The Big 2-3!

First of all, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. It was hard to be away from home, but everyone made me feel like they were thinking of me no matter where in the world I was.

The first thing in order of the birthday celebration was a skype date with my family from my grandparents' house, where they all got together for the usual birthday celebration. The only time they could all meet together on my official birthday was at 9:00pm, meaning this was at 6 AM my time!!! Considering that I usually go to bed around 3am, this was a strange time for a family meeting. I woke up to this:

Lots of smiley people holding a birthday cupcake as close to the screen as possible without creating a possible fire danger. It was a thoughtful gesture so I gladly woke up and talked to them for a little while before going back to bed.

When I awoke at a more reasonable hour (noon), I got ready for my birthday lunch (but really breakfast). Lauren took me to get burek and invited Linly, our new American friend teaching at an English school in Bar, because she had never had it before. We went to our typical place and I think Linly really liked it. Lauren brought candles for me to put in my burek (we got some funny looks for this smooth move, but it was worth the photo op)

After we ate burek, we made a pitstop to the fruit market (which Maja yells at me every time for not calling it the pijaca) to inquire about some homemade honey. We've been wanting to make copious amounts of granola but honey is SO expensive! Homegirl Rose cut me a deal and once she found out it was my birthday she went crazy! She instantly searched for things she could give me. I ended up with two apples and an orange, cute right?

After already celebrating my birthday TWICE thus far, it was time to relax a little. We wanted to go to a cafe on the beach or something of the sort, but it started raining which shot down that idea. Instead we just came home and hung out while I read my book and talked to everyone who wanted to talk to the birthday girl.. Then pretty soon it was time to go to practice, where I knew the girls bought me a special gift because Lauren went with them earlier in the day to pick it out. It was so cute! I got flowers, a box of chocolates, and a necklace with a heart pendant with diamonds. I really thought this combination of gifts deserved a special pose, which apparently I interpreted to be THIS exact pose:  (don't mind the doorknob in the background)

classy, yea? 

By this time I had celebrated my birthday THREE times, but it wasn't over yet. Lauren slaved in the kitchen the previous day to bake me a cake from scratch, complete with homemade decorations. It turned out really well and we took it to Soho and grabbed a drink with Maja. It was a really good time and all of the songs were in english so Lauren and I jammed out for a while before Maja said it was time to go (that was our cue that we aren't the best singers in the world...)

I also opened my present from Lauren that she so secretly bought me. Lots of little things that I wanted to show off all at once...here was my best attempt..

some illegal DVDs, a headband, a kinder surprise (which in hindsight had a toy that would rank about a 7 on a scale of 10....that's a score in my book, an airfreshener for the weird drain smell in the bathroom, kleenex for public restrooms, and a bag of cookies! 

All in all, it was a great birthday! Its nice to know that no matter where you are there are people who are willing to go out of their way to make you feel special. Mark it down in the books--my first birthday abroad and I'd say it was a success!