My parents came up to visit for my birthday. I friggin love having them here. Oh boy.

At first, I was worried. I cleaned the entire apartment because of the fear of my mom and my different opinions on what is considered a 'sty. But then they got here... and it just got amazing. They got me a cute little happy birthday cake and insisted that we eat it tonight, because today marked the first of my three-day birthday jubilee. I love and embrace the concept of a three-day birthday jubilee! Three days of celebrating my birthday?? Heck yes!! They also insisted on me opening my present from my sister... and boy oh boy am I glad I did!! I got this SWEET wine glass that has something along the lines of "I am the birthday queen!" written all over it. It's positively magnificient. I enjoyed a glass of whtie zin that my mom bought for us to share during this jubilee.... despite the fact that I'm not quite 21. heh. I suppose technically, in the spirit of the jubilee, I am 21. So that glass was completely legit. Of course.

Anyway. We went to Mass at St. Joe, and I laughed because A) my mom's not used to all the kneeling and taking her time with prayers at Mass and not saying her name before receiving the Eucharist... it was fun watching her... heh heh and B) My dad's not used to going to Mass period, as he's a Lutheran/creaster... so he only really goes to church twice a year... so anything I enjoyed watching my mom do, I doubly enjoyed watching my dad. hehe. After Mass we went and looked at the Sacred Heart Chapel and then went back to my apartment for dinner. I made this PHENOMENAL chicken broccoli casserole. My Mom had suggested mixing in some of this spicy southwestern chicken with the regular chicken I had in there, as well as adding cheese on top of the entire dish... and oh my dear sweet 9 pound 8 oz baby infant Jesus... my taste buds have never experienced such utter joy until that moment. Delicious.

I also ate cake tonight. I can expect cake tomorrow night and the night after that as well. This is a jubilee, after all.

Tomorrow, my mom and dad are coming over around 9:00 (IN THE MORNING! AHH!) so I can make them breakfast/my mom can teach me how to make a proper breakfast. Then we're going to spend the day at the Mall of America, and then come back to the Sams in St. Cloud to pick up some groceries/cookie sheets/muffin tins (yay!) and then come back to the apartment for dinner (meatloaf!! my favorite!!)

It was absolutely lovely being the host tonight, though. I loved serving food and cleaning up for my guests and entertaining them. It felt really good. Plus, I love my parents, and I'm so genuinely excited that they actually wanted to come up here for my birthday. :o) Life is grand. Absolutely grand. A lot grander than yesterday, that's for sure. And that is a story I'm not going to go into (you got a taste of how my day was yesterday from my rated R post under this one... things are much better now... haha), because right now, I'm feeling good, and I don't want to jinx it.

Rawk on.