Philly's Last Day - Sad!

I thought I was going to start with today and work backwards - but maybe we'll start with Thursday night where we left off.  Because that's when Anne decided she was going to host Phil's going away party tonight - she had a few Golden Margaritas (and I know from experience never to plan a party and invite all of Mazatlan at night when you are drinking!)  But I am so thankful that she did and it was a great time tonight and a great send off for Phil.  Thanks Anne and Joani for all the work and preparation.  And to Darlene, Jody, Diana, Josie, Dave, Dan, Tom, Tom, Larry, Chris, Lorraine and Allen, Colleen, Bill, and Teagan, Buzz and Marg, Linda and Mike, Marv and Linda, and Melanie for coming and having a great send off for Phil.  And thanks Phil for recognizing that it was a going away party for you (unlike your welcoming party when you were clueless that every one was there for you!)

After that we headed to The Palms for Happy Hour and another send off with our friends Darlene and Louis and their son Mark and his girlfriend Jackie that arrived today, along with Diane and John and Lori - and Josie and Melanie were with us of course as well.  Another great send off.  I will actually get up tomorrow morning at a respectable hour and we will all meet at Loco's Loco's for breakfast for one more send off before Phil has to leave. 

Oh, and then, after the Palms we headed to Lucky B's for one last night of Kannon.  And Mazatlan Royalty Bill and Melanie showed up so they got to say goodbye to Phil too.  What a great day for him!  It will be so sad to see him go.

Okay, now I'll work our way backwards.  Today started out with the Las Gavias girls going shopping - and me going with them!  It took me about three days to work myself up enough to go and after a temper tantrum in the driveway before we left which Darlene quickly (and rightly so) told me to grow up and get on with it - we were on our way shopping!  I love Darlene - she's the best!  They were also very smart and strategic in convincing me to go shopping.  First they told me there would be drinking involved and they said that we were only going jewelry shopping.  Well, if there's any shopping that I can do (after grocery shopping) it would certainly be jewelry shopping.  Jodi said "it's okay Laura we won't go clothes shopping" so I was okay.  These gals REALLY know me!  I did great and had a great time.  We were at some pretty nice stores and at one they even offered me a Kahlua and I turned it down!  I know!!  But I was there for the whole experience and adventure and wanted to enjoy it with my friends.  After all the gals got everything they wanted we went for drinks (and by the way I did spend some money myself - I got a new watch battery for my watch that has said since Phil arrived that it's 5:00 o'clock - which is kinda funny cuz it's 5:00 o'clock somewhere!) So now my watch is on time and I don't have that excuse!  Okay, back to the drinks.  So I took my friends for the first time to Azteca Inn so they could enjoy the blended White Russians from a slurpee machine.  They were a hit and we all agreed we would be back.  And for the record - I was the last to finish mine in our group of seven!  Who would've thunk that??!!  Anne - the trouper was finished first!

While the gals were out Phil went and spent the day at Loco's Loco's with his dear friend Javier.  They had a nice day today.  It's always so sad to see them have to say goodbye.  Because what happens next is this crazy texting between a guy that can't speak Spanish and a guy that can't read English all that well.  But it's so funny watching them try and communicate with each other from thousands of miles away and they both just laugh, laugh, laugh trying to understand what the other is saying.

Okay, so a bit about yesterday.  God, what did we do yesterday.  Ah yes.  We started with breakfast at Loco's Loco's (about an hour and a half later than our friends were there and probably much later than Melanie would have liked - but I made it!)  Then we had some pool time so Phil could even out his "Phantom of the Opera" tan before heading home (reference previous post where he lost half his face and chest).  Then we headed out to the Art Walk (where everyone commented on how dark Phil's tan was).  We had a bite at Delirium which was just great and then went up on the rooftop at Johathon's to see Cheryl Gaudet play. We had tons of fun up there.  Paul, Londa, Bruce, Opal, Hank and Kelly were all there.  As was David, Patti, Penny and their whole group - had tons of laughs with all of them.  This is such a great town with such great people!  Headed to Lucky B's to see Kannon (shocker) and then Melanie was done so we sent her home in the safe company of the Las Gavias group.  Phil and I went to Las Flores to see KraKen and sat with Hank, Donna and Denny.  Had a great time as usual and Leslie was kind enough to let me sing with them again.  Awesome! 

And I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to my very special boy - Nikko.  He turned 17 today - without his mom and dad there.  But our great friend Deb is taking great care of him and I know she made it special for him.  We love you both - thanks for allowing us to be away and having a great vacation!