My 25th Birthday!

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It’s my first birthday celebration in the US. I’m not sure what to expect and I’m also trying not to pressure my husband (although I have been bugging him for days of how many gifts I get for my birthday.) His new sport is to tease me by placing many gifts under the Christmas tree. He knows that I can’t wait to open them. He won’t even give me clues of what they are.. how mean right?

I thought he was kidding when he told me I won’t get any gift for my birthday. Instead, he might have a little surprise for me. My birthday just happened this last Friday, December 9, 2016. Although, technically.. when I was celebrating it here in the US. My family and friends in the Philippines already bombarded me greetings and heartfelt messages 14 hours earlier. Lol.

So I decided to be offline for awhile until the timezone here in the US will match and officially announce it’s my 25th birthday. I was a little confused because of the concern with the timezone. Do you follow the timezone of the place you were born or the place where you currently resides? See the mini glitch here.

My husband kept teasing me that I have turned 25 on December 8 because I was born in the Philippines. I told him, it just doesn’t feel right and that will only make me confused on my future birthdays. I will only allow myself to turn 25 if the date here in the US is officially 9th of December. Lol. Plus, it’s really fun to look at the calendar of your phone and there you see the date of your birthday.

He told me why not have two birthdays instead? Oh, he is so full of ideas. I declined his offer and graciously told him. “Nope, I will only have one birthday… that way it’s really special and worth celebrating because you only get one day each year.” Lol.

My birthday was the same day as his company Christmas party. At first, we were planning to attend (he won the Hero Award, proud wifey here and his coworkers wants to meet me.. aka “the foreign wife”) but he surprised me in the morning of my birthday by leaving a letter on my favorite seat telling me such sweet words and the last line was “P.S. We will be going out!”

He kept it secret the whole time. I have no idea where he will be bringing me… or what we are going to do. He only hinted something by telling me I should get my winter coat ready. Haha, so exciting! I was actually even thinking.. “Oh, maybe he will bring me on the ice rink like the one near the Hallmark Center. We will go ice skating… a birthday date on ice!” Such a clumsy way of guessing surprises. It was nowhere near but equally beautiful.

We arrived at our destination and after parking, I noticed right away how perfect the night was. It was so far the coldest I have experienced but I am so ready for winter and I really don’t mind. In fact, I was enjoying it so much; I was even playing with our own breaths. Just like in movies, when you can see the smoke every time you speak slowly or blow. So yep, I have been blowing a lot that night lol.

He brought me in Country Club Plaza. It is known for fancy shops and restaurants. Everything here looks so nice and pretty (pretty expensive too). He specially picked this place because after Thanksgiving, the whole place is lit up and decorated beautifully with Christmas lights. It is a favorite spot to visit especially during the Christmas season.

I don’t want to set my expectations high because that would be unfair for my husband. I even told him like a week before my birthday that I am planning to cook pancit canton (for long life but actually I was craving for it) then maybe order ribs (the Kansas City specialty and one of my new favorites) and of course a birthday cake (preferably Black Forest because I’m craving for the taste of the wine in it which is by the way called Amaretto.) See, I have little expectations.

Anyways, so I just followed him and he made it look like we were just wandering and sightseeing. He told me to take my camera out and snap pictures. The place is so beautifully lit up. I was having a hard time clicking or even holding the camera because of the cold. It was freakishly cold. So this is why my husband told me to bring winter coat but why on earth did I forget or did not register on my mind.. that means I will be also needing my gloves? Oh, tropical girl problems. These things just don’t comes natural to me YET.

My husband offered his gloves but they are gigantic. A little exaggerating here but oh they just look horrible on my hands. So he instead told me to place my hands inside the side pockets of my coat. Made my hands feel a little warm. So I have been snapping pictures and from time to time will place my hands inside the pockets in good rhythm. Just in time so they won’t go frostbite I guess lol.

