My birthday is on June 29 and as an adult (or even as a teen to be honest), I've never been super into celebrating it. I hate planning anything big for myself or playing hostess because I end up worrying if everyone is having fun and getting along okay. Instead, I have small dinners basically every night of my birthday week which means.. I don't have to cook and I get to focus on the people that I love. I've always been more of a small settings kind of gal! I kicked off the celebrations with Alexa and DJ by going to Cafe Habana followed by dessert at Magnum Ice Cream Bar. Both were delicious! I loved Cafe Habana's vibe and their food. Then the ice cream bar was kind of amazing. It's a limited pop-up so if you're in NYC, check it out while you still can! I got vanilla dipped in white chocolate with rose petals, chocolate pearls and marshmallows as toppings and finished off with dark chocolate drizzle.
The next night, I went out to dinner with Estelle. I found Noodies Thai Kitchen while searching for a place within walking distance and wow, this place is my new favorite Thai restaurant. It's really small but because it's summer the entire front is open which makes it seems much airier. I usually get pad thai like 99.9% but I decided to try something new by ordering their Ba-mee Duck Noodle. SO GOOD! Just thinking about it makes me want to go back again. And they had a lychee Thai tea which I've never heard of before! The food and of course the company was great.
Next up was dinner with my BFF Carina. We totally suck at remembering to take pictures because we get so caught up in talking for hours on end that we either forget or by the time we do remember it's really late and we (or rather I) look gross. We went to Joe's Crab Shack which is literally down the street from my apartment and one of my faves. I love seafood but for some reason it never makes me totally full? I can eat a whole bucket or steampot quite easily and happily!
And finally, on my actual birthday, I got dinner with my cousins. This was the one sorta "big" thing that I planned. But I'm always in charge of planning cousin outings so I figured, why not? We went to Noches de Colombia, which again, another local favorite of mine. The food is incredible and the portions are so big that I almost always have leftovers. And if there's ever a day when I don't worry about carbs, I'd like to eat a whole plate of pandebono (sweet cheesy bread!) by myself. After dinner, we weren't ready for the night to end so we drove to Edgewater to take goofy pictures and just keep spending time together. It was such a nice night and throughout the whole day, everyone's thoughtfulness and texts/messages made me feel so loved.
After all that celebrating, it was time to celebrate my best friend's pregnancy! (Literally the next day! I'm telling you, busiest week ever.) Even though she more or less planned her own shower, myself and the rest of her friends insisted on helping and decorating. It turned out beautiful and she got the explosion of pink decor her heart desired.
We've been best friends since we were 7 years old and it's moments like this where I stop and count my blessings to think of how far we've come. When we were younger, we had all these visions of what our adult selves would be doing. It seemed so far away at the time. But now we're here and it's crazy that practically all those things have happened or are currently happening.
Fourth of July weekend! It also happens to be my uncle's birthday so on top of all the food we usually have, we also get multiple cakes. (No complaints here.) I decided to make things a bit more festive with decor (which you can't see because we're blocking it). Then my cousin blasted his playlist while cooking the food and as usual, the boys were up to their usual shenanigans while the rest of us laughed. I brought over a puzzle to keep us occupied when it briefly started raining and I totally snuck back indoors a few hours later to keep working on it. My cousin-in-law eventually noticed and came to help me. I am so determined to finish it at some point this summer! It was a fun day and the oddness of it falling in the middle of the week actually worked out.
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What have you been up to lately?
You deserve all of the best celebrations ever because YOU are the best! <3 And it's obviously the most fitting thing in the world that you kicked off the week with ice cream ;)
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