Your clothes never wear as well the next day, and your hair never falls in quite the same way

I tivoed Regis and Kelly the other day. Does that make me an old woman?

You start to think of these things when you turn 19 and realize that you only have ONE YEAR left as a teenager. If you know me at all, you know I absolutely LOVE birthdays. It's like your own personal holiday. Growing up, my mom always made a big deal out of them with the "It's Your Special Day" plate with waffles for breakfast, opening up an outfit to wear to school that day, and planning a fun party with all your friends. So, because I grew up learning this mentality, I make a ridiculously big deal out of my own birthday as well as those around me. Seriously, countdowns are involved.

This birthday, I was disappointed to see that my birthday fell on the same day as rush workshop. This was multiplied by the fact that my 18th birthday was spent at Panhellenic weekend, so that's two years in a row that sorority has overtaken my birthday. I had planned for my parents to come for dinner and figured that we would just get a group of whoever could come over to Hill and Graham's Saturday night to watch a movie. Little did I know that my amazing friends were planning a surprise party for me.

What we all learned from this weekend is that I am a difficult person to surprise. I feel terrible for making it so hard for Katie and Margaret to make this thing happen. I guess I just like knowing what the plans are or just go ahead and make my own. Either way (and it's mostly Ben's fault), I figured out that there was something cooking for Saturday night. We had planned a wonderful girl dinner, after which I was going to see Thoroughly Modern Millie (which was excellent, btdub). After, the show, I called Katie and she told me they were "about to pop in a movie." and would wait for me to start it. Ok, I KNEW there was a surprise party at this point. So, I got to 13th Street and acted shocked as my friends popped out of Robert's old room and attacked me with silly string (which Hill loved).

While I may not have been completely surprised, I still loved my birthday celebration. I felt so blessed to look around that house and see the people that I loved come out to celebrate with me. The strangest part was to think that on my last birthday, I didn't even know most of those people. And now they're some of my best friends. It was a wonderful birthday.

I always get the feeling like I'm going to cry around 10 o'clock on my birthday. I don't know if it's because I feel so loved or if I'm sad that my birthday is over, or if I'm nostalgic for the past. But it never fails, year after year.

So, another birthday a success. I have a very exciting next two weeks. Bring on the summer!