25

Happy birthday to me. I guess?

I like other people's birthdays much more than I like my own. At least when I'm in this town with literally nothing to do and no one to see.

And Mom is in Chapel Hill for the night because she has big medical tests first thing in the morning, so it's just me and the dogs, TV, and a glass of honey whiskey.

The one upside to the day is that I have gotten a lot of texts and messages from wonderful people and FaceTimes with my two favorite soccer boys, so the day could be a lot worse. I'm definitely very loved.

Truth be told, I don't mind having the house to myself. I get to blast my music as loudly as I want to. :)

Here's to another year. Let's get it!

24 feels good.

And it was a good birthday, too.

First thing this morning, I got up and went back to the Student Health Center to see a primary care doc other than the one I usually see in order to try to get medical clearance for surgery. Luckily, even though my usual doc was being stupid and giving me trouble and then lied to me, this doc was super awesome and spoke to me for like 10 minutes before she decided she thought I'd be fine and would fax over a clearance letter today. (I even confirmed this afternoon that she did it, so yay. No trouble there.)

I came back and ate a quick lunch and then went to a meeting with my buddy August and his boss. I think they're hiring me for a side job, which, I know, like I really need one more thing to worry about, but it's something I'll be good at and I could really use the money. So we'll see how that pans out.

Holly got home a little after 4:30, went to pay this month's bills, and then we went down the block to this Italian restaurant because I was craving their lemon pasta. My throat wasn't cooperating so I couldn't really enjoy it, but it was still good and it was sweet of her to take me.

After that, we went up to Midtown and saw An Act of God on Broadway. Holly surprised me with tickets. It was absolutely hilarious. Granted, as a Christian, there were pieces of it that I found slightly offensive, but I kind of figured that would be the case when I walked in. It was overall so, so good, though. I could not stop laughing. I've loved Sean Hayes, the star, since he was on Will & Grace way back when, and he was perfect in this role. We were a few minutes late because of traffic, so when he saw us being led down the aisle by the usher, he totally called us out. And I loved every second of it.

Then, we came back down to our neighborhood and had a couple drinks.

Finally, around 10:00, August and his girlfriend came over and ate ice cream cake with us. August got it for me for my birthday, and it was delicious. We ate and hung out and talked and I may or may not have rapped for them until about 11:20 when August was about to pass out on our couch.

I also got phone calls from some of my favorite people throughout the day, and like 15 minutes after August and his girlfriend left, Tunji FaceTimed me and we spent like an hour and a half basically just laughing at each other's jokes. It was a perfect ending to the day.

Here's to chapter 25.

So. I turned 23 a few days ago.

I love birthdays. All birthdays, not just mine.

Monday night, I went to dinner at one restaurant and dessert at Spiegel with Holly and her work-friend-who-is-now-also-my-friend Maureen. I had invited several other people but they all had to cancel, and Maureen ended up getting stuck in traffic without a phone to call us, so for a while there, I thought no one showed up to my birthday.

But we ate and we laughed and we shared a bottle of wine and Eddie from Spiegel sang for me even though he hates singing and it was lovely. Holly is taking me to the spa on Monday! Which I am super excited about.

And then there was more drinking and laughter and awesomeness in the apartment until I passed out at about 11:30.

Tuesday was spent, uh, shall we say, recovering from Monday. :)

Yesterday, I was no longer in "recovery" mode, but right off the bat I had a seizure at Spiegel, so I mostly just laid around and watched Netflix all day. Holly has gotten me hooked on the TV show Bones, and considering what a crime drama nerd I am, I can't believe I've never watched it before now.

Today, I went to therapy, which was good. My counselor this time has helped me more in two sessions than the one I had last time did in an entire semester. Then, I went to Kmart and got toilet paper and new headphones, and ended up pretty much getting the toilet paper for free because of Kmart's rewards (yay!). Then it was more sleep and more Bones.

Tomorrow, I should get to hang out with Christian and his girlfriend since they were unable to come on Monday, so I'm really looking forward to that. :)

Yes, Taylor, I, too, am feeling 22.

So uh, yeah, it's my birthday today.  How about that?

