"It's my birthday!": Mustachios, Caipirinhas, and 24 Hours of Celebration

Talk about a crazy 24 hours! This was the first year I didn't celebrate my birthday at home with family and the usual friends. The different environment put a strange aura around the day, but from top to bottom, my 23^rd birthday was pretty amazing. I got to celebrate it in a gorgeous British city with amazingly fun and brilliant new friends.

It began at the beginning: midnight that is. I joined a handful of friends post-Newnham Garden Party (details on that later) at the Vaults for a birthday cocktail. At midnight they sang to me and I sweet-talked the bartender into giving me a free Vaultini (thanks, William!).

(PS: Please disregard the insanity that is my hair in the above photos. In typical Cambridge fashion, it was raining when we walked there.)

The morning and afternoon were rainy and quiet. I had a solo lunch at my favorite cafe and worked on my novel. Always a relaxing and invigorating time. I met up with a friend and we did some shopping (no luck there) and she joined me for some sugar-packed cinnamon rolls as a post-lunch dessert.

I had a birthday Skype chat with my madre when I got home. It was lovely seeing her face and getting birthday wishes, even if we're thousands of miles away. Huzzah for technology! Then I got ready for my birthday dinner extravaganza.

We went to a nearby restaurant called Las Iguanas, a chain that does nice Latin American-esque food. Quite a few people were able to come out to celebrate, despite other May Week obligations (“I didn't know you had so many friends!” one friend exclaimed. Thanks. Thanks a lot. :) ).

 The atmosphere was perfect. Bright colors, lively food, right on the river. But that was only part of the fun. The best part? One of my friends decided to make this a costume party. As a present to me, she bought all sorts of different props, including fake mustaches. I got the birthday crown and the rest of my obliging guests donned pirate jewelry, devil horns, animal masks, and, of course, outrageous fake mustaches. 

Some of the guys actually looked really natural in theirs. Me? Not so much. So I gave it to my wine glass instead.

The food was delicious. One food item I sorely miss in the UK is good Mexican or Cuban food. I ordered build-your-own fajitas. Amazing, amazing. For dessert my friend and I shared a peanut and carmel brownie sundae. Happy birthday to me indeed!

Then suddenly the waitress came over with a...birthday cocktail? I was terribly amused by the caipirinha she set down in front of me which sported a lit candle stuck into a lime wedge. You know you're in your 20s when the waitress doesn't bring you birthday cake, but a birthday cocktail.

We moved on to a very massive, very classy (so classy they made me take off my fake tiara before being let in...clearly they don't know the meaning of class!) cocktail bar called Baroosh (not to be mistaken with Ta Bouche next door (this caused confusion for all of us)). I got some very fancy-shmancy cocktails with fancy-shmancy names like “rumberlina” and “the queen of 'b'”.

Afterwards my mean friends convinced me to go to a very grungy bar/club called Wetherspoons. Though I grumbled a bit, I did enjoy bustin' my moves on the dance floor. The end of the night brought me to the Trailer of Life where I ordered my favorite burger in all of Cambridge. Probably a thousand calories per burger, but I didn't care. I just said (as is the catchphrase for all my friends' birthdays in Cambridge) “It's my birthday!” and when you say that, you can get away with anything.

Hey, I know my birthday's over, but it would be a really great present to me if you left a comment below. Who wore the best mustache? What's your best birthday memory? And what have YOU gotten away with just by saying, "It's my birthday!"?