A Boy Becomes a Man – G Loses His Thirginity

This weekend we celebrated G’s 30th…

Which was quite a special occasion because the kid man intensely dislikes making a big deal of his birthday.   (Well, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about celebrating this year either, but I started wearing him down in January so that he would give up the fight come March.)

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Pre-birthday – a foundation for the celebration:

In order not to overwhelm the fragile birthday boy, I started things off nice & casual the night before he turned 30, by making his favorite San Francisco meal-

meatball subs a la Marina Submarine, with a final course of G’s dearly beloved…

 CUNDAY!!!

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El Birthday Itself – 30 is for romancing

I turned the love-meter up a notch for the actual eve of G’s birthday, enchanting him with some appetizers and wine at Fifty Cafe (located near Dosan park)…

followed by a perfect (perfect perfect) dinner at The Kitchen.

We dined slowly and thoroughly on traditional Italian soup, tomato and eggplant bruschetta, sautéed clams with cherry tomatoes, THE BEST calabreze pizza I have ever had in my life, and linguine alla pescatore.

 I wouldn’t have changed a thing except for the fact that they wouldn’t allow flash photography (hence the fuzzy pics).

We had such a good time at The Kitchen that we stayed until it closed- and then it was off to the bars!  (Where I got as fuzzy as my pictures.)

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30 + a day – Let’s dance old man!

My plan had worked- two days of calm and delicious celebrations had lead G to start enjoying his birthday- and finally we were ready to really PARTY!

The night started with a little bit of this (thanks to Maama H)…

Followed by a lot of that…

Interspersed with a Zoolander this…

And ending with our amazing Seoulsome friends at the bars- thank you all for coming out!

I think the birthday Grinch is finally cured!

Giving Thanks to My ABA

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year- the perfect time to celebrate life’s many blessings, including specifically, my dad.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABA!

My dad is my greatest teacher.

From him I learned:

The difference between night and knight, write and right, and even right and wrong

The mystery of  ∞, the usefulness of π, and the dream of infinite pie

The beauty of a topographic map (you just never know when the next time you’ll be stranded in the wilderness with nothing but a map & a compass to lead you back to civilization)

The greatness of Bach

The strength of a run-on sentence, especially when supported by a semi;colon (or two)

The importance of traveling often, especially to old cities with walls around them (and churches, Oh Maria Maria)

The healing powers of a long hike

…

The list of lessons goes on forever, but I’ll skip straight to the most important thing that my dad has ever taught me –

HOW TO LOVE.

My dad truly loves,

truly prioritizes,

truly supports

my mom, my brother, and me, every single day.

He has shown us the best kind of love, the type that has no limits; the perfect love that wraps you tight, even when you are oceans away…

My dad is my greatest teacher.

LAVU.

(Oh and he also helped me pass high school chemistry.  Maybe high school in general.)

P.S. Here is a little song just for you