As I mentioned in my previous post, the beginning of senior year brought my 21st birthday. In proper 21st birthday fashion, I made quite an event out of it. With a late August birthday, I never had school on my birthday until my senior year of high school. My freshman year of college, I moved into OSU, sophomore year and junior year it was the weekend before classes, and this year it was the first day of class. Since I would be at school for my birthday, I celebrated with my family before heading back to Ohio State.
We had a small get-together, my best friend Shahed coming over for take out from our favorite Italian place, Pizzazz and we ate dinner with my family. My mom made my favorite cake --vanilla with chocolate frosting, and she and Celia surprised me with 21 tall and colorful candles, whose flame lit up with the color of the wax.
My family got me an amazing makeup organizer, an avocado holder, and my favorite, a garnet ring. I'd been looking for a garnet ring ever since my grandfather died in February -- his father's wedding ring was garnet, which he wore as well, as was his John Carroll University class ring which he's passed down to the men in the family that graduated from JCU. When he was sick, my mom found a garnet bracelet for herself, and I'd wanted my own piece ever since. While in France and Italy I was looking for one but never found the right ring. For my 21st birthday, my mom got me exactly what I'd been looking for.
It was a really lovely night, especially as my last night home before going back to school.
Tuesday was my actual birthday and the first day of class for OSU, but I student teach Mondays and Tuesdays and was helping my Mentor Teacher set up her classroom for the first day of school on Thursday. But of course, I had to celebrate at midnight with some friends who'd been 21 for a year already at their favorite bar. (I've always been the baby in my friend groups). We stayed out for one drink before heading home, since I had to be up at 6am to head to school.
Tuesday night after classes I celebrated with my brother and my friends Sam, Lisa, and Laura. Laura is in Columbus for school and Lisa was here for work, but Nick and Sam had driven down just to hang out with us and celebrate my birthday. After class I had to stop at Target, and randomly ran into the girls who I had planned to meet at my house. It was a fun surprise and we returned to my place for a bit before heading to Condado's Tacos in Clintonville for dinner, where Nick met up with us. It was an amazing time, eating tacos and guac and being embarrassed by my friends as they loudly sang "Happy Birthday" in the almost-empty restaurant.
I celebrated again with Nick, my roommate Katie, her boyfriend Alex, and our friend Kat after the girls went home before heading back home for the night.
The big birthday celebration would come on Friday night, when I went to dinner at Forno with my roommates. Forno is THE birthday restaurant in Columbus (and anniversary, engagement, etc). The food is amazing, the drinks are beautiful, and the atmosphere is intoxicating. I had pepperoni pizza (without cheese), garlic fries and a Moscow Mule, and of course the complimentary birthday strawberry shots. And of course, we had a photo shoot. I was obsessed with the outfits I wore this night. To dinner I wore a beautiful yellow dress I'd found at a stunning little boutique in Montmartre in Paris. I paired it with white Puma sneakers and layered gold necklaces, my rings, and a Finally 21 sash I bought on Amazon.
After dinner, I hosted my closest friends for wine, chips and salsa, cupcakes, and chatting. And I did an outfit change. Obviously. I changed into a burnt orange bralette from American Eagle, a pair of flowy olive pants from a boutique in Rome, and added hoop earrings to my ensemble. It was a very '70s vibe that I was living for-- and still am, to be honest. I had gotten a bunch of party decorations on sale from Pier 1 this summer and made the apartment look Pinterest-worthy. It was perfect, exactly what I had wanted. I'd known it would be a big night for parties on campus as it was the first week back and didn't want to worry about conflict, so I had my friends over for a "pre-game" of sorts, drinking wine to celebrate before they all went their separate ways for the night. It was amazing, full of laughter and hundreds of pictures, my friends gifting me with several bottles of red wine. After the festivities wrapped up at my house, we attended a birthday party for a boy we knew before returning home and falling into bed, incredibly content.
On Saturday, my family came into town to celebrate with me once more. Mom, Dad, Nick, Joe and I went to a tavern in Grandview for dinner, Matt the Miller's Tavern. I had an amazing burger, Matt's burger without the cheese and with pickles with a Smithwick's IPA. Before dinner, Mom and I had done a spot of shopping which only made me want to go back to Grandview and shop some more. I've always loved Grandview, it's such a cute little town right outside of downtown Columbus, close enough to the city but far enough that it has a small town vibe. If I end up getting a job in Columbus, I might try to live in that area.
Nick ended up staying the night so we could go to some bars on campus together for the first time, which was exactly the night I needed. I'm so fortunate to have such a good relationship with my brother, we always have so much fun together. He beat me in two games of pool and we grabbed donuts on our way home before watching Stranger Things and called it a night.
The whole week just made me so aware and thankful of the people I have in my life. My friends and family are so supportive of me and went out of their way to celebrate me and make me feel incredibly special. I haven't always been good at making sure the people in my life treat me the way I deserve, but as I've gotten older I've learned that I deserve people who love me and how to surround myself with people who care about me and want to see me happy and successful. I'm so blessed to have the people in my life that I have, and am grateful everyday that they've come into my life.
My birthday week was more than I could have ever hoped for and the perfect way to kickoff senior year.