Five Squared
To be honest, last year's birthday was kind of boring. Matt and I went out to dinner, but that's about it. This year was different.
Friday, Charity called me and told me she was not going to let this birthday slide by. She was nice enough to play party planner for me. Upon Kristina's reccommendation, she made reservations for Monday night at a Japanese hibachi grill and sushi restaurant.
Sunday, Matt took me to Macaroni Grill for lunch. The food was delicious, but the service was not so good. Our waiter was obviously on his first or second day of work. It took ten minutes just for him to come to our table and get our drink orders. However, as a result, the manager did a little extra schmoozing in his section, refilling drinks, bringing more bread. After the meal, the waiter apologized again about the wait and offered us some free chocolate cake. He told us that if the manager asked, it was my birthday. I told him it actually was.
After a brief repose at home to digest calamari, lasagna and cake, I headed to the nearest yarn store. Simpatico Yarns has a 15% off birthday discount, and Mary Jane, the owner, agreed to give me the discount on Sunday since they're closed on my actual birthday. I got four pairs of socks-to-be:
Louet Gems in Soft Coral and Caribbean
Plymouth Sockotta in color #03 (brown and black)
Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett in Landscape Storm
Normally, I'm not really one for self-striping sock yarns (for nonknitters: notice the picture of a sock on the label? this yarn is dyed so that it stripes on its own), but I was specifically looking for something to use with this pattern. I just need to finish my current socks in progress so I can cast on these.
And all of these are sock yarns I have not used before, so I'm looking forward to expanding my knitting horizons.
When I got back to Irving, I decided to swing by Tuesday Morning to see if they had anything new. They didn't, but they had marked down some stuff I've been eyeing even further, to $2.39 a ball. So I got two balls of this stuff with very slowly gradated color changes. It's Manetto Hill Yarnery's Kaleidoscope in an orange/yellow/green colorway.
Monday morning, I went to the apartment office to pick up the package my brother, sister-in-law and nephew had sent. In it was an autographed copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Casts Off" (my SIL got to see her in Houston a few weeks ago),
a skein of Lisa Souza Sock! in Pacific,
and an original piece by a very talented yound artist. (Okay, so maybe mommy or daddy helped with the words, but still.)
Matt came home for lunch and surprised me with a dozen roses. And yes, I was genuinely surprised. Apparently, Tom Thumb thinks there are 14 in a dozen... not that I'm complaining.
We left early for dinner to stop by the cigar and tobacco shop in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Matt got himself a humidor and a couple cigars; I got an empty cigar box to make... something... maybe a handbag.
We met Charity and Joey, Kristina and Alex, and Andrew at Kobe Japanese Steak and Sushi Restaurant (the kind where they cook the food on a grill that's inset into the table).
Charity and Joey gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card, plus covered my dinner.
Kristina and Alex gave me a copy of the masterpiece that is "Snakes on a Plane"
The chef heard it was my birthday, so he made me a special candle. He took an onion slice, split it into rings. stacked the rings in a tiered-cake shape (like an upside-down funnel), filled it with oil, and lit it on fire. It spewed flames a couple feet into the air. It was glorious.
He made some delicious grilled scallops for me (mmm... candy fish). He threw pieces of food at us to see if we could catch it in our mouths. It bounced off my chin, but I had cupped my hands underneath, so I caught it and ate it anyway. The wait staff brought me ice cream with an umbrella in it, sang to me in Japanese (accompanied by a nifty drum thing) and took a polaroid of Matt and me for a souvenir.
It was a great experience and definitely a more exciting birthday than last year.
partially x-posted to 20sknitters
EDIT: Edited to add a few more pictures.