#18 THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT OF ALL TIME
Another weekend flies by and so does another year! I had such an eventful birthday this past weekend and I am so grateful to have been able to spend it with my boyfriend, coworkers and friends. So like how I said I cry each year on my birthday, I was tearing a bit while doing my make up on Saturday morning. I was thinking about all the people, places and series of events that happened in my life up to this day that have greatly impacted me... and I couldn't help but feel so thankful. I wouldn't be 25 if it wasn't for the people in my life - seriously speaking. All those shortcomings that I probably saw as failures at that time led me down this road. And I couldn't me any happier.
Anyway, I came into my office on Friday morning to a pink streamer surprise of decorations at my desk with some balloons. I'm silly to say that I was not expecting that at all even though my marketing team does this for everyone nowadays. I didn't do any work celebration last year since I was in Texas, so this was very sweet! My coworkers gave me a pink crown to wear for the day - as you can see I'm wearing in the picture with my candle-lit slice of key lime pie.
Later that evening, my boyfriend and I went to the NYCWFF!! After boasting to him about my overwhelming love for sushi, he got us both tickets to the Rock and Roll Sushi event hosted by Chef Morimoto. If only you could see me that night, I was in my version of Disneyland... surrounded by other sushi lovers and in the same room as Morimoto. I see this guy on TV all the time and finally meeting him in person was so humbling. I might be over-hyping this evening, but you can tell I was very excited.
Morimoto did a demo on stage and cut up a giant fish which was later served as sashimi. The line to wait for a piece afterwards was so long so Albert and I took turns waiting while one of us would grab some pieces of sushi from other tables to bring back. There were so many different tastings and they were all so delicious that we got so full by the end of the night. We saw one of Albert's basketball teammates there who owns The Little One. He had a table at the event and was serving small plates of his shaved ice dessert. Even though I left the event feeling full, I'm here recapping my weekend craving some fish all over again.
The next night, I was surprised with an amazing French dinner at Batard. Just like the night before, I was overwhelmed with the amount of delicious food we were both served. We each did the 3 course dinner (2 appetizers and 1 entree). For appetizers, I got the Beef Tartare and the Grilled Spanish Octopus, and he got the Hamachi and the Foie Gras. For entree, I got the Dry-Aged Striploin and he got the Duck Breast. Everything was so yummy! I was sad that I needed him to help me finish my steak because it was so good... but I just couldn't fit it in my stomach. Plus... my low alcohol tolerance was making it hard for me to breathe as I kept stuffing my face!
After dinner, my girlfriends spontaneously decided to party a little and grab drinks in K-Town. So, I left my man behind at home to catch a ride with them to go uptown (hahaha).
On Sunday, a couple of Alberts friends came over to his place to play some Super Mario Party. We had pizza and beers, and played for a while. Then later on in the afternoon, I was surprised with cake! It was so sweet having to celebrate with his friends. I wasn't expecting anything but a chill video game day, but I'm super grateful to have good people in my life to share these moments with :')
So that's it ya'll, I'm 25 now. If you were to ask me how many quarter life crisis' I had so far I wouldn't be able to answer that. Life is tough, but we just got to keep on pushing and making sure we are surrounding ourselves with people that make us happy. Also, it's only October, but in exactly 2 months from now I'll be in Asia!!