My "Great - Magnificent - Big - Splendid - Large" Birthday

Because saying that I had a Grand birthday would just be a little much.

Where do I start? I guess I've got to rewind all the way back to last Sunday... It's been a very eventful week.

Sunday, July 14, 2013.
Had my second and third visitor today! Some friends from my church back home were planning a trip up north, and it worked out perfectly that we had a friends and family rate available one of the nights that they would be in the area, so we put them up at the hotel. I had the day off, so when they arrived we met up and went to church, then lunch at Carlton's. After I gave them a tour of the hotel, we headed downtown and took a carriage tour around the island (Ding! another one off the list!). The carriage tour was really interesting, and it was so relaxing to just tour the island via horse-drawn carriage. One half of the tour was the downtown area, and the other half was through the state park. Very fun. On the way back, the carriage stops at the Fort, so we hopped off and knocked another one off the list! Really happy I got to see this too, it's crazy to think that the war of 1812 basically started here! The Fort was very well maintained, and some parts you feel like you're back in the days of war looking out over the water waiting for war ships to come in. Pretty cool stuff. After leaving the Fort, we headed back downtown to grab our bikes, and then it was time to go our separate ways...they had to go get ready for dinner and I had a party to get ready for! You may or may not remember, because I may or may not have mentioned, that my department (Reservations) had an occupancy goal of 98% for the month of June. If we reached our goal, the owner of the hotel was going to give us a cookout. LUCKILY the goal was reached, so tonight was the cookout! The cookout is at the home of the Executive Vice President of the hotel, and the owner himself is there as well as the Vice President of Accommodations (my boss), the manager of shops, the hotel historian, the Front Desk Manager and the General Manager. Needless to say, from the perspective of my career, this is probably one of the most important functions I will attend while on this island. I spent the evening eating, laughing, and watching everyone else drink! We spent time telling stories and jokes with the owner, laughing about all of our different crazy stories from this and past summers, and then...surprise! a group of people (who had been awkwardly standing outside the fence around the house for about ten minutes) decide to let themselves in and ask for a tour...their grandparents apparently used to live in the house, so they wanted to see the updates. While, very sweet, also pretty awkward. I'm sure they received the shock of their lives when they walked in to see the owner of the hotel standing in the kitchen. !

Tuesday, July 16, 2013.
There was really only one exciting thing that happened today...I decided to go out for my birthday dinner on Wednesday night instead of Friday. We were going to the Woods for dinner, and trying to go on a Friday night would just be chaotic. So, Tuesday evening around 5:00 I took my lunch break and decided to race downtown and try and find a dress to wear to dinner the next night! I made it out of the office and down to the store in about 5 minutes (probably going 50mph down the hill on my bike...eek!). I got there, told the girls in the shop that I had about 15 minutes and that I needed a birthday dress. I told them my price point and sent them off to find me something! Unfortunately, 15 minutes apparently isn't enough..cough cough..duh..so I asked how long they were open. To my luck, they were open until 10, so after work Sandra and I went back and I found the most adorable short white-lace dress with mid length sleeves. $35 later, I had a dress! Yay!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013.
Cheers to my co-worker Plao, for switching shifts with me! She gave me her 8am-6pm shift so I wouldn't have to get off work and get up to Woods in 45 minutes by working until 8pm. So, I got off at 6 to see a black sky and a cold, dangerous wind. Yikes. I got my butt down the hill as quickly as possible, braided up my hair, and got dressed. Then my friend Rhonda came over, I braided up her hair, and we went outside to catch a horse-drawn carriage taxi to the Woods since it looked like the heavens were about to open up on top of us. We made it up there in about 20 minutes, and when everyone arrived (just the girls from my office) we sat down and had dinner. Either one of these beautiful ladies or one of my friends that works at this restaurant handled my bill without my knowledge, so I smiled, said a general thank you to whoever it was, and then thanked God for putting such incredible people into my life. It also made me realize that I could really use a boyfriend so my friends don't have to pick up the bill on my birthday! lol! Anyway, dinner was fantastic, and they brought me out my tiramisu cheesecake with a candle, everyone singing happy birthday (accompanied by the pianist) and the plate had "Happy Birthday Elizabeth" written around the outside in chocolate. I love this place!

Thursday, July 18, 2013.
Long day. 13 hour shift. Torrential rain shower. Stayed so late my boss came in and said, "how late are you stayin here?! how much are you costin me?!" Time to go home.

Friday, July 19, 2013.
BIRTHDAY! yay!! Unfortunately had to work a 10 hour shift today, but that's absolutely fine by me. The weather was crappy, so I wouldn't have been able to do anything fun regardless. I came into work an hour early, had coffee at Carlton's while reading a book and looking out over the lake. [Worked for 10 hours]. Got off work, met up with Kendra, spent the night watching "The Proposal" because every girl deserves to see Ryan Reynolds with his shirt off on her birthday.

Saturday, July 20, 2013.
Fun day! Short shift today, only 8 hours. It absolutely flew by. My aunt and uncle came in, so I stepped out to chat with them for about 10 minutes, then back to work. As we were calling arrivals, we came across 3 people who didn't know they had reservations for tonight and therefore wouldn't be coming. We were able to sell two of those rooms, and then the front desk manager came through and told us my boss had put someone in the last room. Oh well, no birthday room for me! Then, 20 minutes before our phones went off for the day, my boss walks through and goes, "Sell this last room! I can kick Elizabeth out if I need to." Huh? You put me in? "yes." Ok! To my luck, I'm currently enjoying a really amazing birthday present right now. A nice little lakeview room with a tub and internet access. I really couldn't have asked for more. Oh, except dinner tomorrow night in the Main Dining Room with my parents who are finally coming in!...definitely looking forward to that! Haven't seen them in almost two months, and I'm really excited they're coming. That all being said, I'm about to go hop into a hot bath with some relaxing music and finish the night by catching up on Scandal and Revenge. Night all!