A Quarter Plus 1

So this is how my first day as 26 went:


My sweet little kids prayed for me.


Then they had a second grade secret team meeting during lunch and recess to make me this card and buy me this box of tea. They borrowed 10 NT from the office to get the tea out of the machine. hahaha....And one of the little girls brought me this napkin with goodies wrapped up in side.


Yep. Homemade cookies that I told her looked good during snack and the green stuff...that would be pieces of dried seaweed! Yum Yum



After school my dear friend (thanks Alicia) brought me a yummy Bai Xiang Lu (passion fruit green tea) now THIS is REALLY yum yum!

(shortly after that tea, another bai xiang lu was delivered to my door by another sweet friend (Thanks Katrina). Dont worry I put it in the fridge and saved it for the next day)

With tea in hand...a few girl friends joined me for this:


Yes, it is as heavenly as it looks folks! It's worth a trip to Taiwan just for the hair wash. And this was a new place. Right next to home. 100 NT cheaper than normal. And a massage chair as they rinsed. I was a fan! (plus another sweet friend treated)
After the relaxing hair wash with the ladies, Cam and I were off to a nice new place for dinner. Gordon Biersch!

The pictures speak for themselves:

(steak sandwhich and GARLIC fries)

And the whole reason we picked this place:

The free oreo icecream pie (US portion size).
This 26 year old was happy :)
But turns out since it was my birthday, we got a meal free instead. So, we paid for the ice cream instead of Cam's burger. And they messed up Cam's order so we got an extra side order of GARLIC fries and two yummy chunky steak and veggie soups!

Came home (with a headache) and crashed into bed.
This morning...a Starbucks coffee and cake from a student :), the tea I had saved in the fridge, 2 birthday cards, and a ....


PACKAGE! FOR ME!


With a little bit of "fall" in a box! Just what I needed!

Being a quarter plus one is looking pretty good so far :)

Er shi liu

Er shi liu (pronounced: are sure leo) means 26!
One year older than a quarter of a century....Time sure does go by quickly!
Tomorrow, I will turn 26! 26 still seems young, but at the same time I am amazed every year as another birthday comes and goes. Highschool and college still feel like yesterday. I now have a 17 year old brother and it feels like I was just 17 myself.

So, how to celebrate 26. Well, we started early :) (which I think is always a good idea with birthdays)

After church today a friend/co-worker agreed to show us how to get to this little import shop with TONS of goodies from the US. We always knew this shop was in Tian Mu but we have never been. As soon as I walked in, it just brought a smile to my face. All the little treats that we normally think are not an option here in Taiwan...Dr. Pepper, Twizzlers, cereal options galore :)

Candy treated her daughter and I to a Dr. Pepper to have at lunch (because she was also treating Cam and I to Sababa's).

While at Wellman's Cam and I also got....


Which I took home, whipped up (with some added PB of course), and then topped with this:


The results, a happy birthday girl with her Taiwan version of her favorite birthday treat SCOTCHEROOS! (no Karo syrup in Taipei that I know of)


And then to top off the evening, Cam did this:


which we ate while watching Project Runway together :)

My last day as a 25 was a good one. Tomorrow a whole new year starts. I will be sure to fill you in later on the actual day of birth celebrations!