The Ultimate Birthday Gift

Yesterday, Pat and I were lucky to experience the most creative birthday gift. Pat's friend, Nathan, turned 27 yesterday and for his birthday gift his wife surprised him with the experience of graffiti-ing at the famous 5 Pointz.

5 Pointz is an outdoor art exhibit space in Queens, NY, considered to be the world’s premiere “graffiti Mecca,” where graffiti artists from around the globe paint colorful pieces on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot factory building.

Unlike most graffiti, 5 Pointz allows these aerosol artists to express themselves legally. However, you must have your design approved and paint in your given area.

Nathan's wife, Raquel, wanted to surprise Nathan on his birthday by giving him this special opportunity; however, it was a bit of a challenge due to the fact that you just can't show up and paint. Weeks prior Raquel tried to get Nathan to create a design that she could send and get approved. However, getting him to actually create something, without him knowing what it was for, was not easy. She asked Pat to try his hand at getting Nathan to draw something at work; however, that didn't work either. Finally, for a Family Home Evening activity, Raquel finally got him to create a design...thank goodness!

For some reason this picture reminds me of "The New Kids on the Block."
I swear they took a picture exactly like this.
(From Left to Right: Stanton, Jordan, Nathan, Chad, Patrick)

It all worked out perfectly. Raquel sent the design. The design was approved. And the date was set.

So yesterday, Nathan and Raquel arrived at 5 Pointz, and Raquel was able to reveal her birthday gift- Nathan got to leave his mark on one the famous 5 Pointz walls. A few of Nathan's friends showed up to watch and also help Nathan spray paint his design.

I thought this was such a creative gift idea and told Pat later on in the night to not expect anything close to this for his birthday. Raquel really makes us wives look bad. haha

Happy birthday Nathan!