24. // Birthday Details

This post should really be called 'One of the Many Reasons Why KC is the Very, Very Best,' because he is. He knew how down I was feeling about summer, and about my birthday in general (friends being out of town, moved away, and perpetually sharing my day with the 4th) and he went out of his way to make sure I had a great birthday. :) Thank you love!

First (two weeks before my birthday), we went on the mystery train ride, post here. Which was our fun, fancy, celebratory date.

Then, the next weekend (1 week before my birthday), he planned a surprise game night with our friends. I thought we were having another date night, and then our friend Michael walked into the backyard.... to which I said, 'Are we having a date with Michael?' More people came after that and we had a yummy, KC made dinner of kabobs, pico de gayo, PW fruit salad, and roasted potatoes! It was all delicious, and took a lot of work... I appreciated it SO much. Then we had s'mores (my favorite) and drinks while we played board games. I got to see so many people, and I won a game of 5 player Ticket to Ride! It was a fun night! -Thanks to everyone who came over and contributed! 

The photo above is of my birthday outfit, KC suggested I wear it to the party since I hadn't had the chance yet. :)

The next week, (the week of my actual birthday), I got together with two of my former roommates for our weekly get-together, and we decided to watch a movie and have ice cream. This really wasn't a birthday gathering, but it felt like one! We watched Waitress, one of my favorites!

The day of my birthday I worked a half-day at work and then got to go shopping with my sisters and mom. We haven't been shopping together in a really, really long time. It was really fun to visit our favorite stores and spend the afternoon together. Jess wanted to get me a present that I really wanted so she bought me this great S'mores Cookbook at World Market! It was on super-sale and I am so psyched about it! I will have to share the recipe that I tried on the 4th, delicious! I ended up picking out a package of thank you cards (addicted to stationary), another set of reusable sauce containers (for our lunches) and a bag full of thrifted goodies at Goodwill and a bag at the Salvation Army, which my mom and OE decided to gift me for my birthday as well! It was fun, and sweet of them to buy me little treasures. I only spent $6 and came away with quite a bit of fun stuff. :)

Duchess really enjoyed the embroidered straw bag! :)

The night of my birthday KC took me to Genovese, a local Italian restaurant, because we decided that it would be fun to eat Italian and then watch Roman Holiday (from my Summer Bucket List, here) on my actual birthday. We had a groupon for Genovese where you spent $30 for two entrees and an antipasti (usually $55+), which was a pretty great deal!

The dinner was really good. For our antipasti we got fried Rissoto with aioli, which was AMAZING. I also had a glass of sangria, which was equally delicious. Yum! Then we got our entrees. KC had pork loin, with grilled broccoli and mashed potatoes, while I opted for the seafood risotto. Both were great! My risotto had SO much seafood in it though, that I think I will have filled my quota until about November. :) I got to try mussels and octopus for the first time though, which is exciting in my book! Lastly, we had dessert. Kyle ordered cheesecake with an orange berry syrup, and I ordered tiramisu, we shared both. Each was really good, but being coffee lovers, we favored the tiramisu.

We left the restaurant full and content, glad to pay less for an excellent meal.

We got home and decided that we didn't feel like watching a movie. -Though I am happy to report, that we did watch Roman Holiday this week, and it was adorable!

Now I am considering making a 101 things in 1,001 days list like my friend Sarah, here! Or a 30 by 30 list! Or both! What do you think? Either way, I officially started this 5-year journal on my birthday!

I hope that you have an adventure this week!

Alexandra