Feelin' XXII

out for sushi in celebration of my XXII birthday – photo cred goes to Regan

I live in Ecuador and I had pumpkin pie for my birthday.

I don't know if you realize how remarkable that statement is. You see, pumpkin…you can't find it in Ecuador. It just doesn't exist. No pumpkin seeds, no canned pumpkin, nothin'. This posed a problem to me; I've had pumpkin pie for my birthday for as long as I can remember, and while there's certainly nothing unpleasant about eating chocolate cake for you birthday (or anytime, for that matter), pumpkin pie makes the experience so much more special.

pumpkin pie with my twin

pumpkin pie with dragon hair

because two is better than one

pumpkin pie with my twin (again)

pumpkin pie in ECUADOR

pumpkin cupcake

pumpkin ice cream

Okay, I just really have this thing for pumpkin.

So we flew Jeff to the states and had him lug back several cans of pumpkin in his carry-on (yeah, bet that was fun). Yay!

The night before my birthday, Emme took me out for sushi, then she and Regan hauled me through several clothing stores and probadores until finally determining I looked cute in a pale blue blouse (with ruffles!!) and floral skinnies. I have always wanted floral skinnies.

On my birthday, I awoke to the smell of Happiness, which, in case you didn't know, is a mixture of citrus and apples and cinnamon. To me, it smells like Autumn and Christmas and the holidays and… and happiness. The source of this Happiness was a potpourri blend Regan found on pinterest. She and the girls made me breakfast which included an apple-cinnamon smoothie (drinkable happiness) and mini muffins (bite-sized happiness) and crêpes with strawberries & nutella (I don't even need to say it, do I?)

Throughout the day, I felt so blessed to be with such a wonderful family for my birthday. We listened to Taylor Swift's "22" more times than I care to enumerate and made pumpkin pie and cleaned the entire house (clean is fun, really). And then I ended up drinking the Happiness potpourri (I'm still alive; that's not a euphemism).

Thanks to everyone for all their birthday wishes! It's going to be a good year. :)