How I Spent My Isolation Birthday

Happy Friday! I'm in disbelief that it's already the end of May and that June is next week! Surprisingly, the weeks seem to be going by quickly which I guess is good considering we've been stuck inside all spring! Philly is supposedly going to start reopening on June 5th. I definitely have mixed feelings about it, I think I'll still be laying low for a bit out of caution but it will be nice for there to be a little more normalcy in day to day life. Last week was my 27th birthday and although I was bummed I didn't get to have my yearly celebration with friends at my favorite beer garden, Frankford Hall, it ended up being such a wonderful day nonetheless! 

 

I started off the day with a run by the Schuylkill River which, as many of you know from Instagram, is my favorite way to start the day. And on my way home I picked up a Vietnamese Iced Coffee from one of my favorite neighborhood coffee shops, Brown Street Coffee. Derek and I both had work all day so I wasn't expecting any birthday festivities during the afternoon but my friends quickly changed that.

First, my friend Sarah stopped by with her adorable dog, Arya and it was such a sweet surprise! I've barely seen anybody except for Derek for months so I was ecstatic seeing a friend IN REAL LIFE. It did pain me a bit that we couldn't hug (gosh, I can't wait to be able to hug people!) but regardless it was so wonderful getting to see her! She also got me the plant, pictured above, which I'm going to try really really hard to keep alive. Yes, I've killed cacti but my bird of paradise is thriving so that's something! Later that afternoon a surprise came in the mail from my friends, Grace and Tyler. They sent a Brewerytown print for my place! Derek and I moved to this neighborhood about a year ago so it's the perfect addition for our home. 

After Derek got home from work I opened a bottle of red wine and we ordered food from one of my favorite restaurants, Parc, and enjoyed dinner on the deck.  I got the bolognese while Derek went with a (very very well-done) steak. We lucked out with weather, it was supposed to rain all day but the sun ended up sticking around! Derek knows how much I've been missing shopping at my favorite Philly boutiques. He ended up surprising me with a candle from Moon & Arrow and butterfly earrings from The Geisha House. So sweet! Later that night we dove into the birthday cake that Derek ordered from Milk Bar (another favorite of mine!) and watched the new Taylor Swift concert special, City of Lover. If you've been following this blog for awhile you probably already know I'm a "Swiftie" lol. The live Cornelia Street performance was SO good but I was equally excited about the fact that she performed my favorite song on the album, Daylight.

Overall, it was such a fun day! I was really nervous about feeling alone on my birthday but I ended up feeling quite the opposite thanks to my friends, family and Derek. Plus, my friend Chanel ordered me a copy of The Upside of Being Down by Jen Gotch (another lovely surprise!), which I got to sit on the couch and read the next morning while enjoying birthday cake for breakfast! All in all, I would say it was a pretty great birthday. Here's to 27!