The month of March has brought many wonderful adventures this year! I have considered all these events as somewhat of a celebration of my birthday: our get together for the Emerald Rose show on St. Patrick’s Day, the party at Heather’s house for the New Moon DVD release, and my birthday dinner at the Kani House (followed by the unexpected trip to Six Flags and shopping at the outlet mall).
The celebrating this month was kicked off with my favorite Celtic Rock band Emerald Rose! For St. Patrick’s Day this year, they were playing at the Holly Theater in Dahlonega, GA. Typically these guys bring a lot of intensity to their shows, but this time they went all out! Over the top! This was the best performance that I have ever witnessed from them. The audience was a common mix of old and new fans and it looked like everyone really got into the swing of things! Their shows are best when the crowd has a hand-clapping, floor stomping good time! No other band that I listen to has ever moved me with their music quite like Emerald Rose does. For this year’s show Justin, Sareena and Dwayne accompanied me. We all had what I call a thigh-clapping good time (no sexual pun intended)! Indeed, it felt like I had a bruised right thigh muscle the following day…
The weekend following St. Patrick’s Day was the arrival of New Moon on DVD! After Twilight came out on DVD, and Heather and I waited at Wal-Mart until midnight to pick it up right away, we thought that having a themed party would be a fun idea for future releases. Heather and Brittany hosted the New Moon party at their new place Friday night/Saturday morning. This celebration was also meant to get us all together with Michelle, since she will be moving away soon and greatly missed. But, since my birthday was just around the corner and many of my gifts from Heather were New Moon themed, she decided to go ahead and let me have them that night. These New Moon gifts included: two New Moon movie posters, Twilight the Graphic Novel Volume 1, and a New Moon birthday card. After we played Wii Fit until 11:30pm, we headed to Wal-Mart for the midnight release of the DVD and then back to their place to watch it. It was a fun night out with the girls!
The excitement continued to build up to the night that we were planning to have a family dinner at the Kani House in Dawsonville to celebrate my birthday on Friday, March 26.
This was going to be the only official party with family that Justin and I were planning; a hibachi style dinner with Justin’s mom, dad and brother. When I got home from work on Friday, Justin had a surprise waiting for me. He had gone out on his day off to get me a birthday cake and some beautifully colored spring flowers! After I got settled, I started to ask him about our final plans for the evening. It turned out, Tori was able to get a baby sitter so that she could join us, and Alan was going to be in town as well! Around 3 o’clock, Justin got a call from, I assumed, his mom. I casually asked him what the call was about, like I usually do, and he just kind of blew it off saying that it was nothing. This seemed really odd to me, so I asked him, “Justin, why won’t you tell me what your mom called about?” Finally, he told me something, but it still sounded like he was just paraphrasing the conversation to end the subject.
When he and I pulled up to the restaurant at 6pm, the first car I saw belonged to Sareena… this was unexpected, since they weren’t invited to dinner with us as far as I knew. I initially thought that It could have been a coincidence meeting them there that night. I mean they do live in Dawsonville… and have other friends that they could have been meeting up with. So I got out of Justin’s car and started walking towards her car to say hey to them, and it was then that my mom got out of her car and appeared on the other side of Sareena’s car! I just froze with my mouth wide open and gasped! I was shocked to see that my mom had driven all the way from Brunswick to spend the weekend with me and NEVER told me that she was coming. So I ran into her to give her a BIG hug while holding in my tears of joy!
In total it was, Justin, Steve, Janice, Ryan, Alan, Tori, Sareena, Dwayne, my mom and me at dinner that night! Janice and Steve brought these horns/noise maker things that were a lot of fun; even the chef got one and joined in with us! They also made cupcakes (each equipped with its own individual candle) for after dinner and also a 2 & 5 candle for me to blow out in the center! Of course, my week lunges could not get them all blown out in one go… Here is to hoping that the wish I made still comes true. Celebrating with family and friends would be enough (I think we are a fun group period), but then, we also had in my opinion the best chef that worked there! He really interacted with us and made it even more exciting. He picked on Sareena the most, but she is a great sport and dished it right back at him! They even had a nice food fight going on for a while!
So, it turned out that the woman that Justin spoke to on the phone was actually my mom, instead of his mom. Hence, why he was not answering me truthfully and acting mysterious. At first, he was afraid that I heard my mom’s voice on the other end and was asking him what my mom was calling him about. There were a lot of friends and family involved to make mom’s arrival a big surprise. Thank you all for making it so special for me! I love surprises and that was a fantastic one!
With mom in town though, I was a bit worried about our Saturday schedule. Originally, Justin and I had tossed around the idea of going to Six Flags that Saturday, but I decided against it because financially I felt we had done enough this month for me. I thought we were staying home to play D&D with our friends, so I was kind of worried that mom would be bored… When I asked Justin about it, he just said that it was already cancelled. Instead, mom was taking Justin and me to Six Flags and she was paying for our entrance (2010 Season Pass for me)! OK! Sadly, no D&D on Saturday (which Amanda totally had me going that it was still on) and off to Six Flags we went!
The park opened at 10am and we were there, ready to ride! The weather in the morning was a bit chilly, but we all wore thin jackets so it was tolerable. By noon, the sun was out and the jackets were coming off! I was also starting to sport a nice new skin tone… something other than ghost white that I am so use to these days. It came with a price… pale skin burns quickly with little effort. But, mom and I were able to ride all the best roller coasters in good time. Justin is not a fan of roller coasters, but according to him I did manage to trick him into getting on the Mindbender ride. He also rode the American Scream Machine while mom and I were waiting on Superman: The Ultimate Flight. For mom and me, riding Goliath was a first! I have heard many great things about this new ride at Six Flags, and let me say that they are all wonderfully true! It is a super fast roller coaster, but covers a lot of land and even goes over another roller coaster! I now have two favorite roller coasters; Goliath and the Dueling Dragons (@ Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure).
As the three of us began to slow and the thrills of Six Flags could be endured no longer, we returned home. A little more color, a lot more tired, but a very happy group! On Sunday, Justin decided to take it easy, while the ladies went shopping at the outlet mall in Dawsonville. With my birthday cash, I picked up some gadgets for the kitchen that I have been wanting for a while. Then we went to Dress Barn where I purchased two new blouses and a brown pair of pants for work, and a new jean jacket. Still, entirely paid for with birthday funds!
As the month of March closes, so wanes with it my month long birthday celebrations. It is important for me to post this blog to above all else, show my appreciation for what has been given to me this year. For an outsider, that may stumble upon and read this blog, they may think wow… this kid is spoiled rotten. I would say that they are wrong. If I am spoiled at all, I am spoiled with the love of my family and friends. I love each and every one of you in return for all that you have done for me. Believe me; your gifts and company during this month long celebration could not be bestowed upon a person with more appreciation. Thank you all again!
I Love You and I had a great time also.