city lights
Had a great birthday Saturday. Eric brought over a v. large, nicely wrapped gift, which contained a brand new 19" LCD flat panel monitor. O_O. I nearly shit myself. I really needed a new monitor, and I suspected he might get me one, but I never thought it'd be quite this large & fancy. But it's awesome, I love it. He kept saying we'd borrow an old one from friends for me to use, and friends even played along at dinner last week, but they knew the whole time. Smartasses :)
Eric's parents sent along a box of Jelly Bellys (25 crazy flavors), and an interesting card with an Einstein quote on the front, which contained a $25 gift card for Borders (yaybooks!), so I must thank them for that. Then he took me to this fancy Italian restaurant downtown on the docks for dinner. By luck, we got the best little table-for-two out on the patio, in a far corner next to the boardwalk with the river just beyond. It was so pretty, with the boats going by and the city lights across the water, perfect weather and a candle on our table. Food & bloody marys were delicious. Afterward we walked along the boardwalk for a while, then sat on a bench in front of the big river-fountain with the old bridge lit up in the background and remarked how very French it all looked. A couple (I think they were drunk tourists) asked us to take some pictures of them, which was amusing. Overall, it was such a perfect & romantic evening out that even as I write this, I realize how movie-cliche it sounds, heh.
Mom had baked a yummy chocolate cake, and my parents took me out to eat Sunday night, which was nice. The service & cleanliness of the place I chose had really gone down the shitter since I was there last, but I'd been craving a Reuben sandwich and it was still very good. 'Twas a fabulous & fattening birthday weekend :)
Now to shake those ugly I'm-not-a kid-anymore feelings I've gotten every year since entering my 20s, and those even uglier private feelings of guilt & unworthiness whenever people do nice things for me, and I'm all set.