Birthday Recap: Episode 3

After making the trek home from Mohegan Sun, I took a quick nap to supplement the 2.5 hours of sleep that I got on birthday eve. That afternoon, I headed to my parent's house for a family birthday party.

There were more flowers:

a delicious dinner, big presents for a big birthday, lots of Superbowl watching and an awesome birthday cake:

The birthday cake from Everyday Auntie was an homage to The List on my blog. There were 56 books including The Secret Garden, there was a pile of golf balls, a Rubik's Cube, all the new foods I tried, the mountain/dune that I climbed, and me writing my memoir.  <---I told you it was amazing!

Turning 30 was not the heinous experience that I expected. Instead, I celebrated with colleagues, friends, and family and it turned out to be an exhausting yet awesome weekend.

 

Birthday Recap: Episode 2

Now that it's been a week since my birthday, I thought I should get around to recapping the rest of birthday weekend.

Saturday was my actual birthday (and ironically, the only day there was no birthday cake consumed). I tried to sleep in, lounged on the couch for a bit, did some laundry then got to packing for the big trip. My friends and I trekked to Mohegan Sun for a night of fun. 

The girls surprised me with a 29+1 shirt and matching Team Amy shirts! We had some wine, ate some snacks, put on fake eyelashes and headed out. We ate at the always classy Bubba's BBQ then hit the slots. I had received a generous donation to my gambling fund from the teachers at work so when K suggested that I try the Amazon penny slot, I was game. The slots confused me! They were all computerized and you had to bet on a number of lines then place a bet per line. With the guidance of the nice gentleman next to me, I randomly hit some buttons. Eight dollars in, I hit the jackpot and earned 15 bonus games. From there my winnings multiplied and after only 3 minutes, I cashed out with $96.90!

We bet a bit more after that but only proceeded to lose money. But I still walked out with more than I walked in with!

Before heading home, we hit up a bar with REALLY loud r&b music. We had a few drinks, people watched, judged the youth of America, and participated in our own Whip Your Hair music video. You see, there was this...person who at first glance I totally thought was a woman (I was not the only one to think this) but actually turned out to be a man with a really long pony tail. And he whipped his pony tail back and forth and back and forth. His pony tail whipped me in the face at one point and I thought M was going to punch him. (She wanted to.)

Mid-whip. And yes, we took like 6 pictures trying to capture the pony tail in all its glory.

It was a fun night. I tried something new and although there was lots of smoking, babies awake at midnight and neck tattoos it was a good time. We didn't hit up the felt table games but that just gives us a reason to go back. 

Thanks to K for planning a wonderful night and to S, O, M and all those who were there in spirit!

 

On Being A Grownup

Now that I am officially a grownup, life has tested me with a series of "grownup" tasks. In the past week, this is what I've learned:

• Being a grownup means being woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of water rushing out of your bathroom ceiling.
• Being a grownup means learning to deal with awkward situations like hanging out in the middle of the night with your landlord in your pjs.
• Being a grownup means calling your landlord in the middle of the night instead of your dad.
• Being a grownup means doing things that scare you...like calling the gym and asking if they found your rings that you took off and left on a machine to avoid finger calluses.
• Being a grownup means taking care of business...like representing yourself at your unemployment redetermination hearing and hoping for the best in the face of a grumpy DUA employee who won't look you in the eye or stop talking long enough to listen.
• Being a grownup means it's okay to reward yourself for surviving scary situations with hot chocolate from Starbucks.
• Being a grownup means driving to the gym to see if just maybe, someone turned in your rings. (P.S. someone did and I've never been so happy! My Celtic braid ring has 9 lives. I lost it at a bus stop once and after an entire day of classes I found it on the side of the road.)
• Being a grownup means understanding that sometimes to fix a leak the ceiling must be removed.

Being a grownup is exhausting.

     

Birthday Recap: Episode 1

Birthday weekend began early Friday morning. There was an impromptu stop at Dunks for a hot chocolate then arrived at school to these beauties. 

The teachers I work with planned an early birthday party for me! There were flowers. There was cake:

Which was delicious...like a brownie with frosting! There were so many cards. Cards from the principal, cards from the class, and cards from every single student. These are some of my favorites:

A dinosaur card
A card for Mr. (instead of Ms.)
A card that opened backwards and said, "Dear [Student Name]
A card that says it's awesome to be 22. <---The kids started singing "are you 1, are you 2, are you 3..." so I stopped them before they started hyperventilating so according to my class I'm officially 22 years old!

And yes...I covered incriminating details with Starburst wrappers.

 

It's Official!

While birthday weekend actually started yesterday, the real festivities begin tonight. Some things you should know:

• Nails will be painted.
• Hair will be did.
• Goodie bags will be given.
• Fun will be had.
• So much fun.
• Drinks will be drank.
• Food will be eaten.
• Money will be gambled away.
• I will win big!
• Memories will be made.
• 30 will be awesome.

And the theme song of all this awesomeness (minus the outfits) is: 

Also, along with an epic birthday recap, updates on The List are forthcoming. AND, you guessed it...a NEW list is on its way!