Halloween + Turning 21

Halloween

Having my birthday on the day after Halloween has always made the holiday that much more fun for me, I always look forward to staying up until midnight and ringing in my birthday with my friends - and this year was definitely no different. I think I decided to be Carrie Bradshaw from Sex & The City on about November 4th last year and had been planning the costume since. Over the summer I repurposed the tulle on an old dance costume and recreated the infamous skirt, paired it with a pink tank top and my most "Carrie"-like heels, and accessorized with her iconic "Carrie" necklace. (I made that from cutting the name out of thin poster board, spray painting it silver, and taping it onto necklace I already had.) It was the perfect costume for the evening, and despite most people thinking I was dressed as a ballerina I thought my recreation was pretty spot on! 

Turning 21

Dress: ASOS

still dreaming about this stuffed Fritta

Cupcakes from Cupcake Jones

Red Wine + Pizza = the only things I need

Since the night before my actual birthday had been a pretty wild/late/eventful one the plan for the next day was focused on spending quality time with people I love and eating a lot of good food. Both of which were accomplished. The day started with donning my new sparkly birthday dress and heading downtown for birthday brunch at one of my favorite spots in Portland, Mother's Bistro & Bar. The food, as always, was perfect and being able to catch up with all of my best friends in one place was just wonderful. The past few weeks have been incredibly busy and stressful for all of us, so it was nice to be able to just sit down, eat, and chat for a few hours. And to top it all off I got a free gigantic piece of birthday cake out of the whole deal! 

In the afternoon I gave myself some much needed "me" time by letting myself lay in bed, read Lena Dunham's new book (obsessed), and not even think about doing ANY homework on a Saturday - which is something that hasn't happened in a long time. The night ended with trying out a new pizza resutrant in SE Portland called Cibo (it was amazing! highly highly recommend) and then visiting a few bars in the same area with my other of age friends. 

I have to say that this was my best birthday yet, by far. I felt so spoiled/loved/giddy the entire time (even during the whole week leading up to the big day!). I am so incredibly thankful to have a such an amazing group of friends out in here Portland and to have family + friends back home that put in so much thought and effort into making my day special even from far away. I am very very happy and lucky 21 year old.