Operation: Mystery Birthday

Happy Halloween, y'all! Today is my very favorite holiday. I don't know what it is, but I've always been so in love with Halloween. While I'm not doing anything formal to celebrate this year, I am wearing this super festive scarf that I picked up at Target last night...

...and we will also be having our live discussion tonight of the October ~spooky scary~ Read Your Face Off buddy read, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn! If you'd like to join in, it's at 8PM EST on my channel!

The main event last weekend was BRETT'S 30TH BIRTHDAY!!! The stars really aligned for us this year. Brett had his bye this weekend and he had his whole birthday OFF, which honestly NEVER happens. I knew with the combination of this being a big milestone birthday and it being his off weekend of the season, I really wanted to do it up right for him because he deserved it! I actually started planning his birthday about a month and a half ago, so this has been a loooong time coming! I let him know not to make *any* plans on his birthday, and commenced planning a day of surprises for him. :)

Somehow, even though it was Brett's birthday weekend, he threw in a surprise for me. A few weeks ago, this ad for Harry Potter ugly Christmas sweaters popped up on my feed. Because Brett and I love ourselves a good ugly sweater during the holidays, I had to text a screenshot to him.

I honestly thought Brett was joking when he said "Done" (hence the cry-laughing Emoji), because we don't often buy fun things for ourselves. #onabudget But it turns out HE WAS SERIOUS. There was a package with his name on our table when I got home on Friday night and I was pretty sure it was a birthday gift from someone. I honestly forgot about this whole text exchange at this point haha. But instead he opened up the package to show me what was inside and it was the FREAKING GRYFFINDOR SWEATER!!! I was so confused! Haha. But I was so excited at the same time. I can't wait to wear this sweater EVERYWHERE this holiday season! If you want your own sweater to rep your house, you can find them here.

This is my surprised/excited/exhausted from the week face XD

So cool!

Saturday - the day of Brett's actual birthday - was MY TURN to bring the surprises! The morning was fairly relaxed. We were in the path of a Nor'Easter on Saturday so we were enjoying the gloomy weather and relaxing at home. I made Brett some breakfast while we got ready for the day. We left the house around 11:30AM for stop number one for lunch at The Fix Burger Bar in Worcester! Brett was able to guess where we were going to eat when we got closer to town - we had been talking about going for YEARS and I thought a birthday was the perfect opportunity to go. What he couldn't guess, though, was that there were two surprise guests waiting for him...

Our friends Grazia & Dre! Grazia had been secretly helping me plan this day since September and while she and Dre couldn't make the rest of the festivities due to a family party that evening, we wanted to still be able to surprise Brett with a visit. It was so funny - they were sitting at the table with the menus hiding their faces XD It killed me. Brett was VERY surprised - surprise birthday part 1 was a success! :) We spent a solid two hours chatting, eating, and enjoying some of their famous boozy milkshakes - so yummy!

Grazia & Dre even managed to surprise me a bit by arranging for some cake to be brought out for Brett after a meal! I was wondering why Grazia was holding her phone like she was taking a picture and then all of the sudden a cake appeared! XD

*totally pretending like I was in on it the whole time* XD

It was so much fun seeing Grazia & Dre - Brett was even saying earlier that morning that he wanted to visit them soon (little did he know... :P). Seeing them really set everything off on the right foot and I was so happy to see Brett so happy. And we were just getting started! We said our goodbyes around 2:30 or so and then we were off to location #2.

For the second part of Operation: Mystery Birthday, I brought Brett to Patriot Place! Patriot Place has so much to do in terms of shopping and restaurants, so I thought this was the perfect location to spend the rest of the evening. We got a hotel room and went out and explored! I wanted to get Brett a birthday gift and he's been wanting new sneakers, so we decided to go to Olympia to check out the options. Little did we know that we would be surprised by Wally the Red Sox mascot and Pat the Patriot! I guess they were looking for something to do since both their teams were out of town this weekend. XD

Pat the Patriot is really good at group selfies - who knew! XD

Wally was just casually doing some shoe shopping and it killed me XD

The weather was getting kind of crazy outside after we finished up at Olympia and we were both feeling a bit sleepy from all of the excitement so far from the day, so we decided to kill the few hours before our dinner reservation by relaxing in the hotel room and warming up from the extreme wind and the rain! We had dinner reservations at Saga Hibachi Steakhouse around 7:15 and we wanted to be rested up for a night of excitement (even though Brett didn't know what kind of excitement was coming his way). 

After a few hours of relaxation, we headed to the restaurant, where *SURPRISE* a bunch of his friends and family were waiting for him to arrive with balloons, gifts, and good cheer!

The zero flew away in the Nor'Easter, so Sophia made a zero sign to attach to the three XD

One happy Brett! (Crown and sign courtesy of Sophia) 

One of many scorpion bowls that were consumed...

Brett was VERY surprised by this part of the evening which I was very happy about! I guess he figured the rest of the day was going to be just the two of us after meeting up with Grazia & Dre earlier. I'd also let him know that we'd be celebrating with his family at his parent's house the next day (which we still did!) so he was completely thrown off the trail. I love it. 

