Yes yes I know, we suck at life.

So yesterday we didn't post. In our defense, we felt like crap. I think we should get an A for effort, and chalk it up to the sheer exhaustion of simply trying to post everyday for the past few days. Ugh, our lives are SO difficult. I mean, you really just wouldn't understand. *sigh*

So, I guess I could catch you up on my birthday, since it is still my birthday month and all. And while we don't celebrate the whole month (I'm working that angle though) we definitely celebrated for at least a week. So, really, going to Las Vegas was kind of a birthday present, but it was also for Dan since he'd never been and the trip in itself is a whole other post, but we did have a really good time and we saw Ka, one of the Cirque du Soleil shows that is out there (the one at MGM).

After we got back though, on my actual birthday, we went out to dinner with some of my friends from the summer I spent here. Chris was actually visiting for the week, so that was nice timing, Tiffany drove up just to have dinner with me (cutest.thing.ever.) and we managed to drag Suraj away from his books to go out for just a couple of hours. Dinner was lovely, you know how I love to eat. Tiff also told me she was bringing a present - and she got here and handed me a big box that looked like it was from Dunkin Donuts and says "I got you creme puffs." And in my mind, I'm going...thanks? what the crap? There were a DOZEN of the things and they were humongous. I was more than a little doubtful.

Until I ate one. People, these are some of the best things I have ever eaten. They're from a place called Beard Papa's and they are going to slowly dominate the world. Get excited for something else on the "To do while visiting KK" list, because this will happen.

The next night, which was Friday, Dan did the whole romantic boyfriend type thing. Awww. He went out and strung our whole apartment up with Christmas lights, aiming for that scene from the West Wing where Josh decorates his apartment with lights to make it look like Tahiti for Amy(is this ringing a bell for anyone?) Anyway, I love that scene and so he decorated and made a "tropical" themed dinner for me and then gave me Season 4 of the West Wing as a gift. Don't you love it when themes all come together like that? It was lovely - you should all congratulate him on doing so well :) The only downside was the next morning when I got out of bed ass early to feed the kitties, some of the lights had fallen down, and it looked like I was being trapped in a Christmas lights net of some kind, which was alarming because I didn't have my contacts in. (And this, my friends, is how you overshare in a blog).

The next day, Saturday, I had to chaperone an event in SF, which entailed me simply being in the city in case something went wrong, and so Dan and I wandered about, did some shopping and then ate at a yummy new Thai place that I'm pretty sure if we had tried to go to a couple of hours later, we wouldn't have been nearly cool enough to get into.

And now you're thinking, a couple of dinners out, a romantic night in, yay for your birthday, shut the hell up about it already. But, sadly for you, no. There was more. I'm sure that we have raved to most of you about restaurant week in DC - where restaurants sign up to participate and they serve a 3 course menu for $30, or a 3 course lunch for $20. Well, my friends, I found out (through the millions of blogs that I now regularly read) that the East Bay (which yes, is where Berkeley is) had a restuarant week of it's very own! And of course, it was the week directly after my birthday. So, we had a few more birthday dinners out. Three to be exact. (Truth be told, we had reservations at 4, but cancelled one due to the illness).

So, we got to try three new places - one at the local snooty hotel/resort which is actually pretty famous (The Claremont Hotel. Fun fact - the Cal football team stays here the night before games so they can "focus.") One that is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in the area and another that I simply kind of stumbled upon.

Honestly, our favorite was, of course, the one that I just happened upon - they were so nice and the restaurant was lively but not obnoxious and the food was pretty darn amazing. The snooty restuarant lived up to it's snooty reputation, but it wasn't offputting or anything. The hotel that it's located in has spectacular views of SF and the bay, so that was a nice bonus.

And of course, the other was basically a horrid experience. The server was rude because we ordered the restaurant week menu (which I can kind of understand because it's cheaper, less tip, etc.) and the plates that we were served were basically less than half of the portion if the dish had been ordered off the regular menu. We could tell because we could see full sized dishes being run around and served all around us. I was so annoyed. I mean, if you're the restaurant manager and you commit to doing this promotional week that is supposed to actually bring in business, you need to just do it and not half ass the whole thing. Instead of getting to sample their food at a discount and be eager to go back, I've basically told everyone I know to not go there instead. Ooooo so there! Power to the people! Damn the man! Or...something. I was just upset that we even spent some of our time and money there.

The best part about most of these nice dinners is that we take the bus to get there. Nothing classier than that my friends.

So that's basically the recap of my birthday. Thank you to those who sent cards and gifts (Missy even sent our kitties gifts and they LOVE them. Wow.) and called and facebooked and the like. I appreciate all the love. I am feeling old, yes, but I'm trying to focus on the fact that many of you will be even older much before me. :)

Fo real, sorry about not posting yesterday, I know you just live and breathe by what we post here! We will keep aiming to post every day for the rest of this month. And, we've made a plan for this weekend to kick start the "do something cool" over the weekend campaign, so hopefully we'll have something fun to write about instead of restaurants that you really could care less about.