40 - Part II

Holy crap what a weekend!
It started with dinner at Piperade, a Basque/California restaurant. The food was delish. Starters of piquillo peppers stuffed with goat cheese, pine nuts & raisins, grapefruit/lobster salad, dungeness crab "txangurro", foie gras w/ apple compote. All so good! It was mostly seafood dishes, sea bass, shrimp, cod, snapper, etc and it looked like everyone enjoyed their dishes. Everything I tried was scrumptious! Thanks Misty, Ted, Derek, John, Joe, Suzanne & Glen for this fantastic meal.

Then we all moved on to the Top of the Mark, a swanky, dinner/dancing/cocktail venue that has been around since 1939. It's located on the 19th floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel and has glass walls, so you can see 360 degree views of San Francisco. Gorgeous. A piece of history that I found endearing was that during WWII, servicemen would gather there for one last toast to the Golden Gate Bridge, before shipping out. They saw the GG Bridge as a lucky charm that would bring them home. We occupied one whole corner of the place. People kept showing up! It was so great! :)

There was much dancing and talking and singing and drinking. I had such a blast. One special moment was when the band said "Happy birthday" to me and played "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. (a request from Jill, who had so many great requests!) All of a sudden my friends surrounded me in a circle and we all danced/swayed together to the song. I'm tearing up just thinking of it. So beautiful. Thank you everybody. I'll see that moment from this point on, every time I hear that song.

After the festivities, a few of us went back to my hotel room and had some champagne, listened to music and talked. I love the fact that there was an after-party. hahaha

The next day, my actual birthday, I met Misty, Ted, Ethan, Suzanne & Glen for brunch at the Nob Hill Cafe. It was again delicious and the day ended up being gorgeous and sunny. Perfect. I later met up with Susan, Emma and Ted for dinner at Gary Danko.

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I'm so thankful for Misty and her patience, because I changed my mind and hemmed and hawed for days about what it is I wanted to do to celebrate the big day. She was there for me every step of the way, offering guidance, practicality, humor, love. Thanks Misty. Ted, this thank you is to you as well, for putting up with my gazillion phone calls and IMs and for being the best music man during the post-party in my hotel room. I meant it every time I said "omg, I love this song."

And to Jill, for quietly and powerfully supporting me and offering guidance when I was ungrounded. To Ethan for your love and your brotherly support. And for getting me an owl magnet because I said I wanted something with an owl on it. :)

Glen and Suzanne. omg. Seriously. For the absolutely unbelievable courtside seats to the Warriors/Celtics game that turned out to be one of the best (and surprising) games ever. (Warriors: 99, Celtics: 89). And for gifting the hotel room so I could pretend I'm a princess and wake up in a king bed to the sounds of the SF trolleys passing by.

To my parents for sending me a word doc that said: "Happy Birthday Girly-Girl, Mom & Pop." And for supporting me in so many ways.

To Sam for the lovely balloons, which I thought added a touch of play to the Top of the Mark. :) To Eric (Eek) for the foot massage at the end of the evening and for your kind words. To Antony for guiding me around the dance floor like I was Ginger Rogers and making me feel like the belle of the ball. Wheeeee... To everyone else who braved the parking and the cold and the people at the front of the room, Derek, John, Kevin, Dan, Donna, and Stan.

To Susan who has a birthday on the same day, thank you for the amazing dinner at Gary Danko. It was one of, if not the best meal I've ever had. Four courses of YUM. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

And to all of you who couldn't make but sent such heart-warming wishes, THANK YOU. I had the best time and feel so, so loved. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Misty's photos here.
Ethan's photos here.
Day one of my photos here. ( Taken by many people. I was too busy to remember to pick up the camera. :D )
Day two taken by me here.