Best. Birthday. Ever.

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen....

PRE-MORNING:

At exactly midnight, my phone rang. I answered to the sound of my best friend singing "Happy Birthday". Minutes later, another one of my friends Snapchatted him singing the song as well. I went to sleep with quite the smile on my face.

One of the coolest guys ever gave me this card. He knows me so well. 

MORNING:

The day started with breakfast at my grandparents. WAFFLES. I have a thing for breakfast foods, I can't help it. After breakfast, I opened presents my grandparents and mom had bought for me. Despite insisting I had everything I needed, they still got me more. I cannot even express how grateful I am simply for having them in my life.

First selfie at the zoo because why look at lights when you could be looking at yourselves. 

AFTERNOON: 

Cookie cake supplies! I am obsessed with them, and thankfully my mom has a compatible obsession: trying new recipes.

I wanted a hippopotamus for Christmas... and so I found one.

NIGHT: 

At around 7pm, my friends and I packed into a car to head to the zoo. Due to route involving a rather chaotic freeway, my mom drove us. Once we arrived, we met up with some guy friends. Two of the boys were dating my friends. They coupled off rather early, but it was adorable! That left me with one of my friends, a boy whom I talked with over Tinder and was meeting for the first time, and that boy's friend. Despite the situation sounding a bit awkward, we hit it off instantly. The guys had such wonderful personalities, and I had a great night hanging out with everyone.

During this time, I was trying to convince another friend to meet us up at the zoo. He lived about 10-15 minutes away so he said we should just come over afterwards. How the heck I convinced my mom to drive us there is beyond me. This guy I have been talking to for awhile, but I have talked to his friend for even longer. I have a special relationship with his friend, deeper than with other people. Hearing that they would both be there was so exciting! Then he added... "and others".

We arrived, standing on the doorstep fighting over who had to knock. Eventually, his mom came to the door and he did as well. Honestly, he barely looked at us. I think this was due to him being shy... he never gave me that vibe before then, but I can't think of any other reason for it.

By the way, I should probably add that this guy was even taller than I expected. And cuter. Much cuter. And trust me, I already thought he was cute.

So we walked to the basement and...

CUTEST. BOYS. EVER.

My gosh, you have no idea. So many cute boys for one room! There was a girl there as well, but she seemed really cool too! Once I spotted his friend though... I wanted to cry. I had talked to this boy for so long and there he was in the flesh. He didn't really look at us either. Everyone else somewhat acknowledged our presence... except the two boys who told us to show up.

For about an hour, we watched them play video games. Towards the last thirty minutes, we all started interacting a bit. Occasionally the boy, not the one who lived there, would exchange looks with me... basically he would make a funny face and I would do the same. Something so simple meant so much... how is that even possible. I was so comforted by just his presence... yet at the same time, my heart was thumping like I was the bunny in Frosty the Snowman.

After we left, my mom drove my friends and I to one of my friend's houses. Then once she was out of sight, we got in my friend's car and headed to McDonald's. We found one that had the dine-in open 24 hours and headed inside. Chicken McNuggets and fries at midnight? Yum. Two drunk boys along with a drunk girl stumbled in not too long after we sat down. They were messing around in the front, and due to the reflective glass, we all stared at the window to see what they were doing. One of the boys looked into the windows and saw us, notifying us that the window works both ways and they could see us too. Who knew cheeks could get that red?!

At the end of the night, I couldn't think about anything aside from the two boys whom I had finally gotten to meet in person and weeks if not months of talking. Cute, nice, smart boys... they make like so difficult yet so wonderful.