24!

So Saturday was my birthday - I turned 24. I'm still so young, I know. Maybe next year at 25 I will start feeling older. And lately all the docs I have been working with on rotations have been asking me how old I am. And I say, "I'm young" because I don't want to tell them. I know they'll be surprised at how young I am if I do tell them so I try to avoid such conversations. But for some reason they pry a little more by saying, "How young?" and then I have to answer. I feel bad telling them because I thing deep down they are a little disturbed by the fact that I am only 24 and am an almost-PA. And I was actually still 23 when they asked me! Crazy.

Anyhow, back to Saturday. So as Chris can vouch for, I always look forward to my birthday. I start counting down several months in advance and the week of, Chris just gets irritated by the count down. But my birthday is practically (or maybe just is) my favorite day of the year so you can see why I count down to it. But this time the count down was not as drastic as normal since I have been busy with school and rotations. I couldn't believe it was actually here on Saturday. So, Chris and I slept in as much as we could and then he gave me my card and gift - he got me a fancy jewelry box because I had been saying that I wanted one to hold all of my jewelry. I love it! Then we went for a run to the local Starbucks. Chris hates going to Starbucks just to sit there and drink the coffee and not surprisingly I love to do just that. So since it was my birthday, he went with me and allowed us to just sit and relax and drink coffee and eat breakfast. It was a good start. Then we walked home, took a nap, finished the movie I fell asleep to the night before, then went shopping. Then we went to Sprinkles to get cupcakes, and then we went to a very nice steakhouse called Flemmings in Newport. It was a great dinner - we kind of splurged a bit, but it was worth it. And we have left-overs. We both got the bone-in filet with scallops and we ordered calamari and shrimp to start. Then they gave me chocolate-covered strawberries on the house. Who gives out chocolate-covered strawberries for birthdays? Usually it's a free drink or dessert, so the strawberries were a nice touch. Then we started another movie at home and went to bed early. It was a great day.

Then yesterday, my friends from school Katherine and Jessica decided they wanted to throw a little birthday celebration as well. So they surprised me and the three of us along with Chris, Jake (Jessica's husband), and Alvin (Katherine's boyfriend), went to Big Belly Deli in Newport (a very well known place) and then rented kayaks and kayaked around Balboa Island. Then we stopped off at the Gelato place and then got pizza back at our place. It was another great day.

It seems that my birthday always ends up being a several-day celebration - Chris would even venture to say a week-long celebration. And indeed this year we celebrated it for two days. It was awesome. I had a great time just hanging out with Chris on Saturday and yesterday we had a ton of fun kayaking with our friends. Now I have 363 days until my next birthday, in which Jessica happily pointed out that I will be a PA-C and not a PA-S (C means "certified" and S means "student" and right now I am a PA-S) - this means I'll be a PA! Done with school, done with boards, and working hopefully. I already can't wait. I may have to start the countdown even earlier this time. :)