Playing Catch Up...My 30th Birthday Bash

“Our friends have a way of reminding us of how fabulous we are when the rest of the world has forgotten.”  ~Mandy Hale  

Growing up, I was always a girl that was better friends with the boys.  I had a handful of girl friends from birth to high school, but always had a much larger group of guy friends.  So had you told me then that I would celebrate my 30th birthday surrounded by 10 honest to goodness, true girl friends, I would have told you that you were crazy.  But crazy is how life works sometimes, and having a birthday bash with 10 of my favorite ladies is exactly what happened.

I had girls from all different parts of my life.  Friends I met in high school and in college and in law school and a couple of years ago and within the last 6 months.  We had an age range from 19 to mid-30's.  We had single girls and married girls and one with a bun in the oven.  There were lawyers and business professionals and students.  My point is that the variety of girl friends that I have been able to collect over the past 30 years is amazing.

And even more amazing was the fact that all the girls enjoyed each other!  Mind you that none of the girls had met all of the others, although each of them had met at least one other person (sorry that sentence sounded a bit like the start of an LSAT question).  But as I watched what happened over the 2 days that we spent together, I saw everyone talking to everyone else.  When we would walk down the street, the groups of people walking together would change up.  Everyone genuinely got along with everyone else and went home with 10 new Instagram friends!  And of everything (winning OSU score and amazing gift included) that was my absolute favorite thing about the weekend.

And now, on to the details.

Everyone made their way to College Station on Friday night.  The early group arrived about 4:00 and we just hung out at my house on the patio, having a few drinks and telling stories.  Then we all got ready to go out for dinner and the late group arrived around 7:30.  At that point, they all cornered me and gave me the best birthday present ever.  Here are some  photos of that event.

Me giving College Roomie the "what did you do..."' eye

 

So then it was off to one of my favorite College Station restaurants...La Bodega.  It's an awesome taco bar where we sat on the patio, ate mounds of chips and queso/guac (they mix the two together....genius!) and tacos.  And then, of course, a strawberry tart for dessert.

All dressed up (and stuffed to the gills)

The next day Loud Oklahoma Girl, ND Friend, and I headed out for a little early morning run.  The temps were perfect and the run went so much faster with people to talk to!  Then we all dawned our matching shirts for the occasion, which read "Go Pokes" on the front and "Tiff's 30th Birthday Bash; I'm a Woman, I'm 30!" on the back.  (For those of you who don't get it, watch this.)  At that point, we headed for breakfast at another local taco place.  Are you sensing a pattern here?

From there we headed to Bucees, the most amazing gas station you've ever seen.  As we pulled up, Mrs. Arizona was on the phone.  She said, "Honey, we just pulled up to a gas station the size of Target.  I have to go."  Although I think they were skeptical, once they saw the goodness of Bucees and we left with everything from jerky to old fashioned candy to cake balls, they were all converted Bucees fans.

And then it was game time.  First time at the UT Stadium and I have to tell you, that place was freaking huge.  We were surrounded by a sea of the wrong color orange with just a few of the good guys sprinkled around.  When we scored (as we did often, GO POKES!) we would all cheer and waive the wheat and yell to the other OSU fans nearby. 

You gotta love a band that spells out BEEF in the halftime show.  Go Pokes!

I must admit, with the exception of one drunk college kid and a really grouchy lady behind us who both said we were going to get killed by Baylor (um....totally did not happen, fyi), everyone was very nice.  I got a ton of birthday wishes and no one spit on us.  Win-win-win.

Then we grabbed dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and hung out at the hotel room watching more football on tv.

On Sunday, Gonzaga Friend, ND Friend and I headed to Mass and then everyone had to go their separate ways.  But not before a few of us were able to eat green chile enchiladas and boom-boom sauce at Chuy's.  Thank you, Hometown Friend, for that intro!

And so there you have it.  Photo proof that I have the best girl friends in the entire world.