The Great 2009 Birthday

Whoa. Holy Birthday.

Where to begin?

First thing first. My camera, yes the third one in two months, is in the shop getting repaired. Remember I spent almost nothing for the camera -- did you think it would work?! So. I apologize about the quality of photos -- I went out and splurged on a disposable camera to capture the memories of my b-day in Oz.

Anyway. One of my co-workers, Gab, asked me to go to dinner with her on Thursday to celebrate the big 2-6. I just literally realized that that's the dates of my b-day too. Awww.

Anyway. I was game for doing anything, plus she's good company so I said YES. Then. One of the cooks, JR, found out about it and decided to tell me that she was planning a surprise party. Gee. Thanks.

Two things.

I'm a girl. I love surprises. LOVE surprises.

The other, I never get surprised. I over-analyze everything and never can get surprised. Thanks for ruining it.

After I found this out, I just pretended like I thought it was just the two of us, no big deal. I didn't know who'd be there anyway -- I just knew that it'd be more then just us.

The big day FINALLY came. And by big day, I mean Thursday night.

Gab and I met up for a drink at CBH, actually two drinks -- one, some guy bought for us because he was too drunk to put his phone back together. Then we talked about ex-boyfriend's and our lives now...without douche bags. Then we were off to a Tapas restaurant called El Bulli.

We hopped a cab and got to the restaurant. Of course, I was wearing some big shoes and fell flat on my face as we walked towards the restaurant. Classy, eh?

But here's the kicker. We walk up to the host and he says, "Oh. Your party's already in there." And Gab gives him this dirty, evil eye that says, "NO. IT'S A TABLE FOR TWO." Awww. Valiant effort on her part. I really appreciate her making it be such a surprise. Of course....it wasn't so much.

But that's the thing. It actually did turn out to be a surprise because of the people that were there. There was Pedro and Lisa, who I had thought would be there, but wasn't sure. JR, of course, was there. And then these two got me good. Nicola, the Scottish girl I work with, who had been telling me all day and week even that her b/f had a gig in Kings Cross and she couldn't go. Well -- she was there. And even Ross showed up.

I freaked. I know my face got super red and I was so happy to be...actually...surprised!!! It was awesome.

We had a fantastic meal, drank too much wine and they even brought out a cake with sparklers as candles. From now on, I'm always doing sparklers as candles. It's just so much cooler.

Afterwards, most of us hopped a cab to Kings Cross to go to a club called Candy's. It was AWESOME. And I don't remember much about the club, just know I danced my ass off. Literally. And my dress too. I exposed my breasts to a lot of Aussie's. Whoops.

The bad thing about all of this was I had to be up at 4am. I think we got home about 2:30 or 3am. And I was WASTED. It was pretty nasty, but I didn't have a hangover -- thank God!

Oh. You're wondering why I needed to be up so early? Welllllll....Ross was taking me on that Hot Air Balloon ride he won back at the OpenAir Cinema. WOO! And. It was just as spectacular as it seems. What an incredible experience. We didn't fly over anything cool, but we watched the sunrise and were flying above Sydney. P.I.M.P.

Afterwards, we had a delightful breakfast at a hotel in Penrith. It was right next to Olympia Park, where the Olympics were held, oh so long ago. Then we just relaxed the rest of the day.

Ross took me out to this amazing dinner at a place called Mezzaluna. It was in Kings Cross, which is a bit dodgy, but turned out to be phenomenal. You walked into the restaurant thinking it's very quaint, but as you descend down the stairs you are staring right into Sydney's Skyline. It was incredible. Not only did I see an amazing sunrise on my birthday, but I saw a spectacular sunset on my birthday as well.

We sat there for four hours just taking in the view and enjoying each other's company. Then we were off to a place called the Piano Bar, which was okay. We didn't do much but sit and talk and do a lot of people watching. There were some annoying drunk girls that kept dancing around us, but I think Ross enjoyed himself there more than me.

The next day, Saturday, I went into the City to buy a suitcase because I've bought too much already. Going to put that bad boy into storage when I leave for Melbourne on Friday (that's, um, 5 days). Met up with Ross and we decided to get some Lebanese Takeaway and have dinner with his flatmates.

That proved to be fairly disastrous. His housemate, Erin, who's a very nice, well-rounded woman, proceeded to get a bit tipsy and started to tell me how much Melbourne sucked and I should stay in Sydney -- since it's the best city IN THE WORLD to live. Of course, I took everything she said with a grain of salt and tried to enjoy the Pinot Noir. Proved to be rather difficult. And the Lebanese...I'm good. Don't need to try that again.

Anyway. My roommate was desperately wanting to go out to a Salsa club and we found one online located in The Rocks. Ross and I hopped a bus (after a petty fight) and were on our way to meet up. It was a lot of fun there. Within the first 2 minutes, a guy asked me to dance. Of course I said yes and made fun of myself for not being a better dancer. He was very nice and showed me all the moves.

We stayed there for a bit too long -- the music started to bore me and, since I can't dance salsa, I was feel a bit out of place. Melanie, my roomie, hopped a bus back to Coogee and Ross & I went to discover a club that'd still be open.

We found Jacksons on George which had a club on the first level (actually the 2nd floor, but they have levels backwards here). It. was. AWESOME. I danced my ass off AGAIN. I couldn't stop moving. It was so nice to feel the beat in my body. There was one point where the bass was so loud and heavy I could literally feel in all throughout my body. It was exactly what I needed.

Didn't get home til 4am and of course spent the entire day in bed. Then it was off to work at 3pm where I didn't get off til 11:30pm. Melanie had gone out to CBH with some co-workers and was on her way back home when I called her to see if she wanted to go swimming. Random. I know.

She convinced me to go to Bondi to meet up with some of the Irish guys in the house. Of course, I hesitated, since I'm not a huge fan, but decided I could use another night out! Why not?! I'm in Sydney, damnit!

We ended up at the Cock and Bull to find out it was closing in 5 minutes. JERKS. So we all hopped a cab to the City and went to Scruffy Murphy's. This is the place the Irish guys went to last time and I left early, homesick because it sucked that bad.

Guys. It all depends on who you're with, let me tell you, cuz I had another amazing night dancing my ass off. What great exercise! James, a Irish floater, danced with me and it was awesome. I'm telling you, American girls are the nasty dancers and guys/girls all over the world just aren't exposed to that. It. was. fun.

Stayed out too late again, but wooo! Had a damn good time, ladies and gents!

Now it's off to work again. I'll probably be getting off a little bit earlier tonight, but I had to work at 6:45am. I got a text message from the guy who taught me salsa dancing on Saturday -- he wants to get salsa dancing tonight in Darling Harbour. If my roommate's in...I'm in. I can sleep when I'm dead!

Thank you to all who wished me happy birthday -- it really was! I love each of you and can't wait to see you guys soon!

Muah! Muah!