Ringing in 28

For all my complaining it actually turned out to be a pretty decent birthday.

Champ, being the doll that he is, planned a gathering for friends for Saturday night prior to my birthday (since Monday night outings never really work). I was stoked to get to see my friends, and the big surprise being Jesse and Chris who made the trek up from Savannah. Jesse pointed out that she hadn't missed a birthday in five years so she wasn't about to start now.

We gathered at one place, but didn't want to wait two hours for a big table so wound up walking a few blocks (which is unheard of in Atlanta) to my favorite restaurant anyway, Taqueria Del Sol. I hadn't been to that location yet (but all the others at this rate) and as always it was excellent (even if the Howell Mill location is the best). We had a big crew there for food, lots of laughs and more. It's always great to be at a big table full of fun people and eat good food. Or maybe that's the Italian in me.

After dinner it was back to the original plan, Brick Store for drinks. We stayed there the rest of the night, chatting, telling stories and me watching all my friend groups converse. It was nice, really nice.

Monday was the big day and I drug work friends out to lunch with me which was also nice. It was fun to see them all in the same place since we're starting to scatter (either new buildings / different jobs / etc).

Since it was the big day, Champ and I made a plan to grab dinner on the way home from work, trying out another new sushi place (they closed our favorite!). This one might have moved to the top because, when I say A+ I mean A+. Excellent food, great service and by 7 we were walking into the house again. Of course that's where it got interesting.

As I'm letting myself into the house holding the mail in one hand and fighting with the door in the other, Champ comes up to me holding out his phone saying it's for me. "Who is it?" I ask, but he just says it's for me and goes to take the mail away. I don't want that because the new CD I ordered is in the stack to I'm half distracted with him taking the mail when I pick up the phone.

"Hello?"
"Happy birthday!"
"Well thanks, who's this?"
"It's Bryan."
"Who?"
"Bryan."

About then, the accent comes through and I realized I've got Bryan Donahue (lead singer of my favorite band and personal hero) on the line. I asked how he got the number and he explained that Champ emailed him and asked him to call on my birthday and for some reason Bryan actually agreed to that. I was a little flabbergasted but we managed to chat about his tattoo sketch, the last EMB show (which he swears wasn't that good but he's too hard on himself) and the big BLG anniversary. It was so weird and so chill and I need to talk on the phone more because I think I'm really awkward.

Champ followed that up with tickets to see Dralion, the Cirque Du Soliel show in town for a just a few days and a fun card. Not that he had to get me anything after the call, but yeah he did anyway.

I am a very, very lucky girl, with great friends, so many who wished me a happy day either in person or online via twitter and facebook. Sometimes I forget, but it was a good way to remember.

Posted in: birthday, bryan donahue, champ