Karen Lives High: My Birthday Month, so far

Hello! Hello! Hello!

Once again, I am catching up with posts. :D It's the last week of September, and to be honest I'm still overwhelmed with all the activities taking place. It almost feels like the Christmas holiday rush is here; and yet, the celebrations have just begun!

Let me list down the highlights for you.

September 1 marks the start of the "ber" months. Here in the Philippines, that means we start playing Christmas songs in the malls. Our beloved shih tzu, Keno, celebrates his 10th birthday on the 1st. He's now 70 in dog years.
On September 4, we watched The Phantom of the Opera at the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines).
On the eve of the 7th, September 6, I played badminton with friends and waited up for the 7th over midnight snack at the Peacock Throne Persian Cuisine & Kebab at Mandaluyong. I was craving for their melon shake that tasted like Jonas' in Boracay. But alas, they were out of stock. :,(
On September 7, I celebrated my 28th birthday with my family at Paseo Uno buffet at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati. (More on this below.)
On September 11, my husband and I celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary. We were supposed to stay at a hotel overnight, but then, we found out that he was sick with asthma, so we decided to stay home. Nevertheless, it was an emotional ride for me. We decided it's time to start a family. <3 :,)
On September 14, my friends and I went to the soft opening of Greeka Kouzina. It's a Greek restaurant owned by friend Kacy and her cousin Allan. It's located along P. Guevarra Street where the old Power Mac center used to be. You can't miss it! The food is to crave for!! Jor-el wrote an entry for this and you can read more here.
On September 15, my kinderpwend (classmate and friend since Kindergarten), Erica, and I, had our joint birthday party. She celebrated her birthday on the 9th and we've been celebrating our birthdays together with our friends for years. We had a sit down dinner in our house care of the boys (my husband and her fiance) and afterwards, the girls all played with nail polish! Haha! It was a fun night!
September 17. Jor-el's birthday gift, my new 15-inch retina display Macbook Pro arrived. Woohoo! This is the first blog entry that I'm composing on my Pro! Oh yeah!
On September 18, my mom hit a huge milestone and turned 50! Jor-el and I went home to my parents' house to surprise her on her birthday eve. On the day itself, we went back to our recent favorite, Paseo Uno for another round of buffet!
On September 21, I hosted our company team building at our house. One of my teammates organized the mooncake dice game for us.
Upcoming on the 29th, my colleague's daughter is turning 1. I will be attending the birthday party in the afternoon. For dinner, I'll be going to a wedding reception for another colleague, who is getting married on the same day!

So, how many highlights were there?? 11!!! I wonder if that even beats my calendar for December! That's probably the most celebrations I've had in a month!! And each highlight probably warrants a blog post! I could still be missing some other events or they're bound to crop up sooner or later. So many dates to remember, but i'll stop boring you with my calendar.

On to my birthday celebration, and some pictures to share.

Starting from the leftmost, clockwise: Jor-el, me, Shobe, Mommy, and Papa. Shoti joined us a bit later via Skype! :)

My mom is a new member of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati and we thought of using some of the coupons. It was seafood night at the Paseo Uno buffet. Jor-el and I were late, and upon our arrival, my dad immediately gave us a tour of the buffet and took us first to the prime rib carving station. Here's my first course for the meal.

Lo and behold, they also served foie gras!!! Yum! It's duck liver, though, not goose. But I still enjoyed it topped with the balsamic dressing! It gave an extra kick to my steak!