Birthdays, Karaoke, and the Beach!

Birthday Sunset!

Day 3 with the girls was my actual birthday! I still can't believe these girls planned this huge birthday surprise just for me. My friends are the best, best, best! :)

We stuck with five girls so we could all fit in one car, because the rest of the week, we went to the beach!! :)

So in the morning, we slept in a little, then got up and resumed the routine--talking, laughing, being silly...it was great. As people started taking turns showering and getting ready, April decided we needed something to eat the rest of Janna's amazing syrup with, so she started the french toast mission. :) It was delicious! We stayed busy, packing everything up, making menus and a shopping list for the beach, getting food together, cleaning up, and chatting away. The girls gave me the Wii "Glee Karaoke" game for my birthday, so you KNOW the Wii came with us to the beach so we could sing! That's what happens when a bunch of former show choir girls get together. :)

We packed up the car (first mine, then switched to Janna's because it was bigger), and headed out. After a detour that resulted in my sweet puppy coming to the beach with us instead of staying with my sis, a quick stop by the LDS temple so the Mormon girls could see it (since we were in the neighborhood anyway), and a shopping trip, we were on our way!

Two hours later, we arrived at the ADORABLE little beach house April had rented for us. Seriously--soooo cute! We got to work cooking up our awesome dinner of fish tacos (I still have soooooo much tuna to use up from last summer's trip!) and Janna's veggie rice while we all practically ate our weight in watermelon. :) It was awesome!

After dinner we decided a walk was in order, so despite the gray skies, we headed across the street to check out the ocean (did I mention our little beach house was LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE OCEAN??? Good job, April!). We walked around the adorable little town of Depoe Bay and took a bunch more pictures (of course), then headed back to the house for some Glee Karaoke. :) I mean, really, what's a birthday without a little karaoke with some of your besties, right? ;)

A preview of things to come...

Our cute, cute, cute beach house--we had the whole top floor!

Across the street from our house!

On the phone with my cute parents!

So we sang the night away, polished off the rest of the cake (we brought the cake Amy brought out at the restaurant with us to the beach), and then stayed up waaaaay too late talking, as per usual. :) It was seriously a super wonderful birthday--thanks, girls, for coming out to spend it with me! Love you all so much!

"Happy Birthday to Me!" Or "Wait...WHAT?!?!?!?!"

So, last week I turned 30. Yep, it's true. And to be honest, I don't really care too much about no longer being in my 20s. (I think if I were single at this point I'd be freaking out, but I feel like I'm in a pretty good place right now with lots of good possibilities open for the future, so I'm good for now.) Nevertheless, who doesn't want to do something fun to celebrate their birthday? Especially when it's a milestone birthday, right?

The truth is, I hate planning my own birthday. I don't know why, but it bums me out to have to plan and organize it on my own, probably because it usually ends up with me spending half the day working and cooking and cleaning or whatever. I spent a lot of birthdays over the past 15 years or so at camp, which are fun, but mostly just work. And I have had some great birthdays, but I've also had some less than stellar ones. This one, however, blew all the others out of the water.

A couple days after my surgery in May, my best friend April called to check in and see how I was doing. She said, "I want to make you feel better. So...are you ready? I'm coming for your birthday!" She had called me a month or so earlier and told me she wanted to come up and visit. We discussed options for when would work best, then she asked about coming up for my birthday, and I thought that sounded great. When I didn't hear more about it for a few weeks, I thought that idea must not have panned out, so I was pretty excited when she told me she was coming! What better way to celebrate turning 30 than with your best friend from forever, right?!

At that point I was still totally cracked out on pain meds, so a day or two later when I was talking to my sister about her coming, I realized she was coming on the night my sister and I had planned to go to the Sara Barielles concert. Amy had told me not to worry about getting tickets, so since it was happening just two days before my birthday, I figured that was my birthday present, and was so excited--we saw Sara in September and she was INCREDIBLE! But now I was worried, because I knew the venue was a concert hall with seats--not a General Admission kind of show. So I was a little freaked out that she would be there and wouldn't have a ticket, and I mentioned that to Amy. She just smiled and said, "Don't worry about it."