Truth be told, I think once you get past 18 and 21, birthdays sort of lose their excitement.  I mean, it's cool and all, but there isn't some special feeling about today.  Today doesn't feel much different than yesterday, aside from the numerous people leaving comments on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and texting me about my birthday and the cards I got from my grandma and uncle.

Anyway, yeah, it's my birthday.  It's been kind of a dud, but that's okay.  I've had some pretty awesome birthdays, and I'm sure I'll have some more.

Today has, surprise surprise, largely been spent taking care of Mom, but I'm thankful that her boyfriend came over for a few hours and gave me a reprieve because the pain has been very bad.  Mom gave me a Percocet not long after he got here and ordered me to go to bed.

I got to talk to Matt, too, which was great because I'm pretty sure this is the first birthday of mine that we haven't spent together since we met.  So that's weird, but it's life.

I did get this in the mail today.  Yes, I know the mail doesn't run on Sundays.  This is just the first time I remembered to check the mail in several days.

The Vespers' new CD!  I bought three copies (via their Kickstarter fundraiser); let's see who I decide to give the others to.

I also decided to treat myself to this.

If I can't have an exciting birthday, at least I can have chocolate wine.

Lastly, today is a special day for a totally different reason.

I pulled out a photo album and found a photo of my dad and me that isn't the same one I've posted here multiple times before...See that grin on my face?  (I was a cute kid, huh?)  I was also happiest in my daddy's arms from the very beginning.  The years that my birthday and Father's Day coincide are weird for me because I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to react.  It's hard to have this ache for someone I never really got the chance to know.  But he was still my dad, and there are things I know. I know that he was my everything.  I know that people called me "Keithina" because I was his mini-me.  I know that Carter-Finley Stadium was his favorite place in the world because he so loved the Wolfpack.  And I know he adored his girls more than anything.  So for that, I celebrate.

I pray I can keep clinging to God in the next year, because I'm definitely going to need it.

Here's to 22.

Birthday Weekend Recap

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Saturday, I woke up at the crack of dawn.  Okay, it was more like 7:45, but still, way earlier than I should have been awake on my birthday.  Eventually, I fell back asleep, though, and woke up about noon.  Mom, Mommom and Blake were at the beach (I was too sunburned to go) and Chelsea was at work, so I had the house to myself for about two hours before Mom and Blake got back.  I was texting Matt on and off, and he showed up right about 3:00 because his parents were out so he had nothing to do.  As soon as he walked in,  he was a Blake magnet, and I tell ya, I always knew my best friend was wonderful, but I had no idea how adorable he was when he gets around small children.  He played with Blake for two hours straight until Mommom got here with Chelsea and he was SO good with him the entire time.  My heart just about melted.

Since we didn't go out to a restaurant, dinner consisted entirely of things I chose: steaks, asparagus bundles, fresh corn on the cob, and my mom's incredible garlic mashed potatoes.  For once, all my grandma had to do was bring over the dessert, which was also my choice - Cheesecake Factory cheesecake: strawberry, blueberry, and chocolate mousse.  Guess which one I picked?

I had two Cape Cods and everyone had some limoncello, which I hadn't had since I was in Rome in 2005.  Funniest line of the night, Matt's immediate reaction to limoncello: "It tastes like the smell of Pine-Sol."  During dessert, Matt's momma, aka my other mother (she's "adopted" me like Mom's "adopted" Matt), came over to see me.  The funny thing is that she and Mom have the same name, except she is Sherri and my mom is Sheri. I thought that was super sweet of her, but what Matt didn't tell me was that she was bringing me a gift!  Then again, Matt may not have known.

It had a bottle of Mary Kay after sun replenishing gel, because she sells Mary Kay and saw my post about my sunburn, and two little bottles of rum.  It was great.  She stayed for about 45 minutes, and of course I had to get a couple pictures before she left.

Excuse the off-kilter shirt.  I'm not the most observant person.  Ha!  After she left, it took 45 minutes to get Blake in bed and Chelsea to leave us alone.  But then, like I said yesterday, we spent the next 3+hours just sitting on the couch like this.

