Birthday.

Well, Birthday 2008 is finally over, and I am 22. I feels about the same, except suddenly I am falling asleep around 12, 1 a.m. and waking around 9. I am apparently aged ten years in one week. It is a terrible feeling.

My birthday itself was way fun. Well, actually, it started a little bit awkwardly.

I woke up and went to look at this Mixte frame bike--it wasn't a great bike, but it was only $125, and I don't have a Mixte, so I thought it would be fun, but I had to make sure my mom would buy it for as a gift since I didn't (and don't) have an extra $125 at the moment. But I thought it would be awesome to have two road bikes to fix up (Eileen could use a friend,you know). Eileen is a poorly converted ten speed to single speed, which essentially means they simply removed the gear shifts and derailler--and this Mixte frame was pretty much exactly the same thing. For a moment, I had dreams of having a ten speed AND a single speed AND a cruiser.

Anyways, I met up with my mom and brother for brunch at Magnolia Café where we had an incredibly friendly water boy. By incredibly frienly, I mean he introduced himself to me, wished me happy birthday, and kept my coffee cup full to the brim (I was nearly shaking from caffiene by the end of the mean), saying, "Here you go, Teeney," everytime he refilled it. After we introduced ourselves, he said, "Well, how old are you turning? 22? Well, maybe we can do something to celebrate later." WTF? What am I supposed to say? I'm with my MOM for fuck's sake. I mumbled some reply that didn't blurt out the fact that I was going to get drunk to celebrate (hey, someone has to protect my mom from the truth). Anyways, the entire meal, anytime he can catch my eye, he gives me this giant smile, and then, at one point, he WINKED at me. What?! I've NEVER been winked at in any form of seriousness before. It was weird. Then, he brought me a complimentary cup of hot cocoa (I guess since I was drinking hot coffee, he figured I didn't mind hot drinks when it's 100° outside). He kept this ridiculous level of "flirt" up the entire time. But really, that kind of flirting will never work on me for a number of reasons:

1.) You know it's my birthday, and for all I know, you're humoring to make sure I have some flattering story to tell on my big day.

2.) You could do this to any girl who comes in, for all I know. It's not hard, and as some one who's done my share of waiting tables, I know it can significantly increase tips. Hell, I flirted with any guy (without a girl) who sat in my section. It makes more money.

3.) My mom is right there. RIGHT THERE. If you something along the lines of "Maybe we can do something to celebrate later," in front of my mom when I don't even know you, what are you going to say in front of her once we've gotten all chummy? I don't even want to know.

Anyways, after this, my mom called the girl about the Mixte frame, and she'd sold it. Damn, oh well--wait, she realized she needed birthday presents for me, so we went shopping. The present I've drooled over the most since getting it is the She & Him album on vinyl. That format just really suits the album, and the album is so good, and I've really just playing it over and over again. It's wonderful.

Anyways, after shopping, I came by work, where I was supposed to meet up with Kacy for a quick birthday drink, or whatever. I came into the store, and there was no one there, and for a second, I was completely puzzled. Suddenly, everyone who works downstairs jumped out from behind the counter, shouting "Happy Birthday!" It was awesome, and caught me totally off guard. Then, they presented me with a cake and gifts. The cake was by Kacy's boyfriend who is a pastry chef, and was mightily delicious, and the gift was a pair of Ornamental Things earrings I'd been ogling for a while, and new replacement streamers for Dolly, since Kacy had broke my last pair. I was all smiles, and almost cried. Aw. Thanks, guys. :)

Looking at the clock, I realized I was running behind schedule, and was suddenly terrified I'd be late for my makeup appointment. I rushed home, showered, threw on my black B. B. Dakota dress, and drove to my appointment as quickly as possible. I arrived right on time, and sat foto get beautified. I needed new make up, and the plan was to go ahead and get the makeup as a gift, and get my free makeover. It was awesome. I looked fucking hot.

Ran home, did my hair, and collected the fam and Fidel for dinner at Manuel's, which was fucking delicious. They even gave me free flan. I almost died. Back home for cake and presents, before heading out to Trudy's for my free Mexican Martini, where I met up with Fidel, Adrien, Emily, Erin, Andrei, Corey, and his brother Dustin. We had some drinks, I was feeling good, and we transitioned over to Barfly's, Erin giving me a ride on her adorable scooter.

Unfortunately, this is where the night sort of fell apart. I ran into a girl I know, Jessica, at the bar, and mentioned it was my birthday. She told the bartender, and before I knew it, I had a full glass--not a shot--of Jameson standing in front of me. I'd had too many drinks to say no, even though I knew it was probably a bad idea... and I drank it down. My immediate thought was, that was probably a bad idea. Next thing I know, Fidel's driving me home, and I'm vomming out the window, all over my arm, then I woke up in my bed in a t shirt and undies. Fidel was sleeping on my loveseat (Really?! The loveseat?). I was still wasted, and wonderfully enough, managed to rehydrate before sobering up. Aside from the vomming, it was a birthday of win.

I came back out to flips for some much needed coffee, and chatted with Esther, before driving over to my parents' to do whatever it was that needed doing there. Corey, with whom I'd made informal plans to go canoeing with the night before, called. "Hey... I was just calling to see if you were still wanting to canoe today." "Uh... I'm not sure I can do any canoeing." Turns out, he was in the exact same boat that I was (Hahaha!!!! I'm hilarious), and we decided, instead, to go to freeswim at Barton Springs instead.

He picked me up at 8:30, presenting me with a Stevie Wonders - Greatest Hits LP (fuck yeah!), and we swam. I resisted his efforts to get me to go off the diving board, and he resisted the urge to run in the sprinkler that was set up. We stopped back by flips (apparently, this is where I spend all my time these last few days before the semester starts), had some beers (I was surprised that I was able to drink so soon after my vomtastic night), and then he took me home. It was a lovely, low key night.

That was the birthday celebrations. Too much fun. :)

Last night was Andrei and mine's joint birthday party. It was good and low key, but I got super tired around 1. I escaped to the front porch for some quiet... and promptly fell asleep on the porch couch, waking up (and pretending I'd been awake) when Bryan came outside. I figured it was time to go home if I was falling asleep, and left my own party around 1:30, went home, and fell dead asleep.


And that was the official end of things.

But Andrei's birthday is Monday, and who knows what will happen?



Stay tuned for an exciting photo update tomorrow!