Birthday Boy: A BIG Weekend for Juan Martinez

Monday, 27 June 2011 07:44 | Written by Byron

HAPPY DAYS: On Sunday my partner, Juan Martinez, had a big birthday (pssst...he turned 40).

To honor that milestone I made sure he stayed very busy so he wouldn't find out about his surprise birthday party Saturday night at Southeast's Nightlight Lounge. Here are a few photos from the weekend with my commentary.

At the bottom of the post you'll see a slideshow of the weekend as well as photos snapped by our cool neighbor Kenny MacDonald.

The two photos above feature Juan in the middle of the crowd at Friday night's "80's Video Dance Attack" at the Crystal Ballroom. Earlier that night we had gone to see the musical Mary Poppins, but the night didn't really get popping until they pulled out those Madonna and Michael Jackson chestnuts from when MTV actually showed videos.

The three photos above are from Hotel Monaco and Red Star Tavern. We spent an incredible couple of days there this weekend. Hotel Monaco and its staff go above and beyond to provide its guest the best possible experience. We met people from all the over the world this weekend at the Monaco, dined on tasty Lemon Drops at Red Star, and enjoyed the complimentary wine and coffee tastings every chance we could get. This place is perfect.

That's Juan in his party hat with Mother's Lisa Schroeder. And that would be a group of Juan's friends hiding in a corner waiting to yell "SURPRISE!" Somewhere during the night we gathered for a champagne toast served by the Nightlight's awesome crew.

Here is Juan blowing out his candle on his birthday cinnamon roll at Mother's on Sunday morning. Later in the day Juan and I spent the afternoon with his family including his sister Sylvia and his newphew Jaxon. Happy Birthday, baby!