Happy Birthday Jill!

Today is my friend Jill's 27th birthday.  We were talking about friendships and how it's weird that there are some people where you really get to know and can pick up from any place you leave off, and others that you just never really know.  Jill is my longest standing close friend and I can't believe how many awesome memories I have with her!  Here are some facts from our awesome friendship:

• We've been friends since 1997 when I first moved to Jefferson City.  
• We had P.E. together and she introduced me to the Backstreet Boys.  
• We have been friends now for half of our lives! 
• She was my maid-of-honor.  
• We meet about once a week now for lunch on campus.  
• We once alternated writing chapters of a story about us and 3 friends getting to be back-up dancers for and falling in love with the Backstreet Boys.  It was probably one of the funnest things I've ever done.
• We used to pass notes back and forth with the really cool folds.  I have no clue how we did that.
• We called ourselves Kinicky and Kinacky for a while... and then maybe Carrot and Peapod?  Something weird like that.  
• At one point we transitioned from writing notes on paper to writing notes on popsicle sticks.
• We used to each be in love with probably both the tallest and the shortest boys in school.  
• We loved the Terrified Liberals and The Police.
• We once went upstairs at a sleepover to watch Nick Carter sing "I need you tonight" rather than watch X-Files (eww).
• We saw the Backstreet Boys live.  Had floor seats, and BSB ran right past us.  It was amazing.
• We once did a photo shoot in Jill's room.  We hung up a sheet and did random poses.  And for some reason, we went through a hat phase...
• Which reminds me of when we used to hang out at the mall in Jeff City.  There was a stage in the middle and we would hang out there.  And our friends Julia and Sarah would chase us around.  They called themselves the Pickle Twins, or something equally ridiculous.  
• Oh, and then we went to Springfield with Jill's parents one year.  We went to the Bass Pro Shop and tried out all the tents and RV's.  And we coughed really loud when a song came on from my mixed CD that had a bad word in it.  I know for sure that Who Let the Dogs Out was on that CD.
• I used to go over to Jill's apartment with my laptop and we would both play the Sims.
• We used to work together at Shaffer and Associates in college.  
• I almost forgot!  One year we watched a show on Disney called Bug Juice.  It was about a camp of teens.  I was in love with Everett and she was in love with Conor.  Or was it the other way around?  Anyway, the next year it came back on, we realized we were WAY too old to be in love with those people.  But it was seriously the Real World for pre-teens.  

Happy Birthday Jill!  Thank you so much for being a great friend for so many years!  Here's to many more fun adventures!!

Oh, and here is her birthday present: