Birthmonth.

I've often thought that having a single day to commemorate my entry into the world was sadly inadequate. Luckily, I seem to be finding opportunities to more fully celebrate this wondrous event throughout the month of November.

Last year, watching the ING New York Marathon became one of my all-time favorite activities, and this year it just happened to fall ON my birthday. My friend Zach, who was my spectating companion last year, held a pre-marathon brunch at his apartment. We ate and made signs and tracked the pro runners on my iPhone (the winner averaged a 4:53 mile, no big deal) and then headed over to 5th Avenue to watch.

We loved watching the masses and yelling out random people's names (many runners put their names on their clothing). Our signs were a hit--mine especially, for obvious reasons--with many runners giving us thumbs up our shouting things back at us. One guy came over and gave me a hug before running on. I also got to see my friend Reagan running (who had given me my birthday haircut a couple days earlier!) as well as Suzette, one of my friends from work. It was so much fun, and made me even more excited to run it next year.

I rounded out the day with a trip to my beloved Shake Shack with a couple of the ladies, after which we laid around watching random movies on TBS and feeling cozy. I also had calls from various family members and got to listen to several children shout the Happy Birthday song at me over the phone, which is always a win.

Last weekend was our now-traditional roommate joint birthday party, which this year added another friend with a November birthday. With our combined ages, it's a wonder we didn't burn the apartment down, but we managed to have a good time without having to invite the fire department.

To counteract all this aging, my two best friends in the world and I will be embarking upon the Greatest Vacation Of All Time (TM) this Thursday in Orlando. After that, Becca comes back with me to New York for a week of Broadway, delicious food, holiday lights, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My excitement levels are about on par with a 5-year-old on Christmas Eve, so it's good to know that even after 26 years I haven't become too much of an adult yet.

Quarter century.

In my first week of being 25, I got called "ma'am" by an NYU student. In my second week of being 25, I'm going to see this.

So I guess you could say it's basically a wash so far.


Birthday week kicked off with a ladies' brunch followed by mani-pedis. It also featured some lovely gifts and cards, as well as listening to small children shout at me on the telephone. Another highlight was the church speed dating activity, in which I managed to talk to at least two guys about Lord of the Rings, and told another one about the Titanic website I had when I was 13. One guy was in grad school for Mapmaking, so be aware that that is still apparently a thing.

The next weekend, Birthdaypalooza was rounded out with a joint party with my roommates, who are also November babies. It was really fun and we got to spend the rest of the weekend eating leftover chips and dip. It was a birthday miracle!


Getting older is kind of a fire hazard.