Birthday Cake. Birthday Cake.

I hate birthday parties. They’ve never gone well. At six years old, I received four of the exact same Barbie. Not a huge problem for a six year old, but repetitive to open. At eight years old, my friends came over for my very first slumber party! My new puppy peed on my best friend which kind of killed the mood. We then tried to play a practical joke on one of the girls, and she ended up having to cut off her long, beautiful hair. It gets worse.

At eleven, I got into a fight with my two best friends for my birthday party, and we ended up hating each other until senior year of high school. Fifteen? One of the girls confessed to trying to commit suicide. Serious mood-killer. Another cried because she didn’t have a boyfriend. Sweet 16? I spent with my parents.

At twenty, my birthday fell on Ash Wednesday while I was in Spain. It was an incredibly somber day with people carrying wooden religious figures through the streets. Twenty-one ended early after some older blonde cougars dangled forty dollars over the bartenders tip jar if I did a body shot OFF the bartender. I was mortified, and couldn’t go back to the bar (my favorite) until he quit. (And yes, I did the body shot. Having worked for tips before, $40 is a whole lot of money all at once.)

This year was twenty-three, and it was looking like it was going south. I was sick the whole week before, and on the day of, I had an allergic reaction to my face wash. Later I had a nosebleed, and the whole day people kept telling me that they weren’t coming to my party. Then the bar screwed up our reservation, making it hard for anyone who didn’t want to go in on the wristband deal we had purchased attend, and some guy I didn’t know kept trying to introduce himself to me. (Hello, Karl. We’ve met three times now.)

But, thanks to everyone who did come, it was a great night with good friends. In fact, If you take an ex post facto view (sorry, but it IS a law school blog), the fact that I needed to spend the whole next day recovering while watching Law and Order means it was one of the best nights ever. That being said, I won’t be planning any more birthday parties. You want me to have a party? Surprise me. From now on, I’m spending quiet evenings at home with a nice dinner and a bottle of wine. Clearly, I’m not meant to celebrate making it through another year.

Here’s a couple pics from the night!

Me, The Boy, Baby B, and some other good friends.

Me, The Boy and the LSBFF are in this one, just being classy by the fire.