on birthday gifts and a birthday surprise!

the other day i had a conversation with a coworker friend about birthday gifts. what kinds of gifts you give, whether or not you enjoy opening gifts in front of people, etc. i personally don't like receiving birthday gifts because 1) it feels awkward (this comes from a history of not really celebrating my bday), 2) if it's not a thoughtful gift then i don't really care. the obligatory gift is pointless. 3) i cannot pretend i love a gift that i hate. if i'm uttering "thanks" but my face displays "what the f*ck" then you know where i stand with your present. within our conversation we agreed that we only like giving gifts that are considerate to the person. the best gifts are those that are relatable to the person receiving. for example, this year my friend Adrian gave me a surprise present and i decided to open it in front of people because i know Adrian is a thoughtful person and would never gift something he didn't absolutely know the person would like. and i was right! he got me an old school stove top popcorn maker because i like all things popcorn and also because i was talking about how a bunch of articles say the microwavable ones cause infertility/cancer/etc. sure, people like to shop at Target but don't try to pass off a gift card there as thoughtful unless you have something specific in mind that you're contributing to (ex. last year my friends got me a substantial gift card for William Sonoma with the intention that i buy a kitchenaid stand mixer because they know i love to bake). but theeeee best gifts are those that don't require a lot of money and are just plain thoughtful. and if they can be funny too, then that's just icing on the cake!

a couple days ago i came home to a hallway full of balloons and the doorway of my room lined with strings of "30." Nattypants (my now former roommate. boooo to Edgar for stealing her away to take the next step in your relationship or whatever) rushed home after work to put this together and it was awesome!! when i walked into my room i found a bunch more balloons and attached to them were silly photos of myself that i assume she stole from facebook. this. was. hilarious! it was super unexpected and got me literally laughing for a few minutes. i love stupid cheesy stuff like this so she was on point with this one! this is the kind of gift that you'll remember right? and all it took was a little thought! 

calm down, i'm wearing shorts. this is not an inappropriate photo shoot, mmmkay? 

30's everywhere

thanks Natty! i loooooves it!!

absolute favorite picture of myself ever in time

i don't mean to be vain, guys, but i really love this picture of myself. i'm pretty sure nobody would argue that it's a pretty excellent photo and i look pretty awesome. i mean, even the other people in the photo can't help but laugh stare at me. i'm so hot right now.

but seriously, every element of this picture makes me smile. from the fact that i have a whole cake sitting in front of me (you can't see, but i know it's there), the lighter in my hand (because they said they didn't have candles), to the whole pie on my face, this is one of the best photos of my lifetime. and lest forget the culprit (Mike) who has the pie tin in his hand.

when life gets hard and i'm rolling through tough times, i look at this picture from my surprise 21st birthday and for a moment all things are good again. aaaahh the memories!!

must have Sugar Daddy for dietary needs

i'm in need of the sweetest of Sugary Daddies. but only for six months. see, a friend of mine sent me this article about an opportunity to dine at all 109 Michelin 3 star restaurants in 6 months through a travel company, Holidaysplease. all travel includes business class and top rated hotels within twelve countries. but let's not forget about the main show: the food! even if i were staying in crap hotels and flying economy, it'd still be worth it to be able to visit all 109 restaurants having reservations set and travel plans all laid out for me. over the course of six months, every other day you indulge in the most delicately imagined and precisely executed dishes along with ace service. sounds like an opportunity of a lifetime, right? guess how much this costs! guess, i say! it comes out to be approximately $275,000 for a couple. whew, that's a lot of money. but damn, if i could just find a cavity inducing Sugar Daddy for six months, then maybe just maaaaybe i could make this happen. well to be fair i suppose we should know each other at least a little bit before embarking on the most grande foodventure to ever exist. so let's say eight months. that's enough time to know somebody and have them fall madly enough in love with you that they'd spend a quarter of a million dollars on you, right? from this moment forth i will be taking applications for a Sugar Daddy for a lease of eight months. but after our fine dining experience, all bets are off and i will be returning to my actual boyfriend, mmkay? a little bit of an indecent proposal i suppose, but this is going to be the only way i can have my cake and eat it too.

but in all seriousness, i can't actually imagine anybody doing this. so far i've only been to two Michelin 3 star restaurants (French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood) and each was the epitome of an excellent experience food-wise as well as service-wise. even so, i cannot imagine dining on fancy pants food every other day for 3-4 hours each day. that just seems ridiculous and i'm positive that the novelty wears off. also, if you eat at every 3 star restaurant in the world in the span of six months, what else would you possibly look forward to for the rest of your life having completed the ultimate list so quickly? hmmm, i suppose there's the birth of a child or two and maybe marriage and whatnot. so i think i'll just take my time enjoying food experiences at a moderate pace instead.

for more info for you rich bastards that can afford this, here's the link  Holidaysplease 3 Michelin Star Holiday. or you can look here as well.