Turning 29 - A Weekend of Celebration, Part 1

So, I'm 29 now. This is a thing that happened. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. To me, the first week or so after a birthday is like breaking in a new pair of shoes or a new regeneration: it's going to take a bit to tell just how much or little I'm going to like it. It's been a few days but, to be honest with you, I still don't quite feel older than 26. Probably a good thing.

I spent the last weekend celebrating my birthday in a rush. Mainly because, for some reason, I thought I had another week before my birthday and have been scrambling to keep up with my own plans since. It's been interesting to say the least. Friday was such a blast! I had dinner in Elk Grove with one of my best friends, Sheena, whom I just haven't had a chance to see this whole year. Our schedules have been so demanding and it's been almost impossible to get a time to be together, so I was so stoked to have been able to do this! We ate at this cute little restaurant called Palermo Ristorante, a hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurant. Everything was delicious! The male owner of the restaurant brought us our tiramisu dessert with a candle in it and sang me "happy birthday". It was great up until the restaurant grew gradually quiet and everyone turned and just stared at us. What was worse was the fact that I was in the very corner of the restaurant. The first bite of the tiramisu made up for the embarrassment, though! I would go back just for more of the dessert.

Afterward, we headed off to Dutch Bros. for a bit of a pick-me-up. The location is still somewhat new and one of the most popular hangouts in Elk Grove. Food trucks will hang out in the parking lot of the always busy coffee shop, treating the guests to a little something extra. They had an ice cream truck out that particular night. I was little sad that I couldn't partake in the ice cream festivities, but it's cool. My coffee was bomb and my company was amazing and I was good with just that! We ended our night with girl talk back at her place before I headed back to Lodi.

I capped off my night with Michael and hung out with our friends Josh and Chelsea at their place spending most of the time laughing our heads off in the cool backyard. And when I got home, Michael finally handed me all my birthday presents (albeit one was a temporary gift, but more on that disaster later): a LEGO Movie set, two Minecraft Mini Figurine Series 2 blind boxes, and a Razer Naga mouse. I stayed up until 2a that night assembling.

It was really one of the best Fridays I've had in a long time.