Thursday, November 7, 2013

a boyfriend's birthday.

birthdays are my favorite. so when lee turned the big 26, i think he knew i had something in mind.

...or did he?

lee told me that he hasn't ever had someone plan his birthday, so to be honest, i don't think he knew what i had in store for him. keeping (most) secrets was a huge challenge for me because i was just so excited! i've planned so many parties and surprises i think i've lost count. i just have this knack and gift for being creative so why not make the people i love feel really special on their day?

the 4 day extravaganza started.

day one: friday night.  i took him to a light dinner of "guac and big beers" at the local azteca mexican restaurant followed by a ton of his friends together at his house to pregame & to kick off the weekend right.

{guac & beers}

{fireball}
 
{cheers!}

we headed out to the ten park lanes out on montford drive where plenty of fireball whiskey was whispering in our ears (thanks for the reference, FLGA line!), along with some awesome people. lee was definitely enjoying himself - if you know what i mean - so we went with cory, drew, & carlos over to moosehead grill for some 2:30am birthday nachos. yum.

day two: saturday took a turn for the awesome with the unc vs nc state game at 12:30. lee and i were at war.

{unc vs. nc state}

i watched the game with him and his brother, drew, also a huge nc state fan and there was nothing sweeter than reminding them WHOSE STATE this really is. carolina trampled them with a 27-19 win. although it was his birthday weekend, i'm still glad my tarheels pulled that one through.

saturday night, i surprised him with floor tickets to the drake, miguel, and future show at time warner cable arena. this is where the bobcats play and the arena is gigantic. neither of us had seen drake before and, oh my, did they put on a show.

future played his top hits such as karate chop, same damn time, honest, and a few others. my favorite though was turn on the lights. not only is this song lyrically sweet, when he performed it, all the lights were cut and everyone brought out their cell phone lights. sitting only 11 rows back from the stage turning around to look at the mounds of people was an awesome sight.

{future}

{turn on the lights!}

miguel was next performing his top chart hits such as sure thing, all i want is you, and his most recent adorn.

{miguel}

the curtains then rose and exposed this amazing set, almost halo-like, and on came drake. the crowd was pumped. on our 4th (or 5th?) $9.00 beer, we were ready. he performed almost all of his songs from nothing was the same and a few older ones such as crew love, headlines, the motto and in between sets the dj took us back in time to my college days drake songs. this was hands down one of the coolest shows i've ever seen.

{drake}

{drake}

{drake & future}

and then, there was this: 



3/4 off the way through the concert, a huge circle like platform lowered literally right above our heads as drake made his way around shouting out to fans saying thank you. here's more pictures from the show!

{lee & i}

{girlfriend danielle & i}

{watching the finale fireworks}

day three: sunday, november 3rd - his actual birthday. and from the party hardy weekend we just had, he thought it was all over. well he's been wrong before. :)

i handed him a handmade book of cards & probably the most thoughtful gift i've made to date - 52 things i love about you.

and here's how i did it:

{computer made "cards" & printed}

{cut each one out & slight decorations}

{glued each of my cards to an actual card. i did this so the cards wouldn't be flimsy.}

{hole punched two holes in each card.}

{placed on binder rings}

{finished product.}

after giving him the gift & sharing that special moment with him, we watched more football for most of the day. i told him we had dinner reservations at some restaurant at 6:30pm. we arrived at taco mac, a place in southpark, that has tons of TV's. he had mentioned he wanted to watch sunday night football, thinking i didn't already know that. he seemed excited when we walked in to a cool bar-like dinner atmosphere where we could catch the game & have some birthday beers.

but little did he know, that when we rounded the corner, i had arranged for 10 of our closest friends to surprise him. he was so shocked and surprised and my nerves finally got to rest that everything went perfect to plan.

{surprise!}

{thanks to everyone who helped me surprise.}

day four: i know. you're thinking geez dude? birthday week much?? but we had to do a dinner with his wonderful family. we dined at dolce ristorante - a local italian place in dilworth. he has awesome parents and such a sweet brother, so any time we're all together is a good time. after dinner, we went back to his house where his mom had made oreo cake and presents.


{birthday cake}

well now that i've written my longest blog like ever, i'll leave it by saying i hope your birthday was as amazing as you are, lee! happy 26th!

xo,
-A