The Adventures of Turning 30!

I spent more than a year dreading turning 30.  My tongue would get stuck on the back of my teeth anytime I tried to say the dreaded word.  In all honesty I was afraid that 30 would come and go without any real celebration.  Now that might seem silly, but considering birthdays have always been a big deal for me, and this was a BIG ONE, it was a legitimate fear from my perspective.  I asked Rebecca if I could turn over planning of my birthday weekend to she and Ashley.  She gladly accepted the responsibility.  As much as I wanted to ask what we were doing I didn't.  And I tried not to give too much input along the way.

It all started Sunday, March 21st when after church I declared it the beginning of my birthday festivities. Thursday the real adventure began.  I had received a birthday card with a check and wanted to take it to the bank.  I told Rebecca and she said, "Why don't you wait until an opportunity to go to the bank presents itself."  I said, "Will it present itself?"  She assured me it would so I went back to my office.  Not much later she came in my office, told me she was going to Publix and that since it was raining Edgar would drive me to the bank.  I thought this was a little silly, but then figured they must be up to something else.  A few minutes after Rebecca left Edgar came and said, "Let's go!"  So go we did.  It was when we were passing Pizza by the Sea and he sped up that I figured out where we were going.  We did in fact go to the bank first, but eventually ended up at Pizza by the Sea.  There waiting for us were Ruth, Sarah, Mandy and Rebecca.

Friday, the actual day, rolled around and I knew more surprises were in store.  In years past I took my birthday off work.  I mean who wants to work on their birthday?  This year though I decided I wanted to go to work because I wanted everyone to come to my office and sing to me.  I also wanted to go to lunch with everyone.  When asked where I would like to go for lunch on my birthday I had said I would be perfectly happy going to Pizza by the Sea.  I had already been warned we may go somewhere else because it wouldn't accommodate a big group.  At that I knew the options were limited, but wasn't exactly sure where we were going.  After my co-workers faithfully invaded my office to sing and bring me a card and goodies I was again kidnapped from the office. 

Edgar was once again the chauffeur.  As we left the office Edgar informed me that he needed to put gas in his car.  After getting gas at the Tom Thumb at the 331 intersection we headed back toward the office and cut down 283 to 30A.  At this point I thought there could be two options for lunch; Another Broken Egg or Great Southern Cafe.  Though I was leaning towards Great Southern because I knew a reservation could be made there.  Edgar tried to tell me we were going to Starbucks, which had me giving Another Broken Egg a second thought.  When he drove past it I knew we were going to Great Southern.  Edgar tried to throw me off by acting as if he missed the turn and pretending to turn at the Grayton Beach park entrance.  However, when he turned right back on to 30A I knew we were definitely headed to Great Southern.  Edgar continued to try and deceive me by saying we were going to Angelina's and other places, but I knew better.  When we drove beyond the Seaside loop, in another attempt to confuse me, we passed Ruth and Sarah and then Dean.  Edgar seemed a bit defeated by this.  He circled and we saw Crystal... twice.  Eventually we found a parking place and as we walked away from the car Edgar headed in the opposite direction.  I said, "It will be quicker if we go this way."  He said, "But you don't know where we are going."  I replied, "Yes, I do.  We're going to Great Southern."  With a defeated look on his face he followed.  I was right!

Good thing I already knew what was happening since the hostess said, "Are you with the birthday party," as we walked up.  Inside waiting were Sherilyn, Patricia, Cathy, Shirley, Dan, Missy, Dean, Jermaine, Rebecca, Sarah, Crystal and Ruth.  It was a great lunch with a group of great people!

That night we had our regular CBN webcast, but afterwards Ruth, Jason and Crystal stole me away.  Candice joined us and we had dinner at Louis Louis.  It's owned by the same people that own the Red Bar, a local "legend," but I've never eaten there.  I had the famed Panne Chicken!  It was so yum! It was good food and a great time with good friends.  We stayed and talked for hours. 

The next day the fun would continue.  Ashley, Rebecca and I had already made plans to go get pedicures in the late morning.  Ashley brought some yummy cheese ball and waters for us.  We sat and had a great time relaxing and getting pampered.  The nail shop was running a special so that it was only $5 more to get a manicure as well.  I already planned to get both, but the other girls decided to as well.  I knew there were plans for Saturday evening, but I didn't know what those plans consisted of, or who.  The whole time we were out the girls kept talking about "1pm."  Rebecca said, "Jermaine is going to take care of 1pm so that we don't have to rush back."  Being the nosie girl that I am it was killing me.  I kept trying to figure out if 1pm was a person or a thing. 

While we were at the nail shop two distinctly funny things happened. (In no particular order.)  While I was getting my pedicure the guy doing my nails, who was Asian, said, "You're not born American."  Me - "Um, excuse me?"  "You not born in America."  "Um, yes I was!"  "Well then you are only half."  "No, I'm fully American."  "You look Asian.  Like Chinese or Vietnamese."  "Um, nope.  I'm very European; English, Irish, German and French."  "Oh, well you look Asian."  We laughed so hard.  Even then.  We couldn't help ourselves.  It was hysterical!

