My birthday was last Saturday (I hate getting old!) and I spent it visiting my brother and his wife in Minnesota with my parents. I stayed at Bill and Kelly's while Bill hooked Mom and Dad up at a hotel in Stillwater, a quaint little nearby town that's near the river (hence the name).

We arrived Friday afternoon and of course Mom had to go to Crate and Barrel as she does every time we head up to visit my brother. She bought a gift for Bill and Kelly there, then we reached their house where we cooked steaks and twice baked potatoes and had salad for dinner. Bill made me a pineapple Malibu (I ended up having seven and a half that night...they are SOOOOO good!). Mom thought I was drinking pineapple juice. Actually, I don't know if she really thought that or if she was just messing with me. Bill and Kelly showed us their honeymoon pictures from Aruba and I opened my presents. (I got a journal from the parents and a gift certificate to Banana Republic from Bill and Kelly). I noticed Bill (whose birthday is two weeks before mine) had a birthday card from our grandparents on his fridge. It's been four days since my birthday and I haven't received a card from them. I'll give it a few more days before I start to get concerned...) After Mom and Dad left to go to their hotel, Bill let me play his Ghostbusters game on his PlayStation, which I got bored with within 2.5 seconds, then we headed to a Mexican restaurant where we ordered nachos and drinks. The nachos weren't great, but my two pina coladas were awesome.

On Saturday, my birthday, Bill took Mom and Dad golfing and Kelly and I went to an outdoor mall to look around. I bought a headband at Francesca's then we went to the grocery store where her mom works and got a drink at Caribou Coffee and sat with her mom in the breakroom. For lunch, we went through the drivethru at Sonic (their cherry limeades are to die for!)

Later that evening, the five of went down to a wine tasting place in Stillwater and got to choose ten wines to sample. My contributions were Lady Slipper because the label was pretty, Oktoberfest because of the name, and a dessert wine because it was a dessert wine. Wine tastings are fun! I found that I prefer white wine to red.

For my birthday dinner, we headed to a nice restaurant called The Kitchen. I had this awesome drink called a Gin Fizz (and I still needed to be carded...I swear, I will be carded until I'm 39). It tasted like an orangecicle! For appetizer we ordered the cheese platter and got to sample three cheeses: soft, bleu, and Minnesota. We also ordered raw oysters because Mom and Bill are fans. They were disgusting! I hate that slimy texture when they go down your throat. :::shudder::: For my main course, I ordered the pork tenderloin with baked apples. It was good, but a huge piece of meat, so I had plenty of it left over to feed Maggie and Stanley. And because it was my birthday and because Mom and Bill announced it to the waiter (rolls eyes), I got a free dessert. I forget the name of it, but it was full of chocolate and filo dough and it was delicious.

After dinner, we headed to a bar attached to this old-fashioned hotel where an Irish band was playing. Most the songs I didn't know, but I did recognize I've Just Seen a Face and 500 Miles. It was amusing because the Kanye West/Taylor Swift controversy was brought up. Mom didn't see the VMAs (not surprising), but she did see Kanye on Jay Leno. She thought Kanye and Jay-Z were part of a group called the Z-Js and that Kanye was married to Beyonce and that's why he said her video was the best. Oh, Mom. Luckily Kelly and I set her straight. Then Mom brought up something about my cousin Lendie and about Jay (another cousin) and Rebecca's new baby and Bill, Kelly, and I all told her we knew about it because we had read about it on Facebook.

When Bill, Kelly, and I went returned home, we played Trivial Pursuit. I don't know if I'm just really stupid or the questions are ridiculously difficult, but that game is hard. Seriously, I have no idea who the first African-American coach of a baseball team was and I don't know the name of a song from a composer I've never heard of. After awhile Kelly and I teamed up, but my brother still won.

So that was my weekend!

Oh, and in the mail today I got a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble from my aunt and cousin. Score!

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. From my parents I got money, a cookbook (they think it's about time I learned how to cook, heh) and a $20 gift card to Best Buy. I'm thinking of trading it in for another gift card - an iTunes one. My brother gave me a gift certificate to Amazon.com and I bought the season one of Heroes with that - I love that show!

Speaking of Heroes, I am so excited because the new TV season starts next week: Desperate Housewives, Heroes, House, Grey's Anatomy, and Ugly Betty...all my favorite shows are starting up again, hurray!

This is the second time in four years that the flas has been raised at half-mast on my birthday for a national disaster. How....morose.

