A Serbian 24!

There was cake and chili dogs and seven layer dip. Very American, and everyone was very excited.

I get excited all over again just typing this post. I shouldn't say much; there are so many pictures. Here they are! EEK!

This is me and my cake!! Can you tell I still get emotional when I see these photos? Just like I'm back in that kitchen with that cake.

This is Jen. She made that fabulous cake. She is fabulous.

Brooke and Kyle made me eye cookies because they know how much I hate eyes.

Kyleigh and Michaela helped decorate (the cake, not Wilson--Eds.) and occupy Wilson while the cake was being made.

More food. With a shot of Randi (the fabulous chef) in the background. She even slightly burned the hotdogs. She didn't even know how that would thrill my soul. It was a beautiful day.

First there were Serbian candles.

And the Serbian birthday song. Which is long. The candles last the entire song. (Ed. note: a long song is probably out of necessity. It would be really awkward if the party finished the song and just stood around watching candles.)

I had to put this one in because of the creepy shadow-person in the back.

Then we did it American-style. Which is far less impressive after the fireworks.

Jen cut the delicious cake.

I, of course, got my name. I look drugged with happiness here.

Commence hilarious candids.

Danielle and Griffin's faces. Hilarious.

Griffin obviously did not know how to chew with his mouth closed.

Connor and Kyle were feeling the plaid spirit.

Brooke was equally excited.

And then it was time for gifts...

A dinosaur card and chocolates from Michaela.

A photo with Griffin. He's such a giver.

A spectacular card and dinosaur chocolates from Kyleigh.

Self Portraits from my photographer.

And a dinosaur card from Brooke. We took this photo three times. All of them were blurry.

It was a good day for all.

The Stevens and the Israels got me tickets to see Cirque du Soleil!! Danielle, Kristina, Jen, Michaela, Kyleigh, and Brooke went with me.

The Bannerts also went to the show and surprised me with a Serbian movie, which is hilarious. This is also a fabulous picture of all of us.

Then Jen took us to the grocery store to get our faces painted by this fabulous woman. She painted what she wanted. She did not listen to requests. I was a good witch.

Brooke was a zombie--a nice one.

Kyleigh was a tiger.

Kristina was last. We were running out of time, so she tried to get the lady to rush. It only half-worked. She got parts of my design, minus the spider.

Griffin took his sock off in the lobby of the arena before the show.
I think he was trying to pick up "ribas." It was really weird and they smelled.

Cameras weren't allowed, but Kristina is good at sneaking in shots.

After the show. Kristina, what is this face?

We finished up the night at fellowship. Kristina was showing off her fabulous make up.
This is also the night Boris began to refer to me as "Spiderman."

I can say that I was hit in the face with a pie for my American birthday and got to see a Canadian circus for my Serbian birthday. Feels like a well-rounded 24th. The dinosaur theme totally kicked it up a notch.

P.S. I can't believe I forgot to mention getting to start and end my day with my fantastic Ryan (also blog editor) and that I got to laugh and spend time with Nina before and during fellowship. I'm blessed to have so many people that insist on making me feel special. Its easy to be so awesome when I have such a great support network! ;)

Birthday Eve

I am well aware that I have been 24 for quite a while. I actually celebrated an early birthday back in May with my family, but you only turn 24 (in Serbia) once. So of course we had to go big. This is the Birthday Eve; the actual Birthday will come next post. Too much awesomeness for one entry. You'll thank me for my thoughtfulness later.


First off, lunch at Novak's. You might remember him from last year's Wimbledon showdown.  He has a pretty swanky cafe that I'm sure I've written about before. Kristina was dying to go and my Birthday Eve seemed like the best time.

My sauce bowl looked like a bathtub. Just thought you should know.

I had a steak sandwich. Possibly heaven on a plate. Kristina had some kind of mexican-ish burrito. Not as good as mine.

Then we had a photo shoot with the Terra Cotta Warrior Novak. There are so many questions to ask about this statue; the lack of answers just makes this even more awesome.

These very nice women leaving the restaurant took this photo for us.
They were laughing "with" us. I'm sure of it.

I also got to spend some time in the presence of Randi Israel, a wonderful woman full of wisdom who has a great sense of humor. It was great getting the chance to slow down, reflect, and spend some time with her over coffee on the eve of my turning 24. 

 So my Birthday Eve kind of centered around food. I'm not ashamed. We had dinner at Delta City mall, where they have the most fabulous "Asian Food." Seriously, that's the name of the place. 

They're known for having more breading than chicken to fill it. Sounds like perfection.

Also perfection? Hot and Sour Chicken. I dream about this stuff, and I'm going to miss it when I go home.

Then Danielle met us so that we could watch Snow White and the Huntsman. All I have to say is that THERE IS NO CLOSURE. We were not pleased. We spent the entire trip home complaining about it. The Chinese was good, though. What was lame about Birthday Eve? Snow White and the Huntsman. Hands down.

The following is not Birthday Eve. It's post-birthday. We were recovering from the day before, though, so we went to Danielle's and had her fabulous cooking. We also watched Monsoon Wedding. I ate a ton of Buttered Chicken and Kristina fell asleep in the floor. She missed the whole, hilarious movie.

I don't know if Danielle is part-Indian, but she's all culinary genius.