Autumn, Birthdays, & Friendship

I apologize for the unexpected mini hiatus! I went to Vermont for the long weekend and didn't have Internet, so I wasn't able to work much on anything computer-wise. Vermont was nice and weird, but I'll tell more about that when I post the pictures. ;) The Sunday of the first weekend of October was spent doing all kinds of autumny things with a bunch of friends. It's always nice to do things as a group, especially when everyone in the group loves the season and has the same day off for once.







We started off at a small farm that sells pumpkins and knick knacks that are all fall and Halloween themed. The stuff they have is really cute and nice, but kinda pricey. I just enjoy looking around and getting in the spirit of it all. I also just love being around pumpkins. I still have yet to get my own pumpkin, though.







After the farm, we headed to the orchard to do some apple picking. At least, we thought we were going there to pick apples until we realized how insanely busy the orchard was. The line to pay for your apples probably would've taken an hour to wait in, so we just walked through the orchard trying different apples.







Once we were done in the apple orchard, we decided to go through the corn maze. The corn maze always seems like a good idea beforehand, but then it can get sort of annoying once you're in it. You're supposed to find all the answers to the questions they hand you before you go in, so you have to find all the checkpoints within the maze. Of course, you always end up passing the same checkpoint at least 3 or 4 times before you figure out where you should be going next. At least we got stickers at the end.







We went to the farm market afterwards so browse all the tasty things they sell there. I got some apple cider because there's nothing like cider from the orchard. I'd love to make my own some day, or try to make my own hard cider. That'd be a fun venture that would probably end up going horribly wrong somehow...haha.







Well, another reason that I've been absent here lately is because I just celebrated my 25th birthday and I was doing fun birthday stuff this past weekend! Thursday night my parents had dinner and cake for me. My mom always makes my favorite dinner for me for my birthday (which always includes her amazing stuffed artichokes) and she made me a pumpkin spice cake! Chris and I ended up staying there for 2-3 hours after everything died down while my dad told us crazy stories from when he was growing up. It was actually really fun and nice.







On Friday (my actual birthday), I only had to work one of my jobs, so I had the afternoon off. While I was at work, my boss surprised me with a mini party by inviting Chris and my parents and my niece to come in for cupcakes. I had no idea this was happening and it was so confusing at first, but it was really awesome. I got lots of chocolate too, so that's always a plus.

Shirt: Thrifted//Tank Top: Forever 21//Jeans: Urban Outfitters//Boots: Payless//Hat: Forever 21//Sunglasses: H&M//Lipstick: Too Faced Cosmetics

That afternoon, Chris drove me around while we adventured. We went to a pumpkin patch that we soon realized is the best one around. Better than the other ones we always go to. They had SO many pumpkins, and they were all so perfect. I've never seen so many beautiful and perfect pumpkins. They also price them by size instead of by weight, which I think is convenient and cool. I hate when you have to wait until the pumpkin is weighed to find out how much it'll really be. We got cider and a pumpkin raisin cookie there, then headed to a nearby state park to hang out and explore. It was a really nice and relaxing afternoon and the weather was perfect.







Later on, Chris took me to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner. They're my favorite because they make the best ribs ever. EVER. Anyway....dinner was nice and I felt like I was going to explode afterwards. We headed back to his house for a bit and watched some Harry Potter. It was Half Blood Prince, too, which is one of my favorites. Finally, he brought me back home and when I walked in, I was greeted by every single one of my friends screaming SURPRISE at me and holding a cake that was already lit. They all then proceeded to star singing Happy Birthday and that's when I started to cry...lol. I've always wanted a surprise party more than anything and it finally happened, and I just started crying out of joy.







Chris and Ashley planned it and I can't believe that everyone was able to make it and be there. This was really the best birthday I've ever had. It was so amazing to see all my friends in one room celebrating my birthday and making my day special for me. They're all so amazing and I love them all very much. I'm really so grateful to have people in my life that care about me enough to want to make my day the best it can be. I know that some of them read this, so...hello, friends! I love you! You mean more to me than you could ever know. :)