Right. Wasn't Here. Didn't See It. Couldn't Have Stopped You

Okay, I've been twenty-six for eleven days now. Maybe I should finally blog about it.

My birthday was on Easter this year. It's not the first time that unfortunate scheduling dilemma has cropped up. It's hard to celebrate Easter and a Birthday on the same day. Still, Drek surprised me by unveiling the super secret project he's been hammering away at for the past week: He made me a composter! My husband is a genius! Now, a composter might not shout "true love" to you, but I actually asked Drek for a composter and he went above and beyond to actually build me one. He is so amazing.

Drek's sister also surprised me by arranging a birthday hunt for me. I came out to the front of my house and found a card that said "Pull Here" attached to a string. I pulled the string down and on the other end was a balloon! Taped to the balloon was a little bag full of little squares of paper. A puzzle! Not a jigsaw puzzle, mind you, apparently that would be too easy. These were all straight edges with no design, just words, that I somehow had to piece back together. What fun! I don't know how long it took me, but I finally came up with this:

I went snooping along the fence and found this cleverly hidden: 

The pieces of paper are coupons from a few of my friends! They are things like "one free dinner" and "Free babysitting." Also, a rosebush, a hummingbird feeder and food and a bottle of the most delicious Japanese dressing ever. Is't that so sweet?! I loved it! It was such surprise and I was so thrilled that it was actually done on my birthday. My plan was simply to put of celebrating my birthday until next year, but there was this wonderful surprise. Other than that it seemed everyone else's plan was to still do birthday stuff this year, just not on the actual day: Drek took me out to dinner the night before, my friend took me out to lunch the day after, and I got a few packages in the mail last week:

One was a card from my parents. I opened it over breakfast. My breakfast was a banana (I only mention that because it becomes important). The front of the card had a picture of a monkey dressed up like a fortune teller. The inside of the card said: We see a great year in your future...or Banans. It's Unclear.  Best. Parents. Ever. I laughed and then had to read the card aloud to Drek who pointed to my breakfast and said "It's happening already!" It was a great card.

Close behind was a card from Mei-Mei. She's in the MTC so I was just excited to get a letter from her!

The next package was from Kristling: Two seasons of a new show to obsess over. Krisling is usually the one who introduces me to my favorite shows: Firefly, Lost, all thanks to Krisling. I'm only on episode four of this new one, but I'm already in love.

My friend made me (because she is a sewing genius) kitchen towels with bananas on them. They are adorable.

But the most touching present came before my birthday. My sister gave it to me early. She knew one of my favorite authors is Shannon Hale, and that I had just finished the Goose Girl series. She bought be my favorite book from that series and had actually gotten it signed by Shannon Hale (It says: For K La- May you find your voice and shout it to the world). But here is the best part: Shannon Hale asked if she (my sister) was a writer and my sister answered "My sister is."

Yeah. Basically I tear up every time I think about it. I have the best sister in the world.