Birthdays, and Tigers, and Pandas, Oh My!

Yesterday was my 24th birthday, and it was a whole weekend full of fun celebrations!  Thanks to all (near and far) who made my birthday a special day!  Here's a little "picture montage" of the fun things we did.  

On Friday night, we kicked off the celebration by going to Lucky Strike, a "big kid" bowling alley in Gallery Place (Chinatown) in DC.  We had a great time getting our bowl on!

At the counter where the guy was giving out the oh-so-snazzy bowling shoes, he handed me a pair so ugly that I assertively told him that it was my birthday and I needed a much cuter pair of shoes than the ones he was handing me.  He returned with another pair (pictured below)...not exactly a step in the right direction....

This event was planned and executed by my very best friend/hubby :)  He even brought along a cookie cake because those are my fave!  He is the BEST!!

Several of my GREAT friends came and this is a picture of some girlfriends (Michele & Annie) who currently live in DC but also hail from my hometown of Stuart, Florida, more affectionately known as "the STU".  I love having familiar faces around!  (Disclaimer:  Annie is putting her hands in a "U" formation, but I assure you she is a loyal Seminoles fan and was doing this in support of our hometown and NOT on behalf of the Miami Hurricanes, though her boyfriend would probably be proud. )

Also in attendance was my best Virginia buddy, Hallie!  We're so festive it's like Christmas in September! :)

But some days, this is more like it :)

We were having so much fun bowling like the pros.  I mean, I was able to end (just like I planned, yeah, I'll go with that) with a score of 86, in honor of the year I was born.  Hallie, on the other hand, schooled us all with a 125.

But those scores were not acceptable enough, so we decided to make the next round a little more interesting.  Here is Caroline (a good friend from school), attempting to bowl blind.  I wouldn't recommend it if you only reserve one lane for the night...

(And I couldn't just leave you with a picture of Caroline blind-bowling and not show you her pretty face... :)

Next, I tried my hand at the "Bryan Case original" backwards and through the legs move.  Aaron was so kind as to document the moment.

And then there's Michele with a good ole fashion granny bowl.

The scores say it all...

The next day (my actual birthday-day) Aaron and I got up and ate some yummy breakfast and hit up the National Zoo.  Here are some of the super-cool animals that we had a chance to see....

A not so ladylike panda bear,

a cheetah,

a super-cute Meerkat,

a not-so-P.C. bathroom sign,

and a tiger!  (I asked him and he was definitely cheering for Auburn...)

I realized after-the-fact that my birthday weekend could have easily been confused for a 5-year-old's birthday with bowling and zoos and all, but I'm chalking it up to embracing my youth!  Saturday afternoon I went back to adulthood and watched some Seminole football (GO NOLES!) and then went out to dinner at BRIO with Aaron and our good friends Bryan and Hallie.  I had a great birthday and realize more and more each day how very blessed I am with amazing family and friends.  Thanks again to everyone who helped make it a fun and special (couple of) days! :)