My 23rd Birthday!

Yesterday, May 21st, I celebrated my 23rd birthday! Is it weird that 23 feels old to me? I know it's not but it's obviously the oldest I've ever been haha.

I started off my birthday by going for a short run to earn my "Extra Frosting" badge on my nike app for running on my birthday. Totally worth it if you ask me, even if it is virtual cake. I ran 3.33km for my 23rd birthday. The weather was gorgeous!

When I got home, Jared surprised me with my birthday present. He got me a pink kitchen aid blender. So pretty! It works like a charm and gives me an excuse to throw out my old crappy blender now. 

We went for breakfast at Cora's after. I simply love Cora's just because of how much fresh fruit they pile on whatever you order. It's mouthwatering. To celebrate the decade I was born, I decided to get the 1990's harvest which was pretty darn tasty.

Can you believe it?? Jared actually smiled nice for one of my pictures! It must have been my birthday or something.

 As soon as we finished breakfast, we headed over to the Calgary Zoo as per my request. I love seeing all of the animals. I was especially excited to see the new exhibit, the "Penguin Plunge", and it definitely didn't disappoint. That was my favourite part of the trip. Of course, I loved seeing all of the other animals as well.

The giraffe on the right was literally drinking and gargling the other giraffe's urine. Seriously funny and gross but I guess they do it for a legitimate biological reason? Weird.

Zoo ice cream is the bomb!

After the zoo, I ran a few errands and then Jared and I met with some friends in Edworthy Park to have a campfire and roast some hotdogs and marshmallows to finish off my birthday. It was Jared and I, Dustin and Irena Quinton, Gustavo and Marjie Soares, and Nathan Maret. I didn't get any pictures while we were at the park, but we had a great time. We roasted some hotdogs and marshmallows, threw around a frisbee for a while and enjoyed visiting with one another. I almost fell in the fire pit at one point, but I can now say I have lived to see past my 23rd birthday! 

However, it turns out that that didn't end up being the end of my birthday extravaganza. Work ended up calling me desperate for someone to work the night shift that night. I figured I would give myself the gift of overtime and decided to work. When I got there, my co-worker Shbina had made some chocolate chip pancakes with some of the other patients for me for my birthday. It was so sweet! One of my patients even called me into her room to wish me a Happy Birthday. I was so touched. Something so simple can definitely go a long way. I definitely ate all of these pancakes on the night shift.5

 Overall, I really enjoyed my birthday. There were no low-points in my opinion. Even though we didn't do anything too terribly fancy, I still really enjoyed spending it with Jared and my friends. I know this year brings many more blessings and I sure hope that my 23rd year of life is not how the band Blink 182 describes it-- "Nobody likes you when you're 23". I really appreciated all of the birthday wishes I received and am excited to be living another wonderful year on this earth!