Then we were sitting there and Rebecca said, "So I entered everything I plan to eat today in CalorieCounter.com.  Olive Garden doesn't have anything that is less than 1000 calories."  Ashley and I were both quiet.  I was thinking, "Did she really just tell me where we're going for dinner tonight?"  Then Ashley said, "Did you just tell her where we are going?"  Poor Rebecca.  She felt so bad, but I just laughed.  She had done so good at keeping the secret and it just slipped out.

After our pampering we went home.  Rebecca dropped Ashley off at her house and then took me home.  She was afraid if she stayed and finished getting ready at our house that she might spill more of the details of the evening, so she grabbed her things and went back to Ashley's.  I was told to be ready at 4pm.  Edgar would again be my chauffeur.

I was ready before 4pm and waiting patiently.  When I got in the car Edgar said, "I hear you figured out where we are going."  I corrected him by saying, "No, Rebecca told me," and then proceeded to tell him the story.  Even though he knew I knew where we were going he kept trying to throw me off.  Sadly, Edgar is a bad liar!  We were almost to Olive Garden when he made a u-turn and started back in the other direction.  He had been receiving text messages the entire time so I thought maybe they had told him they weren't ready for me yet.  He pulled in to Carrabas, parked the car and said, "Here we are!"  I was confused, and surprised, and wondered if they changed it because I figured out where we were going. 

Later I found out that Olive Garden was less than cooperative.  Ashley and Rebecca had made a reservation and got there early to set up and were told that they couldn't be seated until five minutes before the reservation.  Then the manager got rude and informed them the reservation wouldn't be ready for until a half hour after it had been made for.  She claimed the dining room was full.  Knowing that the parking lot was nearly empty they looked in the dining room and confirming their thoughts... it was nearly empty as well.  They decided it wasn't worth it to stay there and quickly changed plans.  They called Carrabas and they were very accommodating for our group.

Inside the restaurant were Rebecca, Jermaine, Ashley, Tren, Jorge, Kristian, Richie and Andrea.  There were presents, a gorgeous cake from Sugar Rush and balloons.  David Z. and Melissa joined us later.  The service was great and the company was as well.  I got the Pollo Rosa Maria, my favorite.  My cake was covered in fondant including little fondant balls.  We were all eating off the fondant balls while we waited for dinner.  The manager asked me what I would like for dinner, he was going to bring me a special dessert, and he was going to bring mini desserts for everyone else.  As we all finished up our meals a great debate began over whether to do the cake at the restaurant or at the next location.  The waiter came to and left the table several times without anyone asking for extra plates for the cake.  Somewhere between anxious to cut into it and my "shaper" kicking in I asked, "So are we going to do the cake here or where ever we are going next?"  I think slightly annoyed with me Rebecca looked at Ashley and said, "Do we want to do the cake here or at the bowling alley?"  Immediately Ashley and I started laughing.  She had spilled the beans again!  We decided to take the cake with us since we were all getting dessert at the restaurant.

After dinner Jorge, Kristian, David and Melissa headed home and the rest of us went to Hurricane Lanes to go bowling.  Brittany and Matt met us there.  The employees had to basically sneak the cake in and wait until their manager left to bring it out.  It was so yummy, Butter Pecan flavored.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!  It was a fun night!

Sunday it was church and then finishing getting the house ready for Gena and Crysta to come see me.  I had a baby shower to go to and then had Jorge's birthday dinner at Thai Elephant.  Then I met up with Candice and we went to a movie.  Since Crysta and I both have Google phones I was able to "track" them via google maps.  As I came up on 331 I saw their location on the map and then watched her car turn on to 98 in front of me.  It was perfect timing!

Monday the girls and I had lunch at Pizza by the Sea and then went to Patchouli's in Rosemary and then on to Pier Park to hang out.  Kristian and Candice met us for dinner at the Mexican restaurant in PP.  After dinner we decided to go to Marble Slab for some ice cream.  Kristian was ready to go home, but Candice hopped in the car with us to head to the other side of the development.  When we parked I decided I didn't want to carry my whole purse in with me so I grabbed my wallet, put my purse in the back seat and hopped out of the car.  I locked the doors and as I closed it realized what I had just done.  I locked my keys in the car.  I thought about calling Rebecca to see if she could bring out my spare key, but my phone was in the car.  Candice had her phone... but not Rebecca's number.  Suddenly Gena remembered that she had AAA.  Fortunatley AAA goes with the person and not the car.  We called and eventually got from the Louisiana group to the Florida group and a tow truck was on it's way.  We went on in to get our ice cream and by the time we were finished they were in the parking lot to unlock the car.  The guy was gathering our information when he looked at my license plate and said, "Oh, you're locals." I was so embarrassed.  I hung my head.  He said, "Well I guess us locals can lock our keys in the car too!"  He used this cool device that looked like a blood pressure cuff to pry the door away from the frame so that he could get another tool in to unlock the door.  Before we knew it we were in the car and on our way.  I deemed it my first absent-minded 30 moment!

Gena and Crysta had to leave by 11am the next day, but we had a good visit and meeting of the 30 club... even if it was short.

All in all it was a very good birthday.  There were some things that didn't quite go as I expected, for instance I didn't have a date for my birthday, but my amazing friends made a it an incredible time to remember.  We celebrated very well and I felt very loved!  I have some of the most amazing friends a girl could ever ask for!  I love you all!