A Tale of Two Birthdays

In preparation for our trip to Europe, B and I decided not to celebrate our birthdays in the usual way - we agreed not to purchase expensive gifts (unless they're necessary for the trip) and we agreed not to have our usual hotel-resto date (waaah! no Prince Albert this year!)

As the clock struck 12 on the 10th, B handed me a box and a huge birthday card. On the box was a post-it note instructing me to open it first. Inside was a beautiful pashmina scarf. A real one. Not the type you'd buy in Greenhills. I was so happy with it, I already wanted to use it. Then B nagged me to open the card, it was a funny one saying that I should not worry about the past and the future, but instead focus on the present. And then from the word present, my eyes were led by an arrow to a small envelope at the bottom. Inside the envelope were crisp P1000 bills! A little note in the envelope said that the money was for thermal gloves. I got teary-eyed because I was already feeling kawawa for not having spending money on my birthday (hey, it's ok to be emotionally sensitive on birthdays) and I was so touched that B knew what to give me to make me happy (shopping money!!!) So, on my birthday, I got myself a pair of gloves (P50 from Shopwise, Mwahahahaha!), matching bonnet (P50 din!!!) and a pair of Nike walking shoes (a lot more expensive than P50.) We also got our hotel dinner in Heat, courtesy of Mama. Happy birthday to me!

So, I wanted to make sure that B would also be happy on his birthday. BUT, since I'm the head of our cost-cutting department, I couldn't spend even a fraction of our Europe money for his birthday. So, I planned to play the "perfect wife" on his birthday. Since he has breakfast in bed often (the best way to wake him up is to feed him bacon), I decided to prepare the clothes that he would be wearing. I got underwear, socks, slacks and a nice polo and placed them where he would find them (underwear and socks on top of the drawers in the bathroom, polo and pants on the bed.) His dad woke him up to greet him early in the morning and so B was up earlier than usual. After taking a bath, he immediately found the underwear, the polo and the pants. The polo was a bit tight so he chose another one. And then he went inside the closet to get a pair of socks! When I told him that I already brought out a pair for him, he sheepishly said "ay, hindi ako sanay!" Aba, nagparinig pa and mokong. As usual, we ended up laughing.

Since his birthday wish was not to spend a centavo on his birthday, I picked him up from work. We then went to Galileo for a light dinner (mga excited! our reserations were at 8 but we were there at 6.) We tried the set menu (P400 per person) consisting of a cheese platter (my favorite grana, the nutty and tast padano and smooth asiago), cold cuts platter (Salami Milano, Prosciutto and Mortadela), Penne Con Porcini (Penne in Mushroom sauce) and a glass each of red wine (Corte Brocca Rasso). He loved the food and apparently, the place as well, as he almost walked around the resto with a plate of cheese, he settled for one big chunk instead! I gave him my glass of wine as I ordered the hot chocolate and the vanilla gelatto. The hot chocolate was thick and creamy and the gellato was the best I've ever tasted! It was very creamy and it smelled and tasted like real vanilla beans. Both were totally worth working out for (unlike the food in Mr. Kabab! But that's another story). B loved the cheese so much that he ordered an extra platter to take home. Forgetting his birthday wish, he volunteered to pay for the items he ordered. When we got our bill, we loved Galileo even better! The total bill, including the set menu, the hot chocolate, the gelato, B's cheese platter my 100 gms of grana, was only P1,215! It was well within my budget that I paid for everything. So, B still got his birthday wish. He didn't spend a centavo on his birthday. Not only that, we'll also have lunch in Casa Armas this Saturday, courtesy of mama (coccinillo, here we come!) where he would also receive my gift to him - the MP3 player that he wanted to have ever since his old MP3 player died on him (I got it at Electroworld as they have a O% interest payment scheme. I only need to pay P500 a month.) Happy birthday, B!