Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday, July 20, 2009

So Friday was my birthday. It was one of the best birthday's I've had in awhile. I woke up in the morning and a friend had come by before I woke up and dropped off some balloons and a dozen doughnuts from Tim Horton's (a Canadian Doughnut shop that just opened in New York). Then on the way to work, I received a phone call from my parents. They woke up at 5:30 in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. It was so good to talk to them. Throughout the day, I received so many birthday wishes. It is always so fun to feel everyone's love for you.

After lunch with a friend, my team at work bought me cupcakes from Crumbs bakery. So tasty! Then they even let me leave work early. I couldn't have asked for a better day, but there was still so more to come.

A bunch of friends met up for dinner that night at one of my favorite restaurants, The Eatery. After a great meal, the fun began.

My friend Adrienne planned "The Amazing Birthday Race" based off of the reality show The Amazing Race that I love so much. So we were given an envelope with a clue in it. That clue led us to somewhere in the city. Once we got to that place, we were supposed to call for our mission. Once we completed the mission, we were given the clue to the next spot.

So the first clue led us to Time Square. While here we had to take a picture with a member of the NYPD flexing his muscles. The Cops are really friendly in Times Square, but this cop was embarrassed because he said he didn't have any muscles.

The next stop was the Late Show with David Letterman studies. While there we had to find 3 strangers to sing me happy birthday. It was actually one of the harder tasks to complete, but we found some great people to do it. They even sang to me in French.

Next stop on the race: Columbus Circle. While here, I was told I had to get in the fountains and hold a stranger. When I first heard this, I thought no way is anyone going to do this. In the end it didn't take us too long to find someone to let me hold them. She thought it was the coolest thing.

The Race then took us to Cold Stone. At this stop, I had to find a stranger who would be willing to feed me a bite of their ice cream! Once again, once I heard this I was shocked. But I did it.

Then we were off to the Apple store where I had to don headphones and dance while everyone stared at me. Not bad compared to the last two tasks. What a relief.

Then we were off to the finish line. Along the way, you could get bonus points for other things. For example, we got an extra point for finding someone to kiss me on the cheek.

Our most proud bonus point came from finding a street vendor who let us cook a kabob on their grill and serve the next customer. I thought we would never be able to find someone to let us do this because of food handling issues, but we did. It was the funniest thing.

My competitive side came out and we finished first after running to every stop. It was such a blast. (And someone thought I would be embarrassed to do stuff like this. Boy were they wrong.)

Once we got back to Adrienne's house we watched the other team's videos and enjoyed good food and good friends. Thanks Adrienne for the most creative birthday activity I've ever had. You're amazing!
Then came the after party. Another group of friends wanted to celebrate with me as well. So, I headed over to their place and we had some yummy cake and ice cream. It was the perfect way to end my birthday. Except for the fact they put the candles that don't blow out on my birthday cake. I had to take them off and put them in water to get them to go out.

So if all of that celebrating wasn't enough, several of my closest friends share my birthday week with me. Just like last year, we had a combined birthday party. So we decorated one of my friend's roofs and had about 200 people over to party. Granted I didn't know all of them, but it was good to see so many of my friends in the city. I truly have some of the most amazing friends anyone could ever ask for! Here's to 27. May it be my best year yet.