The majority of my birthday presents came from San Francisco. Even though my birthday was today, Mom and Dad came yesterday to celebrate. I got earrings and a bright green chunky braclet Mom had gotten in San Fransico along with a faux Kate Spade purse, but she said she coudl take it back and get another one if I didn't like it and since the purse wasn't really me, I told her we could do that. We had cake, then went out to the mall where we were going to see a movie and have dinner. Well, there was a little problem of miscommunication with the movie. The one Mom and I had decided on, Dad didn't want to see because it got two and a half stars (rolls eyes), but I could have sworn Mom told me over the phone it got four stars. And I didn't want to see the one Dad wanted to see, and there ones we also considered had already started and another one didn't start for another hour....so I just decided not to go to a movie. (I really didn't want to see a movie anyway, honestly, I've never even heard of half of them...I must be loosing my touch. But September, like January, is a suck fest month for movies anyway...and this is why I like going to movies by myself because you can just go to a movie you want to see and enjoy it without other people whining [/end rant]). So anyway, we just went to Cheeseburger Paradise and I had a drink called Lady of the Sea which made me feel really sick after I drank it. It was part pina colada, part strawberri daquiri, part rum runner...or some shit like that. Then Dad orders us a mango shooter and a coconut shooter and I managed to down the coconut one in three gulps. So by the time I got back, I was all uh....

Bleh, I'm not really big on my birthday. I mean, I LOVE Christmas, but I loathe my birthday. Go figure.

I got Bill's present today. He was also recently in San Fransico (everyone except me, I tell you!) and sent me these colorful magnetic beads that can be used as a necklace or bracelet. They're quite cool. He also sent me money, and so did Aunt Jane and Lendie, whoo, I know I can always count on them!

Guess what? It appears there's some good news with UJ. I typed in their url and instead of getting a "this page does not exist," it said UJ was closing down because the people running it didn't have any time left and they were gonna switch all the entries over to About My Life (http://www.aboutmylife.net) and that should be done within the next couple of weeks, so...*crosses fingers*.

My birthday was last weekend and yeah, it sucked. I barely even acknowledge when it's my birthday anymore because I really don't give a shit. It just depresses me! I get older and still have accomplished nothing. Birthdays are horrible! Except for the presents. I mostly got money this year....actually that's the only thing I got, which is what I prefer. I got 100 bucks from Mom and Dad and Grandma, Aunt Sue, and Jane and Lendie sent me some money. After you reach a certain age, the other relatives stop giving you money which really sucks! Bill sent me a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com. I still haven't gotten the code I need so I can buy something. I'm leaning towards either getting the Sims 2 or Kill Bill Vols 1 and 2 and Mystic River.

Mom and Dad came back from Vancouver on the day of my birthday and they came and took me out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I had my first margarita! It was so good! And for dessert I had fried ice cream. Mmmm...I love fried ice cream! Besides the money, they also gave me a cute red tank top with the Canadian flag on it and the word "Canada" beneath it. LOL Mom said she saw a shirt that said "fukeneh" on it and didn't get it at first. I didn't get it either when she spelled it, but when she pronounced it, I was LOLing. They also said they saw a black bear when they were in Whistler and that it was really cute.

The other day I went to Von Maur at the mall and went to the Philosophy counter. (LOL I am so obsessed with that line now). It turns out they have the 3-in-1 line of bodywash/shampoo/conditioner that I so love! The selection wasn't as (understandably) big as the one at the Sephora in NYC, but it was still a pretty good selection. The salesgirl came and I told her I wanted the chocolate ice cream (that smells soooo good) and pina colada (I want to try to make one now!) She said those were excellent choices and she especially love the pina colada. She asked me if I tried the melon daiquiri, that it was new and her favorite and I told her that I already had it. Then she asked me if I tried the margarita and again, I told her I already had it. She said how amazing it was that it smelled like the real thing! LOL, I found it amusing she espeically like the alcoholic scents. And if that wasn't enough, when I came home, I ordered chocolate chip cookies, Grasshopper (a mint scent), and banana nut bread. I really need help, but I can't help it! They smell so good. I'm never going back to the Bath and Body Works! (I really don't need to anyway since I'll have enough body wash to hold me over for a good long time now).

