Yay! I am a year older. Happy birthday to me!!

All in all it's been a good year.

Last year I rang in my birthday in Sofia, Bulgaria right after graduation at the American College of Sofia. Everyone was in such a great mood. Graduation and a birthday party will do that.

Months earlier, I'd convinced my friends to have a Princess and Pirates party. We dressed up in pink (or black), wore crowns (or swords) and ate cake. The funfetti cake was from a box brought over in a suitcase from the States. I celebrated with friends from all around the world. We drank Bulgarian beer, wine, and homemade rakiya.

It was wonderful and bittersweet. I knew in May that I'd be moving back to the States in September.

A year later, I just celebrated my birthday in the States for the first time in 5 years.<!--more-->

My last party in the States was in Washington DC. We celebrated with a Fry Party in the backyard of our group row house. The invitation: come eat fried chicken, drink beer and bring something to fry. It was a hoot--french fries, fried pickles, deep fried oreos and a slew of other wonderful but horribly bad for you foods.

This year I celebrated in Seattle.

It was a blast and we couldn't limit the fun to one day. It helps that I had old friends in from out of town but who am I kidding, it also helps that all winter I've been working to steal my sister's friends and make some of my own.

Friday night we went to my high school cousin's play. It was great! Then we went out dancing on Capitol Hill and I love dancing--even if I was wearing a wool dress. Who does that?! Well, I did get dressed at 6am but one would think I was more clever than that. Ha.

We woke up the next morning, to make brunch at my apartment. We ate a lot of tasty breakfast foods and drank mimosas. Yum! After brunch, we headed down to the Ballard breweries. It was a sunny but cool day. Perfect for enjoying locally brewed beer, chatting with friends and playing corn-hole. From there we stopped by Ballard Pizza for some slices before cheering on the May 17th parade in Ballard. What a day, what a day.

Oh and if that wasn't enough we topped the whole thing off with a trip to Woodenville to do some wine tasting. Let it be known: I adore Washington wine. We had a lovely afternoon, chatting up the wine-baristas (really, what do we call the people who pour wine in tasting rooms) and trying new wines. I came home five bottles the richer.

It's clear that I'm going to enjoy this birthday for more than just a month. How lucky, am I?!