Darrell's 25th Birthday!

Hello All,

Last Feb 17th we had the chance to celebrate Darrell's birthday. Of course, I would ask him many times before the date asking him "so...what do you want to do?" and him always answering back with "whatever you want." Haha...it made it interesting to plan :P I wanted to plan a surprise party, but I couldn't find the right supplies. Thankfully though, someone else had the same idea. We came to work on Tuesday (17th) and Linda told Darrell he had to leave...haha...he looked her very confused, but he did what she said. She closed the door and told me she picked up all kinds of supplies to make a fantasic surprise party. She is sooo wonderful & sweet!! We started decorating Darrell's class with banners and balloons. As we were decorating our boss Iris came in and started to help...then she turned to me and asked "What is Darrell's favorite cake?". As soon as I said "chocolate" she ran off like a shot, grabbing her purse on the way out :P We had just finished decorating when Iris returned with a lovely chocolate cake. They called Darrell back into the building and he was quite surprised...haha...despite him kinda suspecting what we were doing. We all sang Happy Birthday thinking we were then going to eat cake, but the surprise was not over. Linda and Iris had bought Darrell gifts...wonderful gifts. Linda got him a beautiful keychain with Korean carvings and Iris got his fantastic greenish clay mugs. She then turns to him and says "now everytime you drink coffee or tea you can think of me." It was sooo sweet!

It was quite a different birthday, since we were usually always tight with money. This year has been amazing, but we have not had to worry about that which was a wonderful first :) He got from me more silly things - snacks, orange earmuffs (which in the end did not fit...Koreans' heads are a bit smaller) & a solar powered bobble head sitting on the toilet...teehee...you heard me right. Finally, being able to say "also, after work you can buy whatever you want at Comma" (one of our favorite Korean stores that has everything). He bought new pens, lighter and wallet...haha...plus, also part of his gift was me ordering everything in Korean at restaurants, which made Darrell very happy. I have to say it was a freeing experience :P It was a great day!!!