27
9 times 3 is 27. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of 27. But this birthday year is off to an excellent start.
Marcus and I took the day off to do some celebrating, so the day started off with a bit of a sleep-in. Sleep is guaranteed to bring happiness in our house! So after a morning snuggle, Marcus asked if I wanted some birthday tea in bed, to which I responded, "You bought special birthday tea?!" "No," he said, "it's basically any tea already in the cupboard and then I whisper 'Happy Birthday' into the cup and voila! it's happy birthday tea!" That brought a smile to this girl's face, and I was treated to some vanilla spearmint happy birthday tea.
My first birthday present was the West Side Story soundtrack, which was perfect. West Side Story is in town right now (though an inside source tells me it's not a great production), so I get to introduce Marcus to its wonders and then some day we'll go see it...maybe towards the end of its season. Anyhew, I've really been wanting to add some musicals to my iPod and that was a great start. It's from the same recording my older sister, Anna, had when we were younger so it's the one that I'm used to--which I love.
After showering and getting ready for the day, I got "surprise" number two--cheesecake (pie)! This is an incredible cheesecake I had almost two years ago, that surprisingly took over the "best cheesecake I've ever had" spot from my childhood favorite. This new, amazing cheesecake is a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake from David Jones (it's the equivalent of Nordstrom, but their food court is incredible). Getting this cheesecake was no easy feat, since it's shipped in from Melbourne and it flies off the shelf shortly after it's put out. Marcus had to go through several incompetent employees and the manager in order to get his order in. Then, when he went to pick it up, they gave him a strawberry cheesecake instead. This lovely Marcus man had never seen my beautiful cheesecake and didn't actually know what it looked like, but his instincts told him it would be good to double check they gave him the correct cheesecake. They found their mistake and traded the imposter cheesecake to the proper, oh-so-wonderful one. We dove into the cheesecake for breakfast, and it was just as good as I remember. Delicious!
The ever-attentive Marcus followed cheesecake with my second present--brown combat boots. I don't know about back home, but the combat boot has made a big come back here and I'm delving into the trend. He even got my size right, which is impressive!
Upon finishing breakfast and unwrapping present two, we headed out to North Sydney to grab something a bit more substantial (mini-pizza, apple muffin and hot chocolate--totally substantial), then we went to the zoo. We wandered around and saw elephants, giraffes, gorillas, seals, lions, tigers, leopards, little penguins...basically all the good stuff! After a few hours, we got rained out and headed back to the city. (As Jill called to say happy birthday--yay!) We drove to the Shangri-la Hotel, which is quite lovely and has a cocktail bar that looks out over the city and the harbour. It's gorgeous! We got into the elevator and at floor 2, Marcus stepped out (the bar is on the 36th floor), so I was a little surprised. This was my last present--a back massage at their spa. Deep sigh. It was definitely a great idea. We scheduled it for Thursday, then headed up for some cocktails with a great view.
After appreciating the city and pointing out home, we went to Leichhardt (Sydney's Italian neighborhood) for dinner. We walked around a bit before deciding on Portofino's, which for some reason sounded really familiar to both of us (though we still can't figure out why). Dinner was delicious and definitely filling (cheesy garlic bread, pasta and pizza), so then we waddled on home and crashed in front of the TV, finishing off the day with another slice of cheesecake.
This 27th year is off to a good start. Lovely birthday and a trip home very early on. I think this is going to be a good year.
Marcus and I took the day off to do some celebrating, so the day started off with a bit of a sleep-in. Sleep is guaranteed to bring happiness in our house! So after a morning snuggle, Marcus asked if I wanted some birthday tea in bed, to which I responded, "You bought special birthday tea?!" "No," he said, "it's basically any tea already in the cupboard and then I whisper 'Happy Birthday' into the cup and voila! it's happy birthday tea!" That brought a smile to this girl's face, and I was treated to some vanilla spearmint happy birthday tea.
My first birthday present was the West Side Story soundtrack, which was perfect. West Side Story is in town right now (though an inside source tells me it's not a great production), so I get to introduce Marcus to its wonders and then some day we'll go see it...maybe towards the end of its season. Anyhew, I've really been wanting to add some musicals to my iPod and that was a great start. It's from the same recording my older sister, Anna, had when we were younger so it's the one that I'm used to--which I love.
After showering and getting ready for the day, I got "surprise" number two--cheesecake (pie)! This is an incredible cheesecake I had almost two years ago, that surprisingly took over the "best cheesecake I've ever had" spot from my childhood favorite. This new, amazing cheesecake is a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake from David Jones (it's the equivalent of Nordstrom, but their food court is incredible). Getting this cheesecake was no easy feat, since it's shipped in from Melbourne and it flies off the shelf shortly after it's put out. Marcus had to go through several incompetent employees and the manager in order to get his order in. Then, when he went to pick it up, they gave him a strawberry cheesecake instead. This lovely Marcus man had never seen my beautiful cheesecake and didn't actually know what it looked like, but his instincts told him it would be good to double check they gave him the correct cheesecake. They found their mistake and traded the imposter cheesecake to the proper, oh-so-wonderful one. We dove into the cheesecake for breakfast, and it was just as good as I remember. Delicious!
The ever-attentive Marcus followed cheesecake with my second present--brown combat boots. I don't know about back home, but the combat boot has made a big come back here and I'm delving into the trend. He even got my size right, which is impressive!
Upon finishing breakfast and unwrapping present two, we headed out to North Sydney to grab something a bit more substantial (mini-pizza, apple muffin and hot chocolate--totally substantial), then we went to the zoo. We wandered around and saw elephants, giraffes, gorillas, seals, lions, tigers, leopards, little penguins...basically all the good stuff! After a few hours, we got rained out and headed back to the city. (As Jill called to say happy birthday--yay!) We drove to the Shangri-la Hotel, which is quite lovely and has a cocktail bar that looks out over the city and the harbour. It's gorgeous! We got into the elevator and at floor 2, Marcus stepped out (the bar is on the 36th floor), so I was a little surprised. This was my last present--a back massage at their spa. Deep sigh. It was definitely a great idea. We scheduled it for Thursday, then headed up for some cocktails with a great view.
After appreciating the city and pointing out home, we went to Leichhardt (Sydney's Italian neighborhood) for dinner. We walked around a bit before deciding on Portofino's, which for some reason sounded really familiar to both of us (though we still can't figure out why). Dinner was delicious and definitely filling (cheesy garlic bread, pasta and pizza), so then we waddled on home and crashed in front of the TV, finishing off the day with another slice of cheesecake.
This 27th year is off to a good start. Lovely birthday and a trip home very early on. I think this is going to be a good year.
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