As you've read in my previous blog, I spent my birthday in my own way and at my own pace. Now, I'll share with you the different surprises that happened the day after my birthday.

Though it's already past my birthday, my colleagues turned friends, and some are even siblings-like to me already (due to the years of being together at work) had prepared something for me. Even my teammates from the different areas of the Philippines had some surprises as well. Now, let me walk you through what happened on the 31st of August.

The 1st surprise

I arrived at the office at 8am and was surprised upon arrival when my team immediately sang Happy Birthday to me with a cake and a lighted candle on it. I was surprised and I also burst out laughing when I saw my station full of decorations. Can you guess why I burst out laughing? It's because a lot of my bloopers have been printed as decorations in my area.. 😂

Another thing to note is that some of the decorations on my table were purely decorative and not genuine gifts; my team was simply too creative to come up with something to decorate my table before I arrived. The only "real gift" on my table was the ceramic mug with heating pad. Perfect for a coffee lover like me who mostly forgets to completely drink the coffee while its warm (due to a lot of stuffs in mind). 😆

The 2nd surprise

After I had my lunch, I rested in my area and, at the same time, I tried to go over some files in preparation for my meeting, which will be at 3 pm. At almost 2 pm, while I was so focused on my table reviewing some documents, I was totally shocked by the loud voices that sang a birthday song for me. This time, the surprises were initiated by my teammates from the areas in coordination with our other teammates here in the head office. Those teammates who were not in Cebu witnessed the surprise via zoom. Aside from the birthday song, they surprised me with a cake and a balloon bouquet with chocolates in it. I am really grateful to have an awesome and wonderful teammates. I am so thankful to God for giving them to me.

The 3rd surprise

The third surprise happened a few minutes before my meeting started. It was past 2 pm when I texted @inspiringcebuana if she was in the office. I wanted to invite her for snacks since I had someone prepare a carbonara and I also ordered some pizzas to be shared with everyone in our department for our afternoon snacks. I was wondering why I got no response from her. Suddenly, when I was turning my back to prepare and join the group for our virtual meeting, a voice coming from behind me asked if I was looking for her. To my surprise, she was bringing a bouquet of roses for me. I was totally in awe of these people for taking the initiative to extend my birthday celebration. I must have done something good in my previous life since God has blessed me with the people I have now.

The 4th surprise

My meeting ended at past 4 pm and when I was about to go to our conference room where the food I ordered and had someone prepare it, I got different calls, which caused the delay for me to proceed to the said room. It was all work-related. I did not expect that those people inside the conference room would also prepare something for me. All the while I thought the food in the room were the ones I ordered, I did not know they also made their preparations from the decorations to the food on the table. With all the food that we had, we definitely had Feast in our conference room. From the spaghetti to the carbonara to the pizza to the nuggets to the sausages to the soft drinks to the cakes and salad, everyone was really enjoying the moment. It was really a feast. A feast for our stomachs and a feast for my heart. I was totally overjoyed on that day.

I’ve shared some photos below for you to check out.

Hitting the last number on the calendar feels different. My age has increased but my heart still feels the same, especially since I am surrounded by awesome people in the office.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I would like to extend my thank you to these peopler for taking part of those surprises in the office @patsitivity @inspiringcebuana @eatslance @thegoodbi @kjventures @justklaire. I hope I was able to let you feel the joy I had as you read my blog and scrolled through the photos I’ve shared. 'Til next time. Keep Safe!

𝓍𝒪𝓍𝒪,

𝓣𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓪 ♥️

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