not all those who wander are lost: haaaappy birthday to me

i would say this may have been the best birthday ever. i have never felt so loved in my life. many of you were a huge part of that and i thank you. even from thousands of miles away! and thanks to some sweet friends here i had an awesome day.

i woke up to little notes everywhere. on the window. next to my bed. in my bible. on my intended birthday dress. on our door. in the bathroom. everywhere. my roommate lauren decided to let me know why i'm awesome...EVERYWHERE. overwhelmingly wonderful. she also put a bueno bar next to my bed (european bliss...so bueno). then i got on my computer to find several emails from my family including some very generous birthday presents...an online book of my life and a serious chunk of cash. which is exactly what i needed. i read the ebook and cried. i uploaded it to facebook for those of you who make an appearance. i got some more emails from some more sweet friends and went into the kitchen to find these little AWESOME chocolate pies from a bakery near our house. and a note from more sweet roommates. it felt like home. headed to class feelin good in my birthday dress that i've been saving for months. ps it was 62 and beautiful out. i mean beautiful.

after some classes through which i doodled and daydreamed, lauren met me for lunch at the american diner. we got cheeseburgers and chatted. it was lovely. easy way to make my day- get me a cheeseburger. then we wanted to sit outside since it was so lovely so we went to this fountain by our school and just chilled and talked. a guy walked up to us (we think homeless-and a little nuts) and said "ragazze! uno...due....tre..." and turned around and pulled his pants down. yes we got mooned in the middle of a piazza. happy birthday to me. went to italian class and got out early. i ended up getting little gifts (mostly of chocolate) throughout the day from thoughtful friends i haven't even known that long. touching.

we headed back to our house with julianna and sarah. i watched ever after by myself in my bed and they wrote papers. as lame as that sounds i love watching movies in my bed. and ever after just makes me so blissfully happy. we all headed to dinner with my other roommate megan and her wonderfully hilarious friend kassi from home. a bit of a walk but il teatro is worth it..by far our favorite restaurant here. great good great wine and special attention from the owner. so funny. my sweet friends pulled together to get me a massage when we're in greece! i've never had one before and i'm pumped. so many presents. so loved.

since it was tuesday i was supposed to volunteer but i skipped for my birthday. oops. went to a club called bebop that has a beatles cover band every tues. and it was so fun! we made a bunch of friends and just danced and had a ball. we were kind of way in the back but we could still hear to it was fun. we met some of the "beatles" on their set break and told them it was my birthday. so when they went back on stage they called me up and sang happy birthday to me! we got front row seats next to the band manager and a free bottle of champagne. and i danced on stage for a little which was half embarrassing and half too funny to pass up. finally we headed over to our favorite club, red garter, for a bit of dancing. it was pretty empty since it was real late on a tuesday night. so we were pretty much the only ones dancing but we did anyway. awkward dancing. things we're good at. some friends from our program were there too so we all got to hang out. made it home by 3. successful night. great birthday. possibly the best. i am so blessed.