My 26th birthday (again)
Although I celebrated my 26th birthday a few years ago, I celebrated it again this year.
Trig is really into surprises, something I wish I remembered for his birthday in the summer. Instead I always end up doing something simple and he turns around and surprises me with something so very special for my birthday in the fall.
This year he had me arrange a babysitter and told me we’d be going out just us. By the way he was talking I understood we were doing an activity, and immediately I thought we were going to go paint pottery. I was wayyyyy off.
We showed up to the Reading Terminal Market after hours where we had a cooking lesson at La Cucina with 15 of our closest friends! SURPRISE to me!
La Cucina hosts all different types of classes, but you can also arrange private parties like Trig did. Anna, the chef and owner, tries to source as many of the ingredients locally from the market itself and focuses mostly on classic Italian cuisine.
Here was our menu, as best as I remember from memory:
Roasted red pepper crostini
White bean crostini
Homemade farfalle with pesto
Chicken piccata
Roasted zucchini
Ricotta mousse with fresh berries (this might be incorrect)
After enjoying some wine we got to work in teams.
Some of the boys were really into the chicken, I hopped around between a few tasks, and there were some issues at the crostini station. Someone didn’t follow the instructions!
We laughed and worked hard and drank more wine, and before we knew it dinner was served.
It felt so good to know that we created the meal ourselves (including ugly but very tasty farfalle with pesto yummmm) and I loved having all of my friends together in that way. I find that you really bond when you do an activity with your friends instead of just sitting around talking/eating/drinking. I credit training for the Philly Half Marathon as the reason for two of my very close girlfriends here. I wouldn’t be so close to them otherwise – those hours long runs and post run feasts really bonded us.
Anyway, after three years in Philadelphia I love knowing that I have friends who want to celebrate my birthday with me. I have friends! They care! It means a lot when you’ve lived your whole life in one tiny state and then suddenly pick up and leave for a new and much bigger place. I am kind of embarrassed of attention these days (something I didn’t mind at all growing up), but it was nice to feel so loved and have such a great date night with our friends.
Trig got it really right… except for that one little error he made with the cake I had to fix. 26 for life.
Flashback 1: 2011 Surprise visit
Flashback 1: 2010 Surprise Party
Flashback 2: 2009 Chef PB
Flashback 3: 2008 Me, blindfolded
…And now that I look at the last few years I realize that he has done some sort of birthday surprise every year since I met him.
9 Responses to “My 26th birthday (again)”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
26 for life indeed! Happy Birthday!
This really is an awesome idea. Happy birthday, Sabrina!
I guess if you flip my 9, then I just turned 26, too! What a fun birthday date idea! So special.
What an amazing birthday surprise! Sounds like you are truly blessed for another year at 26;)
haha happy 26th again
What a fun birthday! You are very lucky to have such a creative husband.
i like this 26 idea…i just turned 26 (for real) but i think i’ll celebrate it for a few more years 🙂
love trig’s surprise too!
happy birthday! what a nice party .
Happy *belated* Birthday Sabrina!