When two of your closest work friends have birthdays just days apart, naturally they both get surprise parties! Awkwardly, both Christine and Scott knew about the other, and let me tell ya, it was MAD DIFFICULT keeping track of stories, texting the right people, and not making any mistakes with planning and spilling the beans. Overall, both were wildly successful!
Tuesday – Christine’s birthday: Tuesday was a very happy day for Christine. She genuinely had ZERO expectations for her birthday, so every little surprise tugged her heart strings, which made me so happy too.
The day started off with decorating Christine’s desk with embarrassing photos of her, our glory intern days, and Kanye West’s baby. Oh and I threw in some Magnolia bread pudding while I was at it 😉 (our favorite dessert!).
Now, the real surprise was dinner later. We all arrived at Linen Hall in East Village a little early, and COMPLETELY surprise Christine! She had absolutely no idea we were up to anything. I even apologized earlier in the week that we were throwing Scott a party and not her…thank GOD for work IM or else I’d have burst out laughing 😛
Wednesday – Scott’s birthday: Scott’s party planning experience was a whole different story. We rounded up seven of his closest friends to Soju Haus in K-town for his birthday/Father’s Day surprise. We all joke that Scott is our adopted dad – he drives & pays for everything when we travel, fixes my appliances, helps me with taxes and insurance, and just has an answer for everything in life.
Anywho, the party was overall a success except 1) Scottie claimed he had an inkling we were planning something for him, and 2) soju is absolutely gross and should be removed from this planet. Eight people could not finish two little glasses of soju…
Thursday – me evening: After two relatively large weekday social engagements in a row, I was BEAT. Luckily, Thursday evening I got some me time (not too hard to have when you’re living alone 🙂 ). I chopped off 6 inches of hair (don’t worry, it’ll grow back in a month), ventured to Sweet Jane’s for some ice cream (mango lassi was OFF THE CHAIN. They are known for their dairy-free flavors FYI!), and had a romantic evening in Astoria Park with Aziz Ansari and his new book, Modern Romance.
Friday – Impact Day: Friday was an unexpectedly fun day. It was our firm’s annual Impact Day, a day each year when everyone in the company volunteers around their city. My group was sent to East Harlem to do some “grounds beautification”, aka gardening. It was so nice to get out of the office on a PERFECTLY weathered day. Gardening is a LOT of work, but it felt great to have the locals come by and thank us for making the projects more beautiful.
I also loved that I got to spend the day with people at the firm who I usually don’t hang out with! Our team was a ball of hilariousness, and afterwards we went bar hopping in the Upper West Side for EIGHT HOURS (I know…I can’t believe I lasted so long either): 79th St Boat Basin, Blondies, and Jake’s Dilemma. What a blast 🙂
I’m miraculously not hungover this morning so am going to attempt to keep on schedule with my long run. Wish me luck.
I Run Like A Girl 