Turning 21 years old and feeling older already!

After an amazing weekend at Disney, I was scared my birthday wouldn't measure up. Ever since I have been at college my friends have thrown me birthday parties, usually on the Oscars. However this year, nothing was really planned. I woke up Tuesday morning still on a high from the race on Sunday. I woke up to a sweet card from my SCA, Eliz, which was a very sweet way to start my day. Before I knew it I had birthday plans for every night! I'm not going to lie, this was different than ever before. But hey, why not try something new?! So here is how the celebration went down:

Tuesday night (Birthday day)
I ended up going to spinning which was a great idea, at 5:44pm when I turned 21 (aka when I was born) the song Shots  came on, how perfect was that?

I celebrated my first boozeday Tuesday with my favorite ladies!

After spinning I was planning on going out to drinks with Paige, my birthday twin however those plans fell through. Marianna and Belle insisted on going out to dinner with me so I could order my first legal drink. I really couldn't ask for better friends. We had a great dinner out, and successfully ordered my first legal drink!

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After dinner out with the girls, I went over to Ju Ju's apartment. She wanted to hear all about the race and also had a beyond sweet birthday gift for me, PRINCESS THEMED.

Wednesday night
Wednesday night I had got dinner with Deanna on campus and she surprised me and brought Kirsten. Even though Kirsten and I were roommates last year, we never see each other anymore. It was fun to finally see her! After that I went to a res life meeting, and that was pretty much it.

Thursday night
Cori took me out to Bertucci's for dinner and drinks! It was great catching up with her and telling her all about Disney. Then the most amazing thing happened. Just when I thought things couldn't get yummier  at Bertucci's, three gorgeous men sang happy birthday to me!

Friday
Friday really turned into a whole day of celebration. It started with going out with Julia to Northampton, shopping and getting away from campus. We then went to Atkins, our favorite farm, and I ordered myself my own birthday cake, if that isn't a sign of growing up I don't know what is.

Then, Friday night rolled around. Ellen came over earlier to hang out and then Biz came over and we went to Northampton. We got dinner at a yummy Thai place, and then the craziness happened!

After dinner we went to our first bar. We had a few drinks here and then we were off to another bar.  At the next bar, the drinks started rolling in. We even get three free glasses of champagne for my birthday! It was so much fun…

Saturday:
Saturday I was supposed to go out with Ju Ju for a yummy dinner at our favorite restaurant, however she wasn't feeling to well. I texted some other friends what they were up to.... no response.... I hate that! Anyways, the night ended up being exactly what I needed, night in with M watching a movie in PJ's and eating birthday cake (sooooo much left over).

I think that about concludes the birthday extravaganza. I was upset that Saturday night turned out not as expected. I really wanted to go out with Ju Ju, and then I really wanted to have more friends over to enjoy birthday cake. However, I am so grateful to have had M come over. Many things have changed this year. There are friends who are no longer in my life, others who I rarely see anymore and new friends. I didn't get the big blow out birthday party that I do every year, but instead was blessed with individual outings with friends. Like every year, my birthday came and went. However this year, I didn't have as much anxiety around it. I just let it happen, and in the end, had a great couple of days of celebration!

Birthday Post

Today (February 26th) is my birthday. If you don't know me, I am in love with my birthday. I am an only child, so every year my birthday was a very large celebration in our household. Even when I went to boarding school, my parents made a big deal about my birthday. The countdown usually starts after Christmas. This year I vowed to not start a countdown until after my roommates birthday (January 15th), and if you ask her I did a good job. I didn't start making a big deal about it, until the middle of last week. Every year I build my birthday up to expectations that are impossible to reach. I feel like it's either way to much attention (you don't know how to handle), or you want more. There is simply no balance.  Being aware of that, this year I decided to be grateful for where I am here and now. I was telling a friend earlier today, that I believe your birthday is the start of a new year (instead of new years eve). Therefore, I usually reflect a lot about the past year. When looking back at this year, I was shocked about how much has happened. Now I am not going to go into the gory details, because that's not the point of this blog. However, I can say that I have lost a lot. I have lost some important friendships, a stable family (my parents got divorced) and some other things (I won't be going into). On the positive end of things I have gained a lot. For example new friendships have emerged, and I have gained more self comfort. I have learned a lot about myself this past year, which can be scary, but has also made me stronger (cue Kelly Clarkson music).

