February 1, 2013

• Best birthday week!

   This has just been so much fun.  Thursday Kyohei and I went out for a nice dinner, Friday my awesome friend, Buket hosted a Turkish-y themed dinner and drinks at her house:

  

  The spread!

  Buket and Asli are so cute

  Nail makes some killer karniyarik (eggplants and beef) LOVE

  And I worked on acquiring a taste for Raki, Turkish liquor.  Here I did it right-- as the saying goes; white cheese, melon and raki

  I woke up in a daze and with a slight headache on Saturday next to Buket on my actual birthday.  We ate, and then I tried my best to get down to Tampa in good time (fail)

  I had tickets to see Wicked with my good friend, Mandy.

  

  The restaurant was festive with a foaming green cauldron
  

   

  Yes! More cake!
  

   

  Ah, the show was so, so, so good.  One of the best I've seen.  I mean, I love everything Wizard of Oz- related anyway, but this was fantastic.

  Mandy and I drank a bottle of champagne, slept in and went to one of our favorite spots in St. Pete-- the Sunken Gardens.  Since my camera is in disrepair, I had to rely entirely on Instagram

  

      Year of the Snake!!  This was an awesome sighting.

  Next stop:  Cocktails and appetizers on the beach.  This weekend was just fantastic weather wise.  It really felt like summer.

   

  Then her family made this fantastic dinner + cupcakes. 

  It was dark when I hopped in the car to meet up with this handsome man who happened to need a ride back to Gainesville. 

  Monday I was greeted with one of the most fantastic flower arrangements ever!

  

  My Aunt ordered this from my friend's flower shop-- so you know it had to be fabulous.
  

   

  BUT, there was a little extra surprise-- cash rolled up and stuck into the arrangement.  $$$$$  Hooray!  My whole family gave me money for my birthday to help me through the month of non-salaried training I'll be going through in a bit.

   

  Gotta love these cool tropical flowers, right?

  Since then, its just been a week of hanging out with friends every night.  Oh, what fun!

  Dance and Pizza with Jackie on Monday

  Tacos with Roger, Ashley and Mike on Tuesday

  Ballet and dinner at home and drinks with the roommate on Wednesday

   

  and last night, for no reason at all, I was out until 2 with these 2.  I think we are intending to get up to no good again tonight... here's hoping.

  • 4:41 pm
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