A "Charming" birthday*~

And so I am 20 years old. I remember thinking when I was around 11 that once I turned 17 my life would be flawlessly in order...for one thing I'd be mature, *ahem* and of course I'd have an unfailing relationship with the Lord. Welll...17 came, as did 18, 19, and now 20. Yet I am still only Michaela - ever learning, always growing, and very, very far from being the tiniest bit perfect. Its hard to imagine that I've finally left what the world dubs as the "teen years" behind. There is SO much to look forward to in the future!

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."  1 Tim. 4:12

 

I had a delightful birthday, to say the least. Thank you, all my blogger friends, for leaving notes on my "hijacked" post. ;) (Love you, mom!) I've gotten dozens and dozens of birthday greetings that have so blessed me, encouraged me, made me laugh, brought on the tears...Praise the Lord for such special family and friends!

This, ladies and gentlemen, was my positively amazing, scrumptious, DELICIOUS birthday menu. Yup, I have excellent taste. Fried Penne - (we call it ziti - long story,)  is a secret recipe of my mom's, and my all-time-favorite dish of hers. It may sound odd, but fried pasta is out-of-this-world GOOD. 

(Hey, just have to mention...even with all this springish weather we're having, I can never get tired of Josh Groban's 'O Holy Night.' Listening to it right now as I type up this post. ;) ) 

So yeah. And I never have traditional birthday cake...cheesecake, please! This time it was peanut butter-chocolate swirl, made my your's truly. Mmm...

Anyway...I enjoyed a wonderfully lazy day doing absolutely NOTHING. ;) Later (when dad was off of work,) came the regular birthday festivities - food and gifts. 

...yet the very thrillingest part of celebrating 20 years came a few days later, at my Nonno and Nonna's home, where we combined all the F. February birthdays...me, Maria, and Lidia.

{left to right in both photos - Maria, 12, me, 20, Lidia, 9.}

One truly couldn't ask for a better day. . .Italian soccer (one of the only sports that doesn't bore me, :P) chocolate cupcakes, a stunning sunset, AND...

. . .Charming Charlie. A perfectly girly haven of color coordinated accessories. {the cameo, btw, is a necklace, - hard to tell in these photos!} Most of the store is rather tacky, but if you really look, there are treasures sprinkled here and there. And you can't beat $6 sales. o.O

 I think I'm addicted. 

Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, when my dad and I will go on a special date at 'The Macaroni Grill.' Soooo excited! On a different note, I couldn't get the above picture of me and Anna (Anna on the left,) to look clear...must have something to do with the editing I did. Gah. All well...to close this post -

Me and my daddy...and no, contrary to popular belief on facebook, (you know who you are! :P ) we were NOT miserable. Just tired. I guess you can call this our "serene" expression. ;) 

Here's to another year of adventure, learning, and growing in HIM!*~