Shots from the Weekend.

Friends are priceless. This is what has been going through my head for the past week. My friends are my second family. The ones here in Kansas City and the ones who are spread out all over the US and overseas. They are the ones who have stuck by me through everything, wiped away tears, seen me at my best and my worst, and have been there to pick me up when I thought I have hit rock bottom. They are the ones who I always feel comfortable with and who love me for being my goofy, kind-hearted, and lovable self. With that said, this past week has been one amazing week thanks to Bryan and my wonderful friends! (Most of my family and Bryan's family live in St. Louis, so it makes it hard to see and be with them for occasions like my birthday.)

Here is a recap of my wonderful 25th birthday celebration last Wednesday. Bryan arranged for us to have dinner at Zest, a wine and bistro restaurant that had the snazziest interior decorations I was swooning over! He even made sure Zest had a gluten-free menu (oh the joys of being a Celiac). We celebrated by toasting with champagne and enjoying a delicious dinner outside on their patio. After dinner, we headed to Mickey's (now Saints) to meet our friends for drinks. There are quite a few events that happened which made me ever so happy on my birthday: birthday wishes from friends and family, taking pictures of an adorable baby boy, receiving lilies and an external hard drive (which I had been saving for!) from Bryan which I spent five minutes squealing and jumping for joy, and spending the evening with our good friends. You must know by now, I love food especially cake! I could eat it all day and everyday. Seriously. This is where my amazing friends, Martha and Kathleen come in. As soon as I left for dinner, they went to work baking delicious gluten-free cupcakes! Love them! So, of course, when they presented me with them that evening at Mickey's, I about died. Literally. I have been cake deprived for three months, so naturally, I ate four of them. Can you blame me?! They were so good! Overall, I loved every moment of my birthday!

As if this was not enough of an awesome week, Bryan, our good friend, Ashley, and I hopped on a plane to see our dearest friends, Susie, Sean, and Holly in Raleigh, North Carolina. What a gorgeous town! I adore Nicholas Sparks writing and his work, and most of his books take place in North Carolina. He was not joking when he describes the scenery of the towns in the state. Beautiful. Holly was the sweetest hostess as she made us feel right at home! Friday night was stayed up until 4 in the morning talking about anything and everything and drinking wine. Oh I miss college and Chi Omega for this very reason! Saturday, we met some friends of ours, Spencer, Jeff, and Jim, and drove two hours to go to one of the two training facilities for the Olympic. (I should mention that we met a few Cardinals fans who worked and lived in North Carolina. We loved it!) We spent the afternoon white water rafting which was a thrilling experience. Sean, Susie, and Bryan spent most of their time in the water than in the raft as the rapids were quite large, and Ashley even got a few wounds from being thrown overboard. Surprisingly, I was able to stay in the raft; I think that was due to me gripping the boat for the dear life of me. However, zip lining was a different story for me. I was doing fine until I got to the top where my heart was pounding, my knees were shaking, and I had tears forming in my eyes. Did I mention I have a fear for heights? That was about the time my friends and Bryan were cheering me on to take the leap and so I did! Afterwards, I was filled with happiness and pretty proud of facing my fear. We spent a majority of the evening laughing at our pictures below, drinking and playing games that made us laugh until our stomachs ached and we had tears in our eyes, and celebrating Ashley's birthday. I am going to quote Susie who said, "I wish we had a bad time so I was happy to leave instead of being sad." This is how we all felt when we said our good-byes before going to bed. I have said it before and I will say it again, I have some of the best friends a gal could ask for!

(P.S. The pictures below were with my point and shoot. I wish I had my SLR, but these ended up being pretty good!)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Happy Monday!