I had to work on my birthday. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but I haven't worked on my birthday in I can't remember how long. I went in early to take a workshop in how to use a system I already know how to use (incidentally, I screwed up something on that same system this past week--woopsie). Then I taught.
When I came home, I found balloons in different rooms and happy birthday signs and a card and a gift bag with bubbles in it. Does my husband know me or what? (Also, I have the wish list of a two year old).
When he came home, I squealed about all my balloons and signs and bubbles. Then we headed to Beginnings, a book-themed restaurant in Atlantic Beach. We had to pay a toll to go over the bridge because I couldn't remember how to avoid the bridge. This was so dumb.
Anyway, the restaurant has the best waitstaff in the history of restaurants. Also, the best decor.
For $75, you can attend a food and cocktail pairing of five courses based on a book theme!
Any menu with a typewriter is a menu for me.
Random London phonebooth
The check comes in this! It makes you excited to pay!
Author portraits
I've been getting kind of courageous lately, sipping some beer and booze here and there. Beginnings has cocktails named after literary things. I had to drink. I had a DaVinci Code. It was amazing.
Also amazing was the food. And the dessert.
My husband could be a professional dessert photographer. This is peanut butter goodness with a fried banana, nuts, and chocolate and more nuts.
Posing for prom, apparently
We went to my parents afterwards to open presents (I like presents) and eat cake but we didn't actually eat the cake because I had already eaten the dessert at the restaurant and neither of us likes ice cream cake. I blew out candles, though, because, again, I am a child.
Then, the next day, I got mini cupcakes at work because my colleague who ran the workshop found out it had been my birthday and decided that cupcakes make a birthday better. Yes, yes they do.
Right after my birthday, I travel around to various stores, collection my free birthday things that I've been offered through signing up for newsletters and joining free VIP clubs. I love this day, Freebie Collection Day. Eddie thinks of it more like Anxiety On The Verge Of A Heart Attack Day. His ideas about free stuff and my ideas about free stuff differ a little bit.
On my actual birthday, I went to Dunkin Donuts on my way to work and got a free iced green tea.
The day after my birthday, I went to Starbucks and got a free tall iced caramel macchiato. I could have gotten a bigger size, but with the amount of sugar that drink has, I was fine with the tall. I didn't want to go into sugar shock. When I ordered, I explained that I couldn't find the birthday offer on my app, but it had been there the day before. The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday and said that it would come up when she scanned my card. Then she wished me a Happy Birthday again.
On Freebie Collection Day, I started at Roosevelt Field. I got a free cleanser from Sephora. I had a choice between that and an eyeliner/lipstick combo. I've never had a choice before! The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday twice. This was fun.
I then visited Teavana for a free sample of tea. This is not birthday related. I simply always go there for a free sample. Then I headed over to David's Tea for the same reason. There, I actually bought something. They had travel tumblers on sale, marked down from $10 to $5, and that included filling it with what would be a $4 cup of tea. I paid for it with a birthday gift card, so, you know, free. And now that I signed up with a frequent buyer card, I got another free tea that I can go get, plus another free tea for finishing my profile. Two more await. All free. All for me. I also found that Jamba Juice has free samples, so I tried two flavors there. Yum.
Chatting with the Teavana gal
Being sold by two David's Tea staffers
Up in the food court, I hunted down where I could get a Chock Full O' Nuts coffee. The coupon I had said that I could get a $16 oz coffee in the food court, but there wasn't a Chock Store anywhere. Then I saw that one of the salad places sells that kind of coffee. I asked them if I could redeem my coupon there (while Eddie stood about a mile away from me). The cashier looked at the coupon all puzzled. Then she showed it to a manager. They both came over and told me I had to go to the place outside of La Bottega. So I asked, Even though the coupon says specifically to come to the food court, I have to go to the other place? They said yes. I said, Ok thank you!
Me haggling
Over in the corner, there's a pow wow going on.
