After trekking up the hill to campus I went to a lecture, taught a lab session, met with my advisor to discuss details for some preliminary lab work we want to start soon and went to a talk given by one of the guys who works in the same lab as Tim. Overall, a productive and enjoyable day at work. :) At the end of the day we sauntered down the hill and upon arriving home I was greeted by birthday flowers!! Later I found out that Tim had picked them out and arranged them himself! Mini cymbidium orchids with gerbera daisies, and gloriosa lillies finished off with bear grass - gorgeous and just the type of contemporary arrangement I would make myself. :) What can I say? Timmy is good!
Although I was smitten with the flowers it was getting close to game time so we donned our gear and set off for the stadium. We had great seats, thanks to Timmy, and the game was awesome!!! In the end we won and my favorite player, Jason Eaton, scored the last 'try' (think touchdown in American football)!!! I turned to Tim and asked, "Did you arrange for that to happen?". It was just so perfect. :)
We floated home on the 'high' of winning and it was then that Timmy produced a birthday cake!! I almost cried at the 'sweetness' of the thought that went into it. It was a carrot cake from Arobake, a bakery we walk past everyday on the way to school. Now you have to understand that I've eaten carrot cake on many occasions but this carrot cake is the best I've ever had!! It's sooo good!!
With a belly full of scrumptuous carrot cake we watched We Bought a Zoo and crashed soon after. I was spent but, as you can imagine, very happy. :)
The next morning we slept in and woke up to the sound of our intercom. Tim was already getting out of bed and I said, "Maybe they're trying to deliver something to us". He sprung into action and raced outside to catch the delivery guy. Sure enough, he was just in time and came back into the apartment with a box from Amazon. He gave it to me to open and I found books!!! With book prices being so high here I've been buying books on our Kindle Fire instead of the hard copies. So getting real, hard copy books is a HUGE treat - I was so excited because two of them are graphic novels that are obscenenly expensive here so I figured I would have to put off reading them until I was stateside. Now I have the next two in the series and I couldn't be happier! Tim also got me a nonfiction book that's been on my wishlist for awhile - all seems right with the world when I have a stack of books to read. :)
After a little requisite reading we ventured out for the next round of birthday surprises. First, Timmy took me to get a crepe for brunch and we found a place to sit while we munched and enjoyed another beautiful day. It was then that he told me that he wanted to take me to Logan Brown, a very fancy restaurant just down the street from our house, for dinner. Then he said, "Well, I can't take you there unless you have some high heels because it's a fancy place." Sadly, when packing for the move none of my heels made the cut because most decisions came down to practicality. :) From there he wisked me downtown to hunt for the perfect pair of heels to wear for dinner. I was in heaven, I mean, admitted shoe girl here, I will always be happy when shopping for shoes. :) After a few stores we found what I was looking for: a strappy, black, Tony Bianco suede sandal. Feeling giddy (and silly) I knew they were 'the ones' for me as soon as I tried them on and walked around the store. We took them home and it wasn't too long before we were getting ready to go for our dinner reservation.
Logan Brown restaurant is a beautiful venue, an older, but very well maintained building with vaulted ceilings and a wine wall. Imagine a library with ceilings so tall that you need a rolling ladder to reach the highest shelves. Except this 'library' had shelves of wine instead of books complete with the rolling ladder. So cool! We were seated in a cozy corner and began to peruse the menu. I was anxious but intrigued when I saw the word "squid" amongst the entree offerings. After consulting with our server I summoned the courage and ordered the squid. In a word: delicious! I had a polenta dish for the main course with salad and truffle fries. In the end dessert was a beautifully arranged meringue with white chocolate - it was delicious but I have to admit that Timmy's was even better. He tried chocolate-chilli ice cream with chocolate cake and extra cream on the side. Extra cream? How can you go wrong. Dinner was an amazing experience and I know my description here is not doing it justice!
After dinner we walked a bit and then Tim handed me two Gold Lounge tickets to The Five Year Engagement. It had just come out and I really wanted to see it so I was super excited to see those tickets. And Gold Lounge no less. The Gold Lounge is a step above your average movie-going experience. In some of the theaters they have levels of elevated seating where you get your own leather recliner and the option to order drinks and snacks during the movie. As we were full from dinner we ordered some drinks for halfway through the movie and went in to find our seats. Before the movie started Timmy excused himself and was gone for a few minutes. I assumed that he had gone to the restroom but I was wrong. Just after the movie started a waiter arrived with an ice cream sundae and not realizing that Timmy had ordered it for me I almost sent it away! :) Whoops! I'm glad we got things sorted out because it was scrumptuous and we enjoyed every bite.
Walking home that night Timmy told me that there was one more birthday surprise that I would get the following morning! I was thinking, ohmygosh!! What else could he have planned?! The next morning arrived in a flash and I was curious to see what was next. We started off down Cuba Street and to my great delight Timmy pulled me into a store that I've wondered about so many times: Alistair's Music. I played the flute through elementary, middle and high school and always enjoyed it. Since then, for some time now, I've considered learning a new instrument. Now I know this will come as a surprise to, well, everyone but I've decided to switch instrumental families and learn a stringed instrument: the ukelele. Upon arriving at the store Timmy said that he had been in to talk with the owner, Alistair, and ask him about a beginner instrument for me and what we would need to do in order to get me started. Remember I'm a southpaw. He told me that they would be able to restring any uke of my choosing so I could learn how to play left handed. Walking by the shop so many times over the months we've been here I was certain that I knew which one I wanted - dark purple and black. But when I started comparing all the options I ended up choosing this wooden beauty and I love it!! For now I'm learning what I can from information I find online but I would like to take some lessons in the near future!!
So how do I sum up such a wonderful birthday weekend?! Timmy spent a lot of time thinking about how to make it all come together and all that work paid off: It's been the best birthday I've ever had!!! Thank you honey! It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway......YOU'RE THE BEST!! :)
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