I've become addicted to the show Alias! I love it! It's so awesome! I love her wigs and costumes! It kinda reminds me of 24. The plots are a little bit unbelievable, but that's what makes it so great! I started watching the third season first because they had that at Blockbuster. But then I had to see the other two seasons and effing Blockbuster doesn't have them! So the only thing to do besides buying them was to sign up for Netflix which I did! It's great! You make a queue of DVDs you want to see and they send you three at a time. Then when you're done watching a movie, you send it back in the mail and they'll send you the next disc on your list! I got the first two discs of season one of Alias and the Sex and the City DVD from season 2 they were missing at Blockbuster *rolls eyes* And of course I have season 2 of Alias in my list and other TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and season 2 of 24 (I missed the first four or so episodes) and Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap, y'all! OMG, I'm so excited. I also have independent and foreign movies you can't get at Blockbuster (only those of which were nominated for Oscars) and old movies they only have the video of at Blockbuster. For instance, Cocoon (OMG..Cocoon!) and Executive Decision. I loved that movie and I've always wanted to see it again. I also have movies I'd be too embarrassed to get at Blockbuster like From Justin to Kelly and Weekend at Bernie's. LOL.

Speaking of movies, I saw The Worst Movie Ever the other day. OMG, this movie was just too painful to watch. It was Dogville with Nicole Kidman (God, she really needs to fire her agent for this shit!) and the movie is three hours long. Now, I knew this was an independent artsy movie, so I didn't think I was gonna love it or anything, but I didn't know anything about it and decided to rent it. Well, that had to be the biggest mistake of my cinematic life. The movie? Wasn't really a "movie." It was a fucking PLAY. Yeah, that's right. A PLAY on film. What. The. Fuck? God, it was so B-O-R-I-N-G. If you've ever seen "Our Town" with Paul Newman, it was kinda like that. It was a fucking ripoff off of "Our Town." The "movie/play" is set on this black stage and there are houses and roads drawn in with chalk and just a few props. It's so fucking stupid!!!! Why the hell would I want to watch a play (and a three hour boring one, no less) as a movie? God. It was like the director thought he was so clever that he thought of this. Gimme a break! I barely watched it. I kept it on, but during the fist hour I flipped through my new In Style and the last two hours I came online and just listened to it. The only people I can see who would actually like this piece of drivel shit would be those obnoxious movie snobs who think they're so sauve and sophisticated because they "get" these movies and think the director is brilliant for making what has got to be the world's most boring movie. Their the only people I can see who could actually SIT through this awful movie. Them and dead people. I can't believe people are actually saying that NK will get nominated for an Oscar for this. Yeah, right! She doesn't come into the movie until the first 20 minutes has passed and I can't see anyone giving a shit anymore after that! One reviewer at Netflix said they should show this movie in prisoner to torture the prisoners, LMAO.

We're reading The Divine Comedy (Inferno) in Western Civ lit class and the great thing is that after each canto the translator actually tells you what's going on, so it's like your own cliff notes for each canto! That's very helpful or I would have no idea what the fuck was going on. But it's a very interesting read. Hell doesn't seem like a very nice place!

Today started off pretty slow. I got up around ten watched my tape of Survivor again and worked on some homework.

Then around five o'clock the phone rang and I thought it was Mom or Dad telling me they were leaving. But it was acutally Bill! He was calling to ask me what I wanted. I asked him if he had gotten my present and he mistook it as me asking him if he had gotten me something for my birthday, but I meant if he had gotten the B&N gift certificate I had gotten him and he had (whoa, long sentence, lol). So we chatted and I told him Mom and Dad were coming over to take me out to dinner and how Mom was bringing her famous chocolate cake. LOL he got jealous and said, "You get a cake?? That's so unfair!" He told me he knew what Mom and Dad were getting me and asked me what I wanted. We finally decided a gift certificate would be our best bet. So while we were on the phone he got on Amazon.com and sent me a $50 gift certifcate. Whoo hoo!

Mom and Dad came later and we had reservations at Biaggo's. I had white wine and the Ziti something something...it was pasta with shrimp, lobster, ham, and chicken. I told them what I was learning in school and told them all the cool shit I was learning in linguistics.

Then we came home and had chocolate cake and opened presents. I got potporri (or however you spell that damn word), dishclothes, and blank video tapes. But the best part was.....I GOT A DVD PLAYER!!! Whoo hooo! I also got The Two Towers along with it. Mom thought she was getting me the first LOTR movie, but this one worked out just fine.

With the Amazon gift certifcate Bill got for me I got the four disc set of The Fellowship of the Ring, Chicago, and the South Park movie. They should be arriving in 5-7 business days. Can't wait!!!

Dad also brought the mixed CD he made for me. He wasn't able to get three of the songs on it, but it was okay. This is what's on my cool new CD:

American Pie - Madonna
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Long Time Gone - Dixie Chicks
Clocks - Coldplay
Whenever Wherever - Shakira
Cherrybomb - John Mellencamp
The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders
This Kiss - Faith Hill
Georgia - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Complicated - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
If You're Not In It For Love (I'm Outta Here) - Shania Twain
So Young - The Corrs
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Beautiful - Christina Aguliera