21 Things For My 21st Birthday

Hey y'all! Today is the day, IT IS MY 21ST BIRTHDAY! I have been waiting for this birthday for a long time and can't believe that it is finally here. I am not doing a whole lot to celebrate especially since most of my friends are gone for Spring Break but plan to have a little fun this weekend. Keeping it short and sweet with this all of this and keeping with the theme, I am sharing 21 of my favorite things, 21 memories, and 21 lessons that I find important and maybe even some pictures from over the years. So lets jump on in shall we!

21 Favorite Things

1. Favorite TV Shows: Teen Wolf, One Tree Hill, Hawaii Five-0, The Bold Type

2. Favorite Sports: Hockey, Football, Baseball

3. Favorite Movies: Fifty Shades, Miracle, Anything with Dylan O'Brien

4. Favorite Color: Blue

5. Favorite Season: Summer and Fall

6. Favorite Genre of Music: Country

7. Favorite Place: The Beach

8. Favorite Song: Die A Happy Man or Five O'Clock Somewhere

9. Favorite Food: Chocolate Cake

10. Favorite Music Artist: Thomas Rhett

11. Favorite Sound: When hockey stick, puck, and ice meet

12. Favorite Clothing Item: Anything cozy or denim

13. Favorite Part of the Country: The South

14. Favorite Celebrity: Dylan O'Brien

15. Favorite Flower: Tulips

16. Favorite Ice Cream: Chocolate with Raspberries and Hot Fudge

17. Favorite Time of the Day: Night time

18. Favorite Animal: Dolphin

19. Favorite Type of Weather: Sunny and 75 with a breeze

20. Favorite Type of Food: Mexican (all day, every day!)

21. Favorite Outdoor Smell: Rain or Campfire

21 Lessons

1. Part of growing up is realizing you learn to love so many people. It's about forming those relationships and finding what will last forever.

2. Actions speak LOUDER than words.

3. You will never be happy if you constantly compare yourself to others.

4. If it make you happy, no one else's opinion should matter.

5. Find the balance between being spontaneous and having a plan.

6. Cherish your family because they are all you really have.

7. No human is perfect and that's fine, that's okay. That's the way it should be. This is life and imperfection is beautiful and don't be afraid of that.

8. Don't let the one thing you don't have affect how you feel about all the things you do have.

9. Do the things you love and don't let anyone change your passions.

10. Your peace is more important than driving yourself crazy trying to understand why something happened the way it did. Let it go.

11. When you say you're done this time, mean it. Don't keep going back to someone who doesn't deserve you.

12. You will come to appreciate both the good and the bad experiences and even the people who caused them.

13. Be true to yourself, be kind to others, and let your passion shine.

14. Roll with the punches because you never know what is going to happen next.

15.Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves up.

16. What's meant to be will always find a way.

17. Be the type of person that you want to meet.

18. One small positive thought can change your whole day.

19. Not everyone will like you and that is perfectly fine because you aren't here to please everyone-- that would be an exhausting life. If someone doesn't like you, that's their life. Let them hate, you just keep on loving.

20. You ARE worth it!

21. Be yourself and don't change for anyone!

21 Memories

1. Every time we have we have gone down to Myrtle Beach for CCMF. There isn't just one moment I can pick out because literally the whole time is a blast and we do so many crazy and fun things.

2. Getting to be at every Carolina Hurricanes especially during the 2005-'06 playoffs and getting to see Game 7 and the Stanley Cup being raised. I just remember that game so clearly and nobody sitting down.

3. A few months after my parents got divorced, there was some drama with my moms ex-employer and the three of us actually ended up living at my "brothers" house for at least a month and I just remember it being one of the most fun things ever. For me this was big because it felt like a family again!

4. Getting to meet Thomas Rhett twice!

5. Going to New York City for New Years in December of 2015 with my dad, my sister, and a bunch of family friends and we tore up SoHo, saw Lion King on Broadway, went through the 9/11 Museum, shopped till we dropped, and saw some amazing views from Brooklyn.

6. Spending one week with my moms side of the family down at the beach every year since I was a baby. Always filled with sunshine, good food, games, and a whole bunch of laughter.

7. Basically every memory created with my best friend in the last 13 years but we used to sit next to each other on the school bus and listen to music and dance and everybody would laugh at us (in a good way)!

8. Growing up, I spend a lot of time with my cousins Paige and Camryn and we weren't cousins, we were more like sisters.

9. Graduating from High School! End of an Era!

10. Spending my 18th birthday doing my first ever Tough Mudder down in Navarre, Florida. This is something I will never forget especially since I spend hours covered in mud and water. I just remember my mom and "brother" being by my side for the whole thing and they were the reason I got through it.

11. On a trip to Myrtle Beach for New Years Eve 2016, it was crappy outside so Kaitlyn (my best friend), Kyle (my other best friend), Hailey, and I stayed inside and played Cards Against Humanity but in a Russia accent for hours and it was hysterical! We all have our own Russian names now.

12. Getting my first car, a black 2012 Ford Focus, at the beginning of junior year of High School.

13. When I was in Middle School I did Girls On The Run and was the oldest girl in the whole group but that is what got me started running.

14. When I was younger, every other year we used to go up to Michigan to visit my dads family and I used to sit in front of my Uncle Chad and dad on the four-wheeler and we would tear the track up in the snow for hours.

15. Every home football game freshman year at East Carolina was always so much fun because there would be a huge group of us from my dorm and we were all so into it.

16. Basically going to every country concert out at Walnut Creek. Same venue but different performers and definitely different experiences for each.

17. Riding my 1st and last rollercoaster for my sisters birthday at Carowinds with my mom, "brother", Hailey, and 2 of her friends. Hailey and I were never big rollercoaster people growing up but this is something she wanted to do and I dumbly signed up to do them too for some reason.

18. Kaitlyn and I's tradition of going and seeing all 3 Fifty Shades movies together. Not even joking we saw Freed together Monday night!

19. Doing anything and everything with my Mimi. She was around a lot to take care of me when I was little and don't know what I would do without either my Mimi or Pa.

20. Getting into Culinary school (even though I didn't go) and then of course getting into NC State.

21. Everything I have gotten to do, all the adventures, and all the hours spent with the ones I love.

As always thank you guys for stopping by and reading! This is a big birthday and I wanted to share this big day with y'all! Stay tuned for more to come!

Love, D