Birthday Recap

It's about time, right? I'm officially 22 years, 1 week and going on 5 days old! Yikes! And despite my best efforts to not plan anything for my birthday, my friends went out of their way to plan for me. This post is late partially because I was waiting for Megan to send me pictures, and partially out of sheer laziness.

Morning

The day started off as usual--with a trip to Gold's! The only difference is that I got a hugely long "HAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYY BIIIIIIIRRRRRRRTTTTTHHHHHDDDDDAAAAAYYYYY!!!" text from Kevin on my way in. I can't say that was the exact spelling, but it was well over 160 characters, because it didn't fit into just one text :) Oh yeah, and those pesky computers at the gym tell the desk associate that it's your birthday. Luckily Tracy was working, so it was nothing embarrassing. After a workout and a delicious breakfast made for me by me, Megan got in touch with me wanting to do lunch and get manis. What girl in her right mind is going to say no to that? Unfortunately, in my efforts to not plan anything, I didn't request off of work and had to be in at 1:30, but we made perfect timing.

Lunch was Whole Foods--I was dying to try their enormous salad bar, but I ultimately opted for an Indian-inspired grain plate (made with red bean meal??) instead. Delicious! And manis resulted in this:

A few days later, still looking good!

I wish my nails would grow quicker... Loved the color too! Don't mind the steering wheel in the background; I promise I only take pictures at red lights in parking lots.

Work was...work. Can't say that I was entirely productive and I may have freaked out when a crazy loud storm rolled in and demanded that I be able to carry a flashlight around, just in case but I got my job done. Next stop: home to fix my hair and head out to dinner.

Evening

The weekend prior, Megan had asked where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner. It's no surprise to my friends that I HATE making decisions! Like seriously, I just don't like it. I don't know why, but I guess I don't want to make a choice that no one else agrees with, so I just leave it up to other people. Well, Megan was nice enough to narrow it down to a few places, and I ultimately picked The Local, which (obviously) is a local restaurant that uses, you guessed it, local ingredients. I'm pretty sure I ate wayyyy too much, but on the other hand, your birthday only comes around once a year, right??

I'm no vegetarian, but sometimes vegetarian entrees just sound more enticing to me than meat-based ones. Enter in the best turnover ever:

Summer vegetable/ricotta turnover.

Don't judge me, but I ate the whole thing. And then a slice of this:

Strawberry cake from Chandler's Bakery.

Once again, I don't like doing things myself, so even though Megan told me I had to cut the cake since I'm the birthday girl, I only did the initial cut. Then I handed off the knife to other Liz (to which I'm called "Mini-Me"). Oh, and apparently girls can't play with fire, so Martell kindly lit the candles for me.

She's a much better cake-cutter!

We are obviously scared of lighters...

A nice group of friends came out to celebrate with me! A few more were supposed to come but got tied up with work or classes (it was the 1st week of classes at UVa--always happens that way). But there to celebrate with me were:

From close left: Meryl, Stacy, Me, Liz D, Emily, Joe.

Better pic of Emily & Joe.

Martell & his sweet gf, Shelly.

The (sorta) original Gold's gang: Megan, Martell & Me.

Prezzies!

Megan was so sweet to put this all together for me! And just when I thought that was the end of it, she gave me a present too! Totally not expecting one, let alone that it contained this:

Well, minus the green smoothie!

Flip side.

Does this mean I don't have to shower after the gym now?

Does the glass look familiar? It should! It was one of the ones we saw at Urban Outfitters before Megan and I got caught driving in a crazy thunderstorm a few weeks back. Isn't she sweet?!

Other gifts included this from Stacy:

Haha!

And a gift certificate for a manicure! In case you were wondering about the card, Stacy likes to say she lives vicariously through me. But I promise this card does not reflect my real life :)

My Momma Loves Me!

My mom and I sort of have a tradition regarding gifts. It's called: she doesn't like to pick things out because she thinks I won't like them, so she either gives me her credit card info, a check, or we go shopping together at the outlets. Normally I'm the only child in my family that actually demands to likes to be surprised--my sister always picks stuff out ahead of time, my oldest brother doesn't really care too much, and my other older brother sends a detailed list of what he wants. This year Loft happened to get in some crazy cute things for fall (which always happens right before my birthday), so I opted for the CC info routine. This is what I walked away with (granted, a week before my actual birthday):

Textured jacket, 2 pairs of twill flare pants,
a really cute lace-detail shirt and black flats.

Bad lighting: a sweater jacket, a lace-trim tee,
a scoop neck tank, and trouser flare jeans.

Scoop-neck tank.

Lace trim tee.

Silver snakeskin bangle.

Trouser flare denim.

Retro sweater jacket.

Everything except the sweater jacket, bangle, and the last 2 shirts I mentioned were purchased by my mom. Did I mention I get a great discount at Loft? She also bought me some things the last time I was home, which were kinda birthday gifts, kinda just for the heck of it. I love her (and I get to see her and the pups this weekend)!!

Oh, and not to forget the VitaMix I got from my dad at the beginning of the month. Great gifts!

Now that you're entirely jealous (which was not my intent), and I've exhausted my iphoto library I'm ready for fall weather, I'll leave you to your day ahead! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!!

How do you like to receive presents for special occasions: pick it out yourself, just get money, or actually be surprised?? Most of the time I just want to be surprised, though I'll send suggestions or general categories...