Special Edition: Trucker Girl's Birthday

Today's entry is purely self-centered. This one isn't about cars or fitness centers. This one is all about me. It's all about me because I turned the ripe old age of 24 yesterday and I had a pretty sweet birthday. Sure I had to work on my birthday, but does it really count as work if you're having fun at the office? I think not! The day started off with two birthday cards that I've been waiting to open since Saturday, and boy was that a long wait. I felt like I was six again waiting for everyone to finish their lunch at my birthday party while the wrapping paper covered boxes sat and and stared at me on the counter, just begging to be torn open. Let me tell you something, it is so much easier to get up for that 6:15 alarm when there are birthday cards waiting to be opened. Long story short, I went into the day with some cash for evening festivities and a trip to Target in my future--thank you Gramma and the Manions :) After all that excitement it's off to work where I get lunch on the boss (always a bonus), a sweeeeet bonsai plant named Butters and a full chorus of Happy Birthday from the office staff and artists who just happened to be in for the day (coincidence? doubt it.) When 4:30 rolled around I was on the road headed for Boston and the big plan for the day: Sox vs. Twins. This was my first game since July 2005 so I was pretty excited. We had awesome seats thanks to AceTickets and a lovely donor who decided to opt out of his/her season tickets for this game. I'm talking Loge 129 Row LL, perfect view of home plate. Not only did we have amazing seats, we also had swanky accomodations for the evening thanks to the lucky pull of a raffle ticket at last year's FUN holiday party. Ever heard of the Marriott Custom House in Boston? Here are the directions: go to New England Aquarium, turn around and find clock tower, enter clock tower. Besides the old Quaker-Oats-storage-siloh-turn-hotel that I stayed at once in Ohio, this was the tallest and most narrow hotel that I've ever stayed in. It was totally awesome AND super plush AND the best night of sleep I've had in a very long time. This story is leading to a trifecta of awesome that couldn't have worked out more perfectly and I'm so excited to tell you about it, so I hope you've been paying attention. Ready? Red Sox game--Marriott Custom House in downtown Boston--First Time Boston Visitor. Yes, that's right, we were travelling with a first time Boston visitor. It's sort of like Trucker Girl in reverse, instead of me wandering around a city I've never been to before, I spent the night leading a North Carolinian around Boston. It was incredible. My sister's friend is up here for my sister's graduation (that happened on Saturday) and she wanted the full on Boston experience, so we gave it to her. Imagine squeezing into a packed train full of Red Sox fans and strolling down Yawkey Way for the first time, all while practicing a Boston accent with the slightest of southern drawls. It just doesn't get better than that. Ok, that's sort of a fib, it does get better when the Sox win with a 2 run homer by Big Papi. The whole day was fantastic, just a series of glorious happenings and then this morning I come into the office to find a beautiful vase of pink and green flowers sitting on my desk--that's my cherry on top :) So, while reliving the glory of last night, I start thinking about birthdays and here is the conclusion that I've come to: if turning 24 is this insanely good, I'm going to really need this whole year to prepare for turning 25...