So I headed over to the grill across the way that also sold Chock coffee. I showed it to the cashier. She didn't know what to do, so she showed it to the guy flipping chicken on a grill and another guy standing around doing what seemed to be, well, simply that--standing. There was a lot of conversation about this whole coupon. Then someone came out from the back, and they all showed her the coupon. She read it a few times, and then she said, Give her a cup of coffee. It was less of a Happy Birthday coffee and more of a Just give her a coffee dammit, but still, free is free.
We went to Green Acres mall for the second round. I had a coupon for The Pretzel Maker. The deal there is to buy a medium or large drink, and you can get free pretzel bites. Last year, the cashier gave me sort of a hard time, but then gave in. When I approached the counter, Eddie whispered, It's the same woman from last year! I wasn't sure that it was or not, but I was certain that after last year, I'd get my pretzels without a problem. I'd buy my drink with my birthday gift card, and it would all be free.
I showed the cashier my coupon, and she said, I don't know.
How do you respond to that? There was no question asked. The paper clearly explained the whole deal. So I went about explaining the whole concept: I did this last year. I come here, I hand you this coupon, I buy a medium drink, and you give me pretzel bites with it. Just scan the coupon. Look, your address is right here. It's your store. Okay?
She instead told me, I don't know. My manager isn't here.
I said, You don't need a manager.
She looked at the coupon and then asked, Is this your phone number?
I paused for a moment and then responded, No, it's your phone number. Like, for this store.
So then she asked for my phone number. I gave her a fake one because this was getting weird. She then asked what I wanted to drink. I asked for a medium lemonade, which would run me a little over $2. Then she told me the total was $4.69.
I wanted to respond, I don't know, but instead I asked, How is it $4.69 if the drink is only $2?
She was like, I told you I don't know, and waved the coupon at me.
So she asked for my order as if she would accept the coupon and then charged me for the whole order, though I'm not sure what she did exactly because pretzel bites are not $2 also, so the total should have been higher than what she said. I think she was making things up.
I politely took back my coupon and asked that she cancel my order. I went over to Eddie, who was standing about a mile away looking mortified, and told him I couldn't get my pretzels. He told me to write a very strong letter. I said I was already doing so in my head. (later on, I wrote an email to the company telling them that if they put a store on their coupon, they should inform the store of the promotion--the store doesn't have to participate, but then don't put it on my coupon. They responded by telling me that the stores are independently operated so they would alert the store of the issue. Meaning I'm not getting my pretzel bites. For shame, The Pretzel Maker, for shame!).
The approach
The explanation: It says it right here on this coupon.
The confusion
We walked over to Panera. I told the cashier I was there for my birthday treat. She wished me a Happy Birthday and told me to choose any baked item. I had another choice! I chose a large festive candy cookie.
Easy Peasy at Panera (also I'm noticing my ass looks like a box in this skirt)
Then we went to Baskin Robbins a few blocks away, and I got a free small scoop of chocolate chip ice cream. The cashier wished me a Happy Birthday.
I brought the cookie and the ice cream to my parents to enjoy. I told my brother that I would have had pretzels for him but the cashier "didn't know." He was okay with that.
Yesterday I took my coupon for a free Fribble to Friendly's. The cashier saw what was in my hand and told the other worker behind the counter, It's a birthday coupon. So I was like, Oh, you've seen this before! She was like, Happy Birthday, by the way. The other worker was like, Happy Birthday, and I was like, Can I have a chocolate Fribble please? Then she made a chocolate Fribble and handed it to me, telling me to enjoy the rest of my birthday. I brought it to my parents for them to share.
Go right ahead...I bet you can't even try to tell me this isn't the most adorable picture you've ever seen.
I also handed over my free meal from IHOP. I had my Pancake Revolution Anniversary last month for which I had a different free meal, so I probably won't make it to this birthday one. I have to see if they'll change my anniversary date so I can space out my free meals.
You see, it's not that I want all these free things for myself. I want to share the love. And I want people to continue to wish me a Happy Birthday.
A line up throwing back to the 70s: Tesla, REO Speedwagaon, and Def Leppard. It's gotta be a summer concert. It's gotta be at Jones Beach. It's gotta be awesome. And it was.
