A golden start.

My birthday was three weeks ago.  Better late than never to recap, though, and then I'll get back to regularly-scheduled programming (house projects!).

I may or may not have made a big deal out of this year's birthday.  It just happened to be my golden birthday, something I'd been looking forward to ever since learning what a golden birthday meant.  It did not disappoint!

Louis surprised me with a forever gift (meaning, if I ever do outgrow this gift, it will be quite a while before I do):  my new camera! (As seen here).  The Canon Rebel and I are becoming best of friends. :)  And my parents helped trick it out with a gigantic lens, memory card, etc.

There was pin-the-tail-on-the-panda handcrafted by my sister.

"Your turn, Louis!"

 I can't remember the last time I spun around five times in a row.

And guess who had the green tail? :)

The evening was rounded out with my family embarrassing me out to dinner when the staff sang, clapped, and had an old-timey horn.  Nice.  And we made it back in time to catch American Pickers.  The celebration didn't technically stop there as I was also "surprised" last weekend by Louis who assembled my friends for a birthday dinner.  It's going to be a great year!