The 27th year

I get way too excited about my birthday. Now that I am 27 maybe I should pump the breaks on the excitement. 

Nah. That's boring. After all, celebrating birthdays is really about celebrating life. I can get on board with that. 

Even though I've been living in Kansas (more or less) since 2010, this was my first Kansan birthday. In 2010, I was in South Africa. In 2011, I was in Chicago. In 2012, I was in La Paz Bolivia. In 2013, I was at the Outer Banks, NC. Yeah, I know. Kansas in 2014 feels a little bit anticlimactic. And maybe it is, but it was a beautiful day nevertheless. 

Every year around my birthday, if something fun happens, I claim it "for my birthday." For example, a few of my work-friends and I went out to eat in Wichita at Bella Luna Cafe on Friday night. We sat outside and slipped lemon mojitos and ate Mediterranean food. It was lovely. We would've still done this activity whether or not my birthday was the following day or not. But still, my birthday claimed it. 

I know I often use this blog to sing praises about Levent (sorry/not sorry Leventy) but it cannot be helped. It was all because of him that my birthday was fun. For one thing, all of my Hesston friends are not really around right now. (This is what I refer to as the "great exodus" because all of my friends work for Hesston College, have the summers off and thus peace-out for weeks at a time). So I was especially grateful that Levent was here. Also, let me just tell you. He snuck into my home on Friday and painted my room! I came home to find the pea green walls transformed into a beautiful gray. It was incredible. He's so great. 

I lucked out this year actually. My birthday was the same Saturday as the Hesston city-wide garage sale. So first thing in the morning, (well by the time we actually got started it was like 9:45am. haha) we headed out to find new things for our new places. I was a little worried that since this year I was not garage-saling with my friend Janell, I would have terrible garage sale luck. Even though I am still convinced that Janell's skills brings good garage sale karma, I still wound up with a lot of great stuff for my house. I found some shelving for my kitchen, a new pizza stone, a coat rack (which I keep accidentally referring to as a tree stand), a small ironing board for my future iron, and a new coffee table from an old window. Perfect. (The coffee table goes great with my new couch that finally arrived on Friday morning). 

1. Lemon Mojitos at Bella Luna Cafe. 2. My new coffee table and couch 3. The birthday card from my brother, complete with the annual flag day joke. 

In the afternoon, we headed to the McPherson water park to catch some rays and relax, despite the crazy prairie winds. We floated around the lazy river for hours, which, in my mind, is a perfect way to spend an afternoon.  Afterwards, we came home and Levent made me Turkish food for supper. Let me tell you, that boy can cook. 

We ended the day by watching a movie (first time using the new couch!), snacking on popcorn and enjoying pineapple mojitos.

And if the day couldn't get any more great, Levent surprised me again. This time with an old writing desk that he refinished. (I don't have a good photo of it yet because I am currently using it as a TV stand until I can get one and thus set up my creative space).

Overall, it was a wonderful birthday all thanks to Levent. Otherwise I think I would've wallowed in how weird it is to be in my late 20s now instead of my mid-20s. Time is marching on. (Although, yesterday Levent and I got asked if we were college students and then later we were asked if we were over 18).

I feel as if I should end this post with something profound to say. Unfortunately, I don't other than I hope that I can make the most of whatever life throws at me this 27th year. No 27th year of life bucket life this time around. I am just happy right now to work on (eating) my summer bucket list and see what happens after that.

Here's to you, 27.