This week has been full of birthday celebrations.

Last Saturday, my dad came up and took me out to dinner. My dad surprised me, bringing my dog which always makes me smile. 

Tuesday, Ellen and I had an afternoon full of baking and watching movies. Then we went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant, the 99 and got a free birthday dessert. They even sang to me!

Thursday, A and I celebrated my birthday by making blueberry muffins and doing all sorts of birthday activities. She even gave me a balloon:)

Friday, consisted of rowing, rowing and more rowing. Then working all afternoon to finish all my work, so I could have the weekend off. I crashed at 8pm.

Saturday, I got flowers from my dad in the mail. There is nothing better then fresh flowers to brighten up a dorm room. My roommate and I attended JShow (a traditional show thrown by the Junior class every year). We were going to go to a party afterwards, but we ended up falling asleep to a movie (yes, we are seriously an old married couple). 

SUNDAY (the BIG DAY)

Let me start off by saying, my birthday was amazing. I woke up covered in balloons. Kirsten ended up hopping on me and giving me the biggest birthday hug. I got dressed, opened some birthday gift from the parents, and cards family friends had sent. 

Then I had lunch with Belle! Who got me a very cute cupcake.

After that I went swimming. I love swimming, it was such a great way to reflect on the day. Cara a fellow crewton joined me. It was fun to have someone next to you, who you know. We ran into Megan and had a great talk about the weekend, birthdays etc.

I went back to my room to get ready, then went to go watch the Oscars (pre show to the pre show). I guess I ruined the surprise and wasn't supposed to show up till 6pm. No one was there, and then around 5:30, Hattie came over and watched the pre show with me. Lots of friends/crewtons stopped by throughout the night  to say hi or some even stayed for a longer time. We ordered sushi and then Kirsten and Hattie (and Rebecca, just found out she helped a lot) surprised me with a cake, frosting made by Helena (see thank you notes). Hattie and I sticked it out till the end, when someone kicked us out right before the three best awards. We quickly moved to another dorm and watched the rest. Watching Meryl Streep win, was defiantly a highlight of the night. All in all, I hopped into bed right as the clock hit 12am, and my birthday was over.

It was an amazing (sorry to repeat that word over and over again), awesome, joyous day filled with my friends, who are in essence my true family. I love them all for celebrating with me. However, I have to give a special shout out to two people who made this day happen, and really didn't need to do anything, but they did.

1. Hattie- Since the end of last semester, our friendship has grown like it's been on steroids. We were friendly before, but since then we have truly bonded. I have loved doing Jillian Michaels DVD's with her and having movie nights. I am so grateful to have her in my life as a friend. Hattie, thank you for being my friend and making my birthday so special.
2. Kirsten- Everyone who reads this blog or knows me, knows that Kirsten is my roommate. She is also a coxswain on the crew team and was my cox last year. However, she is more then just a roommate, she is one of my greatest friends. It shouldn't come as a shock that she makes my gratitude list every Thursday.  When we took a chance to room with each other this year, I never could have imagined the friendship that would emerge. From doing random Zumba breaks to our "serious chats", where I tell her stuff that sometimes I can't even admit to myself. From laughing so hard (that we maybe pee our pants), to the cuddling and comforting when one another when the other is in tears.  I can't put into words what she means to me, because it sounds to cliche to say, she means the world to me, but she does. It may also sound cheesy what I am about to say, but I really do love her as a friend. Thank You for making my birthday so special.

I am currently writing all my birthday thank you cards, maybe I will post them tonight.