26th Birthday Celebrations

This month has been going by so fast! With my birthday, valentines day, school (emphasis on that because its amazing that all classes have papers due the same week), and Charlie going to NY to work for about 10 days, I feel like I blinked and next week it will be March.

This year my birthday fell on a Wednesday which happens to be my longest day at school.  I am out of the house by 7am and usually not home till about 3:30pm so I was in a bit of denial about my birthday because of that.  Charlie's job for the painting company sort of came to a halt about a week prior to my big day, no more jobs, i.e. no more work, so lucky for me he was home when I got back from school.  I was a little emotional when I got home, tired, irritated and overwhelemed with school, and reallly not giving two hoots in was my birthday but sweet Charlie can change my mood at the drop of a hat.  I plopped down on the couch and he says something like "did you see what was in the alley" and i looked at him a little perplexed and got up to go look through our bedroom window to find this..

It's not the best quality but anyone in the Psillos family knows exactly what this is :)  I had 26$ up there and other goodies.  Sure sign that I was overwhelemd and emotional that day because I instantly started crying because of how sweet I thought it was.  After some hugs I was able to get it together (ha) and opened my presents.  Charlie had a mimosa in hand for me and got me exactly what I wanted for my birthday (I did tell him exactly what I wanted so it made his life a little easier:), a new tea kettle (very excited about this), a trunk organizer (another thing i have been wanting for a while) and a few storage baskets.  Later that evening we went to have dinner at the macaroni grill.  We have been here a few times and the food is usually pretty good and has a sort of romantic atmosphere. We must have come on a bad night because we waited an hour and a half for our food!  At first I didn't mind because we had wine and it was nice to just sit and talk (for me at least haha) but after an hour we were filling up on bread and getting anxious.  Once we received the food it was sort of disappointing and cold.  The waitress was good to us though, she comped all our wine and gave us a free desert so we only spent about 25$! 

Birthday Flowers

I decided to be stubborn and selfish this year and extend my birthday to the weekend.  On that Saturday  our newest couple friend (she is pretty much the closest friend i have made at school and her husband and Charlie seem to hit it off too so it is nice that we have at least a few friends in this area! :) came over to our house and we were heading down the street to the Amtrak to take a train to San Juan Capistrano.  I am upset at myself for not taking pictures on the train (numerous snapchats but didnt think to take an actual picture) because it is so gorgeous along the coast.  It was a little chilly but the sun was out and shinning and I couldn't have asked for better weather.  Our destination was the San Juan Capistrano Mission.  This is one of the few historical sites we have in California and it is the Missions, they are all over the state and they were built to try and assimilate Native Americans to White culture, well that didn't go so well but lucky for us they are great tourist spots...Kristen is from Fresno but hadn't had the opportunity to visit any missions and her husband Brian is from Nebraska so he also had never been.  Charlie was in the same boat as them so I was really excited to take them to this specific one.  It is a lot larger and more scenic then many other ones.  On top of the mission, the town is really cute and artsy.  There are shops and restaurants, great atmosphere to just walk around in.

People joke with Charlie that he has a Jesus-esq look about him.  Here he is indulging in that idea..(please forgive us)

Really neat architecture to the Mission but a lot of it has been restored over the years.

Not sure what was going on here but I like his expression..

Later we all came back to our house to play some jenga and trivial pursuit.  Johnson was also having a good weekend because my mom let me borrow her pug for a sleepover.  Kristen and Brian (esp Brian) bonded with Hercules very quickly..

Then the next morning I caught some cuddling..

On Sunday I headed down to my Dads to pick up my brother.  I am taking a theatre arts class and one of the requirements is to go to a play and write a review.  We had just read this excellent play called Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris and they happened to be performing it at the Lyceum in Downtown SD.  Plays are not Charlie's thing so rather then pay for him to be miserable I thought I would have my brother go with me which turned out to be a lot of fun.  The play was excellent and comical, I think that my brother even may have liked it.  It was nice to do something cultured (ha) and to spend time with my brother while doing that.  He is getting so old and will be a senior next year, its really freaking me out..

Anywho after the play we headed to dinner with my family.  We went to an Italian restaurant called Pietro's.  We have been going there ever since I was a tyke and the food is incredible.  Awesome pizza, salad, and bruschetta.  I was showered with some more gifts and cards (not sure what I did in my past life to have such a wonderful family) and blessed to have a great meal with my family.