Birthday, birthday, birthday

Quarter of a century. Yep, I'm getting old. And yes, I decided today was my day to return to the blogging world. I know internet, you've missed me. My twitter updates just aren't enough to satisfy your curiousity. Completely understandable. I lead an exciting life...every single minute. I mean, in all honesty, I should probably give you a daily play by play because my life is THAT exciting. But, dear internet, I've always been told that you've got to leave a little to the imagination. So, sorry, no play by play. But don't you worry, I'll let you in on the big, exciting happenings.

In any case, you've missed big, exciting happenings in my life for the past 3 1/2 or 4 months. Tragic, really. See here's the thing. I felt bad that I hadn't given a thorough update about my time spent in Africa (and I feel even worse that I haven't given that update to the people who supported me), so I felt guilty writing about anything else in my life when you didn't yet know about Africa. But I've come to terms with things...the Africa letter is still being written (slow and steady wins the race, right? I'm looking at this letter from a turtle's point of view thankyouverymuch), but in the meantime, life has gone on. And I need documentation of this life of mine so that someday when I'm rich and famous (hey, it could happen!! I just have to get really good at something...suggestions???) someone can write a biography about my life and use this here blog as a reference. It's a brilliant idea. Really and truly.

So...where to start, where to start. Shall I give you a snapshot of the past 3 1/2 - 4 months? Okay here goes (I feel like if I were saying this out loud, I should have to do it all in 60 seconds or less...so when you read this, read it really fast so you get that effect!).

-Spent a weekend in Pittsburgh and saw my awesome friend Jana, her husband Ryan and their adorable little boy
-Flew to Texas...twice (first time ever to Texas!)
-Went to the rodeo for the first (YAY FOR MUTTON BUSTERS!)
-Went Texas Two-Steppin' for the first time (kinda loved it)
-Saw my best friend from Ohio for the first time since Labor Day
-Spent my birthday with the world's cutest, most adorable nieces
-Spent a week with my parents when they visited in March
-Had a successful garage sale (hey, this was exciting for me!)
-Was a model in a photoshoot for work (just waiting on the modeling agencies to call...ha!)
-Worked an event at the sports complex where I got to see a bunch of NFL players, Olympic athletes, etc.
-Went kayaking (it's kinda one of my favorite things to do here in Florida...no lie)
-Watched a few cheerleading competitions (not gonna lie...it was eerily similar to "Bring It On")

Okay, I think that covers quite a bit. So you basically get the idea. And oh yeah...I worked a bunch because that's what I do. And I'm pretty good at it (even in all my modesty).

Sooo now that you're caught up (don't you feel better? Like more complete? I thought so), let's talk about birthday. I'm not even gonna fib and pretend that it was exactly how I expected it would be...in fact, it was quite a bit different. But, I had some really refreshing, wonderful moments today. This morning I opened my door to find that my friend Ryan (who I shall now refer to as the Birthday Fairy), had left a gift for me on my porch. I got an awesome Buckeyes tank and a Gator toothbrush (yes, 2 team paraphernalia that should not be intermixed...shame shame). I got to spend the day with my beautiful and funny nieces who I don't get to see nearly enough. While I was sitting outside one of the rides waiting for my family, a lady next to me started up a conversation with me and was honestly one of the nicest ladies I've ever met. She was so sweet and so talkative and when I got up to leave wished me all the best. Got a bunch of great bday wishes from friends and family. And finally, my roommate joined us this evening and spent the rest of the night at Epcot with us and now I'm getting ready to watch SNL (which I haven't watched in far too long) with some friends (what's better than ending the day with laughter?!?).

So there you have it. Caught up. It's almost like I never left!! I make no promises, internet, that I won't leave you again for an extended vacation, but I'll bring my A-game and try to commit to you.

Oh, and the best birthday gift I got? Probably the saweeet farmers tan and sunburned lips. It's hott (and hot).

Saturday Night Live time. Bye friends.

5 Funny Years

Today is my beautiful niece Britony's 5th birthday. I am blessed to be her aunt and to have spent the past 5 years watching her grow. She's a joy to be around and a little girl full of spunk and energy. She's inquisitive, creative, and loving. I still remember standing in my dorm room my freshman year of college in complete shock as my sister told me over the phone that she was pregnant. I remember watching Britony waddle as she learned to walk. I remember our nonsensical babble conversations on the phone. I remember our first trip to Disney World and how enamored she was with it (and she still totally is!!!). I remember her hugging me at the Detroit airport and telling me she was just going to get in my suitcase to go back to Florida with me. I have so many great memories over the past year that include this amazing little girl. I can't wait to continue to see her grow and develop into a beautiful young girl.

