Board games are way more fun when you're drunk

One of Brent'sbuddies from his MBA program, Rob, was in town with his wife, Becky, visiting her parents this weekend, so they asked if we were free to catch up at some point.

Since it was Brent's turn to plan a date for the two of us on Saturday, he of course said we were free to hang out with them - on Saturday. (Not to worry. Next week is not only Valentine's Day, but is also the one-year anniversary of the day he asked me to marry him. Oh come on - if you're married or engaged, you remember the date that your significant other asked you to marry him!)

We started the night off at our apartment so they could see what a couple grand a month can get you in terms of housing in New York City, then started walking downtown on 9th Avenue until we found a nice Italian restaurant, Roberto Passon, that looked good on the corner of 9th and 50th streets.

And it was. The four of us split a bottle of red wine and Rob and I both ordered the pumpkin ravioli with sage, asparagus, and parmesan cheese. It had a bit of a sweet flavor to it and was AMAZING - like most all food in this city!

Afterward, I was having a Pinkberry craving while all the guys could think about was how quickly we could get to the nearby bar that has 25 beers from all over the world... ON TAP. Doesn't take much to please a guy.

Since Becky had never been to Pinkberry, we split up from the guys and enjoyed some time together talking about how ridiculous New York fashion can be. After getting to Pinkberry, she boldly ordered her frozen dessert with strawberries, raspberries, and chocolate chips (very unique!) while I stuck to my marshmellows, kiwi, and fruity pebbles.

And kudos to Becky for finding the warm tea in the corner of the place. Cold ice cream and warm tea is SUCH a fantastic combination!

Then while we were enjoying our treat, we started talking about how we both loved playing board games, but that there is a huge shortage of 2-player games when compared to games that are meant to be played by 3 or more people. Yes, you can play monopoly with two people, but it's not really that much fun.

So then we decided that there were four of us, including the guys, and that we wanted to play games that night. Becky, however, didn't think we had a good shot of convincing the guys. I was a bit more optimistic.

Actually locating the guys in the bar was a bit easier said than done. It is apparently a popular place because it was crammed with people. And when I say crammed, I mean that I had to make people shift their weight so I could actually squeeze around people to look for the guys.

We found them sitting in a prime position at the bar with empty drinks. Seeing that it was a good time to ask them to leave, I yelled to Brent over the noise that Becky and I wanted to head back to the apartment to play a game. He leaned over to Rob to tell him, and they - miraculously - got up - without even arguing that they only had time to try two of the beers on tap. I thought I'd have to pull out more ammo, but apprently we have pretty great guys!

But of couse, they didn't want to stop drinking, so after a Corona and lime run, we settled in with some pretzels and breadsticks to play the game I've been waiting to play since Christmas - Imaginiff, which my future mother-in-law bought me.

For those of you who haven't played it - and I'm betting that there's a bunch of you - it's a game where you are to imagine how one of you would react in a certain situation. For example, one question directed at Brent was "Imaginiff Brent were providing expert testimony at a trial. What type of expert would he be?

1. Marriage counselor
2. Environmental expert
3. Handwriting analyst
4. Paranormal psychic
5. Pet behavior specialist
6. Gastrointestinal surgeon

Then everyone secretly votes and those with the most popular answer get to move their game pieces forward. What makes it fun is you put all the players' names on the board, then fill in the remaining spaces with either people all the players know or celebrities. Celebrities were more fun, though - we picked George W. Bush, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Tom Cruise.

Back to my example. I, knowing my future husband, immediately voted for the gastrointestinal surgeon - as did he, as it turned out. I know my man!

Rob and Becky, being polite, both voted that Brent would be a pet behavior specialist because of our dog. You don't win a game like that being polite!

Well, actually, I guess you do because Rob ended up making it to the center of the board first, and thus winning the game.

This was not OK with Becky and I, who then immediately picked up Battle of the Sexes and ended up triumphant! This was because the guys thought a maillot was, in Rob's words, "maybe some type of blush brush" (it's a woman's one-piece bathing suit) and didn't know that an eggplant is also known as an aubergine. (OK, some of the questions were pretty silly, but who doesn't know which makeup company produces smudge-proof lipstick? Well, Brent and Rob didnt' know it was Maybelline.)

Hense, girls rule and boys drool! At least that's what I declared well after 1 a.m. while relatively buzzed.

I have to say I was really happy that even though Rob and Becky had to get up early the next morning to catch a train, they stayed so late because I'm a big dork and love playing board games! So fun!