Well, eventually I moved on to my back because my hip hurt, but still.  We just talked.  I showed him the blog post I wrote about him on Tuesday, he told me I was a cheeseball and thanked me.  But after that, we talked.  About God, religion in general, politics, the news (because apparently I'm not the only nerd in this friendship), and our history as friends.  We haven't had a night like this since before he moved to Raleigh in December 2011 right after he graduated college, and it was exactly what I needed and wanted.  It was pretty cute, too; while we talked, he alternated between rubbing my hair and resting his arm on me, and sometimes he'd just randomly lock fingers with mine.  It's great, because we both know I am totally over him, we can be intimate like this without him having to worry about me getting the wrong idea.

(two separate pictures, I'm not so weird that I'd crop one picture just to post it twice)

There aren't words to describe the love I have for this kid, or the love I know he has for me.  He eventually left just after midnight because I knew I had to get up at 5 to get ready for work.  He gave me a peck on the lips goodbye, again something he's never done before and could never do before I stopped having feelings for him, and I thought I was going to bed, but then Brennan called.  Two minutes later, Matt showed back up because he forgot his phone charger inside, and he gave me another kiss goodbye.  Then I spent the next 45 minutes talking to Brennan.  I knew I had to get up at 5, but I didn't care - I will always pick talking to people over sleeping, and we haven't talked in quite a while.  It was so good to talk to him.  He initiated subjects by asking questions, gave me advice and his opinion, updated me on his life, asked me on his own to text or call him after my appointment on Wednesday, and prayed over me before we hung up.  I already believed it before, but this conversation was such good reassurance - I legitimately believe that we both learned from our mistakes last year, and he really is different this time.  He even said that he will make sure we see each other when I come to Nashville, and that he's looking forward to it.  I'm so happy I listened to my heart and didn't give up on him.  The night already felt perfect after spending so much time with Matt, but talking to him was just icing on the cake.

I didn't fall asleep until close to 2 am, and woke up at 5 to get a shower.  I was at work until noon, then came back and hung out with Mom and Blake.  I got to take about a 90-minute nap before Mom needed my help entertaining Blake while she cleaned in preparation for Holly and Michael's arrival.  Chelsea and Mommom arrived just before 5:00, and Holly and Michael arrived just before 6:00.  Because both of them were able to find someone to cover their shifts today and thus did not have to leave until late tonight, we had an easy meal last night: tortellini, leftover corn, yellow rice (which I also love) and broccoli.  My grandma brought over these cheesecake bites that were delicious.  Holly, Michael, and I left just after 8:00.  We had to go to Morehead for them to get bathing suits because we were planning on going to the beach today, but we were back in town by 9:30 and headed to The Icehouse (just a great local restaurant) to have some drinks.  It was Holly's idea to take me out for drinks, which was sweet of her and exactly what I'd hoped for.

Of course, the one night we go out, the bar is completely FILLED with people I went to high school with.  I thought it was going to be super awkward, but it wasn't.  People were cordial, and a guy I know named Tyler even bought me my first drink.

I guess people really do grow up.  :)  I had a Fuzzy Navel (peach schnapps and orange juice), some concoction Holly learned from her time at Ruby Tuesday's called a Relaxer (I couldn't tell you everything that is in it, but it was good), a margarita, a small taste of Jim Beam bourbon, and a Royal Flush (Crown Royal whiskey, peach schnapps, and cranberry juice).  I was feeling good by the end of the night!  Haha!

Some random dude that Michael started talking to at the bar took pictures for us.

Sisters!  We get along so great now.  I love it.  And her.

Michael thinks he's too cool to smile for pictures.  Just kidding!  I love him.

:)  They both took great care of me, the alcohol virgin, the whole night.

We got back around 11:30, and Holly came up with one more concoction she wanted me to try (shh! Don't tell Mom! :p), and we hung out until close to 1:00 when finally, I crashed.

This is normal Michael.  I think he'll fit right in with this family. ;) I didn't even notice he was doing that.

Don't worry, I'm not becoming a big drinker or anything, but I just wanted to do something stupid this one time.  Not many people in this day and age actually wait until their 21st birthday to get drunk for the first time, and I didn't do anything absurd or black out or anything.  Besides, Holly and Michael wouldn't have let anything happen to me, and now I know that I can have a few drinks without affecting my seizure disorder.

Turns out, that much alcohol knocks a girl out.  Aside from getting up to go to the bathroom, I didn't get up until 4:00 this afternoon.  Thankfully, Holly and Michael made me drink enough water last night that I didn't have a hangover headache or anything.  I guess two consecutive days is as long as Chelsea can go without being mean to me, but hey, I'm just happy she didn't cause trouble on my birthday, so today was kind of rough in that aspect but I tried my best not to let it get to me.  I had Brennan's advice in my head, which helped.  Tonight we had Hawaiian baked chicken, asparagus bundles (because thanks to some miscommunication and forgetfulness, we had six bunches of asparagus going into this weekend), the end of the mashed potatoes, yellow rice, and the end of the cheesecake and cheesecake bites.  It was great.  I was pleasantly stuffed.

In other news, I had a pretty bad conversation with my boss today.  While I thought they were being understanding about my disabilities, but they're actually not, so as soon as I get another job lined up, I'm quitting.  I just don't have the time or energy to spend all summer miserable because of these people.  Me being me, right after I got off the phone, I started crying, partially because I was upset that I'm essentially being punished for my disabilities and partially because I knew I needed the money in order to afford a plane ticket to Taylor and Kyla's wedding in November.  But God being God, two really wonderful things happened immediately after that.

First, Chelsea remembered I had gotten a card in the mail.  It was the SWEETEST birthday card from Caitie.  I seriously teared up and smiled so big.  I'm gonna treasure it for a long, long time.

Also, my grandma overheard my mom and I talking about how much I need the money to go to Nashville in November, and she oh-so-generously offered that, if I can't get enough money saved, she has enough frequent flyer miles that she would get me a ticket with those and it wouldn't cost her a dime.  Of course, I want to be an adult and pay for this trip on my own, but it was so nice to have this backup plan.  So it's officially official: I'M GOING BACK TO NASHVILLE!!!!!!!  149 days and counting.

And so ends this absurdly long recap of the past few days.  God has been so good to me.  I have had an amazing weekend surrounded in several forms by people I know love me.  Spending so much time with Matt totally rejuvenated me to face the next two months before Campbell.  Talking to Brennan gave me a new perspective.  All the texts and calls from people reminded me just how NOT alone I really am.  A night out with Holly and Michael gave me a chance to let loose and totally forget my troubles for one night.  My grandma gave me an incredible gift.  The past three days have been filled with more blessings than I ever could have thought to ask for.  God is so good.

I'm ready to see what the next year holds for me.

Pretty Perfect

I know I said that last year was the best birthday ever, but I'm pretty sure this year topped it.  Almost entirely thanks to the fact that I spent 9+ hours with this guy.

Seriously, I didn't realize how much I needed a night like that with him until it happened.  We literally did nothing but sit on the couch for hours, and it was exactly what I wanted.

I got three hours of sleep last night before work, and I haven't had time to update at all today because I've been exhausted and busy helping Mom.  And now Holly and Michael will be here soon, and after dinner, they're taking me out for drinks and dessert.  Chances are likely I'll be drinking enough that I won't want to even think about this computer when we get home, so consider this my post for today.

And I promise, tomorrow there will be a recap of both days of this birthday fun.

But for now, just know that yesterday was as close to perfect as I could've hoped for, and I could not have been happier.

21

About dang time.

Food

presents

time with Matt tonight

It's gonna be a good birthday.

Pictures to come.

It's June. Finally.

I've been waiting for this month to get here for two very important reasons.

1:  My 21st birthday is in exactly two weeks.  It's kind of crazy to think about the fact that this will be the 5th birthday I'll have celebrated since starting this blog, but it is.  Matt, who basically works 24/7, is actually taking time off to come down and see me and take me out, which is going to be very special.  And I've already put in my request for my birthday dinner: instead of going out to a restaurant as a family like we usually do for birthdays, we're having steaks, asparagus bundles, who knows what other sides, and chocolate mousse cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory at our house.  It'll be like 1/3 of the price and it's some of my favorite foods. :)

2:  My appointment with the specialist at Duke's headache clinic is in 18 days.  The importance of this appointment and my impatience for the day to arrive was only reinforced by the fact that I spent all day in bed today.  I had to call out of work, which didn't look very good but couldn't be helped, because I couldn't even open my eyes.  I'm more than ready for another chance to get some answers.

