#27 - Honk if you Honky Tonk!

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS.

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners.

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April and May)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

#27 was to take six dance classes of any kind.  This shouldn't have been very hard, I love all kinds of dance.  I've danced ever since I can remember, beginning with ballet, ranging between everything from bellydance to swing.  This season, for whatever reason, dance classes were a little light on the ground in my life, but I managed to wedge in six classes at the Little Red Hen, my favorite local bar.  The Little Red Hen has amazing free dance classes on Sunday and Tuesday nights where the amazing MaryAnne teaches all the country partner dances from two-step to Schottiche.  I am very proud to say I can now do the Schottiche with the best of them, and although I still haven't learned to do the horseshoe, I can also do the traveling cha-cha, the barn dance, and the Texas two-step (although really I could already do that.) 

The Hen is an amazing hidden gem of Greenlake.  The beer is cheap, the decor is amazing, there is live country music five nights a week!  Did I mention that the dance lessons are free?  It's almost too awesome.  I don't have any pictures from my dance lessons because I was too busy taking the lessons to photograph them.  But they were awesome.  Here's what I look like at the Hen on an average night:

No, just kidding, that was just one of many awesome birthdays celebrated at the Hen.  Here's what it looks like.

 

It's dark, crowded, and I'm deliriously happy.  There's just something about a honky tonk bar in a yuppie city like Seattle that is so delightfully incongruous.  The wild-west mural that surrounds the whole bar is equally wonderful.  The tall bartender who's name is Shorty.  The mind-blisteringly strong vodka crans.  The really amazing prime rib on special occasions.  It is all wonderful.  So thanks to the Little Red Hen for making #27 such a dang good time.  See you on the dance floor!