Forty and Fabulous

My, how quickly 40 years flies by! Although Tim doesn't technically hit the big 4-O until Tuesday, we got together Saturday night to celebrate four decades of Tim.


Tim with his awesome birthday cake. (09/22/07)

The night began at Angelo's & Vinci's Ristorante, a downtown Fullerton institution since the early '70s. This cheesy-in-a-good-way restaurant was opened by the late Steven Peck, a renowned Hollywood dancer, choreographer and veteral actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and TV episodes.


Eric, with Tim and Dana, just got a bright idea. (09/22/07)

In fact, photos of Steven Peck in his movie and TV roles are all over the walls of the restaurant. Usually he played gangsters or thugs, although my favorite photo shows him playing the role of Father Martinelli opposite Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton in the 1984 "two worlds colliding" classic, "Rhinestone." If you missed the photo, it's not surprising considering the walls are covered with every imaginable Italian-themed decoration.


The SuperGroup: Shelly, Chia, Solar, Tim, Guy and Shak. (09/22/07)

We had originally rented the Terraza di Amore, a private terrace that seats up to 40. HOwever, due to the torrential rain that stormed the Southland that day, the restaurant called to tell us things were getting wet, and recommended that we move the party to an enclosed private room, the Stanza di Luna. We were just glad the enclosed room was still available, since the restaurant was hosting at least two weddings and a quinceañera that night.


It's never a party without Christine and Cassidy. (09/22/07)

We had a catered dinner where party guests munched on pizza hors d'oeuvres, antipasto salad, gorgonzola garlic bread, tortellini with basil cream and shrimp, vegetarian lasagna, chicken di giardino and steamed vegetables. Everything was fan-freaking-tastic, however it was the tortellini that knocked everyone's socks off. We washed all that down with several pitchers of red wine sangria, one of our favorites from that restaurant.


Tom and Christine always show up ... eventually. :) (09/22/07)

After dinner, we all headed to Dana and Eric's house for Phase 2 of the party. They had graciously offered to host the party at their home since every room in our house had been turned into a bedroom to host the out-of-town SuperGroup members. Dana got an awesome floral centerpiece that looked amazing (she's got an eye for these things). We can't thank them enough for opening up their home to us and our crazy friends.


Tim with Jean and her fiancee Aric. (09/22/07)

Since we had all our food at the restaurant, the only thing we had at Dana & Eric's was cake and wine (and other beverages). The cake was a white cake with buttercream filling, topped with chocolate fondant. I ordered the cake from a co-worker named Cynthia who has a side business making special-event cakes on weekends.


Tim with three hot chicks: Amy, Cindy and Ann. (09/22/07)

The cake looked so good, that simply cutting into seemed like sacrilege. But our desire to eat cake outweighed any desire to keep the cake in-tact. And I kid you not when I say that as amazing as the cake looked, it tasted even better! Just ask Tom, who at last count, had three slices.


Jason and Jared drove down all the way from Ventura. (09/22/07)

After cake, it was present time. Tim got lots of goodies. He got some clothes, some gift cards, some DVDs, some games, some spa treatments, and of course, a few funny gifts that will go nameless in this blog. He also got a new 160GB video iPod from yours truly (he had complained that his last iPod, which is more than two years old now, didn't have all the bells and whistles that the new ones have). His favorite gift, however, were the two tickets to see Annie Lennox in concert at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills in October.


Tim and "Too Bad He's Straight" Scott. (09/22/07)

Things started to wind down after presents, but as we were lounging around the patio table drinking, we did get to witness Christine F. sing a special acoustic version of her classic sing-along: Eat Me Raw (I think it's about vegetables!) :)


Props to Laura S. (center) for getting the only picture of James. (09/22/07)

Thank you everyone that helped Tim ring in a new decade. It means a lot to us that we have such great friends.