My 20th Birthday!

I'm 20! So even though my birthday was a little over a month ago, I am just now getting a chance to do a post about it. I had an amazing and fun day so I thought I would share it with you. I used to get really excited about my birthdays; I used to have countdown apps on my phone everything. However, ever since I turned 18 and started getting older, the excitement has kind of faded away which is a little sad. This year I even forgot about my birthday! It just wasn't something I was excited about which was kind of a bummer. The day of, however, I perked up a little and even though 20th birthdays aren't really that exciting I celebrated nevertheless. I spent a day in the city with two of my closest friends and I had an incredible time. So, here is a little recap of what happened. Enjoy!

The Outfit

I have this little tradition that every year for my birthday I get a brand new dress. I created this little tradition when I turned 15 and my obsession with dresses began. There is no better feeling than wearing a brand new dress especially for a special day. They just make me feel so girly and they are so fun to wear! This year I wanted to be "classy" so I bought this gorgeous white dress that had a textured white floral print (it's kind of hard to tell from this picture but they are there I promise!).  I wasn't planning on wearing the white blazer but it was a little chilly so I threw that on top. I also decided to wear this tiny hat because I thought it made the look a little more fun and also because I bought it like 3 years ago and had never found a proper occasion to wear it so why not on my birthday! Also, I paired the dress with these beautiful grey snake skin printed heels. Finally, I wore a silver flower necklace and this fun pink pin that said "Kiss Me, It's My Birthday!" :)

Dress: Forever 21

Blazer: Love Culture

Shoes: Macy's

Hat: Afaze

Ladies Who Brunch

Since I wanted a "classy" birthday we went for a classy New York brunch. I really wanted to try a new place to eat so after googling for hours the day before we found this place in SoHo called The Cornelia Street Cafe. This place was like a hidden little gem; the decor was really cute with a little bit of a hipster feel. We loved it! The food was also great. My friends had savory plates while I decided to please my sweet tooth and go for pancakes with delicious fruits on top. 

After enjoying our brunch and catching up we decided to walk around SoHo a little to take pictures. I really wanted to go to this exhibit near the high line, so to save money on Subway fares, we decided to walk from wherever we where to get to the gallery…big mistake! Honestly we totally could have walked it if we were good at following directions and paying attention! lol. It started out great; we were walking and taking pictures by these cool murals and streets that we found. After walking for about half an hour; however, we noticed that our estimated time (on google maps) had increased by A LOT. We doubled checked the directions and it turns out we had been walking the wrong way this whole time! At that point we were too tired (I even had to change my shoes! ) so we walked to the nearest subway station and took the train to the gallery. We were all blaming each other but it was just too hilarious! It was quite an adventure.

When classy meets hipster

Channeling my inner Blair Waldorf

Seeing Some Art

We were so excited and relieved when we finally got there. I mainly wanted to go because I wanted to see the Yayoi Kusama - Give Me Love exhibit that a lot of people I knew had been raving about. Basically it was an all white (white walls, white furniture, white everything) living room and kitchen where people would go in and stick colorful circle stickers (given while entering) all over the place. By the time we went to see it everything was super colorful because it had already been about 3 weeks since the opening so a lot of other people had already decorated the place. The exhibit was amazing nevertheless so we took some time to look around and take pictures. Although this was the main exhibit, there were other pieces of art displayed in the other rooms so we went to check those out too. The best part about it all is that it was free! Of course we had to take advantage.

After the exhibit we decided to go relax by the water, so we walked down to the piers and took a nice walk. Later, we craved some dessert so we walked to Caffe Bene and got sweet treats :)

Pretending to be Maria in The Sound of Music

Celebrity Spotting!

Later that evening I went to my birthday dinner with my parents at one of my favorite Peruvian Restaurants called Pio Pio near 42nd street. As we were walking to the subway after dinner we saw Amanda Seyfried coming out of a play which she is doing on Broadway. Of course I couldn't miss the opportunity to meet her! After all, she has had iconic roles in some of my favorite movies like Mean Girls and Mamma Mia! I sneaked in to the crowd who had watched the show and were asking for autographs and I asked her for a selfie. She was nice and actually took the picture with me. It was amazing.

Overall even though I hadn't been that excited about my birthday I had an amazing day filled with fun, laughter, and unexpected celebrity meetings. It was definitely unforgettable and I'm grateful for my incredible friends and amazing parents for making me feel special on that day. Now I can't wait for my birthday next year, the anticipated 21st! :)

                                                                                                                                                       - xoxo, Diana