Birth Dates - 6 Weeks Late

For the past several years, I’ve set up a birthday dinner for myself where I invite many of my favorite people so we can catch up. Nothing makes me feel more loved than to know that people went out of their way to come to a birthday celebration for me. And to see all these awesome people gathered around just for me is so fun. I love my people. 

But this year, I just didn't really want to deal with it or set anything up. I also maybe didn't want to celebrate going into my late 20s. Not super excited about it.

Even though I didn't do one big dinner, I got the chance to celebrate my birthday with several different people in different environments, one-on-one.

On my birth day, I got flowers delivered to me just before leaving work. They were from Patrick. He came over to my apartment while I was working out in the complex gym. He had presents and everything set up for me on the table. He got me a German chocolate cake. He had a present wrapped in a really cute bag. And he got me a darling card. My present was a donut pan which I’ve wanted for quite some time. I was super excited about it! I hope to make some clean (and not so clean) treats with this new pan. We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory where I had the pretzel crusted chicken and fried avocado, mushroom, and zucchini. It was delicious. Then we went and saw the Lego Movie, which I loved. We both laughed a lot. And also, everything is awesome!

On Saturday the 8^th, Rachel came and picked me up around 5:45. We ate dinner at Macaroni Grill, and then she gave me my card which had two tickets to the symphony in it. The symphony was for a Mozart mass, and a Russian war piece by Shostakovich. It was my first time at a live, professional symphony. It was amazing and emotional at the start. Those people are so talented. I was in kind of a daze about 3/4 of the way through, and found it really hard to keep my eyes open. I’m not sure what overcame me, but it was hard to stay awake. It wasn't because I was bored or not enjoying myself. The music just put me into a funky state, akin to receiving anesthesia before surgery. Anyway, I will always be amazed by composers and their abilities to put different instruments together to make such amazing music.

On Tuesday the 11^th, Patrick and I headed to my grandma’s house so we could have dinner with my mom. We went to Chili’s, where I ate way, way too much food. I was ready to vomit—not exaggerating. We came back home, and I opened presents. My mom got me a couple of DVDs (Little Mermaid and Despicable Me 2). She got me a mini muffin pan (which I have been wanting for a long time!). She also got me a meat tenderizer, and a mug with mocha cappuccino mix in it. My grandma got me a pressure cooker! She made me a German chocolate cake. My brother, uncle Bry, mom, grandma, and Patrick sang happy birthday to me. But I had none of that cake until Thursday because of the other one Patrick got me.

On Saturday the 15^th, Kristen and I went out to Texas Roadhouse. I had my fair share of delicious rolls and other yummy food. I tried a burger for the first time there. It was pretty darn good, and really messy.

I got a Cold Stone gift card from Chad, my home teacher. I love me some ice cream.

I got a check and a card from my grandpa Mike.

I got money and a card from my grandpa Gabe.

I got a Kohl’s gift card and card from my old nanny Carmen.

I got a card in the mail from my friend Brittany.

I got lots of Facebook comments and lots of text messages and a couple of phone calls.

Also a student left a package of Milano cookies on my desk. I've been eating one of those at a time and still have some left, almost six weeks later. 

So even though I didn't have my typical celebration and wasn't really excited for my birthday, I'd say I got pretty spoiled and made quite the week out of it! Thanks to everyone who made it so great. :)