After dinner and much celebrating, we continued the party at Bar Louie. Our original plan was to bar hop at a few of the different bars at Patriot Place, but the weather was so crazy outside and we were having a good time at the bar we were at, so we decided to stay put and watch the Sox game! It was Game 4 and they came back to win the game - such a great way to top off the night. Brett's cousin Angela - his final surprise of the day - also joined us out for drinks which was such a fun treat! :)

Vampire's Essence - Bar Louie's signature Halloween drink that I *had* to try. It tasted like a Sour Patch Kid!

Brett's head gear got more and more ridiculous as the night went on XD

Feelin' good after many drinks and a Red Sox win!

Overall, Brett's birthday was a HUGE success! He was surprised by everything that we planned for him and I don't think a smile left his face the entire time. We had such a fun time with everyone and it was a day I think we'll remember for a long time. Mission accomplished!

Speaking of the Red Sox, they FREAKING WON THE WORLD SERIES ON SUNDAY!!!! We Bostonians are super spoiled when it comes to professional sports championships (11 titles since 2001... not bad) and I don't hate it. The parade is today in Boston and it's a bummer that I'm so close to the parade yet can't go as I do have to work, but I'm sure everyone is going to have a great time.

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The rest of this week and this weekend is going to be very low-key. This is the final week before I head down to VA for the Richmond Marathon (!!!) and I want to take it nice and easy. I'll be running 10 miles on Saturday before I go watch Brett's game, then a nice easy 3 on Sunday. I think I'll run a couple of 2 milers next week but ultimately focus on stretching, hydrating, and eating. I also need to take care of the pile of laundry that is currently taking over our apartment and grocery shop. It's going to be a nice boring weekend sandwiched between two really exciting ones! :)

Truer words have never been spoken.

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Scotty P's Big Mug Coffee - Scott Patterson a.k.a. LUKE DANES has a coffee brand. WHAAAT?!

Red Sox Troll Game Is STILL Strong from Fox Sports

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 2 Trailer from @MaiselTV on Twitter
Unicorn Planner - Online planner shop that I now want to buy everything from

Moving Forward

Sorry for the silence on this side of the blogosphere over the past week. I didn't want to clog up anyone's feeds with more emotional post about last week's events, and frankly, that was all I could think to write about. It was all that was on my mind. Judging by the lack of posts from the Boston area blogs that I read, it was probably on everyone else's minds, too.

Being so close to the explosions on Monday, and having many of my friends being just 3 miles from the craziness in Watertown on Thursday and Friday, the past week has been extremely emotionally taxing for me. Luckily, all of my loved ones are safe, both suspects are accounted for, and hopefully we can all move on and get some answers. I still can't believed this happened to my city, but Bostonians are strong people. We don't break easily. Big Papi said it best...


Moving forward from this tragedy, I have a few things coming up that I'm definitely looking forward to!
1. I'm meeting with my BSU advisor next Monday to pick out my classes for the summer and fall! As lame as this sounds, I'm excited to get back to school, especially that I'm pursuing my Master's degree. I enjoy taking classes and learning new things, so I'm excited to get back into it. (Now, let's see if I'm saying the same thing come October... o_o)
2. My race schedule is filling in quite nicely for the summer. I'm all signed up for a 15K Trail Race on Memorial Day weekend, will be running the Superhero Scramble in June, as well as lacing up with my parents for the Finish at the 50 and Foam Fest 5K in July! I'm looking to add a half marathon to my schedule for June as well. It's starting to feel like I'm an in-season athlete again! :P
3. Speaking of running, I had a student approach me last week looking for an advisor for a running club he wanted to start on campus. I'm so excited that someone wants to start a running club on campus, because I've talked about wanting to start one with a few people, but was unsure how to go about it as a staff member. I'll finally have some people to run with, and a whole new group of students to connect with! :)
In times like these it's best to look to the positivity of the future. It does not help to dwell on the past.  As one of my favorite sayings goes...  You can't continue the book if you keep rereading the same chapter.

Friday Five {#1}

Friday Five 
Five things that mattered to me this week!

1. Spring weather is finally showing its face in New England! Saturday after I got out of work, Brett and I decided to go out back to the practice football field and play some lax and football for a couple hours. So excited for the weather to start warming up and to start spending more time outside.

2. The Badminton Club that I advise kicked off their doubles tournament last night and there were about 20 students there! Never thought I'd be advising a Badminton Club in my life, but helping the president's ideas come to fruition is great to see, and reminds me why I want to be in student affairs in the first place. Although the club is just starting out, I think that it's coming along great. I'm excited for next semester - we're going to try and put a travel team together and play against other colleges!

3. I've been drowning in applications and interviews this week, from both ends of the spectrum. I interviewed for a Study Abroad GA down at University of South Carolina yesterday morning, ResLife has been talking about hiring new staff the past couple weeks, and I've been working on my reapplication for my current position. I feel that every spring, especially in the Higher Ed field, is a time of uncertainty. I'm waiting on replies from jobs and graduate programs, and I'm not really sure where I'm going to be come the fall, but hopefully that will all fall into place in a few weeks.

4. Baseball is back! The Red Sox kicked off their 2013 season with a smack down on the Yankees (yessss!) and even though I'm still wrapped up with my first love (hockey), I'm looking forward to a summer filled with late night baseball marathons.

5. Speaking of marathons, I'm running my second half this Sunday - the Great Bay Half Marathon up in my home state of New Hampshire. Can't wait to race, see my puppies, show my friends around my home turf, and be home for the first time since Christmas!

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!