I may be young at heart...

...but today I learned I'm not as young as I used to be.

Last night we attended a dinner party thrown by a good friend of ours. (The first hint we've entered a new era in our lives - 'dinner party' vs. 'party'.) We were excited because it was our first chance to meet his girlfriend, whom we'd been dying to meet.

The guests were all old friends and there were only 8 of us total, so a good time was already guaranteed. The only unknown was the girlfriend - I was a little concerned she'd be uncomfortable (I sort of felt like this was her coming-out party to his friends) but it turned out she'd already met everyone else and was completely at ease. (BTW - she's sweet and funny and amazing and fun and fantastic and if he doesn't marry her we'll have to kill him.) The host and girlfriend like to go to wine tastings, so the wine selection was a product of their most recent adventure.

I've been feeling almost completely myself again, and with the benefit of the inhaler the couging is almost nonexistent. So I'd already arranged with my husband that I could have some wine with dinner (if I drink at all I refuse to drive).

I have NO idea how many bottles we went through. Suffice it to say it was a lot. We weren't drinking in the college sense - this was a room of thirty-somethings nursing glasses of wine - but we still consumed formidable quantities of alcohol. I I technically only had 2 glasses... but in that way where they keep getting topped off and you don't know how much you've had. The wine was excellent - if you're looking for a fun, inexpensive (sub $10) red, try the 2003 Smashed Grapes Cabernet; don't let the screw cap fool you - it was as smooth as a Beaujolais.

So, yeah. We ate and drank and talked and drank and talked and inhaled and laughed and talked and then drank some more. It was a freaking blast. Two of the husbands (including mine, who'd gotten up at 6am to take his folks to the airport) who hadn't had anything to drink (so were at the point of not wanting to deal with the drunks), abandoned the table to take naps and the rest of us kept on talking. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so much.

At one point it occured to me we'd been there a while (dinner was at 8:30) and to ask what time it was. 1:30. Holy. Shit. Amazingly, I wasn't even tired and could have easily stayed. But, my dog-in-law is staying with us for 3 weeks and is on Lasix - we had to bail to relieve his tiny bladder. When we took off the party was still going strong.

Let's recap: My RHR is temporarily at an insane 120 because of the side-effects of the damn steroid inhaler, which makes me feel all head-poundy and breathless to start with. I'm a migraine sufferer, and a major trigger is interrupting your sleep schedule (turning in at 2am is waaaay past my bedtime). I drank at least a bottle of cheap red wine. And I might have inhaled a time or six.

What's it spell?! H-A-N-G-O-V-E-R.... with a M-I-G-R-A-I-N-E.

Ten years ago this would have been an easy-going night out. Clearly I'm not as young as I used to be. (Was it worth it? Hell yeah!)