happy birthday to me

As many of you already know, Friday was my birthday. It was a wonderful day. Twenty-nine is not as bad as I assumed it would be. I'm not sure what I thought would happen...an appearance of wrinkles, sudden showing of gray hair, or people addressing me as ma'am. None of the above happened, but even if they did I was more than prepared to handle the situation. No fear, haha.

I just finished my finals on Wednesday night, but I'm still working on a paper. Most students were still finishing up their finals on Friday. It's always such a stressful time of year. I absolutely hate it. But thankfully this year, I didn't have to take any finals on my birthday.

Right at midnight, I received a phone call from my sister, Shayla, in Idaho. Then at random throughout the rest of the night my phone blew up with facebook notifications and birthday wishes. The joy of technology. My sister, Jessica, and her boyfriend, Brandon, took me out to lunch at the Cheesecake factory. Jess and I shared the Chicken Romano...amazingly delicious! One of my favorite dishes. We finished the lunch with a slice of a Reese's cheesecake/chocolate cake concoction. It was decadent, rich, and sinful. Never to be consumed again. It was that sinful, but oh so good. Although Brandon was sick, Jess and I still dragged the poor guy through the mall for a little shopping. He was such a good sport though. He even helped me in the overwhelmingly difficult decision of whether or not I should purchase a new journal for myself. Of course, I had to buy myself a bday present.

We returned home around 5:30pm and I was exhausted. Proof I am aging. I'm exhausted after lunch and shopping. Well, my roommate Jill was supposed to take me out. I was still full from the wonderful lunch, but there was no way I was staying in on a Friday night, much less the night of my birthday. I summoned all the energy I had left and headed out for part two of my birthday celebration. (May I just add, Jessica had cut and styled my hair Friday morning and I looked good haha) So Jill and I headed out and of course, we didn't once think about how crowded places are on Friday nights. We went to three places: one was a 2 hour wait, another was an hour and a half. We somehow ended up at Qdoba for a birthday burrito before catching a movie.

Such a fun day with so many birthday wishes. I felt so loved. I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends and family. Saturday, I headed to Philly to spend Christmas with my family. My mom made a delicious Japanese fruit cake for my birthday and at 11pm we celebrated again. I'm just thankful she didn't make me wear the birthday crown she bought. I am extremely happy about my birthday present from her and dad though...a kindle! Finally! ha.

I have a feeling this is going to be a good year :) Can't wait to see what God  has in store for me!