More than several years ago, I saw Cinderella opening for Poison, and poor Tom Keifer could barely hit the high notes. For those of you unfamiliar with the Cinderella catalog, it's almost all high notes. Last night, I saw three lead singers hit high note after high note, holding them out, raising the roof, and bringing the house down. Though we were outside and there was no roof and no house, but you get what I mean.
When my brother told me Tesla was one of the acts, I was like, Oh good! I like that one song! You know--Signs, signs, everywhere is signs....
Come to find out that they have other songs. AND I knew another one! It's a love song called Love Song. And it's good! That's what they closed with. Then my brother and I had a conversation about Tesla, meaning Nikola Tesla. The guy who invented things that other people like Marconi and Edison stole. Poor Tesla.
Fun Fact: He had an affinity for pigeons.
Yes, this is the conversation we were having when the roadies were breaking down the stage. Because we are educator nerds. But then we talked about REO Speedwagon.
Fun Fact: An REO Speedwagon is a fire truck.
Yes, this is the conversation we were having. But then I was trying to figure out what songs I'd know. My brother has their greatest hits album and listens to way more music than I do, so he'd know more. Then I asked, pretty sure the answer would be no, if they sang Sister Christian.
He laughed at me and was like, No, that's Night Ranger. Still, I didn't see why they couldn't sing Sister Christian. Maybe they would. I was pretty sure everyone playing would know it. And the crowd would love it.
Then REO came out and that lead singer can get a crowd going, even when the amphitheater is not yet filled. They sang some newer songs I'd never heard. They sang some older songs I'd never heard. These were songs my brother knew, so he sang along, and I took pictures of the sunset while pretending to sing along.
I did not have to pretend to sing along to Take It On The Run or Keep On Lovin You or Heard It From A Friend. I knew songs!
The sky grew really dark and finally finally finally Def Leppard came out.
The first thing I noticed was Phil Collen and how he doesn't wear a shirt and how he was already shiny as if he were sweating but he hadn't done anything yet so I had a sneaking suspicion that he had oiled up before the show but then thought how can you play a guitar with all that oil all over so maybe he was just warm. The reason all this was distracting is he's almost in his 60s and he looks like this:
He was shinier!
Other things I noticed:
1.
Joe Elliott thinks he's a magician. He ends almost every song with his arms straight out to the sides and his head back, very Copperfield-like, and sometimes he wears a top hat.
2.
Rick Allen is still the hardest working drummer in rock. Obvious reasons.
3.
When you sing a Def Leppard song, you don't necessarily have to form full words to sing along. Some of the songs are so high or so low that you can screech or grumble, and you're singing right along. Take the lyrics to Love Bites: Love bites. Love bleeds. It's err eh eee oh ah eeeeee. See? Singing.
They have a new album out, and I've yet to hear it. My brother new some of the new stuff, but there was one song where we were like, Huh? as the video played behind them of a mannequin head--I don't know, maybe that's a throwback to Sugar? Aside from that one song (when everyone seemed to go get a snack or take a bathroom break so we were not alone in this), we knew everything else in some capacity. Speaking of everyone, there was quite a cross-section of humanity there. My brother said that a lot of the young people (omigod, I said young people--you know, because I'm old) were there because of the new album. I figured most of the older older people were there for REO. Who was there for Tesla? Well, there had been about twenty people standing right in front of the stage cheering and jumping when they were singing, so they had their fans, too. Also, we were in the upper upper seats. Like we were in the very last row, which had the best and prettiest views, so I figured that it was also a cheaper way to take the family out to something fun.
Actually, I'm not that old. He asked Who here was alive in 1977? And I wasn't. Which puts me in the category of Young People At The Concert, and he said he needs us young people, Def Leppard needs us young people, and all of rock needs us young people.
Anyway, back to the leppards. JE had three wardrobe changes, including the aforementioned top hat. Rick Savage and Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen and Rick Allen had solos.
