One Year Older!!!

Its true...I am now officially a quarter of a century old! This was a big birthday for a few reasons: (1) I am in LONDON, (2) It was my first birthday as a married person, and (3) 25 is OLD!!!

Kai loves birthdays, so the night before my birthday, we had a pre-celebratory dessert night by going to my favorite local dessert spot...McDonalds!!!

When I was little and living on 9th East in Provo, my mom and dad would take us to McDonalds (which was on 9th east where Golds Gym is now). Back then, the apple pies were not baked, but deep fried -- soooo tastey! Those good old days have been long gone, so I forgot about them and learned to like the baked apple pies. A few days after arriving in London, we had gone sightseeing with some friends and stopped by McDonalds on the way back for a snack. I decided to get an apple pie and ice cream. The guy handed me the pie and I recognized it as my childhood favorite fried apple pie!

Anyways, back to the story...we got fried apple pies and ice cream and I was soooo happy! After that, we headed back to our place and watched 'The Other Boleyn Girl', which was really cool, since we are in London. I ate my popcorn and had my diet coke and then right before midnight, Kai paused the movie and surprised me by getting out my presents. We had shots of soda to celebrate and I opened my presents -- some books, a box of delicious belgian chocolates, 2 sweaters (that I picked out since I am PICKY with my clothes), and a gift certificate to this day spa in Notting Hill. It was lots of fun and I was excited for my big day.

The start to the day was eventful, but not as eventful as the morning after. We finished the movie and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, to my horror, I was itching EVERYWHERE and when I looked at my arm, it was COVERED with red bumps! I woke Kai up and he looked and found tons more. My worst nightmare was true...we had bed bugs in our hell hole apartment!

Of course, Kai did not have any bites ANYWHERE. He felt so bad for me and was so nice and understanding, but it still didn't change the fact that I was completely miserable. I took a shower and got ready thinking it would make me feel better, but nothing worked. After writing an email to the property management company, we went shopping!

Shopping was fun, but getting there was another question. It was cold, rainy, and extremely windy, so walking was a challenge. My umbrella was getting flipped inside out, my hair was flying everywhere, and the rain was soaking through my boots! After going to all the shops, we stopped at Whole Foods, got some tastey samples and carrot cake, and then headed back to our place.

I had been craving steak, so we decided to go to Maxwell's in Covent Garden. It was still raining, so we piled on our jackets, got our umbrellas, and walked to the tube stop. When we got there, there were TONS of people waiting for the Central line...apparently there were major delays because someone had gotten hit on the tracks! Luckily, the train came and we got on. Each stop, the train was fuller and fuller, so there was no room to move! I started getting hot in my jacket, but couldn't do anything :P

Finally, we got to our stop and we got off. As we walked to the exit, there was a sign that pointed to the lifts (elevators) and stairs. A sign said, There are 193 stairs so carry your luggage carefully. I saw a huge line for the lifts, so not really thinking, I started up the stairs. About 25 steps in, I realized that this was going to be quite the hike. The spiral staircase seemed never ending and I was dying by the time I got to the top!

Luckily for me, the restaurant was close to the tube stop. We were seated and ordered our food. We got our drinks, calamari (which was sooo tastey), and then I got a filet, and Kai got a ribeye. All the food was great (or we were just starving)! Our waiter even sang happy birthday to me really really loud all by himself and let me blow out 2 candles on my apple pie dessert :)

After a great dinner, we walked around and finally got on a bus to get home. As soon as i sat down on the bus, the tiredness set in and I was out. Kai woke me up right before we had to get off. Once we got home, I realized that I would be bait for another night! Kai was so nice and put tape around the bed to hopefully get the bed bugs when they climbed onto the bed, and then he woke up every hour to check me for bugs.

And that, is the story of my 25th birthday!

The best present was when the exterminator came by our apartment this afternoon and sprayed our apartment to kill the stupid bugs!