day of birthday adventures

This year was the first year I was not home for my birthday at all.  To my surprise, my birthday was FULL of surprises, shenanigans, adventures, food, and friends.  It started when my friends filed into the room where some of us were watching a movie at exactly 12:01am to sing Happy Birthday to me.  (We also went downtown on Saturday to celebrate.)  Later that day, after a full night's rest, church, and lunch at the caf, I received a facebook message from my best friend, Allie, who is doing mission work in Africa...TOTALLY unexpected and great!  All afternoon I got phone calls from family and friends from home, including the kids I babysit who called to sing to me.  I skyped with the Flipses, my "second family" as I like to call them.  My mom, Marky, and Scott came to Trin, took me to Aurelios for dinner and gave me some gifts from home.  When I got back I went to my RA Bible study where my friend Kara surprised me with a chocolate cake and ice cream.  Then the true adventures began.  

My friends (Melissa, Kate, Kirsten, Kaitlin, and Ellie) told me to wait for them in my room after Bible Study.  They ran into my room, dressed in all black, told me to get my purse and camera, and gave me the first clue to a scavenger hunt.  We went all over campus getting clues until the final clue took me to the BBC.  (The video below contains footage from the hunt) As they read me the last clue, I was taken by surprise when someone came up behind me, put a pillow case over my head, picked me up and started running away with me.  (I would have included a video of this as well, but it was too dark to see.) My two kidnappers put me in the back seat of a car and sat beside me in silence while we drove around like crazy.  The destination...Applebees for half price appetizers.  

After all that madness, we went back to school where I found yet another surprise when I got back to my hall.  The girls on my floor left a note on the door telling me to follow the arrows on the ground.  I opened the door and saw giant arrows made of Kool-Aid Jammers on the ground.  On each Kool-Aid Jammer was a word that described me.  It led me to our floor lounge, where I found a table full of cards, more Jammers, and Pizza Rolls. They know me very well. 

For some reason this is the first time in my life I actually feel older after a Birthday.  I think it's because 20 begins a new decade...yikes.  At least the teens went out with a bang!