Category Archives: Birthday Blogs

Turning Twenty

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A week ago today, I officially turned twenty years old. In the days leading up to my birthday, I didn’t expect to do much, nor did I feel the need to. Lucky for me, I have amazing family and friends that went out of their way to make the entire week of this year’s birthday a special one.

The day before, I got to celebrate with my dad’s side of the family. We had a delicious dinner, then cake for dessert, only after I was sung to by the restaurant attendees and workers. We encountered some difficulty when trying to light all twenty candles. With only some of the candles getting lit before we became too impatient, according to my cake I was turning fourteen. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to kickoff of the week’s festivities.

For the night of May 3rd, what was supposed to be a small gathering for dinner with my mom’s side of the family, turned into a fully decorated apartment hosting a fun-filled birthday party. After a few last minute internet searches of party themes, the perfect idea for a birthday party came to mind that I just couldn’t miss out on. I decided the only right way to celebrate turning twenty, with a birthday two days before Cinco de Mayo, is to have a Selena themed fiesta! As you may already know, I am a huge Selena fan, so the thought of getting to honor her legacy while having a my own birthday celebration made me muy…excited to turn twenty!

Later that night, I took a chance by messaging actress Noemí Gonzalez, who portrays Selena’s sister in the Selena: The Series on Netflix, in hopes that she might see my Selena party. She is my favorite actress from the series, so I was thrilled when I saw that she had responded to me with a birthday wish!

The Instagram message from @iamnoemigonzalez, the actress who portrays Selena’s sister, Suzette, in the Netflix series.

Even after my birthday, just when I thought the fun was over, I got to see my best friend for the first time in months! At the end of the week we made plans to spend quality time together. First, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants, then drove to a crafts store to buy all the necessary supplies to paint. Though we overestimated our painting abilities and this endeavor definitely didn’t go according to plan, still I can’t think of a better to way to have reunited with her. As one of my best friends, she is one person who I knew would selflessly spend a day making me feel special with a belated birthday celebration.

Like many, my birthday looked drastically different compared to last year’s. I’m glad I was able to have safe gatherings with my loved ones and I’m grateful to have reached two decades of life.

Making History at 19

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Due to this pandemic, many individuals have had to celebrate their birthdays in quarantine, yet I never expected I would be one of them.

When last year I spent my eighteenth birthday playing in my last high school orchestra concert, I thought I’d always have next year to have a big pool party! But, the world had other plans.

As the city was only just beginning the process of reopening, and with only days until May 3rd, we decided it was best to party from home!

I started my day by, of course, getting glammed up to go nowhere!

Then, we got to get creative with my birthday cake. We decided on a vanilla cake that we attempted to dye purple. This proved to be harder than we thought. Luckily we had cream cheese frosting, that we dyed pink, to top it off. As for birthday candles, we forgot them, so we had to improvise. But, I have to admit, I was impressed with the way that it turned out. Not only did it look good, but it was tasty too!

My only wish this year was that the world soon heal from this, so that we can step outside unafraid and hug our friends again.

My day was filled with love and gratitude as I was surrounded by family, and was still able to talk with my loved ones that could not be with me.

I’m glad I have this blog post as documentation of such strange times in our world. Never did I ever imagine that by simply staying home, l’d be making history at 19.