Happy Birthday to Me

I've never thought of 23 as anything special because it's just a random birthday (not 20 and not 30 -- apparently big things come in tens), but this year was really good. My family has a tradition of opening some presents in the morning after breakfast and some before we eat cake at night, so yesterday morning I opened my presents from my parents. I got a pair of boots and a new 50mm lens for my camera (which I'd been dying to have, thanks Mom and Dad!) 

Then I went to work. When I came home, I went up to my room and discovered this:

I was A) embarrassed because my room was so messy, B) surprised because I knew John worked all day and didn't think he'd find time to do that (apparently he rushed to get everything done on his lunch break), and C) super happy because this kind of cute stuff is my favorite. Every balloon had a picture of  us together tied to it. He's gotten pretty good at these cutesy-creative things and it makes my day every time.

(First picture with my new lens!)

He also left roses and my favorite chocolate-covered macadamia nuts on my nightstand.

 (Look at that pretty bokeh! aka blurriness. I love love love this lens).

For dinner we all went to the Cheesecake Factory. I'd never been there before and it turned out being really good. The only problem was that the menu is so big I was overwhelmed and it took way longer than usual for me to pick what I wanted to order. After dinner, I got a slice of Godiva dark chocolate cheesecake and it was heaven on a plate. 

Then we spent the rest of the night eating ice cream cake (in case the cheesecake wasn't enough sugar for some of us) and opening presents (clothes, shoes, a diamond necklace, nail polish, and my recent movie-obsession Safe Haven) and hanging out at home. It was a perfect night. Thank you everyone for making it so great. :)