The Day I turned 26

Yesterday was the most amazing birthday I have experienced.

I know next year I'll be a wife, working somewhere full time, and most likely pregnant if everything goes according to "my plan"... so I really enjoyed every min of this year's birthday where I was actually off the entire day, and surrounded by so many loved ones that I just wanted to burst.

I am going to recap my entire beautiful day. It makes me so happy.

My fiance, Donald, goes to work every morning and leaves around 7:30 A.M. he gives me a kiss and I always half asleep kiss him back or try to, lol, yesterday I was awake and said bye to him and thought I would drift away into my sleep...well, a short 60 mins later my baby dog was barking like crazy.

He only barks if a mailman, person, or car approaches our house so I remember thinking, "umm, it's 8:38, WTF, Batman?" (Yes his name is Batman, lol)

I took a min to get up, the barking would NOT stop, I'm like ughhhh OKAY, fine, so I went to go let him and his brother Elby outside to go use the bathroom since obviously no one is at my house at 8:38 A.M.

LITTLE DID I KNOW...my baby was right!! LOL, he was trying to tell me "Mom! We have an intruder!"

So, a best friend of mine who moved to Tampa in December and broke my heart into pieces when she left, decided that she would leave Tampa at 4 A.M. and drive to my house to surprise me! BUT the other part of this adventure was that she wasn't just going to come over and surprise me...She had left me clues ALL DAY all OVER the city to find her! It was the most amazing and stressful adventure I ever had.

She had inside help from Donald and my other great friend, Adina, who was actually accompanying me all day to breakfast and my tattoo appointment. Marissa, the surprise, knew this so she was contacting Adina all day knowing our every move.

The funny part is, I'm pretty aware of alll my surroundings. I always notice people, faces, things, clothes because I always assume some bad shit is going to go down and I can be a witness and say, "Yes officer! He had a red shirt and he was 6'2 and I thought it was odd he went into that bathroom twice in one hour!" Or something....

So, Adina knows this, and lied to me saying that her and someone else were having problems and that was causing her to text a lot, so she doesn't mean to be rude, but she has to reply every so often. I believed her because 1) she never texts/behaves rudely 2) the person she was lying about was believable for other things I know about my friend

SO, here's how it started. Back to the morning. After I let my dogs outside, I wanted to shower and get pretty for my breakfast date and everything. Around 9:30 A.M. I decided to go let the dogs back in. As I did, from my garage I could see my car and I noticed there was stuff all on top of it. Like, what? I didn't have my contacts/glasses in yet so it was pretty blurry.

I decided to get the dogs inside and go put on some shoes to go see what was the chaos.

This is the first thing I saw walking out my front door:

Confetti and silly string all the way up to my car! Then, I saw this!

At first, I thought it was Donald being sweet. Then I read the huge card and was convinced it was a girl's handwriting.

I knew in my heart this was all Marissa. I really did. The handwriting, the zebra print, it screamed her. Plus, she had been behaving a bit odd the day before asking me very specific questions about my day. So I knew but I didn't have proof so I played along and wondered maybe it's Heather, maybe it's my sisters, I really wanted to keep it open just so if I learned it wasn't Marissa I didn't look so "disappointed" LOL

I took a selfie (well, 20) before Adina made her way over.

This was my, "Hi, 26!" Selfie. I love Florida. Shorts, tank top, and sandals in March.

Adina came by, I showed her my surprises and this little rascal behaved like she had no clue who this was, while I found out that evening she knew the whole time! She was a great pretender!!

We had breakfast/lunch at my favorite place to eat, my job, Mimi's Cafe in Jacksonville. As we were seated, I knew what booth we were headed to because...there was another surprise!

The balloons were from the scavenger hunt and the card was from the waitress, Shaniqua, a friend of mine.

We ordered our brunch and even had some yummy cranberry mimosa's. Mmm.

Then, after we paid and were heading out, another waitress friend drops some more surprises off. I thought the balloons were enough! But, there was another clue.

Now, I was getting more and more excited. We walk out to my car, and find another clue. Also I had friends texting and snapchatting me asking "who is the secret!!?" because I had posted on snap chat and Facebook about everything going on, simply to share my excitement.

