how you keep on giving
first off, thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes (AND COOK SPAM! AND COOKLETA JPGS! ♥ ♥ ♥)! it's been like a giant tidal wave of awesomeness and i've been sporadically beaming at my laptop all afternoon!
so. on top of all that love? i have had pretty much the most amazing birthday weekend.
for starters, i'm not surprised a lot, which made yesterday pretty much the most awesome thing ever. i met my bitches at little part one for dinner, and they all turned up, every single one of them (except bish, who is forgiven because she had a send off party to attend, and i will be seeing her soon!) despite illness (possible h1n1), exhaustion (a fainting spell the day before) and general fatigue (from spending the entire day in the kitchen baking (for me)).
captureinsanity and stephoosaurus showed up with cupcakes for me to explain their lateness (which i later found out was all a ruse, ahem), and we were all in attendance by 8. tash was a little late -- but what else is new? -- but i was only halfway through my chicken schnitzel (I HAVE HAD SCHNITZEL, ACCOMPLISHMENT!) when she got to the restaurant, so it was all good. we were all pretty tired, i think, and somehow it was still one of the best nights i've had in a while. i started wheezing a couple of times from laughing so hard.
we headed back to my place after that, and spent the next couple of hours rocking out on guitar hero - if what we were doing qualifies as rocking, idk. all this was pretty much according to what i'd imagined the night was going to be (fun, fun, and more fun, all the way till midnight!) and the fact that everyone was heading in and out of the toilet more frequently than usual and/or disappearing from the room for long stretches at a time was completely lost on me. at some point, tash and myscryptic had to leave, so we brought out the birthday cupcakes again and did the whole big sing-along shebang, and i was already feeling so loved.
and the next thing i know, christine's asking for water, and i'm being (unknowingly) herded towards the dining room. i must be completely blind or something, because the first thing i notice is my sister sitting on the kitchen counter, and i'm all, "what are you doing here?" and THEN I SEE THE REST OF MY FAMILY STANDING AROUND THE TABLE WITH THE RAINBOW FUCKING CAKE AND THE HILARIOUS SHIRT AND THE BOARD, THE FUCKING BOARD WITH MESSAGES FROM ALL OF THEM, AND FROM HOPEFULGENIUS AND BUBBLEFOREST AND PIXIEBEANZ AND CIUDAD AND SNACKBREAK AND ADELATE AND STARAFAR AND AVRIL AND TIFF--
um, yeah, the tearfulness was pretty much inevitable.
so that's how i turned 21.
sorry tl;dr. i just had to put all that out there in the open because my friends' amazingness? should never be hidden. they surprised me for the first time on my birthday in sec 4, the second year of our friendship, and 5 years later it feels like we've come full circle. ♥ ♥ ♥ pictures and the rest of my recap coming right up!
first up, the cupcakes! which spell out 'happy 21st birthday, nat!' to make a grand total of 21 cupcakes exactly! :D my friends, so smrt. robin's default mode seems to be waitress, no?
and this was my tearful, unflattering reaction to the surprise. ♥ ♥ ♥
THE BOARD KILLED ME, YOU GUYS. AND THEN THE SHIRT MADE ME LAUGH AGAIN.
close up of the shirt! (it was an inside joke poking fun at my appalling lack of general knowledge, but in the process, our genius robin managed to misspell van gough. I LAUGH SO HARD.
close up of the board. fuck, everytime i look at this i get butterflies in my stomach, not even kidding. you guys.
and of course i wouldn't forget the cake! <3
AND THE EPICNESS THAT WAS THE FUCKING EXPLOSION OF RAINBOW ON THE INSIDE. christine hemmed and hawed about it FOREVER when i asked what it was, and i'm so glad she made me cut the cake to find out for myself. my friends, they are the bestest EVER.
there is no way it would've gone so smoothly if my family hadn't been in on it.
but my girls? are the ones who made the whole thing possible, who made today one of the most unforgettable days of my entire life. i love you all so much it is insane.
and so today was pretty laidback, after all that. i decided a while back that it had been too long since i'd had oysters, and i kind of missed them, so we trooped down to raffles hotel - i think? - for brunch this morning. in the end it was the foie gras that won me over, hi, the chef did the most amazing things to it, and the desserts were fabulous, and my family even managed to sit down without arguing once in those four hours, and it was all peachy keen!