Oh! BTW, if you search on Bing for def leppard band members (because you aren't being lazy for once and want to spell their names correctly), this guy's picture comes up as Rick Allen.
Heh heh. I love the interwebs.
When they got to Hysteria, my voice started to go and I fell back in time as photos of them popped up on the screen from when they first started (when I had yet to be born) and when the album Hysteria came out (when I was like 11). If you've never listened to the Hysteria album, stop what you're doing and go buy it on iTunes (if you can navigate that horrible site--if not, get it on Spotify or whatever else you tech-music people use) and listen to it straight through at least three times. It'll change your life. And if it doesn't, listen to it until it does. Even if you haven't heard the whole album, you've probably heard most of it since they had at least 7 singles from it that all played on the radio and were all popular, including Armageddon It and Pour Some Sugar On Me, and if you watched MTV when those songs came out, then you know that those two videos were almost exactly the same and no one cared because the songs were just that popular.
Singing along is such a treat because if you actually do know the words, you know that a lot of the time, they are a little bit silly. Like, well, Pour some sugar on me in the name of love. Which would be really sticky, but that comes up, too: I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet.
Or really simple like: What do you want? I want rock n roll. What do you want? Long live rock n roll. And back to silly: Still rollin, keep a rollin. Because a rock rolls, you know.
This? Is brilliance. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.
They encored with Rock of Ages (of the aforementioned rolling rock lyrics) and then Photograph, which is my brother's favorite song, so I'd like to think they did that specifically for him. Because it was his birthday. Which is a great way to celebrate. If not for my brother, I probably would've never listened to Def Leppard or any of the hair metal bands of the 80s or the classic rock bands before them, so it's more than kinda great that I have an older brother who listened, and still listens, to damn good music. Even if I don't get all of it. Still great.
No one played Sister Christian, unless Tesla sang it before we got there. Probably not. But who needs Sister Christian when you've got an entire discography of Def Leppard at your fingertips? No one, that's who (in case you don't get rhetorical questions).
Ok, so he also likes the Stones, so I badly photoshopped this photo to add his name over that guy's.
And now for the encore:
[As usual, not proofread, but this time, any errors can be blamed on my feeling hung over because I was out late and woke up early.]
Hyperbole is the best thing ever! So was my birthday! Thanks so much to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and celebrated in person and in spirit. Lots of fun. Some free stuff, too.
Eddie planned my birthday celebration, which was the major part of my gift from him. Then it was kind of a surprise and kind of not. He gets excited about planning things, so not long after planning, he came into the living room one night and was like, Wanna know what we're doing for your birthday? Then another night: wanna know who's coming so far?
From past discussion, he gleaned together an interesting night: dinner at the Ninja restaurant and then Escape the Room. This? Sounded like a great night. And it was. It totally was.
The Ninja Restaurant
You go inside and go into an elevator and then ninjas get all ninja-y on you. You get poked with swords. You get terrified to go to the bathroom. You get magic. You get told to break a board with your head. I did not break a board with my head. I did, however, get a free ninja headband. We saw ninja turn throwing stars into chocolate mousse cake. We saw things bubble and foam. We saw things set on fire. And the whole time, ninjas jumped into the room yelling at us and we jumped every single time, even when we saw it coming.
Escape The Room
These escape games are all the rage, but I think Escape The Room NYC is the original. We did one before and lost. I was pretty sure we had better chances with a bigger group. We chose to do the theatre-themed room with eleven people. I was completely lost the whole time. There were codes and numbers and letters to figure out. There were keys and locks and doors. There were those of us who were catching on quickly and then there were those of us who were moving around the room seemingly with purpose but really having no clue as to what to do other than repeat the same number we figured out in the first five minutes in the hopes that it would be useful. Perhaps I was in the latter group. We did not escape the room, but the key master clue keeper person told us that we came so close. When she revealed the actual solution, it did not seem as if we were that close at all.
Also, I almost got locked in the bathroom, which was a very long room with a full-length mirror behind the toilet, and I found it so odd that I took a picture of it. Then I pulled and pulled on the lock until it finally moved over and let me out. Success! I escaped the bathroom!
