Better late than never...?

Sorry to those of you that go out of your way to check this thing expecting to see updates more than once a month. I added this to the long list of things I need to and want to be more disciplined about. 

But anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed November so far! First off, my birthday was great! The only way it could have been better is if my family could have snapped their fingers and been here for the day! The Saturday before my birthday (Nov. 6), UNC played FSU here in Tallahassee. We lost in a really close game, which was sad, but it was still a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!

Me and a couple of gal pals before the game

That night, a group of my guy friends had a big bonfire at their house. I LOVE bonfires, especially since it was 43 degrees out! A few guys had their guitars and lead us in some classic country songs...good stuff. I turned 20 at midnight and my friends cracked me up because they kept checking the time on their phones and pushed each other out of the way jockeying for a position to wish me happy birthday first. One of the guys with a guitar heard it was my birthday and of course made the entire group sing to me, in English, then Spanish. I felt so loved! Until...
                              
Yes. My (loving?) friends threw me into the Westcott Fountain at 1:30 AM with a temperature of 43 degrees. At Florida State, it is tradition to get thrown into the fountain on your birthday. I should have seen it coming, but I really didn't. We were standing around the fire, and the party was wearing down, and all of the sudden two of my guy friends picked me up (like the way in the picture above) and my first conscious thought was "Oh my gosh they are going to throw me in the fire!!! HELP!". I entertained that thought for about 2.3 seconds and then realized what they were up to.  I drove my friends and I there, but one of them sneakily hijacked my keys and had the car waiting in front of the house and then threw me in the back of my own car.

This was probably taken when Shea looked at her weather- app on her cool iPhone and confirmed that it was near freezing. 

We got there, and to my surprise, a decent group of people followed us there from the bonfire. As much as I REALLY didn't want to get thrown into the water, I figured putting up a fight would just make it more difficult for everyone, and getting hypothermia might make for a cool birthday story.
So they threw me in, and I did half of a victory lap.

(Side-note - Sara was thoughtful enough to bring me a T-shirt so I didn't have to get my sweater all chlorinated and gross!  Otherwise, I wouldn't wear a t-shirt in that weather. Boone didn't make me that crazy.)

I briefly lost feeling in my toes, but they at least loved me enough to try to keep me warm!

The next day was my actual birthday and God blessed us with the MOST beautiful day!  I didn't want to do much for my birthday (still not thrilled about being in my "early twenties"), but I did want to enjoy the weather and have a picnic. About 10 of us bought lunch at Publix and went to a park nearby. It was basically a big wide open field and it was gorgeous, even furthering my appreciation for Tallahassee. I didn't think to get a group picture, but I did get these...

Tatiana (on the far left) is a new friend from Miami! We have "cultural diffusion sessions" (hahah) were she teaches me something unique to Miami/Cubans and I teach her something American/Southern. It gets pretty hilarious.

Excited.

Twenty years old and I still can't do a dang cartwheel. 

Happy and loved :)

Next up, Thanksgiving! Can't wait to spend a few days with family in Dothan, Alabama. Family, food, fun, fried turkey, four wheeling, football...YES!

Love you all :)