So finally we stopped, here goes the first surprise he has for me. He told the staff in the ticket booth that he made reservations with them. So there it is, lo and behold.. a beautiful carriage, Cinderella-like is in front of me and waiting to give us a ride.

This is a lot better than what I have in mind. Ice skating will be such a bad idea and he knows that because I can’t even keep my balance just standing on the ice yet with skates of course or who knows even without them. They even provided us with a few blankets which I can’t resist. Hey, my hands desperately needs a warm shelter. So here I am, on a carriage ride, on one magical night with my prince. Huh, dreams come true! Not too late for a 25th birthday girl like me.

When our ride ended, we were just in time to listen for some live Christmas songs sang by a college chorale. We are finally both hungry, but no worries… I know the night won’t end without him taking me to dinner. He made reservations in Houston’s at 9 in the evening. It was a beautiful place… a little dark which makes the ambiance so inviting and warm because the place is lit mostly with candles. Yes, romantic. I know you are waiting for me to say that.

I ordered steak.. medium rare! That is my top favorite of all the American food. Ribs only comes second.. or sometimes they are actually equal. Depends on my hormones I guess… lol and yes, they don’t have rice. So I ordered, loaded baked potato. Horseradish sauce was also offered as a dip for the steak but I didn’t really like it. It’s an acquired taste. I am happy with the original steak sauce.. I only ate a quarter because of how big the plate is. It will fill you up really fast.

Still, I have save a little room for the dessert. Wise decisions.. 

Hot fudge Sundae… it was so creamy and light. It was such a real treat! I’m so happy to try a really great tasting ice cream not the ones you can get normally from a fast food restaurant but in a real dining experience. So there you go, it was an expensive dinner. If I remember correctly, it was about 80 dollars for my steak, the ice cream and my husband fried chicken strips and fries. (He loved his order claiming it was the best fried chicken he had so far.) Also, I love the fries he ordered.. ate some of it actually. Lol. But all is fair because I gave him a bite of my steak. Oh yes, almost forgot the lemonades. It was a really worth it 80 dollars dinner though.

Someone gladly offered to take our picture but uh oh lol. Well done, Sir! Good lighting by the way… but thank you! It was really so kind of him.

We spent the remaining hours of my birthday watching a classic Christmas movie “Dr. Seuss… How Grinch Stole the Christmas” on my request. I kept watching the clock like a hawk and finally announced by midnight.. “not my birthday anymore.” It was such a cozy beautiful night and I don’t want it to end. We finished the movie around 2 and slept all the way until 11 the next day.

His surprises didn’t end that day. We went to the nearest bakeshop, bought Christmas cookies and whatever I like. Luckily, I spotted a small (a little bigger than a cupcake) but still a Black Forest cake. Cheers, I got my birthday cake now. We also passed through a local coffee shop and he knows I’m dying to be in one again so I bought the classic latte and we stayed there for awhile. When we were walking on the way to our car, I was so oblivious to my surroundings that I didn’t notice something amiss is already happening in the middle of the street. He nudged me and there I have seen it with my own eyes… the cops were in position; their guns are pointing to the couple inside the car. The passengers went outside immediately with their hands up in the air surrendering to the cops. I was so scared that they might exchange gunshots or something. Good thing, I still have my birthday luck with me so nothing bad happened and we got home safely.

Not a bad experience for being here in the US for 6 months. I am sure there will be more out of the ordinary happenings and gladly I will oblige to report it here. My 25 years of existence so far has been an exciting one. I had this big realization that I want to share with you. If I have made it in the US and married a wonderful man; I think anything is possible now. Any dreams that I have left will for sure happen… in time. Life is not a race but things happen in its own time.. in perfect unison, in His grand plan. So trust the process, don’t hate your age or growing up because it’s never too late to be who you are. Or achieve your dreams no matter how crazy they might sound or mundane they might be. That’s your dreams, own them and make them happen.

I am finally 25, comrades.. and I am loving it! Every single bit of it! Hope you are too… 🙂

Here is the video. Enjoy!

 

-Anna