I went to work, which was kind of amazing. I only recently started working for housing and for the most part people don't know me well. Before I knew it though, one of my new coworkers was standing in the door with a cake! After that the birthday wishes just kept coming. The same coworker had used her cri-cut to make me a fabulous card and had passed it around to most of the office. My supervisor brought me a soy chai, which he had asked me about every so stealthily before. Pretty much everyone who walked by my door that day wished me happy birthday.
At lunch Joe stole me away to a thai fusion restaurant where we had a delicious lunch of a variety of small things. A bit of pad thai here, some pork rolls there...delicious.
I met my dad for coffee in the afternoon and we had a nice chat and he delivered my birthday present. A kindle! Yea!
After work we had dinner at the local Hungarian restaurant with my Mom and Grandma. My mom and I have the same birthday, so we try to celebrate together. The dinner was fabulous, as usual. All day I'd been trying to decide which option to choose. I was relieved to find they had a buffet featuring all the favorites, so I just ate everything!
We went back to my mom's to open presents and have dessert and let me tell you, I struck gold in both areas. My heart's two greatest desires were fulfilled. My mom got me a cowboy hat and it is absolutely beautiful. I was a bit puzzled at how light Joe's package was, but when I opened it I realized that while it was light, it packed a punch. It was a Moose's Tooth pizza box, with a Moose's Tooth menu inside along with pictures of our amazing friend Kyle and Abbey. We were leaving for Alaska in 8 hours! Joe had already packed my bags, arranged for time off work for me, and had a cat sitter all lined up. Oh and the cake was dark chocolate with coconut ganache and ginger coconut milk ice cream (all made by Joe). Yum!
So all we had to do when we got home was go to sleep, or, in typical crazy-we fashion, put all the furniture in the garage so the cats didn't have to stay in our room while we were gone. At 11pm we trying to figure out how to get the couch into the garage and ended up going out the front door in our socks and pjs to get to the garage.
The travel part is never exciting, so let's skip that. Kyle and Abbey had to work Thursday, which worked out fine. We hadn't slept much so we just took a cab to their house, said hello to Kenzie, their dog who remembered us and was bursting with excitement, did some yoga, and went to bed. When they got home, we went to my friend birthday dinner at the Moose's Tooth! So, the Moose's Tooth is pretty much my favorite restaurant ever and has the best pizza I've ever had and possibly the best pizza ever. I think about how much I want their pizza pretty much once a week, so this was a most excellent choice on Joe's part. We went home to a delicious cake that Abbey had selected, raspberry glaze with chocolate and a butter cream frosting. Mmmm...
The rest of the weekend we just hung out. Alaska is a draw, but since we lived there, it's not so much a destination place for us. It's a place where our dear friends live. Joe and I ran, all of us played cards, cooked, got pedicures, shoe shopped, watched Kyle play hockey, played fetch, watched football, and ate and ate and ate. We ate halibut and salmon. We went to Snow city Cafe for salmon cakes and the BOB (best of the benedicts). We had appetizers at Simon and Seafort's happy hour. It was delicious.
This series is taken from an area downtown after breakfast at Snow City.
The Sleeping Lady
Appetizers at a very small tableThe next day I was notably sick, but who would choose bed over floating the Kenai? So we got up bright and early, packed many many layers, and grabbed bagels, and decongestant at Fred Meyer on our way out of town.
Rafting was fabulous. Kyle was a trooper and shuttled the truck by himself with his bike. When he returned to the launch, we suited up (9 layers for me on top--couldn't move) and headed out for the most beautiful rafting trip ever. Now, it's important to note that Alaska is not always beautiful. The pictures are, but the truth is not. It rains, it's grey, it's dark, it's dirty when the snow melts, and sometimes it's just plain no fun. We were fortunate to have an almost cloudless day (clouds only added for beautifying effect), gorgeous fall colors, and bountiful sun. I couldn't stop taking pictures. Kyle, Joe, and Abbey stopped to fish a few times and I sat like Cleopatra on her thrown. They didn't catch anything, but I think they enjoyed it. Abbey made warm drinks in the jet boil and snacks halfway through the trip. Joe and Kyle got to take a surprise mini hike through the brush to go back and get Kyle's fishing bag that he left on the bank. We didn't see any bears, which was surprising, but fortunate given the mini hike. Don't worry, they had bear spray and left Abbey and me with the gun. Not that I could do anything with a gun; that's Abbey's department.
Joe and Kyle fly fishing
Abbey celebrating being taller than Joe for the momentWe got off the river, grabbed some tea, and headed home. I was exhausted, but thrilled. When we got home I showered to try to get a grip on myself again, but only managed to inflate marginally. While I showered Abbey heated up the bear chili I'd made on Saturday for dinner after rafting. I had planned to make dinner that night, but was in no shape to do it. She generously went the extra mile and made the cornbread I had planned to make because my heart was still set on it. Before dinner I had wilted to the point that I had to actively avoid work not to cry (for no reason other than exhaustion), but dinner helped a whole lot.
The sunset on our way home
1 comment:
Awesome way to spend your birthday. In my dreams Pete would do a full day of surprises. But that would require a lot of planning and he's not much of a planner. :) And sounds like your new coworkers are really cool!
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