Buena HS 20 Year Reunion

And now for something completely different....

After Bell's wedding Mario and I worked our asses off for about a week while preparing for the next big thing... his 20 year high school reunion. We had gone to his 10 year, but only 1 of his main group of buddies made it to that. This time around, most of the main group was planning on attending, and there was a lot of excitment and planning around the big event. Secret handshakes were practiced, golf tournaments booked, old war stories recounted and new shoes were bought. (Well, you can't wear $2.50 thrift store shoes to your reunion... and did I mention in my last post that they were WOMEN'S shoes?)

Mario's friend Kevin rolled into town first, making his way to Casa Gargiulo from Minnesawtah! His first night in town, a bit sleep deprived, we all went to see the late show of Inception. Maybe that's not the type of movie to see when you are exausted, but I must say I enjoyed it immensely!! Mario and Kevin got in a round of golf the next day, practicing for the big tournament on Saturday.




Next, Mario's friends Sean and his wife Jules came in from Miami. The Ventura County Fair was in town, so after a good Mexican dinner with Kevin (apparently MN is not known for their burritos) we all met up for a night of fun at the fair. In true form I indulged in the wine garden and funnel cake, and then stood outside the ropes and laughed and tried to take photos as everyone got queasy on some flippy upside downy fair rides. We all went on the ferris wheel, which was really cool -- on the one side you look out to the lights of the fair and the hillsides of Ventura, and the other direction looks right out on the ocean and the pier.



Another highlight of FaiR Night was Jules kicking ASS on a Marine hosted strength competition. She weighs about a buck total, and is this hot little Venezuelan blond... the guys running the event didn't expect anything, but she hung on for the full time (I think a minute and a half?) and beat all the guys as well. The funniest part was when time was called she slowwwly lowered herself down and then flexed for us all as we cheered and laughed. GO JULES! (let's just say I would have crashed and burned and there would have been no flexing afterwards!! ha ha!!)



We closed up the fair and it was determined that the night was still young, so we head to good ole Wine Lovers for a drink. Many of you who have visited me have been to Wine Lovers, it's seen many a fun time had by us all. My friend Miranda's (fellow trimmer) boyfriend's reggae band was playing, and she was there, so that was a nice surprise too.

One of Kevin's drunk faces... with my friend Miranda in the background


The golf tournament was a huge success, with Mario winning on his home course with a 77. His friend Maynard, who flew down from Seattle, was hot on his heels with a 78! Randy played too, as an honorary Buena grad (even though he graduated from Oxnard ;-)).



Friday night was the pre-reunion night on the town ... it was held at the Watermark (where I spent my 38th bday, you may recall those photos from another blog post...). Mario and I met up at Sean and Jule's hotel room ahead of time to gather our wits and have some drinks ahead of time, and then we walked to the Watermark from there. I strayed from my stand by of wine, and had a mojito ... and then another... and another... it was a mojito kind of night I guess.


They were super yummy there - fresh lime and mint, just a little brown sugar... lots of ice and rum. YUM. The night was a blur of laughing, drinking, and "oh my god-ing" as different friends and faces from the past seemed to materialize from the crowd. We made some new friends with a guy Mario graduated with but didn't really know well and his wife, and they joined our little herd of revelers for the night. We walked back to the Keagan's room (Sean and Jules) after closing down the bar, to try to carry on the fun as well as sober up for the drive home. I think we actually got home in the wee hours... 3? 4??










Saturday was the "actual" reunion which was held at JOnathan's (also featured in a blog post "Wild Hearts Have a Date"). The reunion organizers booked both the restaurant and martini lounge sides of the location for the evening. This time Mario and I met up with Kevin, and his wife Jen who flew in later from MN, Maynard and his friends, and Sean and Jules at the hotel bar, and walked from there to Jonathan's. It was a typical foggy Ventura evening and by the time I got to the place my carefully curled hair was flat and straight. :-/ Oh well, it was sort of curled for our group shot at least!!



View of Ventura from the Keagan Staging Room

View to the west from the Keagan Staging Room (we had our wedding rehearsal dinner at the place on the corner there by the smaller palm trees... in case anyone recognizes it - where it was once known as Pineapples! ;-))

We met up with the new friends Tammy and John and proceeded to have a really nice evening of catching up with old friends (or some new ones to me!!) and laughing ... and laughing... and laughing... with old ones. :-) Mario had some high school sweethearts in attendance, one in particular was a surprise - but I think we both managed to get through it all unscathed. ha

Me, Jules and Jen

After Jonathans had closed we ended up at Bombay's, which I haven't been to in a very long time. There was dancing, rapping, goofing around.

Kevin & Mario at Bombay's

Finally we head back to the Keagan's hotel room to hang out and talk about impressions of everyone that attended. The whole thing was this wild whirlwind of fun times with good friends, and then suddenly... it was over! Mario and I were walking to the car, once again between 3 and 4am... when it hit us that everyone was going their own ways on Sunday, and the big reunion was over. We both got really bummed out! Why can't everyone live close to each other? Or why can't we have some kind of teleporting deal figured out. It's 2010 after all.

Me, Tammy, Jules and Jen posing on the Professor's Chair

Sean, Mario and Kevin

On Sunday morning I had to be up and at 'em for my friend Stephanie's baby shower. I was regretting the fact that I tried to party like it was 1990 for the last 4 days in a row, I can assure you! Especially with Mario situated comfortably on the couch watching golf for the day, eating pizza and nursing himself back to reality. But the shower was really lovely... every detail was just perfect, from the amazing catered food to the butterfly decorations and flowers.

She was surrounded by love with family and friends, on a beautiful day, as she should be! Stephanie is a friend from 7th grade, and she lost a pregnancy of a son to a rare untreatable heart defect... so this little baby girl that she is expecting (in 3 weeks) is really extra special I think. :)

Steph & her mom Anne

Weddings, reunions, and births... oh my!