Patrick went big for my birthday this year. Badda Big.
I was on the verge of dying from anticipation by the time the day finally arrived. I love surprises, but I also kinda like to know everything about them as soon as I find out there's one in store!! All I knew about this mystery event he'd been hanging over my head was I should wear a dress.
After letting me sleep in, taking me out to a great little breakfast at an adorably quaint cafe in downtown Plano, and then driving all the way to the McKinney Best Buy to buy me the new camera I'd been wanting, I was sent upstairs to get ready for our hot date.
It was pretty cute how he actually had the directions to our destination memorized so he wouldn't give any hints away with the phone navigation. It wasn't until we parked that I was sure where we were headed, the fancy shmancy Five Sixty restaurant in Reunion Tower! 
When I say fancy, I mean we had an elevator escort who formally introduced himself, a waiter who over graciously kissed our asses by saying "thank you" every time he picked up a dirty dish from our table, and was served pureed butternut squash soup in an espresso cup as a complimentary appetizer.
We couldn't have lucked out on a better day for visibility. Not only was the view of downtown Dallas gorgeous, but as we slowly revolved on the human size Lazy-Suzan turntable, we could see all the way over the plains of Texas to Fort Worth and could even point out the Cowboy's Stadium in Arlington. 
With all the nausea I've been experiencing lately, I told him it was a pretty risky move taking me to eat in a tower that was constantly moving, but luckily I was having a mild symptom day and as long as I didn't focus too hard on what was happening, I was fine. 
Our reservations were early enough that we basically got to feel like we had the entire romantic setting to ourselves for a while before the Saturday crowd started to fill the seating arrangements. 
After our appetizers of crispy green beans with candied walnuts, fried shrimp lettuce wraps, and calamari, we moved on to the main course of lacquered Chinese duckling and lo-mein noodles.
Even though I'd already decided to let Patrick eat most of the duck, since all the appetizers we my favorite, I really found the motivation to push the rest of my plate to the side when I figured out what the second half of my surprise was (I'm pretty smart like that). 
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Pinkberry??? Ah, I know I have, but seriously, I LOVE Pinkberry.
The next day I awoke to a house full of family that came up to surprise me with a birthday lunch and presents (and a special card from my Dad, since he was at the deer lease, instead)!!! Overjoyed, I got dressed as quickly as possible so we could head over to La Hacienda where some other important people in my life would soon show up to surprise me as well! Both my brother and Jessica worked all night and forfeited sleep to make it to my gathering. Oh how I love them all. (The nieces thought it was hilarious that we ate in "Papa's Room", since that's what they call Patrick.)
And since lunch just wasn't long enough of a time to spend together, all the girls went shopping at Charming Charlie's while the men killed time outside, probably complaining about how much time us women can actually spend in a single store without getting bored.
I really think this was my favorite birthday to date; a great way to kick start the last year of my 20's!
What's your favorite birthday to date?
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