Farewell to Arti Gras

We celebrated Arti's birthday Saturday night in style and apparently this was the last of one of our favorite annual events - Arti Gras.

Every year, Arti celebrates her birthday in a show-stopping style so incredible, it feels like everyone's birthday. To read the complete history of Arti Gras, click here.

And this year's event was truly amazing. It included dinner (I don't know how good that was because I forgot to go. We had Sonic in the car on the way), dancing at Angels Rock Bar, out-of-town guests flying in from NYC for one night for fun, apparently there was a fight over a coat and they may or may not have ended up on COPS. Basically, in the words of Barney Stinson, "It was Legendary."

Here are my Top Five Favorite Moments from Arti Gras - The Finale:

1. Spilling the Beans: I had joined the party late and hadn't been there five minutes when I managed to tell the birthday girl her husband's gift before he'd given it to her. Arti was listing all of her fantastic gifts including: giant chewy nerds, a fleece blanket with kittens on it, and iTunes gift cards when she said, "What did Sudhir get me?" I offered my help and answered, "He got you that iPod cover." She looked excited and guilty at the same time and said, "He hasn't given it to me yet." Apparently he wanted her to have a gift to open on her actual b-day. Oops. She swore she'd look surprised.

2. Sid Singing: Angels Rock Bar is Sid's kind of place and he knew the words to every song. Sometimes he even wrote his own lyrics. I've been singing, "I can only count to four. I can only count to four..." for days now. Sorry Drowning Pool, I like his lyrics better.

3. Meeting Arti and Sid's Cousins: They were super fun. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"I love coming to Kansas City because I get hit on so much more than in NY."

"Have you been talking to Arti? How did you know all that? Isn't

this a good cowboy shirt?"

I realize we need a more explanation, but nothing further will be given to protect the innocent.

4. A Homewrecker Trying to Steal My Man: A cute, although wasted, girl set her blurry sights on Chuck. She put her arm around him, told him she was a nurse, and invited him to do a shot with her. She also climbed over other guys to talk to him more than once.

I think Chuck was flattered by the attention. He said, "She was pretty cute, but she cursed like a sailor." You can always count on Chuck for an honest evaluation.

5. My Friends Fight the Homewrecker: Ok, there wasn't an actual fight. And honestly, seeing a girl so obviously interested in Chuck was kind of an adventure. We're old, married and have a baby. Neither of us have been a stranger's subject of interest for a long time.

But there was a situation and my marriage was on the line. I was going to have to fight for my man. As I was sizing up my competition, trying to decide if I could win this fight - ok, I was daydreaming about how sweet it would be if I actually could fight someone - when my friends took matters into their own hands.

SG marched forward and flat out pushed the homewrecker out of the way so she could sit next to Chuck. Then, Kate climbed over her and essentially sat on her lap slowly edging her out of the booth. And just to make sure she was properly handled, Cec

talked to her for about an hour, discussing the finer points of "how big is too big" when it comes to breast augmentation.

I know it was Arti's party, but I really feel like I got the best gift. I have awesome friends and I'm glad they'll ruff a girl up on my behalf. Thanks ladies!