It's really long but there are lots of pictures.

Although I have normal age-related anxieties for someone in my position (what am I doing with my life? when will I get married? am I getting too old to have the 10 kids I've always dreamed of? (just kidding on that last one)), and although I sometimes crack a joke about being old, I actually haven't yet felt old. But I admit, I really was kind of worried coming into my 30th birthday. My life has been good, but the truth is that I am not where I expected or hoped to be at this point. I'm in kind of a transition period and the last several months already haven't been entirely easy. And last year I had a really great birthday, which made me worry that I'd spend the day comparing and coming up short. So all that fuss I was making about my upcoming 30th birthday was kind of in reaction to some very real anxiety.

But remember how I said that if I want a really fantastic birthday, the universe will conspire to make it happen? I feel like that's exactly what happened. My birthday, which began on Wednesday and bled into Friday and Saturday when I actually had time to celebrate, never felt sad or disappointing, and nothing even made me think about the things that could have been sad or disappointing. In fact, far from falling short of expectations, I'd say that my expectations were easily exceeded.

Since birthdays in Ann Arbor are about free stuff, I have a little picture essay here of all the stuff that came my way on the day of.

1. Snow!

Okay, so Mother Nature kind of forgot how deliriously happy her choice of 57-degrees-in-a-Michigan-February birthday weather made me last year and decided to try something different. In the 24 hours before my birthday we got the biggest snowstorm we've had yet this season. It wasn't my favorite birthday weather ever, but it did give me a class cancellation and time to get some extra stuff done in preparation for a rather anti-productive birthday the following day.

2. Flowers and Cinnamon Rolls!

From my roommate Stephanie :). The spring flowers helped offset the snow outside.

3. Zingerman's bagels!

Six free on your birthday.

4. A new driver's license photo!

This started out as a downer. Since I inadvertently put off renewing my license and registration, I had to actually go to the Secretary of State on my birthday and do it in person if I didn't want to pay the late fee. But that turned out to be a good thing, because it meant I got to get a new driver's license photo taken. Old photo = ugh. New photo (which I don't have yet) = the best ID photo that has ever been taken of me.

5. Cupcakes!

The Cupcake Station on Liberty has a buy 1 get 1 free deal on your birthday, and since Melanie C. had introduced me to Cupcake Station cupcakes on Monday, I decided to treat myself. And you can get a free cupcake (no strings attached) at Cake Nouveau on Fourth, so I made a stop there for another cupcake. When the woman at the register asked if I'd like a box and I said yes and the box was built for two cupcakes, she threw in a second cupcake for free.

6. Free dessert at The Pizza House!

That's a giant apple pie sundae. Yum. I didn't have to eat it all by myself because when it's your birthday, friends pay for you and help you eat your free desserts :).

7. Fruit bouquet!

My parents had this delivered to my doorstep. The fruit was probably good to balance out all the cake and ice cream I had from other sources that day. And those things that look like chocolate covered marshmallows? They are actually chocolate covered bananas. I haven't had a chocolate covered banana for ages, and I had forgotten how good they are.

8. Dinner from John and Kristin!

Kristin made chicken tortilla soup with lots of vegetables in it, rolls, and chocolate cake with orange cream cheese frosting. I got to meet their nephews, too, who were amazed by the number of candles on my birthday cake (there were way less than 30).

9. 38 comments on my blog!

You all totally came through for me! I way exceeded my 30 comment goal (which I actually didn't think I would meet) and got more comments than I think I will ever get on my blog again. I also got over 50 song recommendations, many of which I have already put on my playlist, and all of which will get there eventually. I will post a playlist as promised, once I have a little more time. Thanks to everyone for their song recommendations and their comments. I had so much fun watching my playlist and comment count grow all day.

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In addition to all that, I had phone calls from everyone in my family, a birthday celebration on Friday that was pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be, a wonderful weekend with my little sister, and just an all-around good week. Sometime in the middle of all of this, I was in the bathroom doing my hair or brushing my teeth or doing something mundane, and I suddenly froze and thought, I am so lucky. I have so many wonderful people in my life. For a moment, I was completely overwhelmed by this thought. Getting stuff was fun, but that realization was the best part. I am grateful for all of you. Thank you for being in my life :).