Best. Birthday. EVER.

Or very nearly so.

I had a birthday recently. I don't know about you, but I think birthdays, especially for single Mormons, are pretty much a let down after 18. I mean, really. 21 comes around and you're either on a mission or don't believe in gambling or drinking (or both... or all three), so big woop. Mine have been pretty uneventful since 18. But this year was different. And it was well documented, as you will see below.

Friday, I decided not to go to work. Correction: Thursday, I decided not to go to work on Friday, so I told my boss as much and she said, "Ok." Some great friends of mine, Brookey, Stacy, Matt, Roy, and Beth, took me to dinner at Chili's on that workless Friday. Freakin' love that place... Brookey and Stacy got me a couple books: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Edit Yourself by Bruce Ross-Larson. Roy and Beth got me Thoughts from the Commode by Michael W. Domis and The Ultimate Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society.

My books and stuff!

Do my friends know me or WHAT?! That day I also went to a Halloween party and got to take home a pumpkin.

My pumpkin, displayed outside my door

Don't worry, I didn't paint it. But that doesn't mean I'm a BYU fan, either. Go Aggies! I might just wash off the paint and carve it the day before Halloween. After the Halloween party, a few of us went to a corn maze. Good times.

Saturday, I slept in, did some laundry, then went to Katie and Jill's to play games.

Sunday, I visited the fam. My little brother got me a stuffed E.T. guy from Universal Studios.

E.T.

He's awesome, as you can see. I used to have a stuffed E.T. as a kid, and I chewed his finger until the fabric got stiff. Gross, I know, but I had to illustrate how much I loved E.T. as a kid. (I also found out that I am one of two of my family members who aren't sick, and a few of those are sick with whooping cough. Added bonus to be healthy, but sad for them.)

Sunday I also went to a wine and cheese party. Ok, a sparkling grape juice and cider and cheese party. Beth and Roy got a little cheese slicer and knife set and while showing it to me, Beth said, "When are we ever going to use these?" to which I replied, "For all those wine and cheese parties you're going to have... DUH!" So we decided the next birthday would get a wine and cheese party. I'm so freakin' lucky. We also decided to dress for the occasion. Matt and Roy came as yuppies, with sweaters and khakis, the girls dressed up, and I even came in a suit and tie with a matching handkerchief. Here's a bunch o' pictures of the occasion. I may have more later...

Our cheese, crackers, summer sausage, and fancy mustard. We had guda, munster, swiss, smoked cheddar, dublinar, and havartti to name a few.

Beth, Sarah, and Jill

Matt enjoying some wi... I mean, grape juice

The whole group

Roy, who hasn't had carbonation since he was in middle school, couldn't get enough of the sparkling cider and grape juice. He sorta passed out with the bottle there...

Then Monday, I came to work with a little birthday card on my chair with a gift card to Best Buy inside. You can see it in the picture with the books above, along with ANOTHER gift card from Katey to Barns & Noble. I also decided I needed to get a hair cut. It's been 4 months coming, and I had the girl cut more than half of it off. Not really birthday related, but there ya go... Here's the before and after shots.

Pretty sweet birthday, huh? And Halloween is still coming up! Woo hoo!