Welcome to your mid twenties.

As my sister so eloquently (and somewhat shockingly) put it "You're no longer in your early twenties." I initially thought "COOL!" but then after a moment thought, "Oh shit, the era of my early twenties is over." But, to be honest, I'm glad to see them go, because I'm ready for the next phase of my young adult life. What will the next few years bring before I'm in my late twenties? Only time will tell, but I'm excited and eager to find out.

So back to turning 24. I'm usually pretty low-key about my birthdays. Aside from when I turned 21 in the most epic of fashions, I'm not one to make a big deal out of my birthday. I'm content to just have a nice dinner with a few close friends and call it a day. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy doing SOMETHING, I'm just not big on planning celebrations on behalf of myself. With that being said, my incredible roommate, Leah took it upon herself to see that this non-milestone of a birthday was more memorable than any I've had in years.

It started with a simple "Don't worry about it, I've got something in mind." So I let it be, thinking she was probably planning a dinner or something. But as it creeped closer and I still didn't know what our plans were, I started getting suspicious. It was Thursday afternoon and I still didn't know who, what, when, or where something - if anything - was happening.

So on Friday a couple of co-workers and dear friends of mine (Julie & Jess) told me they wanted to take me out for a happy hour drink after work. I happily agreed and left work a few minutes early to go home and freshen up. Well, if you know my friends or our group of co-workers at all, you'd probably know that nothing ever goes according to a timed plan. So happy hour is running a little late (not surprising), and we decide to just grab a drink at Julie & TJ's apartment instead (3 floors down from where Leah and I live). I'm cool with that - it's Friday, just beer me!

So we chatted for a while until Jess realized she needed to go move her car from her metered space. I offered to go with her, and when we stepped outside I noticed my god-sister Lindsey's car parked outside my apartment complex. I knew it was hers because she has a very distinct vanity plate, but of course she denied she was there and told me she was at home in her PJ's. Noooope. I knew right then something was up.

So a little while later Julie & Jess somehow convinced me that we needed to stop by my apartment for something, so we headed upstairs. I was a little anxious since I had a feeling something was going on, but I wasn't sure what. So we walk in the door and my roommate is standing there with a margarita in hand while a few other people (Lindsey included!) jumped out and yelled "Surprise!" It was a special moment, followed by the realization that our friend Justin (who happens to be an AMAZING chef) had cooked up a burrito bar in my apartment as well. My favorite food + my favorite people. What could be better? I was blown away at this point at the thoughtfulness of it all.

But it didn't stop there: Leah then explained to me that they had another surprise in store. They had come up with a game for the night - a golf-style pub crawl. Being the creative graphic designer that she is, she made up a card for everyone to wear around their necks that had 8 bars listed on it, and a few drinks at each bar - you would earn a score for whichever drink you drank (with the idea that you wanted to get the lowest score possible because golf, duh). Side note: before we took off on the pub-crawl, it started torrentially down pouring (with lightning), which we could only laugh about. So we ate burritos in the rain and right before we left I snapped this pic of the amazing sunset peeking through the clouds. It was magical.

So notice above at the bar "Don't Tell Mama" the hole-in-one says "Chelsea Sings." That's a piano bar in town that I've drunkenly sang at once or twice in front of a select few people. But this was on another level because there was a group of around 20 people that I knew in there (and tons more that I didn't know). But that was the name of the game and I couldn't NOT sing, right? So I got up on stage and gave Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" my best shot. It's not karaoke, so it's just you and the guy on the piano - no lyrics, no background music, no distractions. It's intimidating! But I had an absolute blast.

We only ended up making it to 4 bars before we had to call it a night, but I was absolutely blown away with the creativity and thought that was put into making it a special night. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I literally have the BEST roommate anyone could ask for. She's a huge light in my life and she made me feel more special than I have in years. No one has ever done anything like that for me and I just can't thank her enough. She, and all my friends, really, made me feel like I was worth celebrating, and that's not something I'm necessarily accustomed to, so it was really very special. I can't accurately express how grateful I am.

The rest of the weekend was super low-key, and exactly what I needed. We had a hangover brunch at my apartment on Saturday morning (breakfast burritos made out of leftovers from the night before), went to the pool, and relaxed. Then on Sunday (my actual day of birth) a few of us went and had brunch at one of my favorite places in town, Baby Stacks (yes, I'm obsessed with having brunch). Later on I had cocktails and dinner with my parents which was an awesome way to end the weekend.

Overall, turning 24 turned out to be pretty epic. 23 was a GREAT year in Chelsea history, so I'm excited to see what the first year of my mid-twenties have in store for me. As long as I'm surrounded by this incredible group of people I currently have in my life, I know it's gonna be fabulous.