As July started to get closer, April mentioned she wanted to spend a few days at the beach. She even started researching beach houses to rent and sent me links to look at. I thought it was funny that the one coming to visit was planning the trip, but truthfully I was so busy that I didn't think too much about it.

Since April was coming into town, I requested Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from work so we could hang out and play (especially since I have gobs of vacation time saved up!). I was so, so excited to see her, since we hadn't seen each other since October, and I've been through a lot of craziness and hard times and ups and downs since that with the new boyfriend and everything else.

A week or so before she was due to get to Portland, my sister told me she was just going to pick April up at the airport. I thought that was a little weird--why wouldn't I want to pick my best friend up at the airport? But she explained that she would be getting off early that day, and since she works right by the airport, it made sense that she could just pick her up on her way home. I checked in about it with April, and she said that made sense to her, too, and Amy had mentioned it to her and it would be fine.

So July 19th FINALLY rolled around, and I got off work early, raced home to let Allee out and finish cleaning up my apartment for April to come, changed into cute clothes for the concert, and raced over to Amy's. April's flight was getting in at 3:05, and so I texted Amy to make sure she was still good to pick her up. At 3:30, she texted me and said she was just getting off work, but she was headed to pick her up and she'd see me at her house in a bit. I was a little confused about why I hadn't heard anything from April, especially since Amy was a half hour late getting her at that point, but I didn't really think too much about it in my rushing around. Now that I think about it, when April called on my way to Amy's, she said, "We're just sitting around, catching up with Amy and Ster."

I got to Amy's around 4:30ish and found April and Amy chatting in the living room. We hugged and started talking, and after a few minutes, Amy got up and left the room, and April said, "So, I found something in the Salt Lake Airport that reminded me of you, and I just HAD to bring it for you!" All the sudden there was yelling and a rush of blond hair and this:

VALERI!!!!!!!!

I was SO confused. First I thought it was my sister, but then it wasn't, then I was just thinking, "Wait...WHAT?!?!" So once I got over the initial shock, we were jumping around and laughing and hugging, and then we sat down and started talking while I was adjusting to the fact that not only was April in Portland, but Val was, too!!! :) Happy day! April told me that she had flown through SLC so that she and Val could be on the same flight, and they both planned to come as a surprise. Amy had gotten up and left the room again, and while April was explaining, I heard someone start singing, "Happy Birthday to you..." and peeking around the corner, there was:

JANNA!!!!!!!!

So I think at this point it's fair to say that I was MASSIVELY confused, as I stood there with my hands over my mouth thinking, "Wait...WHAT?????!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!!" There was lots more hugging and laughing and jumping around, then April continued to explain what was going on. Apparently April and my sister had been plotting for a long time to put this together! They told me Janna had been visiting her in-laws in Spokane, so when they planned this, they just decided she would drive over and pick them up at the airport on her way into town and meet me at my sister's house (hence why April wasn't too concerned that Amy got off work later than anticipated). Then the best news of all came, that all three of them were staying all week and we were all going to the beach together!! :) Hooray!

My sister then piped up and said we all needed to get ready to head to dinner and the concert...and she had gotten tickets for everyone (well, actually my dad bought them for everyone--he's the BEST!! Thanks, Dad!), so we were all going! Everyone got dressed up (the above photos are actually recreations of the surprise while we were getting ready), and then headed downtown for dinner.

There is obviously more to this story, but it is bedtime for bonzo, so this will have to be continued (probably after this weekend). :) Safe to say, though, my friends are the BEST!! In the meantime, here is my re-created surprised face (ridiculous!):

Let the tagging begin! :)

I've had a blog for like five minutes and I already suck at updating it! Argggh! My new resolution will be to update it much more often than I have been. And I did so well at first! Oh well...

The real reason I haven't been writing is because I'M ON VACATION!!! :) And there will be MUCH more to come as an update there, but not tonight, because it's ridiculously late and my sister and I have to get up and drive back to Denver in the morning. But I will do this:

I'm new to the blogging game, but evidently Renee "tagged" me...which I'm assuming means I'm supposed to do this, too. So here goes, and sorry if my answers aren't very good...lack of sleep will do that!

