Dirty Thirty

OUR FRIEND TRACIE

 Tray Bay turned 30, THIRTY today!  But not just thirty...Dirrrrty THIRTY.  It's a BIG milestone, and we celebrated it in style!  Jere threw together a big ol' suprise party for her at a bar.  Ok, it was Native New Yorker, IN their bar area.  BUT, we had to do karaoke, so you can see why it was necessary.  It was a collision of al her worlds....swing dancing friends, work friends, US friends, and it was fun.  To say she was surprised would be a MASSIVE understatement.  She had NO idea.  She stopped dead in her tracks when SURPRISE was yelled, and then just busted into the big ugly cry.  It.WAS.AWESOME!

Me, Tracie, Jere

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRACIE! 

 Jer and Tracie favored us with a little dueting of "Crusin".  Ok, you KNOW I have to share stories.  Here's the dealio...I AM AWFUL at karaoke.  Like break out in hives, don't ever do it, would rather die than karaoke AWFUL!  I know, I know, but I'm a singer right?  That's what you're thinking.  Yes.  I am a singer.  And I'm good.  BUT, I'm much more your show tune kind of gal.  So, if you want me to bust out a little Les Mis, I can blow your mind on "I Dreamed a Dream".  How bout a little Annie,  or you want Wind Beneath My Wings?  I got ya covered!  But, I just do NOT do pop, country, rock, any of that.  I honestly don't know songs well enough.  Then I look and sound like a total retard up there.  It's embarrassing.  Whilst Jere is AMAZING!  I mean, he won 1200 bucks one time in a karaoke contest.  He rocks!  So anyway, I've decided there are four types of karaoke people.

1. Those that are absolutely tone deaf and embarassingly bad, or who are OK, not great, but at least on pitch but sing with all their heart and soul and could care less that they suck.  Generally there is drunkness involved here.

2. Those that don't have any idea they suck, but sing out loud and proud, 'cause this is their big moment to shine.

3. Those that are legitimately AMAZING.  You know, that somehow missed their record deal somewhere along the way.  And it's usually this totally  unassuming old man in the back who stands and busts out some song that leaves your jaw on the floor.  Or, it's hyper active chubby guys (maybe like Jere) who open their mouth and shock the crap out of you.

4. There are those like me.  Good singers, but sucktastical at singing to anything but a piano and a showtune.  Ferreal!  It's embarrassing.

So, as a general rule, I am just a really good observer of karaoke events.  But last night...I got a little saucy (in my head, not that I partook of any libations..DUH!  I don't drink) and decided to jump wholly out of my comfort zone.

 Oh hey there my sister Jenny.  Thanks for coming!  So, she sang a little Earl Must Die, and my sis in law Julie sang Hit Me With Your Best Shot.  You must know that really, the ONLY song I ever karaoke is Under the Boardwalk.  I know, I know, how utterly LAME of me.  BUT, I can do it, it's not a showtune, so I feel like it's a tiny bit acceptable.  Sooooo, my name came up and Boardwalk started.  Apparently I started singing in some key nowhere related.  And then, well, I was in a total shame spiral.  The key he had it in was WAYYYYY wrong.  Noone could ever get it right.  I was either singing stratispherically high or super low.  It was EXACTLY the reason I don't do this.  I finally said in the microphone....."ummm this key is HORRIBLE.  I'm bad at karaoke, but NOT this bad."  The song ends, the DJ says, "OK to make up for that debacle, here ya go."  And immediately, my next song choice begins to play.  Can you EVEN guess what it was?  No, you never will.  At that moment, with nothing to lose, already my karaoke skills in the shitter, I opened up my mouth (with Jenny and Julie on either side of me to help me know how the hell the song went) and sang...."Oh you're a real tough cookie with a long history..."  YEAH.  I busted out Pat Benetars "HEATBREAKER".  Apparently, according to everyone there, I was a rock goddess, and "sang my ass off."  All I could thinkwas....WHO AM I?  It was fun.  Won't lie.

So, after nearly 4 hours of laughing, singing, having my ears blown out by the speakers, eating and playing, we headed for home.  All in all, a totally fun birthday party and evening.

But wait, this post is s'posed to be about Tracie.  Well FINE.  But, it is MY blog, so that's why I got to share MY story first.

What can I say about Tracie?  Our friendship goes back about 10 years.  She has been an integral part of our lives forever.  I swear at one point, people may have wondered if Jer had 2 wives.  We went everywhere, did EVERYTHING together.  She practically lived at our house.  She is the VERY FIRST person to know that I was pregnant with maggie.  It hlped that she was on her way over to my house at 6 a.m. to go hiking with me.  But, Jere HAD to tell her first.

Tracie is crazy and spontaneous and one of the free-est spirits I've ever met.  Also, truly the MOST giving person EVER!  She has mad piano skills and is willing to share them and help people at any time.  She is amazing with kids, and all her neices and nephews adore her like nobodies business.  My kids love her so much too (and they hardly see her anymore).  If it weren't for Tracie, we probably would not have had a honeymoon.  She was in her cruise phase in life, and insisted that we needed to go on a cruise.  She paid for half of it.  I've seen the inside of more resorts, stayed in nicer rooms, had more massages because of this girl than you'd ever know.  Which, BTW, my body and face thank you.  We have done some crazy and random things with her, whether its trips to her parents house in Gallup, road trips up to Snowflake to see the Temple (Happy Valentines Day), or be it spur of the moment road trips to Disneyland.  No really, at 9:00 at night, on her birthday 4 years ago, we jmped in her car and drove to Cali.  Went to Disneyland all day and then drove home the next morning.  Couldnt find my pics of that. Sorry.  BUT, I did find pics of our other spur of he moment Disney trip.

 February 2002

2 months before Jere and I got married, Tracie decided we should just jump in the car and go to Disneyland.  We found a hotel and booked it as we drove.  We called my sister and her boyfriend and they jumped in the car an hour behind us and came too.  Seriously, one of the FUNNEST times of my life!

Me, Jer, Tracie

The "Mad" Threesome 

 Really, there are TWO reasons to go to Disneyland

Corndogs

Churros

Nothing more

And I was really A LOT fatter then.  AWESOME!

 Tracie decided we should go to New York, and she'd pay for the hotel.  We have no idea why she had so much money.  We swore that she must have some secret 900 number she ran, or perhaps a drug dealer, who knows.  I kid people, I KID!!!  Anyway, TOTAL blast that trip!  As you can see, we went to Regis and Kelly, which I recommend to anyone to do.  Super interesting and fun.  We saw shows, we traipsed around the city.  It was fantastic!  She literally ran smack into Hugh Jackman on the street.  Like boom, hit him in the chest..."oh hey Hugh, how are you?"  That would also be the trip that some new show called "wicked" was in previews, and I chose to go see STUPID, DUMB, Little Shop of Horrors, instead of this unknown lttle startup WICKED!  I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for that one.

She has been there to listen to me rant, to listen to me cry.  She has seen the worst of our behaviour, the best of times and has just always loved.  Truly, the fact that she's still friends with Jere is somewhat amazing. (He can be ummm, difficult.)

So, the point is this....Tracie is one of the truest and kindest and dearest friends there ever was!  She's hysterically funny, a little bit crazy, a lot bit fun, and we love her!  Half our life adventures may never have occurred without her.

We LOVE you Tracie.  Thanks for being such a fabulous friend always! And thanks for turning dirty thirty and letting us get our sing on.


HAPPY THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY TRAY-BAY!