A Golden Birthday

My birthday was quite a happy day!  I got to continue the celebration with more people that I love, and it was a lot of fun.  I walked out Wednesday morning, and Claire had left a box outside my door.  I went over to her room and opened it with her there.  I got these super-cute pajama pants from JCrew, and they are so comfy!

At lunch, I got to eat with Claire, my cousin Anna, and Katie was in town from Nashville.  It was such a treat to share this day with them.  We ate at Smash Burger, which is my new favorite place.  I would highly recommend it!

{Claire, Me, Katie & Anna}

All day, I got text messages, Facebook wall posts and phone calls wishing me a Happy Birthday.  That really meant the most--I love hearing Happy Birthday!  :-)  

I was just so thrilled to spend the day with some of my favorites and to hear from everyone else.  I totally forgot about presents.  I was really blown away.  My friends and family gave the most thoughtful gifts, and  I have lots of thank you notes to write!  (Totally not complaining one bit about that!)  I got lots of gifts for running--I guess that means I'll keep doing it.  I mean, looking cute for winter running is half the battle, right?!  

My whole family took me to dinner that night, and I started out at my parents' house to open even more presents with just the four of us.  Troy is home for Thanksgiving, and it was so fun having him celebrate with me.  

{Troy was super pumped to give me the penguin pillow and red blanket!}

{Dad & Troy at Dinner--don't they look alike?!}

My aunt & uncle just moved back here (yay!), and my cousins were in town this week for Thanksgiving.  We don't typically celebrate my birthday on the actual day all together, so this was quite a treat!  Papa and Jonita came to dinner, too, and it was so much fun.

I loved having my family together to celebrate, and we got to see everyone again the next day for Thanksgiving.  My fam is so great about separating the birthdays and holidays!  My mom's birthday is right around Christmas, and we always do something separate for her birthday, too.

Adam had to work on Wednesday, and he'd prepared me that he'd probably have to work Thanksgiving Day as well, but he wouldn't know until late the night before.  It was a great ending to my birthday to find out that he didn't have to work on Thanksgiving and could come hang out with my family.  

From start to finish, November 24 was a great day.  Golden, in fact.  

Here's to year 24!