karaoke beginning at 7:00 pm, I had a dinner at Red Lobster. Because I didn't want to eat a donut-based dinner and chance ruining my entire evening. So 8 people arrived at Red Lobster at 6:00 to eat dinner with me. They made jokes about us eating with the geriatric set, but they came and they ate with me because they love me.

My birthday was 2 days ago and I still feel a little overwhelmed by gratitude when I think about how much love I received for my birthday. Anyway, pictures! I sang "Birthday" by the Beatles! I wore a new red dress that got me compliments all night from total strangers!

Cold War Thaw

There's been a thaw in the Mao Hates Kozmo Cold War!

Later on, they actually laid there with their paws touching.

Halloween Costume!

We decided that this year we would do Game of Thrones costumes.

Mason is going to go as Hodor:

And I'm going as Melisandre the Red Witch:

The long red dress arrived today and it's gorgeous! Can't wait to see if it fits!

Sexy Recital

Last night we went to a show. It turned out to be a joint recital from the various "sexy exercise" type studios -- the places that teach pole dancing and aerial silks, and lyra hoop classes.

Somebody would do a pole or silk or lyra routine while a live singer sang, and then while the stagehands set up for the next routine, somebody would perform poetry. Each routine was about 5 minutes and the whole show was about an hour. It was an interesting experience!

But before we went to the show, we stopped at Liberty to get dinner from the East Side Kings trailer. As testament to this place, look at all these people sitting outside eating and realize a) it was pretty early, b) it was over 100 degrees outside with little breeze, and c) this patio had no fans or misters: