Birthday Thanks

My 28th (gasp) Birthday has passed!  Or I should say it has side swiped me.  Honestly I have not had the best of birthdays since I first got here.

Here is a rundown of my past few birthdays...

I was all alone for my 23rd except for a random neighbor/guy, Saihib,  I met in my elevator who took me out for a drink.  I'm sure I'm spelling his name incorrectly.  Coming from a pretty small town in Texas I'm going to label this my most unique birthday.  He was Sikh and wore a turban and I asked him about a million questions about his upbringing and transfer to Chicago.  I got to learn all about Sikhism on my birthday and the teachings which was pretty interesting and cool but I did miss my family.

On my 24th my ex boyfriend invited his roommate to combine parties and his trader friends ordered $700 worth of food compared to my friends $200 then they generously offered to split the bill.  I wouldn't have minded if we had been able to partake in the crustacean castle they ordered.  His roommate also got the plate that said "Happy Birthday" in chocolate.  (I do know now that was a ridiculous reason to be upset.)  The night got a bit better but I was really fortunate to have had a great time prior to dinner with my girlfriends. 
My 25th I found out my ex boyfriend cheated on me after his CFA exam 1hr before my family surprised me at a White Sox game (the tears were flowing for multiple reasons).
On my 26th I had a major melt down because I thought my ex was flirting with someone else.  He was hard of hearing and being in a loud bar he had to lean down to talk to people.  My friend had her back against a wall so he had his hand over her and was leaning down to speak with her.  I should not have made a big deal but I obviously had not gotten over the past and was being ridiculous (again).
And finally my 27th I watched the same guy dip my friend J-Dubb in front of my dad then later threaten to break my younger brother's arm for playing a joke on him.

I don't want to sound ungrateful at all for the last birthdays I enjoyed that my friends and family made such a huge effort for me.  These birthdays were 90% fun and 10% "did that just happen?" I have been to Medieval Times, surprised at a White Sox Game, I've been Sweet Mandy B'd & Champagned (Dom! if you want to know), Mani/Pedi'd, and SATC'd for my birthdays and I have loved them all.  I mostly loved the effort each person put in each year it's so wild to me that people would want to do such awesome things for me.  I'm not a good gift receiver mostly because I never really feel that I deserve the presents given to me, and I just feel more comfortable as a giver.  I think I got that from my Dad Gary.  But needless to say I did not really want to plan anything for #28 and relaxing at home was what I had planned.  My friends had other plans.

So that brings me to this year.  The Friday night before my birthday we went out to Big Star and I have not laughed that hard in a long time, it seemed like everything was funny and we were all in the zone.  Tacos, and Tequila seemed to be the theme of the night.  Then the night led us around town.  Following that party I was taken to sushi by J-Dubb and we had a sparkler in our volcano roll!  On Monday the volleyball team that I am a part of celebrated a win and my birthday at Five Guys.  Then I was taken to Hub 51 for a reunion with Ami and some amazing Chocolate cream pie that we did get S'Mored.  After that I flew out to Nashville with two fantastic girlfriends for country music and brewskies.  Then I was taken to sushi by Lindsay and Beth followed by a hilarious sleep over!  I learned that you are never too old to have a girlfriend sleep over.  Talking about life and dreams into the late hours of the night is refreshing and helps you bond.  My last birthday celebration will be this Saturday at a Cubs game my tickets were gifted to me by my friend Dave who I met a year ago when he put up a request on "FREE" on Craig's list.  I was looking for free cardboard boxes to move out of my apartment and I thought "Why not."  Despite the fact that he didn't know me from a random on the subway we had a great time and we kept in touch after. 

In addition to all those amazing gifts I have received a bunches of mail.  I am so thankful for all the letters, and dinner gifts.  Out of all of these one caught me by surprise.  It was an envelope from Japonais.  For those who don't have a clue about Japonais it is one of the top rated restaurants in Chicago that is frequented by whatever celebrities are in town filming or happen to be shooting with Oprah.  I have been there on two occasions and each time it's been amazing.  If you go do not miss out on the Hot Rock or the Orchid Martini.  Now back to the envelope.  As soon as I saw it I opened it in .05 seconds.  When I opened it there was no message just a gift card with $100 put on it.  I started to wonder who would have sent me this gift, so I went into Magnum P.I. mode.  I checked the post mark and it was mailed from Chicago a few days prior to my birthday.  I tried to see if I could decipher the handwriting.  No luck. So I called the restaurant saying that I was so excited about my gift and needed to know who to thank and they informed me that the sender would like to remain anonymous.  Seriously?!  I might have even called back a second time and pulled another scheme.  After a while I decided that obviously this individual would like to remain anonymous and I should respect their wishes.  Well my Dad came to this conclusion and I just agreed.  So to whom ever sent me this fabulous gift card I send you MANY THANKS!  You added a nice sha-bang to one of the most memorable birthday celebrations yet and I am grateful!  Thanks to everyone who took me out to lunch, brunch, dinner or breakfast I had an amazing couple of weeks.

Update:  I found out that the sender of the Japonais gift card was indeed Kris my travel partner from Costa Rica!  :)    Muchas Gracias Senor!