Saturday, September 10, 2011

My Crazy, Random, Unexpected 18th Birthday!

WHEW.

What a week it has been! School just started Tuesday, and senior year is already off to a super busy start! I've already had my first officers meeting for student government, planned our informational meeting, and hung up posters, I'm moving full speed ahead on college apps, and I'm back to dance full time with seven classes a week!

But the most exciting day of this week had to be Thursday, my 18th birthday! I knew it would be a day to remember, but I never just how unexpected a birthday it would turn out to be...

On Wednesday night I set the alarm on my phone for 5:00 AM and went to bed as usual. Before it was officially even my birthday, my phone beeped and buzzed with messages telling me whenever someone wrote on my Facebook wall or sent me a happy birthday text. I didn't know if getting so many texts would affect my alarm going off for some reason, so I decided to set my regular alarm clock too, just to be safe.

On Thursday morning I woke up and, just I thought, the alarm on my phone did not go off! But the interesting thing was, my alarm clock hadn't gone off either. I quickly looked and my phone and panicked. It was 6:00, a whole hour later than my usual morning routine began! As I put down my phone, I noticed something strange: my alarm clock wasn't even on. I checked the wall; it was plugged in just fine. I was confused, but didn't have time to dawdle- I wanted to look special for my birthday! As I opened my bedroom door, I was greeted by parents in the hallway, who informed me that power in the entire house was out. Oh great, I thought. What a wonderful start to my birthday. Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to dry my hair, I needed a shower. In my pitch dark bathroom, I proceeded to shower, wash my face and hair, and clean my cartilage piercing, with every indication that I would just have to rough it and go to school. I forged on getting ready, even doing my makeup by candlelight!

It wasn't until after I'd finished my makeup that we got a call letting us know that, due to flooding in the cafeteria and power outages, there would be no school. I was getting more and more disappointed by the minute. It was my 18th birthday, and it looked as if I would be spending it sitting at home without electricity! Finally, around 7:30, the electric came back on. Our basement had flooded too, but at least now the sump pump could do it's job and get the house dry!

What started out as a text of "Help me escape boredom on my birthday!" to a friend turned into plans with three of my besties for a day trip to our local mall (It's one of the biggest in the country, and you really need the day to get all your favorite stores in!). While I waited to be picked up, I finished up styling my hair and put on the outfit I had specifically picked out for this special day:
My shirt is by Junk Food and says "Little Miss Birthday" :) 
When my friends arrived, I was greeted at the door with a sweet card and this lovely cake, baked for me by me bestie Elana!
The 4 of us have started a little tradition of surprising each other with cakes on each of our birthdays!
Before we left, we decided to all get a picture together
From left: Lisa, Megan, Me, and Elana!
Finally, ignoring warnings of closed roads and advice to avoid unnecessary travel, the four of us piled into Lisa's car and set off to the mall!

We hit all our fave stores and found some really great stuff! 

We also had some fab photo ops throughout the day...
Just hanging out with Justin for a while...


The MapQuest iPhone app saved us on the way home!
Once I got, dinner was just about ready. In my family, we each get to choose what we want for dinner on our birthday, and it is always followed by homemade cake and ice cream! I loved that the whole family sat down and ate together, since all of our busy schedules don't always allow for it. After dinner, it was time to get ready for dance. I started back on Wednesday, but Thursday was my first ballet class in over a month and it went great!

This year was probably one of the best birthdays I have ever had. What started out as a bleak looking day turned into a great time with my absolute best friends, who I love more than anything, and some quality time with my family! 

If my birthday was any indication of things to come, 
18 is going to be a great year!

2 comments:

Emily said...

It seems like you had a great birthday! Hope the year is great :)

Lauren said...

Happy Belated 18th! I'm glad you're birthday turned out better than expected. It seems like you have some really great friends and family :) Here's to a good year for you!