Birth-Weekend

It's official -- I am now 26 years old and am now closer to age 30 than I am to 20. Isn't that crazy??? I don't know about you, but it seems like I was 20 years old just yesterday.

I had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday this past weekend. Ben gave me a hard time, saying that I am the only person that he knows that has a "birth-weekend" instead of just a "birth-day". That might go hand-in-hand with the whole blessed/spoiled thing that I talked about in my previous post, but personally, I enjoyed celebrating my birthday everyday this past weekend.

On Friday, we met my dad, Grandma, and Holly for dinner at Red Lobster. I had my traditional birthday dinner of snow crab legs, and they were delicious! On Saturday, Ben gave me my birthday present as soon as we woke up. I had asked him for some cute running clothes as I am the only person who runs on town lake in an uncoordinated outfit, and he really outdid himself. But then again, when does he not? He bought me 7 outfits total (mostly because he wasn't sure what style of tops that I would like the best), and he did such a good job matching all of the colors! Unfortunately, all of the bottoms were too big, and all of the tops were too small, but after a quick trip to Sports Authority, I now have a handful of cute running outfits. That afternoon, we went over to Jason and Cheryl's to help Jason get his buffalo wings ready for the annual "Wing Off". Ben and I were both taste-testers (aren't we giving?), and I also helped brush the wing sauce on the freshly fried wings in order to help keep Cheryl from getting sick. She made the comment that I probably would have never guessed that I'd be making wings on my 26th birthday, and she's probably right, but I had a lot of fun helping. Although, I am glad that it wasn't my kitchen that was covered in grease. The wings were delicious, but the mess that they made was a whole other story! With Jason's wings in tow, we headed over to the "Wing Off", which was held at Erica's (a friend that we met through Jason and Cheryl) parents' house. There were about 40 people there, and we had a great time meeting so many of Marc and Erica's friends and family. We also got to try 7 different wings, which were all pretty delicious...except for maybe a couple of them. Unfortunately, we had to leave before they announced the big winner, but before we left, Erica brought out a birthday cake for all of the May birthdays. Everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to Jason, Marc, and me, and after getting some cake to go, we were on our way. That evening, my friends from work took us out to dinner at Garrido's and then to Malverde for drinks. We had so much fun hanging out with everybody, but unfortunately, we had to leave a little earlier than planned because of my headache that just wouldn't go away. I'm not sure if was because of the drinking or the loud music, but either way, I'm pretty sure that it was a sign that I'm getting old. On Sunday, we slept in and then took care of a few things around the house before heading out to my parents' house for dinner. My mom made fried chicken and mashed potatoes (my favorite!), and G made her amazing strawberry cake. Unfortunately, Ben had to leave right after dinner to go into work, but I hung out for awhile with my mom, G, and Holly and ate cake and opened presents.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures this weekend aside from when we came home after going out on Saturday night. It's not our best picture, but I am glad that I least got one on the day that I turned the big 2-6.
Thankfully, I managed to snap one of my favorite fur babies, too -- although I may or may not have had to bribe them with treats in order to get them to "pose".
P.S. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special. I had a wonderful weekend, and I really appreciated all of the calls, emails, texts, and facebook messages. Y'all definitely know how to make a girl feel loved. :)