I had an absolutely fabulous day-after-my-birthday-night last night - this is hands down the best birthday I've had in years. Once again, I'm so grateful to have met such wonderful people here. I met up with K&K and crew last night again after work and can I just say that they rock??? I also finally met Doc & her hubby - they joined us at the bar after their Moulin Rouge outing. Ironically enough, the bar we went to is the only bar I've been to since moving to Paris - I ended up there one night with Yuri & Kendra and had no clue where it was - but it just happened to be the one Katia suggested!

And, they bought me presents. PRESENTS, people! I wasn't expecting any, it was already enough that they were willing to go out and celebrate with me. But they're really cool presents at that: a couple of Paris-related books, some mint m&m's (which really do taste like thin mint girl scout cookies), my very own set of magic pens (!!!) and an awesome birthday card:


I also got a crown. A CROWN!! Which, according to the attention it brought from the Frenchies, I am considering wearing every night I go out. And I actually met a cute Frenchie who had studied abroad in Cottage Grove, MN off all places. He was a university professor, but he unfortunately did not live in Paris, so he got crossed of this list - I don't need any complicated long-distances things right now. I also met a really nice guy while walking home and *briefly* considered either going home with him or inviting him up to chez moi, but eventually decided against it since I'm not a one-night stand kinda girl.
And just to prove all you negative Nellies wrong - I got a text from Fab late last night while we were at the bar. You guys gotta to give me some credit here - after seven years, I do know the man pretty well, and I was sure he would write a day or two later, saying "Oops, sorry". He wrote (spelling mistakes and all) "Happy birthday, sorry for beeing late. Hope u're good, where r u at?". I haven't felt the need to reply back yet - I don't necessarily want him to know I'm still in Paris, and I definitely don't want him to know that things are going good. After what he did, he deserves to feel guilty for as long as possible, lol.