Caught up with a few friends at the stinky Mink the other night for some birthday cocktails. (three birthdays in one day!) The Mink has been on my list of smelly, putrid bars, but somehow I always end up going back to these places. It wasn’t so bad this time. The backroom was closed for construction or decontamination or something, so everyone chilled outside in the alley and patio area. Houston’s infamous humidity was nowhere to be detected. There was an actual breeze that remained throughout the night, which made me feel like I was hanging out in some cobblestone street in some hip European city. That, or it must have been Toan and his posse of French friends. I do love a good christmas-lit night.[BTW, this is a great group photo. I’ll just have to photoshop my head in lieu of that bald guy in the back later.]

I’m taking off for the weekend to go camping by the river. Be back with lots of tree pictures!