Don’t you love it when your birthday falls on a Friday?  I had a birthday lunch at Mom and Tina’s then dinner at Sugi with my family and Christian. Fast forward to Sunday. 

I spent Sunday morning eating Astoria breakfast with Chris, Carlo and Shiela.  Meanwhile, I treated CW’s family to a dinner in Choi Garden.  We ate Shabu-Shabu (which should always be fun right?  But we were all hungry that it kind of ruined the mood esp. since the place was so jammed packed!) and also tried a few other dishes like Curry Beef, Salted Fried Rice, Yang Chow Fried Rice (we were supposed to order the Baked Seafood Rice but they ran out of it.  Most of their dishes were almost out!), Sweet and Sour Pork (by forced since these are the only ones left), and Salted Garlic Squid.    

Saturday, I spent the morning with a doctor’s check-up since I’ve been sick for weeks.  The rest of the day was spent resting since Chris was supposed to be at their farm in Bulacan.  Little did I know, he was already preparing a surprise party for me. 

830 PM.  The idea was to drop by Gelo’s place in Astoria before heading to Vivere for our dinner date.  I wasn’t in the best mood since I was extremely hungry and he was really late. The door opened to a dark room.  I don’t remember if they said Surprise or Happy Birthday or F* You!  But I’m sure they did say something because all of a sudden it was really noisy.  I planted a kiss on everyone –and two on Shiela’s.  I was that dazed. 

Most of the guests were former officemates from Sabiclub.  Mark and Ezra from PIQC were there but stayed only shortly.  I missed a few groups close to me, JICA, PIQC (Sean, Grace, Brenda and Ann), St. Peter, PS… King wasn’t able to attend either.  Kenny too.  Even if it was a busy weekend for most of my friends, I’m so glad that Sabi group and CW’s siblings were there.  Too bad I don’t have photos of all of them.  I was too stunned to do anything.

We played games which Carlo took charge of.  He went grocery and brought stacks of chocolates and chips that I love as prizes.  He made the games “jane-centric” as he coined it.  There was a game, “who knows Jane best” with questions like how many pairs of shoes do I own?  How many are pink?  The player has to get three straight correct answers.  Then there was the Jane v. 100 game.  Lastly, there was charades, which he programmed in his mobile phone.  What a techy genius eh?  Chai, on the other hand, with the help of Lorenz, made this beautiful AVP for me.  Chris was all over the place taking care of everyone, the food, music, refreshments, liquor…

In the middle of it, the lights went out again and Chris appeared with a round cake with illuminated candles.  Everyone sang Happy Birthday and I blew the candles.   Chris got a 2-bedroom suite with all the works.  The bigger bedroom had a “Shoe Stop” sign (designed with the help of Mon) similar to the one I had before.  Details are really everything.

At the end of the night, Chris handed me a box, which was his last gift of the night.  In the box were letters from my family, which brought another stream of tears. I’ve had bigger parties several times before.  But this has to be the best one of all –simply because I celebrated it with Chris.  He makes everything to me more meaningful.  And even without this surprise party, I’m always overwhelmed by his love for me, my family and his family –by the greatness of his heart.   

He inspires me to be my best in all things and still loves me at my worst.  

Album (Sugi): http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/354/08_0201-_Sugi_Birthday_Dinner

Album (Choi Garden): http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/358/08_0203-_Choi_Garden_CW_Fam

Album (Surprise Party): http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/356/08_0202-_Surprise_Birthday_Party               

Album (bday ‘05 we were only friends): http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/28/Cushees_Birthday_Bash  

Related Entry: http://cushee.multiply.com/journal/item/44/Cushee_Partee     

 

Tags: Astoria, Astoria Plaza, AVP, Birthday Surprise, Friends, Hotel, Manila, ortigas, Video

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm and is filed under The Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.