...In daylights, in sunsets In midnights, in cups of coffee...

What do you actually do for your birthday when you are thousands of miles away from normal? Well if you know me, I would imagine that you would guess a little run would work its way in there :) And of course you would be correct. I started out my 23rd year of birth with another early wake up, and hit the road I did. However, in a series of interesting events I 1. did not meet up with my intended running group 2. found some other lovely running guys 3. ended up running much further than expected... whoops. It was a fitting ending to my 22 years, running the 22 miles (37ks) to Fish Hoek and back via my favorite road, Chapman's Peak Drive. My new running friends even took care to buy me some food and drink at the half way point, what wonderful people.

After a good pass out and delicious PANCAKE breakfast I headed to the beach and strolled around for a bit (cutest thing, there was a sand castle competition going on!) before purchasing some things from the bead shop that I have had my eye on. Ice cream for the walk back and a little reading on the beach and I was ready for a nap. Chilled out some more before going to Trenchtown with a friend to meet up with others and listen to some awesome live music. In all, a great day... almost unexpectedly. Of course my coworkers knew it was my bday (thus the delicious chocolate cake pic! thanks guys!) but with the exception of one person, I did not interact with a single person on my bday that knew of its significance to me. It was actually kind of cool in a way. It also really made me think about what makes a birthday great. I did miss having friends and family to visit and reminisce with (although I did get a card the day before from my mom complete with loads of baby pics, one of which she posted as her profile pic, lovely :) it was interesting trying to find ways I could make it special myself.

My extended family is very close and always find a way to get together to celebrate everyones birthday, so it is kind of strange not to have that. I settled with, being in a breathtaking country, having the ocean and mountains both within reach, and the freedom to do exactly whatever I want with my day seemed a pretty good alternative to the traditional family bday (not to mention getting to wear running clothes or a bathing suit the majority of the day...this makes me extremely happy). Going to bed with incredibly sore legs, a slight sunburn, smelling of campfire and replaying the great music I just experienced made me a very thankful birthday girl. Not to mention that incredibly slow post means that cards and packages are going to be trickling in all month making the celebration last even longer :)