twenty.

I'm not a birthday person. I'm kind of obnoxious about it too. Wish me a happy twentieth and you'll most likely be treated to a rant about how I haven't done anything in the last two decades or (even worse) how birthdays are overrated and if you're friends with someone you shouldn't need a date on the calendar to tell you to celebrate them. Cherish your friends everyday and all that jazz. I should really be more gracious about that.

Twenty, though. That sounds so removed from me. I'm not this twenty year old. Twenty year olds have apartments and cool jobs and pay bills and live in cities. I'm not there yet. I live in a dorm room. I'm on a meal plan. I don't have a job during the year. Heck, I don't even have a car. The only thing that makes me "independent" is the fact that I'm not physically living under my parents' roof. But I'm still wholly dependent on them in most other ways. I haven't done enough to be twenty. Twenty year olds have done stuff. Important stuff.

Its like how when you were little, high school students seemed so, so cool. And then when you got there, it never felt as cool or exciting as you were sure it would be. Twenty has this connotation of sophistication and independence and energy that I might never live up to.

Believe it or not, my friends still want to be friends with me after having their ears bent out of shape with this constant whinging refrain of mine. And they very sweetly brought me flowers, something I love getting but have few excuses to do so. 

So thank you for everyone who helped celebrate. Thank you especially to the bouquet-bearing Mary, CJ, Harry, Kristi, and Maggie. 

{odds and ends}

I've begun a habit of accidentally collecting things in the front of my purses. Usually it was just a couple things, like plane tickets that I needed to hang onto, maps, etc. But I was looking for a receipt in the purse I use now and I found all this stuff. How exactly I didn't notice this mushrooming collection is beyond me. I was going to clear it out, but its kind of cool to have it all there. Like a little, skewed snapshot of what I've been up to in the last year or so.

-a street map of Paris

-two train tickets

-an info slip for open rehearsal for Gospel Choir

-a ten rupee note (my dad brought it back from his last trip to India)

-a saints bracelet from Notre Dame

-two iTunes/Starbucks music of the week cards

-an El pass

-movie tickets to Super 8 and Deathly Hallows Part 2

-a magnet from my eye doctor

-a slip to reactivate my lost student ID

-a business card from our hotel in Paris

-a card from The Paris Market in Savannah
-a postcard from Prague

-a card from Marie Catrib's (really good sandwich shop) in Grand Rapids

-a postcard from Santa Barbara that I never got around to sending

-ticket from the Noah & the Whale concert I missed

-two hair ties

-a sticker from the blood drive

-a fortune cookie fortune that reads "You will get an offer that will be hard to turn down"

-ticket stub from Billy Elliot on Broadway

-a pin from the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern

and, finally,

-a baggage claim slip from Salt Lake to LAX
It'd be really interesting to see what someone would assume about me based on all this stuff.

{getting splendid post}

i love getting mail. when i was little i used to sit out after school and wait for the mail truck to come, hoping one of my pen pals had written me. i still write people letters, too. And postcards that take months to get halfway across the country. (What is up with the mail nowadays? I sent a letter to Israel--granted, fairly far--and it took four weeks to get there)

i also love surprises. and so it made my day yesterday to come home and find a package from my lovely friend Su, in which she had enclosed these cool tshirts she had gotten at her internship (i think). 

(I don't know what "The Send" is, though. Is it like...a gift? a "God"send? A demand? A band? I could just Google it, but I think I'm going to make up my own story.)

So, I was already pretty psyched about the whole getting-completely-unexpected-gifts in the mail. And then today, it happened AGAIN! 

My grandpa is a wonderful man in many respects, keeping track of dates and time is not one of them. I've gotten three "Happy sixteenth birthday!" cards from him. Usually what happens is whenever we're in Santa Barbara he'll just get us our birthday/Christmas/graduation presents there in one fell swoop. We didn't really do much shopping this trip, but I guess he remembered me pointing out this:

because it arrived in the mail today :) 

Other good things:

I'm going to Savannah this weekend with two beautiful amazing girls and it shall be wonderful.

Only two more days until I have another week off! (never have I been so grateful for out of state youth softball tournaments)

Sidebar: I didn't realize how many people read this...at all. One of my friends was telling me that like six people at her work read this, and I've never even met them! I was under the impression that about two people read this, because I think that's how many people 'follow' me. (However, you, dear reader, are welcome to 'follow'....it doesn't do anything fancy, I believe it just sends you an email when I post and also lets me know who's reading this. Plus then I can give you little shoutouts. Always fun.)

Listening to: Dream a Little Dream of Me--Cass Elliot

{the nice side of the Internet}

Sometimes the world isn't an awful place full of car accidents and heartache and unhelpful Mac technicians and natural disasters and mean eBay customers.

Sometimes its a nice place. Full of celebrations for my mommy finishing her accounting class and my littlies voluntarily sharing and amazing friendships and fabulous take-charge insurance agents.

And sometimes all it takes is something little to tip the balance to good. Today it was this.

I ordered a ring on etsy.com and one day later it arrived, express mail, in cute packaging and with a handwritten note thanking me for my order.

People who are kind to strangers make my day.