One Lucky Duck

I had the BEST 25th Birthday I think that anyone could ever ask for. I am truly blessed to have such a romantic boyfriend and loving family and friends.

To recap, here's what went down.

Thursday -

Dave called me after class and said to leave my phone on so he could wish me Happy Birthday first. I did but I guess during the packing for my weekend that I missed a few calls. As I left the house to put my stuff in the car, who did I run into but ...you guessed it...Dave. He surprised me with flowers and Alba bath treats and a healthy breakfast to start my birthday off on a strong foot. What a sweetheart, right? He drove all the way down just to drive home after an hour. He said it was because he wasn't going to be able to take me out to lunch on my birthday so he wanted to come down at night. I was flabbergasted. Surely, this year is going to be great.

Friday (the main event)-

My coworkers were having a breakfast to celebrate one of my coworkers for a bon voyage party and for my birthday. As typically happens, we ended up with way too much food and too many sweets but it was gooooood. For lunch, I wasn't very hungry so I figured that I would run home to pick up some of the stuff I forgot to pack and picked up my mom for a quick lunch before hurrying back to work. As we were heading to Panera, I got a call from Dave saying that he might be able to make it down for lunch after all. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was on his way down and maybe double checking but after Thursday, I felt bad taking up all of his gas money/time/travel so I told him to stay in LA and I would see him later that night.

So I got back to the office and my friend Gina gave me a weird look and I knew something was up. Then as I walked into our back office, I saw a huge cake and balloons and decorations. As I turned around I saw, Dave. He schemed with Gina via Facebook and our Assistant Registrar, Bea, to bring cake and festiveness to our secured cashiering office. Talk about above and beyond. It was so awesome to have him there. I have been talking about him for so long that some of my coworkers probably thought I was either a stalker or had an imaginary friend. They were in love with him for bringing them mid-afternoon chocolaty deliciousness. There were tons of comments like "He's such a nice boy, so thoughtful..." and I felt a sense of pride and also awkwardness because it was like listening to elderly relatives commenting on your date. Weird.

Needless the rest of the work day was pretty much a blur. As soon as I got out I beelined it up to LA for the Fridays Off the 405 performance of Dan Deacon. I scooped up Dave, we picked up California Roll and Sushi Factory, and headed up to the Getty. There we met up with Zach and Emily, who brought drinks and fried chicken. Mmm...We got a chance to scope out the stellar view of Century City, pinwheel down the hill, and do some wall stalls. Awesome.

Since the night was still young, we went back to Miriam and Ben's to let Muk out and feed him, then headed off for a midnight swim at Driftwood. I love that place. It's open to the public at all hours, the surf is pretty clean, and the sand is fine. With the bright half moon, there was just enough light to see the surf and see the stars. I got my first glimpse at the big white dolphin, got to experience Eternity, and tried a new sport--tandem body surfing. This sport involves one person, preferably a strong swimmer, actively swimming for the wave with a passenger holding on over their shoulders. Thus avoiding being drowned, sand wipe outs, and losing their suit. It was so much fun that I think it might even beat boogie boarding. After it turned chilly we went back to the house and everyone showered up and went to sleep.

However, before I got to sleep, Dave had one more trick up his sleeve. He enlisted the help of Emily and Zach to set up some candles and gave me my "real" present. As if the rest of the day wasn't enough of a gift. After a deadpan humorous story, he gave me something sparkly, a ruby and diamond necklace to be exact. And you know I love something sparkly. What a phenomenal end to an extraordinary day.

Saturday-

What does $68 get you? Turns out it gets four people 6 plates of food at Maxwell's Cafe for breakfast. It was delicious and definitely food baby/food coma time afterwards.

Flash forward to later that night...What does $60 get you? It actually gets you eleven items for six people at Tara's Himalayan Kitchen. Good cheap eats. Yum. Karl brought his college friend, Joanne, who was practically my neighbor and a fun chick to add to our group. She loves to dance. Enough said. And dance we did. We went to Main on Main with our contraband gift wrapped mini-cupcakes and commanded the dance floor unlike anyone else.

While there, like any good Punked-type show or teen movie, my ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend showed up uninvited and within a proximity of two feet. However, this mini-Perfect Storm situation was actually not horrific at all. Frank and I are still on good terms so he was cool. Sandra was boozing it up and boxed out into a tiny corner booth, which was kind of sad actually. In so many ways, it was like life coming around full circle. It was the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a beautiful new chapter.

We left a little early because everyone was wiped and we headed to the best store ever invented, which is 7-11 (not only is it my birthday spot but it holds a lot of my favorite memories from college). Yup, that's the best way to wrap up a night out.

And that's the weekend wrap up.