and then when we got home my sister presented me with a film camera! A FILM CAMERA! ♥__♥ it's not even, like, sophisticated or anything, BUT IT IS ADORABLE. with the wind-up thing at the corner that i don't know the name of, and the little gear you have to spin each time you take a photo! i have been playing with it all day, but it's going to be a while till i finish this roll of film. BUT FILM. /EXCITEMENT
i spent the rest of the day getting schoolwork done (haha, i am lame) and then had dinner with my extended family, and i mean, i was feeling pretty contented already, what with everything (the rest of my loot includes: two shirts, two necklaces, and mooooooooola! and hopefully one of those workout bicycle things) and suddenly my mom is all, hey, come look at this, and shoves this huge, gorgeous pink box in front of me. and i am just staring going, OH MY GOD THEY DID NOT.
(see, like, months ago, there was this article that came out in the papers about doughnut cakes? like, literally birthday cakes made out of doughnuts, and immediately i went, OH MY GOSH I WANT THAT FOR MY BIRTHDAY. and this was ages ago, and i maybe brought it up again twice after that, just randomly, when something reminded me of it, BUT MY MOM REMEMBERED. AND ORDERED IT FOR ME. AND IT WAS THE MOST GORGEOUS THING EVER AND I HAVE HAD A DOUGHNUT CAKE AND WHATEVER, OKAY, THEY ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE THEM SFM. SEE BELOW FOR PROOF.
this was basically my birthday cake. and even though it wasn't the most amazing cake i've ever had, it looked amazing, and i gushed over it FOREVER, and i was so pleased i couldn't stop beaming all throughout the singing and the cake-cutting and everything.
just - yeah. all in all, it's been an awesome, awesome couple of days.
ALSO I SHOULD PROBABLY MENTION THAT STARAFAR JUST SENT ME THE MOST AMAZING BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER - EVER EVER EVER - OF A COOKLETA CALENDAR THAT SHE MADE, WITH A GRAPHIC BASED ON ONE OF MY STORIES FOR EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR, AND--I AM FUCKING IN LOVE WITH IT. AND SHE IS AMAZING. CHECK OUT FUCKING ARCHIEBELL HERE, OR BETTER YET, GO LOOK AT THE ENTIRE GODDAMN CALENDAR HERE (hit me up if you want the full calendar version!). WHAT A FUCKING WAY TO END THE NIGHT, JFC.
so. on top of all that love? i have had pretty much the most amazing birthday weekend.
for starters, i'm not surprised a lot, which made yesterday pretty much the most awesome thing ever. i met my bitches at little part one for dinner, and they all turned up, every single one of them (except bish, who is forgiven because she had a send off party to attend, and i will be seeing her soon!) despite illness (possible h1n1), exhaustion (a fainting spell the day before) and general fatigue (from spending the entire day in the kitchen baking (for me)).
captureinsanity and stephoosaurus showed up with cupcakes for me to explain their lateness (which i later found out was all a ruse, ahem), and we were all in attendance by 8. tash was a little late -- but what else is new? -- but i was only halfway through my chicken schnitzel (I HAVE HAD SCHNITZEL, ACCOMPLISHMENT!) when she got to the restaurant, so it was all good. we were all pretty tired, i think, and somehow it was still one of the best nights i've had in a while. i started wheezing a couple of times from laughing so hard.
we headed back to my place after that, and spent the next couple of hours rocking out on guitar hero - if what we were doing qualifies as rocking, idk. all this was pretty much according to what i'd imagined the night was going to be (fun, fun, and more fun, all the way till midnight!) and the fact that everyone was heading in and out of the toilet more frequently than usual and/or disappearing from the room for long stretches at a time was completely lost on me. at some point, tash and myscryptic had to leave, so we brought out the birthday cupcakes again and did the whole big sing-along shebang, and i was already feeling so loved.
and the next thing i know, christine's asking for water, and i'm being (unknowingly) herded towards the dining room. i must be completely blind or something, because the first thing i notice is my sister sitting on the kitchen counter, and i'm all, "what are you doing here?" and THEN I SEE THE REST OF MY FAMILY STANDING AROUND THE TABLE WITH THE RAINBOW FUCKING CAKE AND THE HILARIOUS SHIRT AND THE BOARD, THE FUCKING BOARD WITH MESSAGES FROM ALL OF THEM, AND FROM HOPEFULGENIUS AND BUBBLEFOREST AND PIXIEBEANZ AND CIUDAD AND SNACKBREAK AND ADELATE AND STARAFAR AND AVRIL AND TIFF--
um, yeah, the tearfulness was pretty much inevitable.
