Birthday!

Today is my 24th birthday! Eeeek! I can't belive I'm 24... I mean, aren't I still a teenager? I apparently still look one lol. That's nothing to complain about though :)Here's what I've done so far on my birthday: Nursed Sam quite a few times, changed quite a few diapers, pumped and froze some milk, been both peed on and spit up on, watched Teen Mom that I recorded last night, and ate a turkey sandwich with a banana and peanut butter on the side. Woo! The exciting life of a mommy! It's been a good birthday though :) I've been enjoying reading all of the birthday wishes on my Facebook wall, some have even made me all teary eyed. I miss all my family and friends from home so much! In 3 weeks Sam and I will be making the long drive up north to spend some time with my parents, and hopefully we'll be spending at least one day in Annapolis with friends! :)

I've been thinking today of all my past birthdays. I actually haven't spent a birthday at home since my 15th! I remember all my birthdays... it's always been such a huge deal for me. Going backwards:

23- James and I spent the day before my birthday in Wilmington, NC. Toured the USS North Carolina and had an awesome dinner at a Tapas place. The actual day of my birthday James made me dinner when he got home from work and I made cupcakes.

22- Babysat in the evening and then went out in downtown Annapolis with Margaret. Nobody else was able to go out that night so the two of us went alone. We had a good time ;) The next week everybody else could go out so we went downtown to celebrate both mine and Scali's birthdays. We wore matching wristbands and took pictures pretending to be tourists. (We're cool like that) A guy at Federal House tried to hit on me. "I'm a pro-golfer" he slurred at me. I said, "Cool. My boyfriend is a Marine" and he went away. lol

21- Well... margaritas. 'Nough said...

20-Meg and Mark came to visit the day before and the day of we went out to breakfast. After they left Andrew and Shawn came to visit and we went to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the bookstore/coffee shop where I worked

19- My roommate Sarah made me an awesome butterfinger cake. I spent the entire day at ballet (this was the summer intensive before my first apprentice year) my family came to visit the weekend after and we got ice cream downtown

18- I was at CPYB's summer intensive in Carlisle. My roommate and hallmates threw me a surprise party and my family came to visit the weekend after.

17- I was in DC for a summer intensive. My friends decorated the door to my room with birthday signs and we went out to dinner. Family came to visit.

16- In DC this year too. It was another girl's 16th birthday the same week so we did a lot of things! Friends and hallmates threw a double surprise party one night. A huge group of us went out to dinner another night. On the actual day we had ballet so we went out for smoothies on our lunch break and somebody brought in a little mini cake. Family came to visit

15- My last bday at home! I had a luau themed party

14- The first big sleepover I was allowed to have since my 9th birthday fiasco. Analyn and I decorated the family room with tons of Christmas lights and we had a lot of fun :)

13- Had a fancy tea party-type lunch and a pool party

12- Ballet friends over for a pool party

11- Pool party

10- Took 3 friends with me to an amusement park

9- Had a camping themed sleepover. My dad took us on a walk in the dark with flashlights. We were sleeping out in a tent in our yard. I remember there being a lot of talk about Jonathan Taylor Thomas. We all loved him. One girl fell asleep and we were convinced she was dying and so we tried carrying her in the house sometime in the wee hours of the morning... she was not happy when she woke up, and my parents were not happy to hear us traipsing in that early. We were all still awake when my dad got up to feed the horses at 6. After this party... I was told no more sleepovers for my birthday. By the time I was 14, after much begging and pleading, I 'proved' myself enough to be allowed to have another. lol

I can't remember specifics about birthdays before that. I know one year I had a carnival themed birthday which was AWESOME. Other than that it was pretty much having friends over, pony rides, hay rides (the perks of growing up on a horse farm), rainbow sherbert punch, and pin the tail on the donkey.

Plans for this year? I did all the houswork and errands yesterday so that today I can just lounge about in my pjs and cuddle and play with Sam. When James comes home we're going to order out so neither of us has to cook or clean up. Then I'm hopefully going to convince him to go and get me some Cold Stone for dessert. Oh how my birthdays have changed :)

OH! I'd like to include a recipe in this birthday post. I made this Chunky Tomato and Avocado Salad for dinner last night, and just ate leftovers for lunch. It's VERY good! More like a salsa than a salad, but a very light and refreshing side dish either way. Awesome for summer!

Chunky Tomato and Avocado Salad

1 avocado peeled, pitted, and cubed
3 plum tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup sweet onion chopped
1 Tbls. fresh chopped cilantro
3-4 Tbls. lemon juice (I used 4 and it was a bit too lemon-y. So unless you like 'lemon-y' I'd reccommend 3)

Mix gently and let sit in the refridgerator overnight. If you aren't able to let it sit overnight at least let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours.

Soooo good on a hot summer day :) We had it last night with salmon and baked potatoes, yum!

I'd include a picture... but it's already gone ;) hehe

Now I'm going to go take advantage of the last bit of Sam's long nap and read :) Happy Birthday to me!