27 Years Young

My birthday came and went in all it's glory just like every year, but this year was a little better than most. This is the 8th birthday I've spent with Al and this is the first year he's put any effort into making sure I have a great day. Not to knock on him on my blog, but he's never set much store by holidays or special events. Perhaps they're too stressful, too family-oriented, too much pressure put on them...regardless of the excuse, he's not really one to go all out for any holiday, including my birthday. I believe the first few we spent together he watched the Masters (golf) all day ("But it's a TOURNAMENT UNLIKE ANY OTHER!") and probably took me to dinner along with a present I had previously asked for. (this is the first year my birthday and the Masters have not fallen in the same weekend, rejoice!) You know, a run of the mill boyfriend/husband obligation. Don't get me wrong, I've not had bad birthdays because of him, but just nothing memorable or spectacular. This year, though, I think he's finally realized (or I've complained enough) that I'd like my birthday to be something special and so he put a lot of genuine thought into it.

If you know me even a little, you know that Louis Vuitton ranks on my list of "Amazing Things In Life" second only to makeup or tampons. And ranked well above things like bread and vitamins. I am a firm believer that counterfeit Louis Vuitton is some kind of blasphemous abomination. Because of my beliefs coupled with the insane prices of the pieces, I have miraculously worked my way up to only two, one a carry-on sized bag bought secondhand in Japan and the other a small pochette (that was a gift from my mother), large enough for a cell phone, a wallet and a lip gloss if I'm lucky. I had a third in the past that was actually stolen from me, but I don't even like talking about it. It's one of those horrific memories I try to block out.

Al, having known this love of mine since we first met, added another to my collection for my birthday. It's the  Josephine wallet and I adore it.

There is a story behind this present. While out to dinner with a bunch of friends (sadly it was our friends Vinny and Ashley's last night in town) Abhay said something to me about liking my "new purse". What!?! What new purse Abhay!? So then he and Al went quiet, all the while I'm pretty upset that he just ruined my birthday present. Sophie, his girlfriend, who knew about the present, got upset with him and he kept apologizing over and over. Well, I still didn't know what kind of purse or brand or any other details other than the one he just accidentally divulged. Okay. Fine. Well Sophie, who was sitting down beside me, was talking to the person beside her and I heard her quietly say "Louis Vuitton" so I whipped around and said "Sophie! WHAT!?" and she turned her head, her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she realized what she had just done.

Everyone apologized and apologized, I got a little teary because 1. I was getting a new something LV and 2. The greatest present in the world was just ruined. After many promises that they'd make it up to me, we went about our dinner and evening.

Al had dropped the present off at our friend Peter's for safekeeping until my birthday the following Saturday, but since I knew about it, the next day we went to Peter's and Al very unceremoniously gave it to me there in Peter's living room. It's amazing and beautiful and Louis Vuitton takes such care in even the littlest things like wrapping and display before you even get to the good part inside. The craftsmanship is, in my opinion, unparalleled, and it seems perfect down to the tiniest detail. Which is probably why they cost so much. And this wallet, along with my other two pieces, will last me forever because of the quality. So, thank you Alain for the best birthday present ever!

Our friend Brandon's birthday is April 5th so we decided to have a joint party that weekend. It was Friday night and we started out at ME World, a small amusement park next to Gwangalli beach. Since some people couldn't come that early because of work, there were only a handful of us to start. (Al took the day off because Nammun was closed for some kind of ceremony!) I had carefully selected my outfit and worked tirelessly on making sure I had amazing birthday hair. Well, the boys convinced me that if I rode the log ride and got in the back, I wouldn't get wet. Why did I believe them!?!?! Sure enough, going down that flume and splashing water all over the place, my hair got wet. My hair will dry beautifully curly if it's soaked from the shower or swimming, but I had fixed it into perfect waves with product and my straightener and the little bit of water that got on it was only going to completely destroy it, not turn it into the pretty curls in which it usually dries. I definitely did a bit of whiny girly complaining, but realizing that I had no access to a hair straightener, I just sucked it up and went about my birthday party night.

We took taxis down to the other side of the beach for some dinner, Shabu Shabu. There is a boiling pot of broth and vegetables in the middle of the table and they bring you plates of very, very thin, uncooked meat for you to toss into the broth where it cooks in, literally, 5-10 seconds. I believe shabu shabu is native to Japan, though I never had it there, so this was my first time. It was super spicy (like everything Korean) and I don't like spicy, so Al assured me that the Japanese version isn't spicy so we must be at a Korean style joint. Oh well. We next went to a bar on the beach, uncleverly named "Beached" and settled in there for a while. Two of our friends, who are both named Rob, always played live music around Busan, one on a box drum the other a guitar, so they set up out on the sand (it was pretty warm that night!) and played some music...while Brandon and I had a photo shoot.

We finally made it to karaoke where I was sad to learn that they hadn't really updated much since I left last time. No new Taylor, boo. We stayed there until about 5:30am and called it a night. 

The next day, Saturday, was actually my birthday and since the night before was pretty cray, we kinda had a relaxing day. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch (yessss) then went bowling. If you read my blog entry about bowling when I was home, you'll know that I tend to be alright at it. Not today! I was horrible, but I totally blame the bowling balls. The holes were really shallow and I could feel the ends or something, so weird, and definitely all their fault. That evening, I wanted some good dinner so we called up some friends and went to a restaurant called Ashley's, an American style buffet. As far as "American style" in Korea goes, this place is pretty legit. Pizza, ribs, chicken...they also have unlimited free wine, so that's a plus. A few people came over to our place after dinner to just chill and hang out, which was really nice, though they changed the rules to Ring of Fire (4-four 7-heaven 8-mate 10-category and A-ALWAYS waterfall am I right!?!) so with raging PMS I got a bit cranky over the rule changes and ended up ruining the night for myself. Oops. Didn't mean to. So once everyone left I got a good night sleep and still had one more day of the weekend to enjoy. 

All in all, one of my best birthdays thanks to Al, my fabulous friends and that little store called Louis Vuitton.