Birthseason

It's no secret. I love birthdays. I love my birthday. I love your birthday. I love his. I love hers. I just love 'em. We even celebrate Pistol's birthday. We threw him a dog party once.

My birthday seems to last a little longer than just a day. I don't know if I have ever had just a birth-day. When I posted about making a budget, I also mentioned a book by Gary Chapman on the 5 Love Languages. My love language is gifts. I kind of hate admitting that because I think it makes me sound superficial. But you also can tell someone's love language by how they express their love. I am always buying gifts for others. Sometimes for no reason at all, just because I think it will make them smile. I think this makes some people who have a different love language uncomfortable with this because many people don't know how to respond to random gifts. Oh well, I can do what I want =)

This probably adds to why I love my birthday so much. People are speakin' my love language. And it honestly doesn't even matter what you get me. Cost has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with you thought of me, decided I was close enough to purchase something for, then you took the time to do it, and then you gave it to me. You must really love me. This even applies to cards because how I see it, you thought of me, went and obtained some piece of stationery (or napkin, old receipt, whatever) and put together a little note, put postage on it, and sent it my way. That's a lot of trouble and I really appreciate you loving me enough to do that.

This year my birthday started in May. My best friends at school are Siva and Wes (and my roommate Lauren). Well I made it pretty clear that I was not about to travel to Lubbock anywhere near my birthday because I had a really long, daunting semester and didn't want to even think about Lubbock until late August. My sweet friends put together a birthday party for me after I had just spent 4 hours on a my last final exam which included 17 pages of hand-written answers. It was the perfect relief from a really long couple of weeks. We had a few beers, some pizza, and some quality time together before I left for home the next morning.

And they even got me a card that included a sash, and an extremely generous gift of an external memory drive to hold all of my documents for our Comps exams next year. It was even wrapped in Texas Tech Paper. I just realized that I wore the same shirt on the last day of school as the first day of school.

You can tell I am a little worn from one picture to the next. I'm tellin you, last year was rough. I'm also a lot less tan. Yikes.

Anyway, those boys made my heart so happy and made me feel special for my birthday all the way back in May.

Then birthday celebrations went on hiatus for a while. Then 2 weeks before my birthday my parents came to visit. My dad wanted to buy some new boots so we took him to the Oklahoma City Stockyards.

Some how I ended up with these.

My dad always wanted me to be a cowgirl so he is pretty easy to persuade for cowgirl attire. Are these not the most beautiful boots you have ever seen? It makes me wonder why I am not wearing them right now as I type. Even if I am on the couch in my athletic shorts.

Then my in-laws came to town the next day. Lisa and I went shopping and somehow I ended up with these. I was told that all of the older ladies of Alpha Delta Pi love Anne Klein items because of the lion logo. I can get on board for that. 

Then Matt started "birthday week" gifts. I got a gift each day. This my be my new favorite tradition. Holy Moly. 

On a side note: How did I get so lucky? 

And Lo couldn't contain the surprise anymore so she sent me a picture of what she made for me and I'll be getting very very soon (WHEN SHE MOVES 45 MINUTES AWAY!!!). We have an OSU room and this is going to be PERFECT.

And then one of my dreams came true. There is a restaurant in Marlow Oklahoma called Giuseppes. It is my favorite restaurant. They have a sea food lasagna that is to die for. Like the alfredo may literally kill me, but I'll die a happy person. Lisa told me a few years ago about this magical place in the restaurant called "The Broom Closet" that is for a single group and they have a special door you go through and a special menu. 

                                                      

Looking inside you think, where the heck is this place? And then a light bulb turns on outside the door. A man comes up to that little black window and says "What's the password" to which Lisa replied "Italy". Then he slides this door and we find a room. It was so beautifully decorated and the lighting was really neat. They also had this long tassel that you pulled when you wanted them to come serve you. We had wine flowing and appetizers and delicious bread and a lovely meal. It took several hours but I loved the time spent with the family. I don't know if I have ever laughed so much with my in-laws and it was such a great time. It was an incredible gift and I love them for providing that experience for me. 

Then it was adventure day.

There is a new "Skytrail" (you can learn more about it here.) by the Oklahoma River. It is 8 stories of ropes course obstacles. I decided that I wanted to do that for my birthday. My brother is typically up for adventure stuff so he came with his friend T.J. (and of course Matt came too).

First we stopped by The Mule and had lunch. That's a macaroni and cheese sandwich. Oh my. 

The harness adds a certain level of comfort about the whole ordeal. 

Some times it was scary. Some times it was challenging. And most of the time it was fun. And then you got to go down a 72ft slide at the end. 

Afterwards our pass included kayaking and Paddle Surfing (or Stand Up Paddle?) or other self-propelled water vessels. I've always wanted to paddle surf so I jumped right on it. When we were in Mexico they gave us a surf board and a paddle but that wasn't quite the same thing. That adventure was a real test in balance. This more appropriate board was actually quite easy to stay on. I never fell off which was good because the Oklahoma River is rumored to have some pathogens that I'm not prepared to deal with. 

It was a long exhausting day but it was SO much fun! I don't know if I have ever been so thirsty in my life since it was 103* but it was well worth it. I was really grateful to get the opportunity to just have fun and play!

Then I still had my actual birthday to look forward to!

I got up in the morning and enjoyed a nice cup of hot cocoa from a neat chocolate spoon that I got in the Amsterdam airport.

 Twas delicious.

I sat on the patio and looked up a birthday devotional. I was feeling really grateful to the Lord for my wonderful 27 years and His blessings in my life. I thought it would be appropriate to spend some time in His Word. One of the devotions I read said that we should be embracing our age because it puts us one year closer to heaven. I suppose that's one way to look at it!

Matt's Mimi took me to the Salvation Army Tea at a local country club. The theme was "Downton Abbey" which I didn't realize until I got there. This was a fortunate coincidence because I wore sort of a "fascinator" just because it was on sale at the Dillard's sale. Pretty cool!

It was a lovely event and I would really like to get involved with the Salvation Army when I have finished school. They really are an incredible organization that does so much for the community. 

Then it was time to party party party. Love and I have a birthday that is about a week apart and we have many overlapping friends so a joint party just makes sense. He came up with the idea for a Stillwater themed birthday. I went around to the bars in Stillwater and got a few posters to hang up and my mom made a cake of The Strip (otherwise known as Washington St). 

I had a 319 shirt which was our beloved bar when we were in college (now known as College Bar). Love had a Willie's shirt which is the bar where Garth Brooks got his start. 

And Matt had on a Jammer's shirt which is what 319 was before it was 319 (and later College Bar).

We event made Jell-O shots in syringes like Murphy's. 

 And Sarah did so much to help putting the party together (Sarah is Love's girlfriend)

 And some people even enjoyed playing the corn hole game that Matt and I made (and his mom made the bags).

Pete is hard to draw. One is post the freshman 15. 

And then Matt gave me my final birthday present. He bought us tickets to see Stoney Larue (and others). Stoney sings "our song" (Feet Don't Touch the Ground) and we try to catch him at concerts when we can. Can't wait!!

My birthday was a huge reminder than I am blessed so far beyond what I deserve. I am so grateful to all of my friends and family who contributed to such a wonderful event... even if it lasted much longer than reasonable. May your birthday be a reminder to you of all the lovely things in your life. 

Posted in: