That Newfangled Pigeon

I've been dreading this birthday. It's the one that has officially put me on the downside of my 20's. Twenty six. That just sounds so mature. And I am far from it.
But, despite my aversion to this birthday, I welcomed the celebratory part of it with open arms. I mean, come on...who doesn't love having a day devoted entirely to them?
Normally, my birthday night is spent out to dinner with the whole family, but Graham told me it would be "mano y mano" or "just the two of us" for those of you who aren't linguistically savvy (not that I'm even sure that saying makes sense in this context, but hey...who cares?).
The husband informed me that I needed to be ready to go by 4:30 pm. So I was. Then, we were out the door, and on the road. Graham wouldn't tell me where we were going. For some reason, he gets perverse satisfaction out of keeping me in the dark. He knows I HATE being out of the loop (so he does it on purpose), which makes it really difficult to surprise me. I like solving things, so when someone tries to surprise me, I take it as a personal challenge to figure it out. It drives my husband crazy. But hey, it's like waving a red flag at a bull. You want to try to surprise me? Challenge accepted. On the whole drive there, I was checking possibilities off the list. "Oh...we passed the 52? Hmmm...then we're not going to La Jolla." This external monologue continued until Graham, in good-natured frustration, said, "I'm seriously going to give you a labotomy. STOP THINKING!" I gave a little huff, and kept my mouth closed the rest of the way.
My "I will ruin the surprise" sensors must have been off though, because he got me good. We ate dinner at "The Fish Market" downtown. The setting was lovely, but the food was a bit disappointing. Both Graham and I weren't entirely impressed with our choices. It was just, "eh."  Eating right on the water made up for it though, and it's always fun to try something new.
The "mad libs" birthday card Graham got me was one of the highlights of the night. We filled it out together. Graham was in charge of the adjectives. Big mistake. When he chooses words like, "stanky" (which, by the way, is not even a word) and "fugly" (also not a word), you're bound to get some tragic results. Although my choices weren't much better. I picked the nouns. I ended up with the promise of a "newfangled pigeon" as a present. Not sure I want that one.

The BEST part of the night was what was inside the card, however! Two tickets. To where, you ask? WICKED. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I am an AVID fan of Broadway musicals. My "Wicked" Pandora station gets utilized a bit too frequently for my husband's taste, and Wicked is my "go to" house cleaning mix (There's something about belting out Broadway hits that get's me pumped up for Windex and toilet bowl brushes!). I about squealed right in the middle of the restaurant. I may have a little, because I was getting some pretty curious looks from my fellow patrons. I excitedly asked, "when are we going," to which my husband replied, "tonight...so hurry up and eat!" I squealed a little more.

Dang it. He got me good. This was my third time seeing it, and by FAR the best performance I have seen so far. I was so proud of myself. I only sang like, one song, under my breath. That's a record. Because normally I have the people around me giving some pretty dirty looks (especially the husband). But when I hear the opening notes of "Defying Gravity," I just can't help myself. It's like, I have a disease or something....I'll call it "Involuntary Singing Syndrome." ISS for short.

My birthday ended up turning into a two day celebration, because the following day, my family and I went to Slater's 50?50 in Point Loma at Liberty Station. If you're a burger fan...GO THERE. That is all I will say about it. Oh, and order the macaroni balls...and the vampire dip. Okay, that's all I'll say. My wonderful sisters got me the CUTEST bathing suit (oh summer school hurry up so I can get to the beach more often!), and mis padres got me a pair of Jessica Simpson black pumps that I've been ogling for months. Ok...they just gave me the wad of cash that will be purchasing said pumps, but who's keeping track?

 

Although I hate admitting to twenty six, it was an absolutely glorious birthday, and I'm grateful for loving family and friends who made it that way. Here's to another year!