My Super Sweet 24th

What an awesome birthday!

Birthday Claus gave me a great gift -- two tickets to see Guster in concert next weekend!! I don't know who I'm going to ask yet...

I also got a cute outfit, a hair cut, iTunes gift card, and my Mom's old Kindle which is still like new anyway. My dad has offered to pay for half a car, I just need to choose which one I want and get financing for the other half!

Yay for all the Birthday Clauses in my life!

My whole family went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, The Red Iguana. We  were there before the dinner rush and got in fairly quickly. And guess what?! I got a free dessert!! And I didn't have to do anything for it!!

My parents always take the birthday child out for a meal at a restaurant of their choice. For my 16th birthday I chose Joe's Crab Shack because I really wanted crab. (Note to self: never eat at a place with the word "shack" on the building without reserving low expectations.) I had just gotten my braces off and I was very excited to celebrate my birthday with a night out.

A glance at the menu revealed that crab was only featured in two dishes and I wasn't really interested in either of them, so I decided to try the pot full of crawdads for some reason. Blegh. It was ok, but I was feeling gypped on my birthday dinner having been denied what I had assumed to be the signature dish. Little beady eyes stared back at me as I attempted to pull their heads off with a fork to preserve some semblance of dignity. That was soon stripped from me, however, when the waiter got wind that it was my birthday.

The lights came on in the dining room and someone turned on a microphone. The entire wait staff assembled and formed a line. For some reason everyone was wearing cowboy hats and brightly colored bandannas. They began dancing the Cotton Eyed Joe, singing along and interrupting the meals of every person in the room.

I watched, horrified, as my waiter approached our table and demanded that I join in the "festivities" as the birthday girl. With no option to decline, I was forced to don rodeo clown garb, ride a hobby horse and dance around the entire dining room as the wait staff sang "Ride, ride, ride that pony, Get up and ride that big, fat pony," and the rest of patrons clapped the time while laughing at me. I made a weak attempt to go back to my parents after running through half the dining hall, but the wait staff held me back and pushed me to finish the track.

I wasn't allowed to sit down until the whole song was finished.

It was long.

They didn't even give me free cake.

But today was nothing like that. I had a lovely meal with lovely people and I got to choose a dessert from any on the menu. Plus I got a lit candle in the middle! 

Turning 24 definitely beats my Sweet 16!

With my big brother.



With my big brother-in-law.



With my Momma.