Surprise!

Quite a weekend I had. Raced down to Houston Saturday to meet my family in time for a 12:00 lunch reservation. Turns out my mom was sure I'd be late, so she actually made the reservation for 12:30 without telling me. Thanks, mom.


Lunch was a lot of fun. We actually had a Japanese chef. How rare is that these days?


Afterward, we had some cake back at the house. The tiramisu cake came from Patisserie Jungle Cafe and was incredibly yummy. The red eggs are for good luck. Shelling the eggs symbolizes the discarding of bad stuff before embarking on a new year.

Sunday, I raced back to have dinner with Alison and Eric. I was late, but I called ahead to let them know. So I thought it was a joke when they told me they were waiting on my porch for me. Odder still was them rushing me into Alison's car so we could get to the restaurant as soon as I pulled into my driveway. I understand punctuality, but I just drove in from Houston. Can't I go inside the house to use the restroom? In the end, the joke was on me - when we got to the Red House Pizzeria, a bunch of my friends were on the back patio to wish me a happy birthday. A total surprise. Thanks everyone for coming out and thanks to Alison, Eric, and Denise for organizing the party. I have great friends.