Celebrating 27

My 27th Birthday was the first birthday Jesse and I spent alone. I actually think it was the least attended birthday party of my whole life and it was perfect. When I was in school, my birthday was during Christmas break, so I always had friends and family with me. The same was true for college. By the time my first birthday in Fargo came, I had already met Jesse. His friends were my friends and everyone likes a good birthday party. We hadn't made friends by the time my first Vegas birthday came, but I had friends come from Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Texas to help me celebrate. After that, I had two years with good friends. But this year it was just us. On top of that, I didn't have a plan. I didn't know what I wanted to do. Jesse was zero help with his "whatever you want" mantra.

I got up early, and made a grand plan that would have taken us to the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marina. The plan was on hold though, until after a trip to the farmers' market at the Embarcadero. It was the most organized farmers' market I had ever visited, a few of the vendors even took debit / credit cards. There were meats, cheeses, fish, jellies, honey, and of course fresh fruit, vegetables, and spices. There were even tent restaurants, where people had lined up for coffee and pancakes to enjoy while they walked and shopped.

I bought Ollalieberry jam. I had never heard of it, and the woman selling it did not at all explain ollalieberries, but I tasted it, and I liked it. So I bought it. On the way home, Jesse (and his parents) took me shopping. I got work out clothes, some shirts, and a dress. It's my first dress since the Emmy's and it was a lot easier to find. I saw it on the rack and knew I would like it on me. That is a rarity.

Shopping showed us it was too cold to be on a bridge over water, and Plan A was scraped. Plan B though turned out to be delicious. I made pancakes and we lounged. I read and Jesse started making dinner plans. He took me to Franchino's. It's an intimate Italian restaurant in the neighborhood next door. It's run by a family, with the father greeting guests, the mother making pasta and serving food, and the daughters waitressing. The food was amazing, but Jesse didn't let me take any pictures of it. I also got 0 pipctures of the restaurant, or of me and my beau inside the restaurant. If you come to town though, we'll take you there. If you like Italian food, you'll love Franchino's.




We walked down to Union Square for dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. The Cheesecake Factory, like a lot of other stupid things in this city, is located in Macy's. The Union Square Macy's has been a disappointment to me on several occasions. I will not mar my birthday reveling by detailing it, but good things do not come out of that monstronsity. The Cheesecake Factory was packed, and even though we were only there for dessert, we couldn't even find a seat at the bar. So we got our cheesecake to go and took the trolley home. It was a delicious end to a a fun day. And I thank my darling Jesse for making it happen.