Happy Birthday Tina!

So today's entry is dedicated entirely to an incredible, faithful and loyal friend of mine, Tina Frees. Today is her 31st birthday!

I have so many wonderful memories with Tina - after all, we've been the closest of friends for 21 years!! So in honor of her today, I wanted to share a few of those memories I hold so dear.

When I was in 2nd grade, which was also the year we first met, I received my one and only spanking from Mr. John Hart for talking out of turn in class. I was devastated. I thought for sure my parents would have a fit. We were carpooling on the way home together after school and I was in tears over my situation. I remember clearly Tina trying to convince me it was really ok, after all she'd had her fair share of spankings and detention in school too. She was so sweet to me trying to make me feel better :-)

Jump ahead to Freshman year - 1993. Tina was a Junior and we attended the same high school. What a great year. We were on the drama team together, in the same choir, went to the same Prom (JSB) - and spent more hours playing yahtzee in the back yard that I can count. We would often take her Dakota truck to Country Village where she worked and buy espresso beans to munch on and then just drive around. That was one of the best summers of my life.

Then there was Masters Commission - 1997. I was living over at the Rogers house and pretty consumed with my super busy schedule and didn't have much time for anything else. Throughout that whole year I received numurous cards from Tina saying how much she loved me and how much she valued our friendship. Then for my birthday that year, which was treated just like any other day in the life of an MC Student - I received in the middle of class, one dozen long stemmed Sterling Roses. She knew these were my favorite roses from one of my all-time favorite flicks, Bed of Roses and she looked ALL over town to find them. I will never forget that, she made that day, a day I'll never forget.

I also remember the time when we went to the FAO Schwartz book signing fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House downtown. Afterward, we stopped at the apartment cabana in Kirkland where Courtney was working, sneaked into the pool wearing borrowed swimsuits we found in the Lost & Found. When we finally got redressed after losing power in the girls bathroom, we drove home in my parents blue Honda Prelude, where we were followed by those crazy boys who tried to ram our car & followed us backto my parents house and the cops got called!! Now that was a memory!

There are so many great things we've shared over the years and I'm so excited for the many more memories to come. I love you girl & wish you the best birthday yet!