Twenty Five

Yesterday I celebrated my 25th swing around the sun. Birthdays have always been special days to me, and when I was younger they were always disappointing. It's not that I didn't get the gift I wanted or anything like that, but there just simply weren't enough hours in the day, or activities to fill those few hours we're given. As I've gotten older, birthdays have been more wonderful with each passing year. My expectations have dropped, but the people I love go out of their way to make sure that it's special. Yesterday was absolutely no exception. I couldn't have asked for a better day, or for better people in my life. I made a point yesterday to keep track of everything I did, because I can never remember how I spend my birthdays. Here's a look at twenty five:

My mother gave me this beautiful ring the day before my birthday. It's a green quartz in the center, and lots of teeny diamonds all around. It's absolutely gorgeous in person.

Yesterday morning, my dad and I bowled a couple games. We were both a bit rusty, and played pretty terribly, but it was nice spending some time with my dad.

Alex was at school, so after bowling I had some alone time. I headed up to my regular coffee joint, for my regular coffee, and my sweet new friend (and barista) picked up the tab for my coffee. And boy does she make a killer iced coffee with caramel :)

When I came home from coffee I was greeted by these beautiful blooms on the porch from my sister Courtney. I love the cupcake design!

When Alex got back, he took me shopping at Acorn Apparel to see if I could score some vintage treasures. Oh, and how I did. Three beautiful dresses and some awesome high wasted jeans!

After that, we had dinner at home and I read a book for a while, then headed to the hospital to visit my brother and sister-in-law who is pregnant and on bed rest. It was really lovely to see both of them.

At about 9:30, we headed up to our favorite neighborhood bar, Hilltop Tavern, where I enjoyed a birthday margarita and a couple beers. We were joined by our friend Matt, and got super lucky because it also happened to be board game night! You may not know this, but I'm a board game fanatic! We have a huge trunk full of them, but rarely get to play because there really aren't very many good 2 player games. We tried out "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" (it was slim pickin's) and I got whopped. I'm sorry but I doubt fifth graders know most of that stuff.

All in all, it was the perfect birthday. Alex suggested we continue the celebration on Saturday (he has the whole day off!), and I'm totally down for that.

What's the best birthday you've ever had? Any birthday traditions?