Birthday...

If you read this post and haven't wished me a happy birthday yet, it means that, yes - you missed a very important date!!! April 12th was just a regular Tuesday, actually a really busy Tuesday. I started my day with a meeting out of the office, and when I finally arrived at the office, Luciana and the guys from the foundation surprised me with a whole bunch of "facturas" - a term used for croissants and other morning (and afternoon!) pastries! Plus a HUGE box of artesenal chocolates - they must have picked up on my chocolate withdrawal symptoms...And then an even bigger bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne from my friend Heloise were delivered at the office...making quite an impression on the girls at reception - damned, I should have sticked to the "mysterious admiror" story!

All these attentions were so sweet...But still, I didn't have any plans for the night, so ended up working until 20.00 (yes, I know), when Alexander - a consultant with Dutch roots working on the same floor - decided that it was a NO GO for me to just sit at home by myself on such a day, and having been an expat himself, he invited me for dinner with his Greek wife in my favourite restaurant Petanque, a French brasserie close to my home, where I had an awesome Steak Tartare with frietjes and mayonaise, followed by a birthday cake with a candle I had to blow out and a glass of champagne! So, even though I had nothing planned, it turned out to be quite an awesome day...And the PARTY on Saturday was even better...as you'll read in my next post!