On to tomorrow.  I'm going to work no matter what shape my head is in.  I don't have a choice.  Though I'm praying it'll be at least back to manageably bad by the time I wake up.

Good night.

Hands down the best. birthday. EVER.

I don't know if I've ever had so many amazing things happen in a 12-hour period.

Let's start from the beginning.  I got up at 8, and went to go meet this cute boy at 9:30.

He's the new guy I mentioned yesterday.  He seems really sweet, and he wants to hang out with me again, so hooray for that. :)  We spent like 45 minutes talking before he had to leave to get to work, so I hopped on the metro and went to the Smithsonian station, because I figured that'd be a good popular place to start, even though I wasn't planning on going to the museums (I've never been a big museum person).  When I got out, I just picked a street and started walking down it, and I found this.

This building? WICKED HUGE.  Like, it has seven wings that take up both sides of the street for an entire city block huge.

I took this picture because it reminded me of the Louvre and Versailles in Paris, and then I noticed something in the corner...

Do I even need to tell you what that is?  (For JD, that's the Washington Monument. Silly Canadian. :p)  So, well, I had to go see that.

I don't know how something so simple in design could be so pretty, but it is.  It's just pretty.

A nice soldier took this for me.  He seemed to be there with friends, but he was in uniform, so I kind of knew he'd be nice to ask.

Up next, I saw this guy.  John Paul Jones.  And surprisingly enough, I have to Google him to figure out who he is.  Maybe I know and I just can't remember, but the name doesn't really ring a bell with me tonight.

Then was the World War II Memorial.  I like this one because it has all of the places that had battles on those pillars that form the circle.  I think the design looks really cool.

This is the District of Columbia War Memorial.  I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing this is related to the War of 1812?    

Then, after a long, LONG trek, this fella showed up.  Again, do I really need to say it?  It was so surreal.  Even though I'm sure we visited this when we came to DC as a family, I don't remember it at all, so this was brand new to me pretty much.

A shot of the whole Mall from the top of the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.  Just amazing.

Then I went and saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  My grandfather fought in that war but survived.  I don't know if there's anything more humbling than facing a wall full of the names of complete strangers who gave up their lives to protect mine decades later.

Then, I walked, and walked, and WALKED trying to get back to somewhere where I could figure out how to get back to familiar land.  Finally, some nice man told me how to get to the nearest metro, and I had to walk about 8 city blocks to get there.  So all in all, I made about a 3.5 mile loop, and I'm fairly sure I've never walked that much in one afternoon in my LIFE.

I saw the Federal Reserve building on the way.  I get to tour that on the 27th!  I took the metro back to Dupont Circle, and I stopped by a burger joint that Walter (the new boy) told me I should go to. Then I caught the bus back to Georgetown, and I came back to the apartment to relax for a few hours.  I got back somewhere around 3:00.  

Jody and I left for dinner about 5:10, and as we walked out, she pulled out her phone to text our friend Ben, but he and two of his roommates walked out of their building at that exact time.  We walked to dinner.  More walking, agh!  But really, it wasn't too bad on the way there because it was downhill.  I went back to The Tombs for dinner because it's close and delicious.

This is Tony, Ben, and Jody.  Derek distracted them just as I took the picture, hence Tony and Jody are looking away.  Ben still looks nice, though.  Haha!

This is Derek and me.  He's really nice, and smart, too! :)  I love my new friends.  We've been doing pretty much everything together because Ben, Derek, Jody, and I are all in the same institute.  Rachel and Meera also stopped by for a bit, so that was nice.

Not only did Jody buy my dinner, which was super nice of her, the restaurant gave me this dessert for free.  They even put a candle in it (I told the waitress it was my birthday).  I should've taken the picture before I blew out the candle, but oh well.  Mmmmm.  A hot brownie and cold ice cream.  Delicious.  The hilarious part was that Derek, a nutrition major, was talking about sugar the entire time I was eating it.  Haha!

