22

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday and Taylor planned an adventure/ scavenger hunt for me where I had to go find clues around the city to get to a surprise at the end. I had an amazing time, but because Taylor was running around like a house elf planning and making sure the details worked, he didn't get to see me actually complete any of his well-crafted journey. So I decided to video & photo document the day so he, and anyone else that was following my saga of updates on twitter and facebook throughout the day, could experience my journey with me...

Many awkwardly narrated videos follow... Enjoy!


Part 1: The beginning, Latex & Harry Potter



I mentioned the lockout key in the video, but apparently, Taylor just knicked my ID when he was in my room the night before, broke in with Lindsay and Rebecca, popped a few balloons while I was sleeping (how, How, HOW did I not wake up!?) and then returned the ID when he was through.


The huge letter/poster on my wall looked like it was written in blood, so i knew he meant business, but I also got a Harry Potter feel from it, and rightly so. Later, Taylor told me he took this almost word for word from Dumbledore's speech before the Triwizard Tournament in "... Goblet of Fire." So as you can guess, we had a little harry potter theme going on too...




Part 2: Eleanor the Orc



The fact that he referred to the mailroom staffers as orcs & trolls is hysterical to anyone who's ever met any of them... haha.


Part 3: Clue 2, Cupcakes in the Sky



How gorgeous was the highline yesterday? So pretty...


"Hi are you Annie? I'm Gabby... I think you have something for me..."




Part 4: Sugar, Lactose & Awkwardness



Billy's cupcakes & milk never disappoint me. However, I mentioned that someone was sitting on my clue... after he moved, two girls were sitting across from me and I surreptitiously tried to grab the letter from under the bench. Taylor had duct taped it in two spots so I couldn't get it off, and had to flip almost upside down to pull it off, while my two neighbors were watching me... pretty sure they assumed it was a kind of drug deal or something... hijinx ensued :)




Part 5: Riddles



I had to call my sister and figure out which train to take because something in my head failed to put together the fact that the extra "E" on the end of "train" wasn't just Taylor trying to be fancy and old-English-y...



Part 6: Lexington is East of Park



So after getting a little turned around and making it all the way to 2nd ave before realizing that Lexington is indeed east of park, and not west, I made it to Borders...


I took a picture of this because it reminded me of that scene from "Beauty and the Beast..."

"Do you have any new books?"
"(Chuckle) Not since yesterday."
"I'll take... this one."
"That one? But you've read it twice!"
"It's my favorite! Daring sword fights, orges, beanstalks! ... A prince in disguise!"
"If you like it all that much, its yours"
"But sir..."
"I insist!"

In retrospect, I should be ashamed that I didn't have to reference anything to type that... moving on...




Part 7: That, that tied together very elegantly




When Taylor had his birthday in June, I gave him something similar, with clues to what we were doing that night. This book was the Answer to one of his clues (we were seeing American IDIOT...) which is why I thought it was so lovely that this little Russian book showed up for the second time on my birthday




Part 8: Final destination, the Surprise


A surprise picnic with a bunch of friends was waiting for me when I got to the sheep's meadow. Taylor, Susan, Dan, Carly, Jesse and Lindsay all were there. We stayed for about 6 hours until it closed at dusk, here are some photos of the lovely picnic...




Meet Lester, the pinata-bird that Taylor and Lindsay made... this was the alternative to a spider with my face on it... I'm happy they chose the bird... he's too cute, but he was also very hard to break open because they used so many layers of newspaper, haha...









So that was that, and let me just take a moment to say thank you to Taylor, and everyone else who helped make this a birthday that I will never, ever forget. You are the best friends anyone could ask for! Really!