laughing until crying

Good lord, tonight was fun. Back in December I had my annual holiday party with my girlfriends from work scheduled, but it snowed more than a foot that day, so we postponed it until tonight. Most of us work nights, some days, some weekends and saying it's hard to find a time where we can all get together is an understatement.Anyway, my buddy Nancy hosted this year, and we just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. You can see my friend Michiela above laughing to the point of tears. Man, it was good to catch up with these lovelies.We were there for ... five hours? And I really only left because a) I need to be at the automechanic at 8 am tomorrow (got a leaky tire) and b) Merlin was practically begging me to leave so he could go to bed. Apparently all of our cackling was disturbing his beauty rest.And no, I don't normally bring Merlin with me to parties, but the  hostess, Nancy, helped us find our sweet boy nine years ago, and she has always been like a second Mom to him. Plus we thought he'd have fun seeing her collie and all the girls (who would sneak him table scraps). I'm sure he enjoyed it, but come 9:30 he turns into a grumpy old man no matter where he is.