Then, Ben, Derek, Tony, and I went to a Trivia night that the program was hosting.  Two new girls joined our team.  There were three rounds - sports & entertainment, celebrity identification (and they were all named George), and history & geography & politics.  After round 2, while they were tallying up the scores, the "MC" of the night, Kristen, was going around and letting people tell jokes.  I wanted to tell a really corny joke that Holly's boyfriend Michael told me, and when she brought the microphone over to me, Remley (my ICPES program adviser, like the TFAS version of an RA) yelled out "IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!" so Kristen had the whole room sing Happy Birthday to me. :)  Not only did we win round 3 and I got a T-shirt for it, we won the WHOLE THING! :)  So basically I made $20 (the group got $100 to split, but since splitting $100 between 6 people is impossible to do evenly, each of the other girls took $15, the 3 boys took $50 to go buy alcohol, surprise, surprise, and they said I could have $20 since it's my birthday) for answering some really random questions.  Icing on the cake.

I stayed after for a bit talking to Remley and some of the other staff, and then I hobbled back to my room.  (I really was hobbling by this point.)  I hung out, answered all of the messages people left on my Facebook wall, Skyped with Morgan whom I haven't talked to in forever because she's been in Hawaii for a month doing a study abroad thing - I know, Hawaii's not abroad!, and talked to Michal on the phone for 45 minutes.  Then I took a nice, hot shower, and then I've basically just sat here enjoying not having pressure on my feet anymore.

Also, throughout the day, I got phone calls from The Vespers, who actually sang for me, Matt, Alex, and the family, and texts from various people.  Suffice it to say I felt very, very loved today.  This was the best birthday I've ever had, no question.  And now I'm so ready for bed because it's been almost 18 hours (I'm writing this close to 2:00 in the morning) and I'm exhausted.  My birthday present to myself is that I'm going to stay in bed until whenever my body decides to wake up.  I'm hoping that if I lay in bed long enough, my feet will stop throbbing.

Speaking of my feet, who wants to bring me a bucket of ice?  I'd like to stick my feet in it.

Goodbye, teenage years!

You will NOT be missed.  I am ready for the next stage of my life.  It's officially my birthday, and I am now 20 years old! :D  And I get to spend my birthday in this amazing city.  I'll fill you in on all the details tonight.

Happy birthday to me!

Typical

That was the word I used when describing the day to Matt. 

Typical.

As in, yes it was my birthday, but it was a very typical day in this house.  The state of our house often depends on what mood Chelsea decides to be in.  Well, today, she was all over the place, vacillating between angry (telling me it was her mission to make my day hell) and annoyingly perky (telling me every. single. thing. her boyfriend said to her and repeating stories I've heard ten times already), so it ended up being just like any other day.

I got woken up at 8:20 by a text from my friend/Holly's roommate Carmen.  I was planning on getting up at 9:00, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  We left for the beach at 10:00 and spent a little more than three hours there.  The afternoon was lazy - Blake napped, I played on the computer, Mom worked and picked up the dogs, and Chelsea cleaned.  I would've helped, but it should be illegal to do chores on your birthday. :)  We had dinner with Mommom, Uncle Kirk, Aunt Donna and Bri at a local restaurant and I had a really awesome steak.  Then I came back and just avoided Chelsea.  Matt stopped by at about 11:40 and we stood talking in the driveway for like 20 minutes.  Haha!  Best part of my day, for sure. 

Awesome surprise for the day?  An iTunes lady who was really really nice to me.  Here's what happened: Well, when my computer died, I thought I lost all of my iTunes library on it.  Well, Dr. Google led me to a site that told me how to import all my songs from my iPod onto my new computer.  However, my iPod doesn't hold TV shows, and I had bought a bunch of TV episodes that were in my library that I had no idea how I was going to get to. I emailed Customer Support and sent them all the order numbers as proof that I really had bought them.  Some help lady restored all the shows to my account and allowed me to download them for free!  She also showed me how to back up my library so this never happens again. (I'm technologically stupid. I had no idea you could do that.)  Plus she gave me an extra credit to my account and I got an extra episode.  It was AWESOME.  And a big relief that $36 wasn't wasted.

I have a migraine, so that's all for now.