Like most people who crave attention, my birthday has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I say times (plural) because I grew up thinking my birthday lasted a minimum of three weeks. When I started dating Michael, he made it very clear he was not on board with my birthday festival and I started wearing him down on that from day one. (We met 5 days after my 24th birthday — I felt I was still celebrating on our first date.)

This year my birthday happened to coincide with the week a big client wanted me to come out to the bay area and workshop a report with her. My best friend Cara lives in San Francisco and generally, I will jump at any opportunity to visit the city by the bay and prefer to stay over at Cara’s apartment as opposed to sleeping alone in a hotel.

The way everything worked out, I was there for four days and on my actual 29th birthday, Cara and I were both able to take the day off of work. The night before, we had a sushi dinner and hit the Mission to get some drinks and dance. First, we hit up the Latin American Club which is known for, among other things, pouring obscenely strong margaritas. I mean obscenely strong, as in, we probably shouldn’t have had that second one.

We took this opportunity to send video messages to a few people who were coming up in conversation as the tequila was kicking in. This is Cara’s new thing; sort of like FaceTime voicemails. As the tequila took hold of us, it was clearly time to dance, so we bopped over to Beauty Bar (a watering hole that exists in Chicago as well). We had a great time, Cara got a few phone numbers and we danced the night away. Around 12:30, I went up to the DJ and informed him it was my birthday and he had yet to play any Beyoncé (which… rude). He brushed me off and after 30 more minutes of refusing to get in Formation, I turned to Cara and said, “I just realized we’re in a straight bar and I’m ready to go.”

Here are some highlights from the next day (my actual birthday) in SF with my bestie.

• The Finnish Pancakes Cara made me for breakfast
  
• Recreating photos from 2011 in Golden Gate Park (all photos by Cara)
• The California Academy of Sciences aquarium
  
• Shopping in the Mission where I got a new coat and bag worthy of an almost-30-something
  
• Dinner with Cara and my dear friends Lisa and Alejandro at Trestle (wearing my new coat)
  
• I also walked 9 miles through the city

I ultimately had my very successful client meeting the day after my birthday and flew home to Chicago when it was done.

Michael threw me a brunch birthday get-together on Saturday, themed Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rihanna — on Rihanna’s actual birthday celebrating her, me, and the third season of Broad City. Michael destroyed all prior brunch parties by making breakfast lasagna, the best potato salad I’ve ever had, shrimp cocktail, lemon bars, and a chocolate birthday cake among other things. We had a few friends over who brought me donuts and presents, gave me the sweetest cards, and kept the champagne flowing all afternoon. My friend Chad also made me this insane floral arrangement – outdoing himself once again.

This birthday was one for the books and I’m so thankful for Cara, Michael, and everyone else who made the celebration meet my birthday festival expectations.