I turned the big 2-5 earlier this month! My birthday week was pretty crazy work-wise, but I managed to get the night off to have dinner and spend time with friends. I originally was planning on starting my night off by going to the opening of the 4-day cat cafe "Catfe" pop-up event in Chinatown - if you know me, you'll know that I am a TOTAL cat lady and one of my dreams is to go to a cat cafe in Japan - imagine my excitement when I found out there was a Kickstarter campaign to open one right here in LA! You should've seen me flip out when I found out the pop up event to promote the campaign was opening ON my birthday - it was fate. However, turns out there was a 2-hour wait for the cat cafe which would've made us later for our dinner reservation so we had to pass. My heart aches just thinking about it D':
So to pass a little time until dinner I went and got my FREE Starbucks birthday drink - a Butterbeer frappacino from their Secret Menu in Grande size, of course. Then we walked around the plaza in Little Tokyo. It's such a cute area, I love it there.
We had dinner at this great Japanese restaurant called Honda Ya. I had been there once before alone and was really impressed with the very traditional Japanese decor, the reasonable pricing and variety of the menu, and the quality of the food. Add to the fact that they have a separate area where you can take off your shoes and sit on the floor while you eat, and I knew this was where I wanted to do my birthday dinner.
One thing that I thought was pretty cool was when they brought out the green tea ice cream birthday dessert, they turned off the lights in the WHOLE restaurant (well probably not the kitchen and stuff but at least the whole front of house). I definitely wasn't expecting that. Maybe turn off the lights in the separate area we were at, but the ENTIRE restaurant? It puts the spotlight on you which is a little embarrassing but also made you feel special :)
Afterwards, we went to a nearby karaoke place and had fun singing along to Frozen tunes and songs from our high school years. If you watch the video posted below, you'll see that my sister and I get reallyyyy into our karaoke performances. "Dream On" is also our staple karaoke song although I think "Let It Go" is going to give it a run for its money.
Thus concludes my 25th birthday night! Nothing too crazy, everyone was back home before midnight. I can't tell if this means I'm getting older or just boring haha. Honestly, it was one of the best birthdays I ever had. I feel so blessed that I got to celebrate this milestone birthday in this new city that I love with my wonderfully amazing sister (seriously, check out the video, she's the bees knees) and incredibly amazing friends. Last year in NYC was incredibly lonely for me, so to see the drastic change a year later, just confirms to me how my move to LA was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Not going to lie, turning a quarter of a century is a little scary, but being surrounded by people like this, makes it a little less daunting. Looking forward to what 25 brings!
Be sure to check out my video below!!
Caution for those with sensitive ears, there IS karaoke! :D
What was your best birthday?
