Hot air AND balloons

I had an EXCELLENT 23rd birthday last weekend, and there are still reminders of it in my room because of my fantastic boyfriend, Andrew! On Thursday evening, I came home to THIS:

There were (and still are) balloons covering the bed and the floor, streamers hung from the walls and ceiling, "happy birthday" posters on my mirror, and confetti all over the place. I have tracked confetti through my entire apartment. There was even some in the bathtub. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my man!

Then, on Friday, my parents and sister came down and we went to The Olive Garden and to the Gateway Mall. Saturday morning rolled around and my family, Andrew and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was really hot, and we both got a little sun, but the flowers were really pretty.

To top things off, Andrew took me to my favorite restaurant, Thaifoon, for honey walnut chicken and we watched Sweet Home Alabama in Cinderella Park on his laptop. He even made me a rainbow cake with homemade frosting on Sunday and gave me a cute pair of earrings, a copy of one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo, and one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music.

Life is so spectacular! I am 23, completely in love with the perfect man for me, have a job that pays the bills, a cute little convertible and a fun apartment to hang out in. What could be more exciting than that? 

Learnin' to be in 23 places

Spring (although it feels like summer) has officially sprung in Utah! Yesterday we put Ruby's top down (I came up with the name while I was sitting at work today) and drove up 45th South, where Andrew showed me this cute little park he calls Cinderella Park. I would have taken pictures, but I didn't have my camera and it was getting dark anyway. It was really cute and had a fun orange "carriage" and a castle to play in. If I were about 15 years younger (a scary thought), I would have been crawling through the tunnels and hitting the slides.

I put this picture of me on here not because it's a spectacular photo (I'm squinty and wearing my puffy coat because Idaho is cold), but because I'm turning 23 this Saturday, and it feels like a more grown-up birthday. Twenty-two was an interesting year -- I had just graduated from college, was still living with roommates and was looking for my big break while interning at a tiny newspaper. It was a birthday filled with "the world is my oyster" thoughts.

But this birthday, I'm a bit more of a realist. Don't get me wrong -- I still have the ambitions of actually sending in my children's book manuscript, starting a magazine and singing in jazz clubs around town. I'm just more grounded and more willing to accept the $300 brake jobs, head gasket failures, apartment lockouts, horrible viruses and expensive doctor trips I've had lately -- because I have so much good in my life, too!

So here's to being almost 23 and still playing with seven-year-olds in the bouncy castle slide, blowing bubbles to a 2-year-old and secretly wanting to build forts out of Lincoln Logs with the other kids. No matter how old I get, I'll still like merry-go-rounds and swingsets and fun little parks with castles and carriages. I'm grounded because I have to be -- but there's always enough sky to keep your head in the clouds for a little while.

Now, if only that Little Tikes castle I played in as a kid was a bit cheaper on Amazon. :)