Birthday Bonanza

Posted April 9th, 2010 by KellBell

Wow…I need to turn 36 more often. I’m not kidding folks. This birthday was absolutely amazing. Dave totally out did himself and it’s not like 36 is one of those “special” birthdays! Believe me, I am a big fan of multi-day birthday celebrations, but this was off the hook! So without further adieu, here’s a recap of my most amazing 36th birthday weekend:

Thursday, March 25th – Sharks vs Stars
We started the birthday celebrations a day early by heading down to the Shark Tank to watch San Jose take on the Dallas Stars. With the 1-5 road record, and the 6 game skid before they finally beat the Wild in Minnesota on Tuesday, I was a bit weary about their chances against the Stars. Luckily, it seems as if they’ve been able to the right the ship since they posted a 3-0 win! Nabby got the 50th shut out of his career, we saw a good game with awesome spectators as our neighbors, and the Sharks put together a 2 game winning streak. LET’S GO SHARKS!

Friday, March 26th – The Actual Birthday Day
So Friday @ 8:55 am meant that I was officially 36 (errr…-6). As far as my actual birthday activities went I only knew two things:
1 – Dave had “stuff” planned for me at 8:30 pm
2 – I was going to pamper myself with a pedicure

Item 2 is pretty much a no brainer in terms of what happened. It’s not the fanciest of places nor the fanciest of pedicures, but I love going there to give myself a little love. Really…the price is just right for a bi-weekly self indulgence. Item 1, however, is another story.

What the “stuff” turned out to be was a 4 course off menu meal at Bistro29. Dave made all the arrangements and gave Brian a list of things I like (mushrooms, seafood, steak, etc.), notes on things I don’t like (lamb, pork, etc.), and, most importantly, instructions to have fun with it. All I can say is WOW! It was one of the most amazing meals I had. I could try to express it in words, but I think in this instance a picture is truly worth a thousand words. Just know that I was blown away by all that they did for me and all that Dave did to set it up!

Saturday, March 27th – Bday Brunch
Saturday rolled around and there really wasn’t supposed to be any birthday activities…at all. Really. Nothing planned, in my mind, other than the dinner with Dave and my birthday ride. Boy was I wrong. My alarm went off early because I was supposed to go for a run up in Annadel. Well…needless to say…after that yummy meal, the glasses of wine and the lillet chasers that didn’t happen. So Dave and I lounged in bed a bit before heading over to Hanks to have brunch with our friends. We hadn’t seen our friends in quite a while and I knew we were free Saturday which is the only reason why I tried to arrange something with them. Well, true to their nature and Dave’s I got treated to a really yummy brunch complete with a California Benedict (my favorite dish from there) and a good cup of diner joe. Yum! And they brought me bday gifts which was totally unexpected but greatly appreciated.

After brunch a case of the lazies set in, but I managed to force myself out for a run before we headed over to Riviera. Dave and I saw it this way: neither of us wanted to cook, we would have to grocery shopping to get whatever it was we finally decided we would cook up for dinner, so it would really be easier if we just went to Riviera. I know…like we really needed an excuse to go hang at our favorite restaurant with our friends. But I must say, it was amazing as always and I went to bed with a full and happy belly.

Sunday, March 28th – King Ridge Bday Ride and Surprise BBQ Dinner
Now on to the really fun part of the birthday weekend…my suffer fest up and along King Ridge. It is partially true that each individual climb on King Ridge isn’t completely awful. The thing is…you combine all 7-9 of them together and that is what can break you. Really…there are a lot of climbs that when combined into one ride will work you to the core, and if you don’t know what to expect it will take you by surprise and break you.

So a group of us met in Monte Rio early to complete the 55 mile ride. Some folks rode in from Santa Rosa, and some from Occidental, but the majority of us started in Monte Rio. Despite the forecast of rain and the chilly temps in the beginning it was another beautiful day up on the ridge and along the coast! Really, the ride was awesome and I am so grateful for all the folks who came out…especially Vin who came in from Sacto!

Now…Dave had told me that he had a surprise for me on Sunday and I thought Vin coming in (which I didn’t know about) was it. How wrong I was. After being distracted by Shannon and Lauren (which I learned later was all part of the plan), I arrived home to a surprise BBQ! There I was…totally stinky and nasty from the ride then run and there before me were two rooms full of awesome friends. People have asked me if I was surprised and my only comment to that is…do you think I would have come home that nasty if I had known?!? So after a quick shower I headed back downstairs to join in on the massive feast and just overall great time that was unfolding.

A very special thanks to Rita, Luca, and Brian for helping prepare such an amazing feast; to Shannon who made the best red velvet cake (from scratch & for the first time ever) that I have ever had; to all my friends who came and made the end of my bday weekend so awesome; and to Dave who made me feel like the most loved and luckiest person in the whole wide world! He makes me feel that way all the time, but this whole bday bonanza was something else!