3 Joys - #1 - My family. Seriously, just like with any family, we have our moments of driving each other nuts, but the last few days at my parents house have been awesome. :) It's so nice to have people who are always there for you, even if they do make you a little batty sometimes! Mostly they're just amazing, amazing people, and I'm sooooo blessed that they're my family. #2 - Friends. The more I think about the amazing people in my life, the more I realize how blessed I am! God has put so many awesome people in my life, and I've learned soooo much from my friends. In college I learned all about the philosophy behind different kinds of friendship, and I know I have a lot deeper friendships with more people than many ever get to experience. There is nothing that can brighten my day more than a letter or an e-mail or a quick chat with a friend (or sometimes a long one...sorry, April!), especially when I'm having a tough time. And more and more I'm realizing what a blessing my girlfriends are, and how much I need them in my life (thanks, girls!). I'm a lucky, lucky girl. #3 - Music!! I have always loved music!! There are certain songs that, no matter how crappy my day is going, they always make things better. I LOVE to sing--I have literally sung for upwards of 15 hours making cross-country road trips by myself, to the point where I arrive at my destination losing my voice because I've been singing anything and everything the whole way. I sang and danced and did so much with music in high school that I got a little burned out and didn't do a lot with it in college (I did sing in the choir for a couple years and took guitar lessons all the way through), and one of my major regrets is that I didn't do more with it.

3 Fears - #1 - Not figuring out what I'm supposed to do with my life, AKA, THE FUTURE. I know God is calling me to something awesome that can be used for the good of people around me, but sometimes I feel SO lost trying to figure out what that is!! I hope I can figure out how to best use my skills and talents to make me happy, be able to support myself, and make a positive difference in the world. #2 - Getting "stuck." I know that sounds silly, especially since I'm such an advocate of "if you don't like it, try something else!" But it seriously does freak me out. What if I get stuck in some dead end job that I hate? What if I don't end up in a place I enjoy? What if my life stays in this weird stagnant place it's in right now? I know I have control over changing these things, but still...scary. #3 - Losing someone I love, especially my family or close friends. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since my friend Austin died a few weeks ago (right after that I had a dream that it wasn't Austin, but my best friend and boyfriend, Erik, and it was horrible). I know that this isn't the end (the best is yet to come, right?), but selfishly, it hurts when we lose people.

3 Goals - #1 - To be in better shape (and probably to lose weight, too). I was doing SO well, and then I got in a car accident in August (I got rear-ended) and ended up with a wicked case of whiplash that I'm still trying to recover from. Then in April I tore all the ligaments in my ankle. So these two injuries have made being healthy and in shape pretty difficult, and it's driving me crazy!! I can't wait until I'm cleared to start running again. #2 - To figure out what's next, and to stop being scared of taking risks and next steps, whether this means moving, going back to school, finding something that fulfills me, etc. This is the year to do it! #3 - MUSIC!! I have put this aside for TOO long!! I really want to work on playing my guitar and singing A LOT more, and I want to learn to play the piano. I also really want to sing the Nat'l Anthem at some sort of sporting event. I'm not sure why this is my current focus, but it is. I think it would require some major bravery on my part...maybe that's why I want to do it, to prove to myself I can.

3 Current obsessions - #1 - Jodi Picoult books. I LOVE this author!! I first read "My Sister's Keeper," which is amazing, and I've read about 10 of her other books now. I can't put them down, and there's always some twist at the end. I love to read, and her style is great! (Although honestly, I'll read anything, and I'm ALWAYS looking for book or author suggestions. Hint, hint.) #2 - Horseback riding. I used to teach Western riding lessons, and for some reason it's all I can think about lately. I hadn't ridden in FOREVER, but my sister and I went last night!! And it was GLORIOUS!!! There's just something about flying down the road on the back of a horse that makes you feel so free. Hopefully last night's ride will help tame that desire for a little bit. :) #3 - LOST! Erik and I watch this show faithfully (practically the only show I see with any sort of regularity, thanks to my crazy schedule), and it's been our weekly date for the last two years. It is a CRAZY show!!!

So, there you go. Now it's waaaaaay past my bedtime...and I tag...um...April and Audri and whoever else wants to do it! :)