Birthday weekend

Hello everyone!
This is a very special post for me, it's about the last weekend  in which we celebrated my father's birthday, my own birthday and spent time with some very special and beloved people.

I have to apologize to everyone who has sent me a message asking me about how it went and i i liked the presents etc because I did not reply to a single person. The reason was that I didn't have time to properly thank everyone and decided it would be easier to just post about it on my blog instead. So i you were one of  those wondering, here you go!

7th of June (friday)
I left work pretty late and arrived home at around 8 pm. When I got home my dear friend Anniesama had already arrived with her girlfriend. They came over and were going to crash at my place. I felt kind of bad to have to leave them but it was my dad's birthday so I gave them a set of keys and we went to my dad's place.
Dad said he wasn't going to celebrate his birthday so I kinda made myself invited to dine at his place anyway.

 Dad was never a very emotional guy so everytime I see how cute he acts around Mari I get super happy. He had gotten her a present even though it was his birthday and he had a photo of her in a frame. <3

I don't know why but everythime I go there we end up watching some soccer game. 

He had gotten himself a birtday cake! Kind of weird for someone who said didn't want to celebrate huh? ;)

8th of June (saturday)

I woke up with excitement and started getting breakfast ready for my guests. I always go a bit overboard with breakfast arrangemente even for my husband so i tried putting a bit of everything on the table.
I also had breakfast and eventually people started to arrive.

lucythewhite, anniesama, Lígia, black, chérie?, Ti and Mari

Ti is addicted to a traditional food we have in Oporto which is Francesinha. It's a sort of sandwhich places on a plate and served with a spicy sauce on top and french fries as well. He says that every time he sees it on the menu he will order it. I told him they always have them on the menu haha
So we went out for lunch

 We ate and then decided to take a stroll around town. We saw the latest book novelties in Livraria Lello, gabed a cup of coffee in Costa Café and walked around the art block in town.
It was an well spend afternoon but everyone was tired and we couldn't want to get some rest.

My husband made japanese curry, my older brother got japanese beer to match and everyone was happy.
After dinner we watched a bit of tv. After that we chatted a lot untill eventually going to bed.

We ended the night watching Shin Chan (haha), South Park the movie and Constantine as well as drinking sake and just having fun.

9th of June (sunday)

My birthday is on the 9th of June and so this was the only day for which we had plans.
We woke up and started getting ready. We ended up leaving the house at the time that we told people to gather so we were late (but in my defense, we weren't THAT late plus when you are with a big group its harder to be ponctual.

Part of the group: me, vania, annie and her girl!

We finally arrived at the meeting point and we weren't last phew but there were people waiting already so its always embarassing when that happens.

When almost everyone arrived we headed to the lunch spot. It was not easy to find a venue, most places were closed and the ones that weren't didn't have under 10 euro per person menus. So my mom saved the day by reminding me of this one. It's a tiny coffee shop in an old tiny mall that I know well because I used to live around there. The shopping mall is closed on sundays but they asked for permission to use it for my birthday so it felt sort of special.  

The owner holding Mari

The staircase. The table was set right where it's being taken. On the opposite wall there's a huge window clock which always made me drool as a kid.

The owners handmade this sign just for me. It says "Puzzle café thanks everyone for sharing this day with us. Welcome and Happy Birthday!" - aww isn't that sweet?

 

 What happened was just your typical birthday lunch, lots o talking, people getting to know one another, food, presents <3 and cake.
I actually forgot to get one so my husband went out to get it without me even noticing, he is fantastic.

 I got so many nice presents this year, you guys are the best!

 After lunch we paid for our lunches and headed back to the metro station. Some people were traveling by car so they had to get their cars of course. We decided to say goodbye to those who could not stay and the rest would re-group in my place and then go out and do something touristy afterwards.

When we got to my place somene requested to see my lolita closet to which i said yes (even though my room wasn't as tidy as I'd like). We chatted about lolita for a while and then suddently the room became full and i was presented with a box.

The lolita community had apparently gotten together in a group effort to give me a present. It was Anne's idea which is really special because we haven't even met in person yet!

The girls were going around my back exchanging links and gathering money in order to send me something. That's so nice yet kinda devious isn't it? haha

 Inside the box there was a card with all the girls names and cartoon versions made by the talented Annie. I love it so much! <3

I cried, there's photos of my crying and a video of me crying because my husband clearly does not respect my space haha but i do not feel confortable sharing that. But that's how special it was.

It was then time for our stroll! We went to the Ribeira area (river bank) where we walked and took photos and just enjoyed ourselves. I'll leave you with photos of my beloved city:

We also had some traditional (churros & farturas) and sat in a coffee shop and had snacks, juice and coffee.

This is what I had.

We then went back home and re-grouped once more to decide where we should have dinner. Again sundays are terrible days to eat out so we decided on a safe option, a place we know is usually open, our favorite pizzaria.

They found us a nice table outside but it took almost 1 hour to get all the food out so it was terrible. It's not normal for them to be this slow but the place was full.
Anyway my friend Susaninha ordered one of their heart shaped pizzas which i absolutely love so I took a snap of it.

 Me and my husband had this salmon pizza, it was sooo good. I love salmon. We also had white wine.

After a long day everyone was a bit happy to know it was time to go home and rest, i know I was. <3

10th of June (monday)
Monday was kind of sad because it was the day of my friend's return to their homes away from Porto but i tried to make the best of it.

So I woke up early and decided to hit the pool and spa with my friend Filipa. It felt super good! After that we went to meet everyone at a chinese restaurant.
After lunch everyone finally said goodbye and I was left with my older brother and my friend Vânia.
We went to check some stores and especially to check out some video games and it resulted in me spending a ton of cash on something rsuper silly. I got my blythe dools a drum set, a handmade and expensive drum set. But its sooo cute!

Isn't this ridiculously cute??

 So what did I get as a birthday present:

• Huge black bag - kirarah
• Hello Kitty har, warmers and waller - inlaws
• Hello Kitty note book + golden bracelet - Annie
• Jewelry holders - Inês
• Blue jewelry - Ma-fada
• Huge blue floral ring - Vânia
• multi ring set - Older brother
• Cups - Cristina
• illustration - Duarte
• Drum set - me!!!
• Porcelain set - Mom
• Vanity - husband
• Metamorphose dress - portuguese lolitas
• Pocky phone strap (I am using it right now Chérie!)

Mari also got presents! 

Pink shirts, blue shorts and duck - dad!

Butterfly dress - Vânia

Yellow dress - mom

Well that's what I did on the 7, 8, 9 and 10th of June. Then it was back to work.

I'd like to thank everyone who thought of me on my birthday. You all made me very happy. 

Jo