Sidenote: Twice, I've gotten stuck in a stall in the Penn Station bathroom. S and AK had to come get me. The first time, I had no service on my cell at first so I dilly dallied until I did and they came and found me. The second time, they were less impressed with my cell-phone stealth and were like, Where are you this time?? It hasn't happened again.
Free Stuff!!!!!
On my actual birthday, Eddie woke me up super early because he was excited to give me gifts. These were gifts I didn't think I was getting because I told him that planning my birthday was gift enough. But he likes to give gifts. Early in the morning. They were so great! We have a plan to go to a museum next week. The guy listens!
Then, after stopping by my parents' house for birthday wishes, we headed to the mall. I hate shopping, BUT I had lots of free coupons. I got something free from Sephora. Then I got a free drink from Cinnabon. Then we went to Macy's and used a gift certificate and some discounts for Eddie because he needed stuff and he didn't want to go on my birthday but I was like, I don't want to come back to the mall so part of my gift is that we can get shit done today, and he was like, I love your birthday.
The mall is actually really pretty.
We stopped at the food court for lunch. I had a free salad and free water (I'd had an issue with a salad place there cross-contaminating the ingredients in the food, so they'd sent me a coupon for a free salad). We used gift cards on Eddie's meal, so that was also free. In between, I'd stopped off for samples at Teavana and David's Tea. Teavana now has someone standing near the sample station, which is a huge bummer because then I've gotta listen to the spiel about buying something. Ha. Buying. What is this thing called buying?
You know, a healthy lunch.
Model. Clearly.
Rebel. Clearly.
I was down for the count for a few hours because I never really drink caffeinated sugary drinks, and the large mocha thingie I'd gotten from Cinnabon sent me for a loop and a half.
I rallied by dinnertime, though. We took my parents to IHOP where I got a free meal. AND they got a senior discount. How much do I love my birthday?
A Few Days Later
DSW had sent me a $5 coupon for my birthday, and then sent me a $20 coupon because I hadn't shopped there in a while. Little did they know, I'd planned to buy new boots and sandals anyway. So, I bought one pair of sandals and one pair of riding boots for the grand total of $21 after coupons and gift cards. Then I got an email offer the next day to receive a free bag with purchase, so of course I emailed them to see if I could snag the offer since I'd just made a purchase. Fingers crossed.
I also had a yearning for pretzels the other night, so off to the mall we went in search of a PretzelMaker. Eddie spotted it first, so we went over. I showed them the coupon and was like, I'd like to use this. The woman, who'd been leaning her butt against one of the counters--not near the food but still, a little gross--looked at the certificate, looked at me, looked at the certificate, and then looked at me again and said, No, I don't think so. Eddie was about to say something, but I was like, Yes, it has your address right on it. She looked at it again and then reluctantly asked me what kind of pretzel bites I wanted. Plain, please! Then she asked what kind of drink I wanted. Coke, please! We paid for the Coke with a gift card, so free! (the deal is that you buy a drink and get pretzels for free, so it's not really free, but it kind of is). The entire transaction took about ten minutes when it could have taken maybe three. Eddie said something really witty about running in reverse gear and it's totally not witty how I'm retelling it right now. Dammit. Anyway, the pretzels were good. Because they were free.
Over the weekend, I also stopped by a Baskin Robbins and got a free small frozen yogurt. Usually Eddie gets a soft serve ice cream--my birthday treat to him--but he didn't want it. He'd eaten an Applebee's lava cake earlier in the day, and I'd skipped any kind of dessert, so this one was for me.
I have a Starbucks drink and a $3 coupon to CVS left along with a slice at Sbarro's and a salad from Au Bon Pain. The first two I'll use soon, but the second two will probably expire before I get to use them. But that's okay. There's always next year.
Birthdays are the best days.
Celebrating with family and friends was the best part, but here's the second best part: the stuff.
and a card and a gift bag with bubbles in it. Does my husband know me or what? (Also, I have the wish list of a two year old). 