Happy Birthday, Britony!!! I pray that you would grow in the love of Christ and know that you are forever loved.

Some pictures of my favorite 5 year old.

Goofing off on the front porch of Grandma and Grandpa's house.



Obviously I'm their favorite aunt, right? :)


She teaches me how to be gangsta.


Candy cane in the hair...oops! Grandma to the rescue!



Okay, everyone make normal faces. Yep. Just like that.


Ready for Safari.


Flying high in a balloon! She's a daredevil!

The Quick Birthday Synopsis

I was planning on writing about my whole weekend, but I haven't had the motivation. So here's the quick synopsis. I was very excited to have my mom come visit me for my birthday/Easter. Unfortunately, I came down with one of the worst colds I've had since senior year of high school. No, really. My throat was aching Thursday night and most of Friday and I had very little voice on Friday (my birthday).

However, it was still a great weekend. Spent lots of time hanging out with my mom and having fun. I got a cute Vera Bradley purse from her and my roommate got me cute Vera Bradley flip flops and a towel. We saw a good movie, Sunshine Cleaning, on Saturday night. Sunday morning we went to Easter Worship at church which was absolutely beautiful and then enjoyed a nice boat ride in Winter Park.

Today, I headed back to work (after taking mom to the airport...two hours in the car this morning!!). And now I've spent the entire day coughing up a lung. Maybe I'm stuck with whooping cough the rest of my life? Let's hope not!!

Looking forward to this weekend for the Orange & Blue Game in Gainesville with Ryan, Rachel, and Rebekah and painting pottery on Sunday to celebrate my birthday with friends!

Okay, that's the synopsis. Thanks for reading.

Hard Rock Life Party!

Last night we celebrated Melissa's birthday with a party at Hard Rock Hotel. The Hard Rock Hotel is absolutely gorgeous! We had 2 deluxe rooms that were beautiful and HUGE! We were waiting for everyone to get there and get organized so a few of us played a couple rounds of Nerts. Tidwell and I make an awesome Nerts team (although on our few rounds we played this morning, we were easily beaten by the Leonard Sister Duo). After we got all organized we headed down to the pool to play on the slide and watch the Dive-In movie. Unfortunately, they shut down the slide because of the movie :( So we hung out in the jacuzzi for a while but then decided to head over to Portofino to use their pool and slide. Way awesome!! We had the lifeguards timing us racing down the slide. I also decided, for safety purposes, that it was necessary for me to wear a lifejacket down the slide. I did not want to drown in the 3 foot deep water. ;) When I took the lifejacket off for my next round down the slide, the lifeguards were impressed with my quick ability in learning how to swim and told me that maybe I could learn to be a lifeguard next. Oh if they only knew how I spent my summers in high school. I could show them a thing or two ;)

We finally made it back to our room and in bed around 1:00 a.m. (after Tidwell and I enjoyed the iPod dock they had in the room and played some great tunes for our room for a while. We'd make good DJs. It's true.) and then got up bright and early this morning for Birthday Breakfast at The Kitchen at Hard Rock. Soooo good. Unfortunately, there was no Woody the Woodpecker there though :( Buttt, after breakfast we headed over to Islands of Adventure with our swimsuits on ready to conquer the water rides. Annnd, guess who we saw! Woody the Woodpecker in his Safari gear! So, of course, we took a picture. Then we spent the morning using our ExpressPasses (heck yes!) to hit up Popeye's, Ripsaw Falls, and Jurassic Park. I think Ripsaw Falls and Popeye's were my favorite. On our last round on Popeye's we were standing in line and the family behind us started asking me if we were all wet from going on the ride over and over again. I explained to the family that we had in fact been on the ride multiple times, but that we got soaked the very first time. In her southern accent she responded "oh well, I'll dry off" I think she was trying to grin and bear it because she and her husband had their teenage son and his friend with them and they wanted them to have fun. They get on the ride with us (It holds like 12 people at a time), and we go down the first hill and they get SOAKED. We were laughing so hard, but they were good sports about it. I could tell they were from the south, they were so laid back about it (wow, that was definitely a stereotype, but a good one, I swear!! They were cool people, I would have hung out with them for the day).

Anyhow, now I'm just lounging a bit before I head out with some friends to the Boardwalk and Animal Kingdom Lodge for night vision animal watching. It should be fun! I love eventful weekends.

Andddd....Monday night is OneRepublic and Dave Barnes!!! So stoked. :)