Dustin Says

While watching the movie Red Sparrow...
Red Sparrow sounds like a team name on Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Do you ever just say something dumb and have to live with it?

Have you ever needed to rent a truck for stuff? Well, that's what cargo pants are like.

Dustin: What time did you schedule your dentist appointment?
Me: 2:30
Dustin: You mean, "tooth hurty"?
Me: -_______-

As we're sitting down at a restaurant...
Me: I'll sit here so you can have a view of the TV.
Dustin: Soccers on. Are you trying to torture me?

(3) BirthDaytona

For my final birthday celebration I met up with some frands at One Daytona. Since everyone lives close by Daytona except for us and Pat I figured it would be a nice middle ground to meet up for dinner. I decided to go with Rock Bottom Brewery (where Katie had her birthday dinner) because that place has damn good food. Pat texted me "Why are you having your birthday dinner at a brewery when you don't drink?" (Very valid and observant!) But honestly their fried chicken and mashed potatoes are kind of the shit. Plus it's still casual enough. I also requested AND GOT Amber  as our server because she is the bomb dot com. Again, please refer to Katie's birthday blog post I linked up there for that superstar. 

It was so cool having my closest framily together since it's one of those things that doesn't happen too often. Katie pointed out that their bus stop had reunited even though none of them were super close in high school (well except for Matt and Rachelle - bow chicka bow ow). Let me break this down in the most basic way for those not in the know...

Dustin, Katie, Pat, Rachelle, and Matt all grew up and went to high school in Palm Coast. 

All of them except for Dustin had the same bus stop. 

Katie and Rachelle knew each other back then but Rachelle is 2 years younger so they didn't always hang in the same group. 

Katie and I met in college.

Dustin and I met through Myspace thanks to Katie's top 8. 

Dustin met Rachelle while working at Starbucks together. 

Dustin met Matt through Rachelle but didn't know either of them in high school.  

Dustin went to work with Matt for 5 years which cemented their friendship. 

Dustin's known Pat since middle school and have been BFFs ever since. 

So yeah, it's all kind of confusing but what I'm getting at is all these people who kind of knew each other back then have been connected again but in a different way. This time I was the bus stop that brought them all together which is crazy because I grew up over an hour away from them. 

I got the fried chicken again and it was delicious - again. We laughed a lot about all kinds of shit and just had such a genuinely good time. A lady who looked like a manager brought me a birthday cheesecake and everyone sang. Then 5 minutes later Amber brought me the same thing and everyone laughed and sang again. Ha! Ooops. 

Although the cheesecake was good Kierce and I both had Jeremiah's on the brain. It looked like it was going to storm really bad so I thought we might not be able to go enjoy some gelati. But after checking the radar we decided to just take the risk. I'm glad we did because it didn't rain until later so we all got to hang out and enjoy a cool treat.

Thank you to each and every one of you who made my day(s) super special. Some years I'm totally content with keeping celebrations to a minimal or non-existent but this year has been such a damn rollercoaster that I really wanted to party it up. The food was delicious and the presents were so sweet but all I really wanted was quality time with the people I care about. There were a few that couldn't make it to some festivities and others that just live too far away which was a bummer but I know I'll get to spend time with them soon. 

 

 
   

(2) Birthday: That Glass Knife Life

If you missed my first blog post about The Glass Knife you can check it out here. 

TGK dazzled me so much when I went with Amanda back in March that I chose to do a little girls night there for my birthday. All the girls that were able to make it hadn't been so I was excited to have see what they all thought. 

I got their first because DUH. I don't just turn 33 and my promptness goes away. I might even be more prompt. I could start arriving at events a day in advance. WHO KNOWS. But I had plenty of time to look over all their knick knacks and I purchased an Orlando themed coloring book that I had been eyeing since back in March. I took a seat and waited patiently for my lady frands to arrive. It was nice to have some of my fave people together for girl talk and good food. None of us could decide what we wanted to eat so I took Amanda's suggestion and went with the pot pie. Lorna and Lauren followed suit. That pot pie was massive and both looked and tasted like someone's grandma had just made it from scratch. Who knows who they have working behind the scenes. Maybe they only hire grandmas. I mean, how genius would that be?

I made Katie share my pot pie because she only had soup and I was not about to eat that thing on my own. Plus as much as I was enjoying dinner I really wanted to get to dessert. My goal is to always get something different each time I go. I originally wanted to try one of their other fancy donuts but they stop selling them at 4pm. Womp womp. So I decided to go with a brownie. Katie and Lauren got a log. Nicole got a slice of red velvet cake. Lorna got a double chocolate slice of cake. Then we all turned into professional photographers taking photos of everyone's dessert at different angles with the forks placed just so. The first rule of dessert is to document it so you can remember what it looked like before you shove it down your throat. That's just basic sweets 101. 

We all laughed and caught up on life. There were stories of dating and kids and married life and work and the whole shebang. I told them all about Olive's sprained tail earlier that week and started the story with "I almost canceled my embroidery class to go be with her..." which cracked everyone up even though I wasn't even telling a joke. HA! They like to give me a hard time with my grandma arts and craft hobbies which I'll be honest, I kind of love. 

At the end of the night I opened my presents. I got some of my favorite things ever - from enamel pins to new earrings to a turquoise purse. YOU GALS ARE THE BEST. 

It was a perfect Friday evening spent in a dreamy little place with it's pink, black, and gold decor, sweet eats, and even sweeter friends . 

 

(1) Birthday: A Thursday

My actual birthday fell on a dreaded weekday - Thursday. I mean, it could be worst and slapped me in the face with a Monday. I went to work and when I arrived I was greeted with my desk decorated and the craziest breakfast spread ever. There was fruit, quiche, apple pastries, and little sausage sandwiches. All categories were covered - healthy, sweet, and savory. It was the perfect way to start out the day. 

It was a pretty normal work day except I got a lot more texts which is basically the modern Hallmark card. Ha! But my friends and family also sent real cards too. I also got packages leading up to, on the day of, and even after my birthday which was so exciting because I love mail but also because gifts from people who love you are pretty fucking awesome. 

I took myself out to lunch to Tijuana Flats and read for an hour while stuffing all the chips and queso in my mouth. Dustin always feels bad for me and others who eat in public alone but it's seriously one of my favorite things. I love just having that time to myself so it really was nice. Plus when I got back to work we dove into that cake! 

Dustin asked me so many times if I wanted to go out to dinner on my actual birthday but I told him I just wanted to get take out and eat at home. I probably would have taken him up on his offer if I didn't already have plans Friday and Saturday. But it was a nice little evening at home with my meatball and cats. 

I'm excited about 33.