I love my birthday
I know of very few people who love their birthdays as much as I do. It's the one day of the year that I get to celebrate me, and I like to do so with a little thread of humility and much glee. This year will probably go down in the books as my best birthday in Australia.
The day started off with a good morning snuggle, lots of alarm snoozes, and with the first rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song of the day by a sleepy Marcus. We got up early and headed out to our favorite city breakfast spot, the Central Baking Depot, for raisin toast and sourdough toast with jam and ricotta. Very good start to the birthday.
This year I decided to act like an adult and actually go to work on my birthday. Not a huge advocate of going to work on your birthday, but it turned out nicely this year. I received lots of hugs, smiles and birthday chats all day, everyone wanting to know what I was doing for my birthday. One person, on their way into the office, took one look at me and somehow deduced that it was my birthday. I was unaware that I gave off birthday vibes, but there it is! I literally emanate to other people that it's my birthday. I must not have been able to stop smiling (and I was wearing a shorter skirt than I'm usually comfortable with, which must mean it's a special occasion). I spent a good chunk over the road at Sydney Theatre, solving all of the company problems with a coworker (who gave me my second rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song over the phone earlier).
I managed to slip in some work time, then headed out to lunch with a friend where I was greeted with a hug, orange roses, silver earrings and sunshine! Last year my birthday was gray and rainy, which didn't enhance the winter day at all. It's still strange to adjust to my birthday being in winter time since any talk of my birthday automatically elicits warm, sunny thoughts. I am a summer baby, after all (I don't care what this hemisphere says).
This lovely friend treated me to lunch (corn fritters with tomato chutney and guacamole, mmm) then I headed back to the office for a little more work.
Then my Jillian called and I got to get in a good, quick chat with my life partner. :) And while I was out in the walkway talking to Jill, a big bouquet of flowers walked by me with a mouthed, "These are for you." Beautiful white lilies with purple and pink stalked flowers, purchased by two of my co-workers (they're both lovely, but I also think they felt the need to compensate since my boss and the two other gals from my team were all out of the office). It was a really nice way of making me feel special!
Coworkers gathered to do the typical birthday singing. Did you know that at the end of the song they actually do shout the, "Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!" This will never stop being a novelty. Anyway, instead of cake I got dance cafe brownies, my favorite brownies in the area full of little carmel and white chocolate bits. Happy chocolate brownie!
Four coworkers took me out for a birthday glass of wine after work, then I hurried into the city to meet up with Marcus for the night. We walked through Hyde Park, which is a little big magical at night, with giant trees crowding over both sides of the footpath and creating a canopy overhead, accompanied by big globe lamps on both sides. It feels a little bit special to walk down there at that time. At the end of the park, Marcus decided to give me my first birthday present. He made me close my eyes first, and when I opened them he was wearing a purple and gold, sequinned and feathered mask.
"What does this make you think of?"
"Um Mardi Gras? Are we going to New Orleans?"
"What else does this make you think of?"
"Masquerade ball?"
Hands me an envelope wrapped in gold paper.
"How about now?"
"Golden ticket? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Did they make a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical and it's coming to town??"
"Just open it."
Cirque du Soleil tickets. Very, very good! And it's a show I've never seen before, Saltimbanco, which sounds like some kind of Italian food to me and I have visions of people dressed up in proscuitto. Probably not quite right, but I'm pretty excited.
Our dinner destination was a mystery, but after we left Hyde Park I had a pretty good guess where we were going. We ended up at Long grain, an amazing Thai restaurant with easily the best Asian food I've ever had. And quite possibly the best cocktails I've ever had--they are amazing. I had some watermelon concoction that tasted like I was drinking straight watermelon juice (with a touch of mint). There were little chunks of fresh watermelon down at the bottom that I got to eat with my cocktail stabbing fork. Love that thing. :)
At this point in the night, I got my other present handed over. I unwrapped the 80's laser style wrapping paper to uncover...the ugliest purse I'd ever seen. Oh dear. Marcus's smiling face inquired how I liked the present, whereupon I fished around and discovered there was something underneath the ugly purse. A Beauty and the Beast DVD! There was one good thing there, so I focused my attention on the good part and thanked him for remembering my love of Disney. Then he refocused to the purse, the god-awful thing sitting in my lap, and I wondered what could possibly have gone on in that kid's head to make him spend money on such a monstrosity. I looked at his face again and his smile melted into a laugh, and he asked how I could have ever thought it could be a serious present. Inside the purse was a little piece of paper with the Etsy logo on it. I know exactly what that means. It means he's buying me a recycled leather jacket bag from Etsy (but I get to choose which one). Good, good presents!! The scary wrapping was quite good also. I really enjoy seeing that boy's creative side. He doesn't give himself enough credit, but there's a lot going on inside!
Then we went upstairs to the dining area for dinner. We started out with these betel leaf wrap things which are filled with I don't even know what, but you take a bite and your mouth is bursting with flavor--sweet, sour, hot, bitter, salty and whatever other kind of tastes you can think of you can be pretty sure it was in there. In a small little wrap. It's amazing. Then we started in on the salt and pepper silken tofu that had a vinegary limey sauce--another best in that dish. Best. Tofu. Ever. We finished with a sort of curried lamb that just pushed us way over the edge of being full but not quite in a food coma. With a glass of wine each, we were two very happy campers.
After we got home and let our stomachs settle, we dove into dessert--my favorite lemon meringue from one of my favorite bakeries, and a layered banana, mascarpone, chocolate shabang.
It was a really wonderful day and I felt so much love. The 45 birthday posts on Facebook the next day (technically my real birthday) gave me another giant smile. 28. Here I am. Thank you to Marcus and my lovely people for starting this year off with so much love.
