#2187 The Likes List – Birthday Presents Edition

1. I didn't bother to organise anything for my birthday until yesterday afternoon when I texted a couple of friends to ask if they wanted to have dinner the next day. They all replied in the affirmative, and that was that. At about 8:30pm, after being out of the house for the whole day, I walked up to my apartment door and found it locked. 'Dark,' I thought to myself, 'How dare my roommates go out without telling me.' I put my key in the lock, opened the door, and turned the light on in my pitch-black living room. "SURPRISE!" screamed 30 of my favorite New York mates. It was amazing. Best birthday present ever.

2. Last year, after dropping hint after hint on my blog for months, my sister bought me the maroon Comme des Garcons wallet I'd been obsessing over for as long as I can remember. She'll go to heaven.

3. Last year, after also dropping hint after hint on my blog for months, Katherine bought me the blue Cambridge Batchel I'd also been obsessing over for as long as I can remember. It was a great year for leather goods.

4. My first car was a 1986 Daihatsu Mira that was literally the smallest enclosed four-wheel-vehicle available in New Zealand. When I bought it in 2002, it used to cost $17 to fill up with petrol. Because it was so small, my flatmates thought it was hilarious to pick it up and put it on the footpath outside our house when they were coming home drunk from town. After enduring months of complaints about the tomfoolery, my Uncle Brent surprised me with a forest green Honda Civic for my twentieth birthday. It was a pretty gangsta move on his part.

5. On Friday I came home to find a small parcel from my parents containing a birthday card and two bags of Cadbury Caramels, my favorite lolly. Nothing beats a taste of home.

6. In 2005, my mate Nic gave me a box filled with styrofoam and had me search through it to find my present for a good three minutes before he cracked up and told me there wasn't actually a present. We're still beefing, but I'm way taller than him so it's okay.

7. In 1984, my Mum gave me the gift of life. Thanks Jenny! Pretty sure my Dad had something to do with it too, so thanks Grant as well!

8. Alongside the surprise party, my roommates and girlfriend chipped in to buy me a 37 year old pushbike with a headlight and OG grip shift. Riding dirty begins tomorrow. Holla!

I LIKE YOU!