St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays because you know that I’m the kind of girl who always looks for a good excuse to have fun.

That’s why my adventures from last weekend were the most excellent.
I took last Monday and Tuesday off so I could maximize the good times, while maintaining decent doses of sleep.

It all started when I got a mani and a pedi at V Nails, and I had them paint a cute little green four-leaf clover on two of my fingernails. That brought me grrr-ate luck and fortune throughout the entire St. Paddy’s Day weekend.

Last Thursday I was sure to catch the Foray and Dirty Knockers show at the Top of Tacoma. Everyone showed up all at once, and the joint was wall-to-wall with great people who were taking in these two awesome local and loud bands. While the Dirty Knockers were dazzling us with their death metal, balloons of all colors fell from the ceiling like a piñata. No one saw that coming, and it was hilarious. Foray offered their usual rock licks and tricks (like the song “James Kahn is a 78-Year-Old Tiger”), and lead singer Alexo Rulz was sporting a new hairdo. Nice!

Friday I jumped into Asado to start off my four-day weekend (yeaaa!). Awesome Andi was sassy and fun as always, and D-Nice joined me for a couple of cocktails. After D-Nice departed, I had a chance to get to know a new figure, Larry Bomb. Awesome Andi introduced us, and after having an entertaining conversation, Larry Bomb offered her a whole one-dollar tip for doing so. She laughed and said she didn’t want the money because she only shows up for the entertainment. Indeed!

Saturday, Natasha and I checked out the Traver Gallery’s Cordy Ryman show. While Natasha was taking in the inventory of the place with her eyes, I was having a blast chatting it up with the likes of Tim and Kelly Mulligan and Pat Nagle. The art was truly inspiring. You should check it out.

On the big St. Patrick’s holiday, Natasha, Brad Allen, Suzy Stump and I dropped into the Red Hot for a warm-up to the evening of festivities.

After, we met up with Chuck, Pete, Kent and Sammy at Primo Grill for some excellent Irish stew, several pints of Guinness and this incredible apple pie and sticky toffee pudding dessert.

Our caravan departed for Doyle’s where we met the rest of the free world. There were so many buddies there that there’s not enough room in this column to mention all of them.
Paddy’s Day flair was everywhere, including the guy who was wearing a leopard-print banana basket underneath his kilt (non-utility).

Doyle’s did St. Paddy’s Day the right way with a huge tent in their parking lot, the fun contemporary Celtic band Ockham’s Razor was playing, we were dancing, and the Hoegaarden was going down like water.

It was a spectacular St. Paddy’s Day, to say the least.

May the wind be always at your back.