What a Day!

Yesterday was an absolutely wonderful day! To start, it was my birthday. Not just any birthday, but my golden birthday. I turned 28 on the 28th! I'm excited about this golden year and what it may have in store for me.

The day started early as Sarah (my sweet sister who flew in from Austin) and I got ready to go up to SWA. This was not just any day though, in addition to my birthday, all of Southwest Headquarters was ready to celebrate Halloween. If you've never been to SWA Halloween, I don't really know how to describe it. For you ACUers, it's like grub--each dept. has a theme and they perform skits throughout the day. It's a huge production! people rent sound boards, light bridges, and I'm sure we have purchased all the black plastic tarps in Dallas. This year, we had pirates, haunted houses, a vegas variety show, a little orphan annie show, and so much more. The whole day is spent watching shows, laughing at costumes, and discovering that the quiet girl in finance really can belt out a tune. Singing, dancing, and of course, the Wright Amendment were all involved during the day before the winners were announced at the deck party at 4.

My department, Corporate Communications, decided that we would each draw a SWA city out of a hat and then dress like that city. We had "Miss AMARILLO By Morning," "Miss Keep AUSTIN weird," and A "Miss Potato Head" from BOISE. Having drawn the newest of our Florida cities, Ft. Myers, I decided it would be fun to dress like a palm tree. As of Tuesday, I still didn't know how this was going to happen, but once I acquired a colander, a christmas wreath, and 5 yards of burlap, I was in business. It wound up a little taller than I anticipated, which required me to utilize my limbo skills to make it through the doorways and elevators--"how low can you go!" But I was always easy to spot in the crowd!

Sarah was also in the Southwest Spirit and dressed up as "1977" in one of Grandma K's dresses--maybe it was the one she was wearing when I was born!!! We had a blast at SWA--seeing the skits, kissing Herb, and enjoying the fabulous weather at the deck party!

Then it was home to get ready for the birthday party! I spent the first night of my 28th year surrounded by friends. It reminded me of how truly blessed I am, and I was so honored to have such dear people take time to come and celebrate. Some highlights from the event included:

Sarah's rhyming e-vite (and the corresponding responses). I think by now we have used every word in the english language that rhymes with "twenty-eight."

Donny's margarita machine made from an orange igloo cooler and a garbage disposal.

The cake, which was amazingly tasty, and hand lettered by the janitor at Simon David.

The dance party in the living room!

My pirates who showed up! Arrgh!

I went to bed Friday night exhausted --it's hard to be a palm tree--or maybe I was just crashing from my sugar high, but I was so thankful for my blessings!

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Nerd Alert: You must go out and look at the sky sometime in the next few nights! Mars is here, and the red planet is looking good! This will be the closest Mars comes to Earth until 2018 when I'll be celebrating my 41st birthday (Lord willing!). It rises in the east around 7 p.m. and is overhead at midnight. So go outside and check it out... I can see it through the light pollution of Dallas, so I know you can too! For more info click here or here.