After this one, I was headed off to St. Aug for my tattoo appointment. I have one tattoo artist and only one, he goes by his last name, Joya, and he's pretty damn great. This was my 5th tattoo total, and 4th one by him.

He recently joined this shop on 78 Lemon Street in St. Aug and it was so adorable outside and inside!

Anyone interested in tattoos should really go see. He is there Sundays through Wednesdays.

My newest ink:

It's amazing. The hand of hamsa + Elephant + Star Crescent (Which is for Pakistan, my country of birth)

60 mins after the needle, I was heading out to pay as Joya hands me a big envelope with another clue! He also asked me to open it because he was just as curious to see what the hell was inside. As I ruffled through a bunchhhhhhh of Victoria Secret gifts including a water bottle and tank tops to work out in, I pay and head to my car to find this:

The last paper has an address which led me to the merry go round in St. Aug!

As Adina and I search for benches with clues we notice Marissa on the merry go round holding my final gift! I was so happy to see her. I know I last saw her in December, but it felt as if a year went by.

A lot happened to her that I didn't even know; when she originally left my house at 8:45 A.M. or whatever, her car stopped working (like, it blew up and began smoking!!) and she had to call for help.

Even though she dropped her car to a shop, she kept this adventure going on simply to make me smile. I cannot say in words how much I love this girl. We knew each other for a year and half before we actually became friends. Once we got closer, it was like quick sand. We got so close so fast and then she had to move. I was legit heart broken. All my besties always move away!!!

This scavenger hunt took so much time, planning, running around, stalking, secret keeping, and love. I feel and felt so very special. I love you, Marissa, you are a great soul and I'm so happy you love me as much as I love you. Please move back to Jacksonville and unbreak my heart!!!!

I am a very simple girl- I just love being around my loved ones. I don't need gifts, but I always accept the ones I get hahahaha.

After all the adventure ended, I went home to find Donald and my other favorite thing....carrot cake from Publix!!!

He told me we had plans for dinner at 7 P.M. so I was getting ready for dinner. What he didn't tell me is that he talked to my other friends and had them show up to dinner, too. I thought I already had a great day but he made it so much greater and I was just unable to stop smiling.

When I got to dinner I saw some favorite faces. Sam and Jamal. Two friends I see the most often and never get sick of or bored with. Then, as I seated myself two more faces showed up, Reena and Eric, people who probably work the most emotionally stressful jobs (saving babies and stuff) from the group yet made time to come by on a Tuesday just for me.

Finally, when I thought it was over, Marissa shows up again with her husband, Ben, and it was just complete. (Joya, Amanda, Adina, and Preshess were missing because they each had to work/school, but Donald later told me they were all invited, too!) I was the happiest girl yesterday.

This is Marissa <3

I also want to finish this post by bragging about how amazing and thoughtful all my friends are. Reena and Eric got me a very amazing birthday gift. Wireless headphones, which we just talked about two weeks ago. I cannot wait to go workout and use them. So many times I thought I would die because my headphones wires would get caught on the elliptical or a dumb bell, but no more worries, I'm wireless now, bitches.

Sam always amazes me with how spot on she is with her gift giving. I saw Piercing Pagoda boxes and that alone excited me because I'm weird as shit and love boxes. I open to find HAND OF HAMSA EARRINGS AND NECKLACE. LIKE WHAT. She knew my tattoo and now my whole body could wear the hand symbol. UGH! She's perfect.

Adina, MADE me a home made coconut (my favorite scent..) scrub/body wash/shaving cream. How creative and sweet. I plan to use it very soon. Not to mention she put it in the absolutely cutest jar that I am keeping forever and she made me a card which melts my heart. I keep all my cards.

Shaniqua is a realist- she hooked me up with a Dunkin gift card because she understands my addictions. Coffee & Hookah. I used her gift card this morning, lol. So amazing.

And finally, Donald, my baby! He paid for my tattoo. This was my most expensive of the five and the biggest piece. I love it, I love him for making my day so perfect, and I love all my friends who had a part in my smile. I'm sure I am forgetting to add 23423 things but this is already getting story book long. I'm done. I'm happy. I will never forget yesterday.