The day started off with a good morning snuggle, lots of alarm snoozes, and with the first rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song of the day by a sleepy Marcus. We got up early and headed out to our favorite city breakfast spot, the Central Baking Depot, for raisin toast and sourdough toast with jam and ricotta. Very good start to the birthday.
This year I decided to act like an adult and actually go to work on my birthday. Not a huge advocate of going to work on your birthday, but it turned out nicely this year. I received lots of hugs, smiles and birthday chats all day, everyone wanting to know what I was doing for my birthday. One person, on their way into the office, took one look at me and somehow deduced that it was my birthday. I was unaware that I gave off birthday vibes, but there it is! I literally emanate to other people that it's my birthday. I must not have been able to stop smiling (and I was wearing a shorter skirt than I'm usually comfortable with, which must mean it's a special occasion). I spent a good chunk over the road at Sydney Theatre, solving all of the company problems with a coworker (who gave me my second rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song over the phone earlier).
I managed to slip in some work time, then headed out to lunch with a friend where I was greeted with a hug, orange roses, silver earrings and sunshine! Last year my birthday was gray and rainy, which didn't enhance the winter day at all. It's still strange to adjust to my birthday being in winter time since any talk of my birthday automatically elicits warm, sunny thoughts. I am a summer baby, after all (I don't care what this hemisphere says).
This lovely friend treated me to lunch (corn fritters with tomato chutney and guacamole, mmm) then I headed back to the office for a little more work.
Then my Jillian called and I got to get in a good, quick chat with my life partner. :) And while I was out in the walkway talking to Jill, a big bouquet of flowers walked by me with a mouthed, "These are for you." Beautiful white lilies with purple and pink stalked flowers, purchased by two of my co-workers (they're both lovely, but I also think they felt the need to compensate since my boss and the two other gals from my team were all out of the office). It was a really nice way of making me feel special!
Coworkers gathered to do the typical birthday singing. Did you know that at the end of the song they actually do shout the, "Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!" This will never stop being a novelty. Anyway, instead of cake I got dance cafe brownies, my favorite brownies in the area full of little carmel and white chocolate bits. Happy chocolate brownie!
Four coworkers took me out for a birthday glass of wine after work, then I hurried into the city to meet up with Marcus for the night. We walked through Hyde Park, which is a little big magical at night, with giant trees crowding over both sides of the footpath and creating a canopy overhead, accompanied by big globe lamps on both sides. It feels a little bit special to walk down there at that time. At the end of the park, Marcus decided to give me my first birthday present. He made me close my eyes first, and when I opened them he was wearing a purple and gold, sequinned and feathered mask.
"What does this make you think of?"
"Um Mardi Gras? Are we going to New Orleans?"
"What else does this make you think of?"
"Masquerade ball?"
Hands me an envelope wrapped in gold paper.
"How about now?"
"Golden ticket? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Did they make a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical and it's coming to town??"
"Just open it."
Cirque du Soleil tickets. Very, very good! And it's a show I've never seen before, Saltimbanco, which sounds like some kind of Italian food to me and I have visions of people dressed up in proscuitto. Probably not quite right, but I'm pretty excited.
Our dinner destination was a mystery, but after we left Hyde Park I had a pretty good guess where we were going. We ended up at Long grain, an amazing Thai restaurant with easily the best Asian food I've ever had. And quite possibly the best cocktails I've ever had--they are amazing. I had some watermelon concoction that tasted like I was drinking straight watermelon juice (with a touch of mint). There were little chunks of fresh watermelon down at the bottom that I got to eat with my cocktail stabbing fork. Love that thing. :)
At this point in the night, I got my other present handed over. I unwrapped the 80's laser style wrapping paper to uncover...the ugliest purse I'd ever seen. Oh dear. Marcus's smiling face inquired how I liked the present, whereupon I fished around and discovered there was something underneath the ugly purse. A Beauty and the Beast DVD! There was one good thing there, so I focused my attention on the good part and thanked him for remembering my love of Disney. Then he refocused to the purse, the god-awful thing sitting in my lap, and I wondered what could possibly have gone on in that kid's head to make him spend money on such a monstrosity. I looked at his face again and his smile melted into a laugh, and he asked how I could have ever thought it could be a serious present. Inside the purse was a little piece of paper with the Etsy logo on it. I know exactly what that means. It means he's buying me a recycled leather jacket bag from Etsy (but I get to choose which one). Good, good presents!! The scary wrapping was quite good also. I really enjoy seeing that boy's creative side. He doesn't give himself enough credit, but there's a lot going on inside!
Then we went upstairs to the dining area for dinner. We started out with these betel leaf wrap things which are filled with I don't even know what, but you take a bite and your mouth is bursting with flavor--sweet, sour, hot, bitter, salty and whatever other kind of tastes you can think of you can be pretty sure it was in there. In a small little wrap. It's amazing. Then we started in on the salt and pepper silken tofu that had a vinegary limey sauce--another best in that dish. Best. Tofu. Ever. We finished with a sort of curried lamb that just pushed us way over the edge of being full but not quite in a food coma. With a glass of wine each, we were two very happy campers.
After we got home and let our stomachs settle, we dove into dessert--my favorite lemon meringue from one of my favorite bakeries, and a layered banana, mascarpone, chocolate shabang.
It was a really wonderful day and I felt so much love. The 45 birthday posts on Facebook the next day (technically my real birthday) gave me another giant smile. 28. Here I am. Thank you to Marcus and my lovely people for starting this year off with so much love.
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