I was hanging @ The Great House with Shun and Nathan, and Emily was over and Griffin was over, and Lucy was there, and the fire was going, and it just felt like a nice family. Me and Emily went and (spent too much money) getting lights for the house and a fake tree and some lights for the tree and a few ornaments (we’ll get more from the ones we made as kids). I’m working from Tampa a lot right now, so I don’t see them as much, but it’s very nice when I’m there with them, and ab;e to visit others. At least the guys (and the weather and accommodations for that matter) in Tampa are very nice.

Saturday morning I woke up and went downstairs and found Emily, Shun, Griffin, Eric, Chris, Melissa, Gregory, John, Trey, Bryant, MomP, Jasmine, Becca, Adria, and Steve in The Great House. They were surprising me for my birthday! It was my first ever surprise birthday breakfast! Many people helped cook and/or brought groceries. We had pancakes (I had some dark chocolate chip+banana pancakes, and there were also blueberry, and pecan, There were omelets and homefries, it was delurshurse! It was so nice to see everyone. MomP got me a watch, Jasmine got me Monk Season 3, Shun and Eric got me Harold Crick’s Watch (from Stranger Than Fiction), Emily gave me 3 of her favorite DVDs, cooked me her favorite menu (Chicken Spaghetti, corn and green beans, and fruit salad), and burned me some of her favorite music. *UPDATE: on my birthday/Christmas list, among other things, i ask for “your favorite anything” so it’s not like emily got me a bunch of stuff she’s been wanting, she got me stuff she already had or copies of it.

I found out today that I’ll be in Tampa next week and the next, and then most of the M-R in January-February. Working in FL is like being on vacation, except having to go to work. The nice weather and the palm tress and eating on an expense budget and the whole-living in notTGH thing makes it seem like vacation. The guys down here are really nice and I’m learning a lot, but I miss everyone in NC.