For the past four years, there has been a concerted effort to celebrate Dobie's birthday in ways that will show her how much we love her and appreciate her friendship.  This isn't easy when you're talking about a lady that has everything she wants....goes anywhere she desires....and fills her life (and those around her) with joy.

Let's see.  One year we took her to the middle of nowhere to see her favorite band.  The band made a special autographed 'birthday CD' to present to her and later we gave her a special framed 8x10 picture of her and the singer.  Then, there was the year I followed her around and invited everyone she spoke with to her birthday party....without her knowledge....and they showed up!!!  Good thing we had it at a club and not at home!  Last year, we took her to see one of the bands that used to play in her club....one she hadn't seen perform in more years than anyone will ever admit!!

This year it was decided to tone it down a little.  We couldn't 'top' the previous parties!  Dobie took a stay-at-home vacation so she could relax and enjoy what ever came her way.  There was going to be music all week...well...kinda.

Dobie really wanted to go to Acuna Mexico to see Kevin Fowler.  But, Acuna is a 5 hour drive from Austin.....the closest hotel we could find was San Antonio......an hour away!  Then, Dobie found out it was an 1800 seat venue and 1600 tickets had already been sold.  It was spring break and a lot of partying was going on!

Dobie decided she'd rather see Ricky Calmbach at the Tin Star.....closer to home.  Boy....did she ever make Teree and I happy!  Turns out that we both were only going to Acuna because Dobie wanted to go.  We preferred staying home to see Ricky!  Don't get us wrong.....we love Kevin....we just didn't want to go that far from home!

When all the planning was done, we had Dale Watson on Friday, Ricky on Saturday, John Bendele Band on Tuesday, Sam Bentley on Friday, Southern Image on Saturday, and ended this year's parties with a trip to Nephews the following Tuesday.  We had a blast at all of them.  You'll have to check out the pictures to see how we did. 

Guess we'd better get started on next year's plans or we'll never top this one!