My 26th Birthday!

I apologize for the quality of these pictures, but every one of them was taken with my cell phone. I'll have a new memory card for my camera in about a week, and my pictures will look much better then!

Anyway, here is my birthday, chronicled in pictures:

Friday night, the day before my actual birthday, Sarah came over. We did all kinds of fun things! We watched The Princess and the Frog...apparently Friday is our new princess movie night. Haha! And I also helped Sarah work on her ballet leg lift.

Sarah even brought me some birthday gifts, including this:
For my excessive cookie-baking storage needs

And those on top are the adorable gloves that we found at Elder Beerman MONTHS ago! Sarah even remembered the same color I said I loved. They are so cute!! We called them mloves. Or glittens.

When Sarah left, it was snowing!! Crazy...

The next morning I woke up and was coughing a lot. So I took a really hot bubble bath while sipping hot chocolate for breakfast :-) Not a bad way to start my birthday!
Then, I decided to let myself listen to some Christmas music while I got ready for the day.
And then I went shopping with mom and Julie for the day. I had some birthday money burning a whole in my pocket!

Our first stop: TJ Maxx: Home Goods. Only my favorite store ever.

I bought a new (and much needed) purse! Here are mom and Julie in the sea of purses.
I chose this one, because it matches some of the plaid stripes on my coat perfectly! And because I love it
Mom then told me to pick out a new wallet as part of my birthday gift. After much deliberation, I chose this one:
After TJ Maxx, it was lunchtime. Mom let me choose the restaurant and I picked Olive Garden. I ordered peach/raspberry iced tea, and chicken scampi. Delicious!
Our next stop was Gabriel Brothers, where I found the perfect pair of boots IN MY SIZE!!! I wear a size 5...hence the capital letters and exclamation points. I love my new boots:
On our way home, we stopped at a huge craft show at my old school. Then we headed home.

When I got home, a surprise was awaiting me in the kitchen:
Gifts from Luke and some of his family members!

From Luke, in addition to the phone that I got a few weeks ago, I got some extra dark chocolate truffles, and this:
I've been wanting to build our Disney blu-ray collection so that we're ready when we have kids (and maybe also just because I love Disney movies ;-)).

From his parents I received:
A little bathtub filled with all kinds of "Twilight Woods"-scented goodies. You should have heard the squeal when I pulled out that little claw-foot tub and saw how cute it was! Haha...I love it! And I love the scent, too!

They also got me this, which has a story behind it:
A few weeks ago when I went thrifting with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, I saw this book and loved it! I love old books. And I also LOVE Little Women. I almost bought it, but at the last second put it back. I was so surprised to open the gift bag and see that book in there! I love it!

I think my cats loved the tissue paper as much as I loved my gifts! We left it out so they could play with/in it :-)
Later in the evening, I went to my parents' house for pizza...
And some mint-chocolate cake...so good

And more gifts!

From Mom and Dad I got:
a beautiful scarf, Cuddl Duds, sweet peanut butter spread from Amish Country, garden gloves and a shovel which I will use a lot next spring/summer, and a memory card for my camera, which hasn't come yet. So you will have to deal with cell phone pics for just a few more days!

And from my sister:
...(You have to understand how much I love anything Archer Farms)
Archer Farms peach pear Italian Soda (Oh my goodness...yum), Archer Farms Raspberry Dark Mocha Low-Fat Lattes (I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they're delicious), lots of shimmery eye make-up, and an argyle sweater. My sister's sort of the argyle queen. Oh, and she also got me a little pack of dairy digestive aid pills, which I saw before the lattes when I was opening the present, and was very confused. Haha! But it all makes sense now. It was very thoughtful of her to include those with the little latte drinks since I'm lactose intolerant!! She thought of everything! Haha

At my parents' house, we watched Toy Story 3 together, since no one had seen it except me and Luke. And I'm sad to say that I cried this time at the end, too. Please tell me I'm not the only one...?

What a great birthday it has been! Although I am not excited to now officially be closer to 30 than 20! Haha...Thank you to everyone who made my birthday special! I feel so blessed!