Burgers and Birthdays…

Y’all listen..since the last time I posted, I feel like so much has happened!  Sometimes I get caught up in the day to day, the routine.  There are times that I honestly wonder, where did this week go? I sometimes admittedly spread myself too thin with the things that I would like to take part in, the places I want to go, and the people that I desire to spend time with. I often blame my night time schedule for missing some events, or not remembering what day it is.  As I am writing this, I’m thinking to myself, its Thursday-right? Well the month of January was actually jam packed with fun things that I was able to make it to, and the first day of February is my Birthday, so it all worked out that I ended the first month of 2018 with a bang!

In the last few days of January, I was slated to head to a Yelp event at a burger place that I had (shockingly) never been to.  It was a night off, and I made the cut when the list went out.  The word on the street is that there were TONS of people that wanted to go to this event and it was a fairly small one with one about 30 of us going, so I was super excited to be on the list.  I arrived at Burgerfi at the St Johns Town Center, and I had no idea what was in store!  Soon enough I was settled in at a long table full of other Yelpers, and oddly enough they were all people I had never met before.  So we all got to know each other and then-burgers and fries descended upon us in waves of deliciousness.  We had a classic burger, and a vegan burger, and a breakfast burger and all types of fries and also onion rings and the cheesiest most chili-fied hot dawg that has ever hit my lips.  There was also some beer and wine tasting to make things even more fun.  Then, as if we were not all stuffed to the gills as it was, y’all… they brought out creamy and dreamy custard for us to sample as well!

 

The whole time we are all devouring sample after sample; commenting to each other how we will definitely be coming back here, and how we were all so impressed with the way that the furniture is up-cycled materials.  Did ya’ll know that it takes 111 coke bottles to make a chair? Well it does.  This restaurant also recycles all its paper and plastic products, they use all antibiotic free and grass fed cattle, and the name itself means Burgerfication of the Nation-pretty dope right?  So we learned all this interesting info from the amazing Chief Operating Officer, who told us to simply call him Timbo; who later told us that we were going to have a test.  Well when the time came for the test, we were split up into groups of four and asked to pick a team name.  Since there was a hilarious moment earlier where I turned to the guy next to me, and we shared the opinion of the hot dog of – “THIS IS THE BUSINESS”, that’s the name we went with and set about taking our two page test on the history and information of Burgerfi.  In the end it came down to a three way tie, and they asked for a representative from each team..and they had to take part in..wait for it…a custard eating contest!! After all the food we ate, they had to scoop and slurp their way through a cup of ice cold custard.  It seemed to be a really close race, and all of us at the tables were cheering and screaming and I personally was jumping up and down!  Next thing you knew, the friend next to me slammed his cup down on the counter behind him and WON!!! Our team came in first place in this epic show down, and we won free Burgerfi for a year!!!

 

As if there was any coming down from the high of that super fun event, my Birthday was just a few days later, and I had to gear up for that! While I am so aware that many people wish not to celebrate the day of their birth, some are unwilling to accept getting older, or maybe they just don’t like all the fuss.  I am not one of these people.  I think that there is only one day a year that you can always do what ever you want to, with whomever you want, and no one can really say anything because that day is all about you! Unless there’s face tattoos..that simply can not be undone.

My special day came in with a count down with my Favorite Handy Fellow, and the first gift that I chose to open was one that came from my brother in Pennsylvania.  The moment I opened the box, I was unable to speak and was reduced to tears.  Neatly folded in that postal box was a jacket that belonged to my Daddy.  I can remember him wearing it, and when I put it on it felt like a hug.  The jacket is far too big on me, and the weather here in Florida doesn’t often provide the temperatures to wear a jacket with like a …sheepskin lining..but I will ROCK it!  My sister, along with some more boxing gear, sent me a Jerry Lee Lewis shirt.  It holds special meaning for us because she and I saw the music Legend, who is one of my favorites- ON my Birthday a few years ago.  I may or may not have been holding a huge pink sign and screaming on that particular day.

 

 

This birthday was off to a tremendous start.  The beginning of the day was spent visiting with some friends that I knew I wouldn’t see later and time with Handy Fellow.  My gift from him was a really nice, super cool balisong (also called butterfly)  knife that as you can see got a huge cheesy smile from me, and I was amped to start practicing with it right away. I didn’t have too much time for knife play as I was on my way back to my place to get girlied up. Next was dinner and drinks with my gal pals!!! My road trip bestie was picking me up, and we were meeting at River and Post with a group of Ladies that has come to be my posse.

 

We met in our private reserved room, and the drinks started flowing.  We laughed and talked and ordered some appetizers.  Somehow, that was as far as we got with food, but we did have some scrumptious items.  I was gifted some amazing things from the Ladies! There was a birdhouse that looks like a taco food truck, some wonderful bath products, some headbands to keep me looking fab while I work on my fitness, and some delightful smelling candles.  Also among the fabulous gifts I was given, I had asked my friends to share with me a memory about their favorite Birthday, and it was really fun to get to read those special moments.  After I blew out the candle on my delicious cake, and we giggled our way all around the restaurant, we landed on the fabulous roof top for more drinks and more shenanigans!  The night (morning) ended with us all parting ways warmly and even a few surprise visits from a few other people I know!

 

I really do have the best family and friends that a gal could ask for.  When people take the time to make you feel loved and special.  When they know you well enough to chose items that will mean something to you, and they make time in the day/night/early morning to spend it with you; that is what life is really about.  Not often enough do we all take the time to celebrate, to stop the grind of life and actually see how fortunate we are, to truly connect.  This is something that I have endeavored to do more of, and hopefully I can take all the fantastic people in my life with me on the journey.  A coworker, that happens to also have been born in February of 1982 (y’all can do the math-I’m not scared) gave me a really cool bracelet that I feel sums me up perfectly, and I haven’t taken it off since I opened it…Not all who Wander are Lost.  Thank you all for following along with me.  The roads may sometimes be hidden, sometimes they seem impossible, and I might only have a glimpse into where I want to go.  One thing I know for certain, is that the adventure is always the fun part, and the struggles make me who I am.