Birthdays are Awkward.

Here’s a little something about me.

I’m awkward. I know, I know. I hide it so well. But it’s a fact of life that I’ve come to deal with over the years. Usually my awkwardness emerges most when there is hugging, complimenting or (above all) crying involved. Another of my most awkward moments? Birthdays.

Birthdays are awkward. I feel so weird being the center of attention just because it’s the day I was born, and I hate being showered with food and gifts – okay, not really. But the act of gift giving often makes me squeamish and uncomfortable. Birthdays are so much pressure to drink as much as you can, have the most fun night of your life and eat as much as humanly possible. I really have no problem with the latter. And that brings us to the origin of this blogpost.

This is the end of the day. My favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Have you ever seen me look more excited? But this is just the last dessert I ate that day. Let’s start at the beginning.

A few days before my birthday, my wonderful mother sent me a package with enough sweets to feed a small village of Viewpointers. I saved some delicious white chocolate raspberry bread for my birthday on Friday, and along with a spread of other sweets, it was my breakfast. Shout out to Rachel for making me some addictive puppy chow. Peanut butter + Chex = breakfast food…right?

Yeah, that’s a lot of breakfast. Next, it was on to lunch. We ventured to Grahamwich for some delicious, gourmet sandwiches and, of course, dessert. It was finally time to try the soft serve topped with nutella, caramelized bananas and marshmallow fluff. Well…

Really, really good. Go get one. Now.

After this frozen yogurt, I swore off desserts for the rest of the day. No more. Ever, ever again. Then, my roommate Missy and her boyfriend, Hugh, brought me a dozen cupcakes from The Twisted Baker. Needless, to say I ate one…but at least it was just one. Right?

Umm…okay, this isn’t them. I didn’t get a good shot before I dug in. But if you are in the mood for cupcakes, you can make your own red velvet with cinnamon maple cream cheese frosting.

And that brings us to the ice cream cake – the best kind of cake there is. Well, aside from the homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting courtesy of Charlene (the same person who sent all that food to my office). But don’t worry…I didn’t eat this cake the same day.

So this is my way of saying thank you to everyone who made my birthday special this year. No, I’m not going to cry or hug you. But I am thankful for you all, and I know I’ll never forget turning 23. Especially with this piece of memorabilia as a gift…

Next time, more recipes, less food and way fewer pictures of me. That’s just awkward.