Birthdays in Dallas

(subtitle:  I keep celebrating my birthday)

When I signed up for the second phase of this project, I told our sponsors that I was willing to stay, but that I wanted to spend my birthday at home - as everyone knows, I’m pretty “big” on birthdays, and it’s important to me to be around my family and friends.  Our sponsors agreed, and I booked 10 days at home around my birthday.  I flew out of Kenya on April 12th, which means I landed in Dallas on the 13th, the day before my birthday.  My actual birthday was pretty quiet - I was focusing on getting over my jet lag in preparation for the weekend - but it was really nice to wake up at home, surrounded by my family.  To make things even better, my aunt, uncle and cousin were all in town for my birthday weekend, which was just great - it was so nice to be able to spend time with them.

Then came the birthday celebration.  I had a joint celebration with Nina, a friend of mine who has a birthday right next to mine.  She and I have been friends since college, and we run with the same group of folks, so we often do a joint celebration.  This year, we planned a dinner with our smaller group of friends, then reserved a big section of a bar for a celebration with a larger group.  The dinner was incredible - we had the best table in the place, the one that is made of marble and has a chandelier overhead - fancy fancy!  Nina and I even splurged and got the chocolate cake for dessert - as you can see from the picture, it was pretty much as big as both of us put together!  Hanging out at the bar was great too - it was so much fun to see everyone - living in Kenya is amazing, but I do miss home and my friends - this birthday was a good excuse to see them all at one time!  One of the funnier parts of the evening came when my cousin Nick tried to talk to the DJ to get him to play a request for us - he was told in no uncertain terms that the DJ only took requests from ladies!  Needless to say, Nicks’s song didn’t get played - but we still had a great time.

The rest of my time at home was spent doing all the things I like best - sitting by the pool, playing football, sitting on patios, seeing my family and friends, and in general just enjoying being home.  I do miss Texas while I’m away - living so far has taught me not to take having my friends and family so close for granted!  

It was an incredible week and a half - but by the end, I was ready to get back to Kenya for the final stretch - just about 8 weeks left on our project, and so much to do!  I left home feeling energized and ready to finish out my time in Africa with style.

My cousin Nick, my sister Holly, my brother Hunter and I all spiffed up for the Nina/Hilary birthday celebration.  Loved spending the weekend with these three - can't think of anyone else I'd rather spend time with.

Playing football - another thing I miss about home.  I had an INCREDIBLE (for me, anyway) catch during this game - and afterwards I ran and jumped into the QB's arms - a catch that good deserves a hug!

Family birthday dinner at Tillman's - this was right before the "make 'em at your table" s'mores.  So tasty.

Here are the four of us again - one more night on the town before the weekend is over.  Sad to have to say goodbye, but the countdown to our annual Michigan trip is officially started!

Ashley and I out on the town - playing giant jenga at barcadia and totally schooling all the SMU kids

The infamous birthday cake - every year my mom makes me a layered carrot cake - my number one favorite.  She complains (and she's right, I know a non-layered cake would be so much easier) but hey, it's my birthday, and I want layers!!  It's become a bit of a joke in my family now, but as long as I get cake, I'm happy!

Spending some quality time with Bear, my favorite dog ever