In four days, I will turn 22.
And for the first time in a long time, I have nothing planned.
I am a queen planner, and for most of my teenage years and college I have planned my own birthday parties…
17th birthday photo scavenger hunt
18th birthday dinner
19th birthday skating party (I just realized I'm not even in this group photo! I guess I just wanted to document who came.)
20th birthday crazy Minnesota party with Kyle Stokes' mom
21st birthday with my 21st birthday mum
But this year, I’ve got nothing. No inspiration. Not even really that much excitement. And I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m turning 22, and well, nothing really exciting happens on your 22nd birthday.
Luckily, my lovely friend Mariah has agreed to head up my party-planning committee, and it should be fun to not plan all the details of my birthday for once. I’ve heard rumors of knockout and cake, so it should be pretty rad!
Lindsay in Progress 
I have kind of a biggish birthday coming up in a few weeks. And I’m kind of feeling ambivalent about whether to try to do something or not. My BD falls right after spring break every year and I usually spend it doing Honduras laundry, lol. But this one seems like one not to ignore. Maybe since my buddy Frank will be visiting from Honduras I’ll come up with something. At least a good dinner at Flat Branch…
Knockout!
Maybe because for the first time in your life, your birthday is somewhat anti-climatic to the amazing goings on in your life! Enjoy your day and think about us every time you text or surf the web on that amazing phone of yours…..
So, I’m from the East Coast. What on earth is a 21st birthday (or any birthday, for that matter) mum, and why does it look like a ribbon?
Hahaha, it’s not a “thing” at all.
In Texas, high schoolers make mums for homecoming. This only happens in Texas.
*”When it’s homecoming season across the nation, only in parts of Texas and Oklahoma is it also homecoming mum season. Some students take homecoming mums just as seriously as the homecoming football game itself.*
*For the uninitiated, a homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsage decorated with three-foot long streamers in the school colors, bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows, sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights.*
*It is usually worn in the middle of the chest like a breastplate with the streamers flowing down the front of the body almost touching the ankles. It is, in short, a fashion statement.*
*Anybody who’s anybody wears one, or two. These days, a homecoming mum can cost more than $100 and weigh as much as 12 pounds!*
*Homecoming mums have become a status symbol for many junior high and high school students. Designs change every year. The more original, the better.*
*Even the boys are getting into this fad. They’ve started wearing homecoming garters containing a smaller version of the mums on their sleeves.”* *http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/homecoming_mums.html*
Unfortunately, I never had a date to homecoming in high school. and thus never had a mum.
My wonderful friends in college knew how I missed out on this Texas tradition, so they made me a mum for my 21st birthday. It was a pretty great present, I must admit. It was definitely not as fancy as a “real” mum, as it was mostly made of construction paper, curling ribbon and mardi gras beads, but I loved it!
Ah, now I understand. I remembered that you mentioned homecoming mums before (which I had never heard of before then), but I didn’t realize that’s what they looked like. Crazy Texans. At least it’s a good kind of crazy….