Seven times Three

Equals twenty-one. I always liked the "sevens" times-table. It had a quirky feeling to it when the other numbers were just boring drudgery.

But that's not really what I meant to write about.

I'm 21 today!! I meant to write while it was still technically my birthday, but I didn't get online until 11:15, then I spent the next 45 minutes talking to friends and responding to birthday wishes. So here I am, half an hour into the day after my birthday.

My birthday started out less than satisfactory. I woke up in a grumpy mood. "Bleh," I thought, "I'm another year older... why can't birthdays be as exciting as they were when I was little? I'm too young to not be happy about a birthday. But nothing special is happening anyways... It's just another day. Stupid boring birthdays."

And then the coffee was yucky. And we were out of sugar and I had to use fake stuff.

And I just got grumpier and grumpier. Within like a ten minute time span. So I went back to bed! HA!

I spent some time snuggling with my pillows and talking to God. After I wallowed in pathetic self pity for a moment, He reminded me to not be so self focused and said that if I'd fix my attitude, it would be a good day. Even though nothing spectacular was happening. So I did. And He was right. (as usual.)

Birthdays are way more fun if you get to dress up. To my great pleasure, I had the opportunity when my lovely friend Katie decided to take me out for coffee. (which was superfantastic since my morning coffee was a disappointment) So, I put on my pretty skirt and my birthday things and we headed out.

Venti hazelnut iced coffee. (that can be a sentence by itself, right?) Katie and I decided to sit in the huge orange armchairs to sip our drinks. Carrying on a conversation became awkward. The chairs were comfy, but there was too much space between them and the speaker was pouring coffee-shop ambiance right on top of our heads. Not to mention the agent in sunglasses, keeping watch over his business partner (who was working a deal on the phone) and glaring at me every time I laughed.

After Starbucks, we went fabric shopping so I can make more cute skirts. Two for her, one for me. They're going to be awesome. Expect pictures in a week or so.

When I got home, my mom was making stir fry, which I LOVE.
And since I felt pretty, I had my little sis take a few pictures of me being twenty-one.
(This was also done for the purpose of photographically recognizing some of my awesome birthday gifts!)


The amazing yellow beads of sunshine are from Erin who thinks of me every time she sees something yellow. She also gave me some sweet bird earrings which are not pictured.

The super cute birdie earrings are from Kathryn, who knows my deep appreciation for Etsy and bird-related items therein.

The PERFECT belt is from Tiffany, who loves to shop. We went shopping together and she saw that I fell in love with this belt, so she went back and bought it for me the next day!!

(Sunglasses from Rae would have been in this picture too except I wore them yesterday and now I can't find them!)

Anyway, dinner was fantastic and afterward we had a family meeting of sorts. Life has been crazy, so it was good to take a few minutes to get everybody in one place to encourage each other and regroup.

Then I got to spend some much needed time with my dear friend Katey. Life's been SO crazy that we haven't gotten to really talk in a long time, so there was a lot of catching up to do. That was nice.

Beside for all that there's been a steady stream of birthday wishes on Facebook, which has been a ton of fun. I also got a card in the mail from my sweet Mema. Then when I got online to write this four friends were chatting with me at once all of the sudden! So... YAY! What I expected to be a boring, non-special day turned out really great. Nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary happened, but it's amazing how much good sweet friends, good coffee, a pretty outfit, and your favorite food can do.

So now you know. Happy 21st birthday to me!

20 was full of craziness, and so much change I can hardly believe it.
I'm excited to see where 21's gonna take me!

Of Owls and Spectres

Hello.
My bird just flew past and distracted me. Vincent's gotten pretty good at flying through the house. Sometimes he lands on the edge of the fishbowl, which I find comical.

Yeah, that's not how the beginning of this post was supposed to go. Then again, I didn't have a beginning planned or anything, so it's okay.

Thursday night was movie night at the Looney's house. Yeah! After the first movie, we sat around in the kitchen for a few minutes, just taking a break before we put on the second one. Or so I thought. All of a sudden, we're all singing "Happy Birthday." I like singing the birthday song, so I'm just singing along, wondering whose birthday it is now (there have been lots of August birthdays), when Alicia starts walking toward me with a glowing little birthday cake. I was like "Oh RIGHT! It's MY birthday! sort of..."

They gave me a little surprise party!!
It was sooo awesome. Katie stuck a tiara on my head, and I blew out my candles and just sat there and grinned like a little kid while presents started appearing out of nowhere. Among which gifts were these lovely owl bookends from Sheesh

.

That's not a very good picture of them.
I'll just have to take pictures of all my presents and make a whole post about them. ;-)

In other news (I love that lead-in, but I try not to overuse it, really I do), one of the resident kitties had a litter of kittens. A white/calico kitty, a grey kitty, and a white and grey kitty. I saw the white and grey one and declared that I was keeping him.

His name shall be Specter.
Or Spectre.
I haven't decided yet. What do you think?

See how cuuuute he is!!?

So, if you want a kitten, let me know. His very cute sisters will eventually need to be relocated.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make hot dogs for supper.

In Which Caitlin Turns Twenty

Today I am Twenty.
What does that mean?

I am no longer a teenager.
In a year, I will be twenty-one.
If I live to be eighty, a whole quarter of my life is over.
While I may be young, I can't just shrug and say "ah well, I'm still a child!", for I am not.
Being a grown-up comes along gradually, but being Twenty makes it more real.
Twenty does not "feel" different.

It has been an odd two days. In preparation for the coming school year, my fellow teachers and I attended a conference. Of course, you know that the other ladies I work with are all "grown ups" compared to myself. The conference was full of such grown ups. I'm certain I was at least six years younger than anyone else there. Twenty or thirty years younger than everyone, for the most part. So, while I was mourning becoming old, I was painfully aware of just how very young I am. Quite interesting.

The teacher I worked with last year told me today to stop calling her "Miss" so and so.

And now, I present you with a list of thing I have not yet done in my twenty years of life, and would like to accomplish sooner or later. Preferably sooner.

Twenty Things I'd Like To Do**

• Grow my hair out long again*
• Travel someplace exciting
• Become more like Christ*
• Lead some people to Christ
• Go to school for photography/cosmetology/writing
• Make my business more successful
• Learn another language
• Read the Bible through
• Write something publishable
• Develop patience for larger crochet projects
• Take guitar lessons
• Go skydiving
• Learn to dance
• Ride a horse
• Keep a quote journal
• Become somebody's special somebody***
• Read more great books*
• Write regularly
• Learn to play the piano again
• Be a fantastic Oldest Sister*

* currently a work in progress
** money, time, and God permitting/no particular timeline in mind
*** no particular somebody in mind at this point, in case you were wondering

Thank you to all the fantastic people who wished me a happy birthday.
I couldn't ask for better friends!