so that's how i turned 21.
sorry tl;dr. i just had to put all that out there in the open because my friends' amazingness? should never be hidden. they surprised me for the first time on my birthday in sec 4, the second year of our friendship, and 5 years later it feels like we've come full circle. ♥ ♥ ♥ pictures and the rest of my recap coming right up!
first up, the cupcakes! which spell out 'happy 21st birthday, nat!' to make a grand total of 21 cupcakes exactly! :D my friends, so smrt. robin's default mode seems to be waitress, no?
and this was my tearful, unflattering reaction to the surprise. ♥ ♥ ♥
THE BOARD KILLED ME, YOU GUYS. AND THEN THE SHIRT MADE ME LAUGH AGAIN.
close up of the shirt! (it was an inside joke poking fun at my appalling lack of general knowledge, but in the process, our genius robin managed to misspell van gough. I LAUGH SO HARD.
close up of the board. fuck, everytime i look at this i get butterflies in my stomach, not even kidding. you guys.
and of course i wouldn't forget the cake! <3
AND THE EPICNESS THAT WAS THE FUCKING EXPLOSION OF RAINBOW ON THE INSIDE. christine hemmed and hawed about it FOREVER when i asked what it was, and i'm so glad she made me cut the cake to find out for myself. my friends, they are the bestest EVER.
there is no way it would've gone so smoothly if my family hadn't been in on it.
but my girls? are the ones who made the whole thing possible, who made today one of the most unforgettable days of my entire life. i love you all so much it is insane.
and so today was pretty laidback, after all that. i decided a while back that it had been too long since i'd had oysters, and i kind of missed them, so we trooped down to raffles hotel - i think? - for brunch this morning. in the end it was the foie gras that won me over, hi, the chef did the most amazing things to it, and the desserts were fabulous, and my family even managed to sit down without arguing once in those four hours, and it was all peachy keen!
and then when we got home my sister presented me with a film camera! A FILM CAMERA! ♥__♥ it's not even, like, sophisticated or anything, BUT IT IS ADORABLE. with the wind-up thing at the corner that i don't know the name of, and the little gear you have to spin each time you take a photo! i have been playing with it all day, but it's going to be a while till i finish this roll of film. BUT FILM. /EXCITEMENT
i spent the rest of the day getting schoolwork done (haha, i am lame) and then had dinner with my extended family, and i mean, i was feeling pretty contented already, what with everything (the rest of my loot includes: two shirts, two necklaces, and mooooooooola! and hopefully one of those workout bicycle things) and suddenly my mom is all, hey, come look at this, and shoves this huge, gorgeous pink box in front of me. and i am just staring going, OH MY GOD THEY DID NOT.
(see, like, months ago, there was this article that came out in the papers about doughnut cakes? like, literally birthday cakes made out of doughnuts, and immediately i went, OH MY GOSH I WANT THAT FOR MY BIRTHDAY. and this was ages ago, and i maybe brought it up again twice after that, just randomly, when something reminded me of it, BUT MY MOM REMEMBERED. AND ORDERED IT FOR ME. AND IT WAS THE MOST GORGEOUS THING EVER AND I HAVE HAD A DOUGHNUT CAKE AND WHATEVER, OKAY, THEY ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE THEM SFM. SEE BELOW FOR PROOF.
this was basically my birthday cake. and even though it wasn't the most amazing cake i've ever had, it looked amazing, and i gushed over it FOREVER, and i was so pleased i couldn't stop beaming all throughout the singing and the cake-cutting and everything.
just - yeah. all in all, it's been an awesome, awesome couple of days.
ALSO I SHOULD PROBABLY MENTION THAT STARAFAR JUST SENT ME THE MOST AMAZING BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER - EVER EVER EVER - OF A COOKLETA CALENDAR THAT SHE MADE, WITH A GRAPHIC BASED ON ONE OF MY STORIES FOR EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR, AND--I AM FUCKING IN LOVE WITH IT. AND SHE IS AMAZING. CHECK OUT FUCKING ARCHIEBELL HERE, OR BETTER YET, GO LOOK AT THE ENTIRE GODDAMN CALENDAR HERE (hit me up if you want the full calendar version!). WHAT A FUCKING WAY TO END THE NIGHT, JFC.