Chan's 25th Birthday

My younger sister Chandra turned 25 last week. It's hard to believe that my little sister is 25. Where does the time go?!

Chandra's boyfriend took her out to dinner and then they went to the St. Louis Symphony to see "Too Hot to Handel" (a show that mixed Handel's Messiah with a gospel choir). She said it was really great and I'm just jealous I couldn't go with her!

I thought she looked really cute when she left, especially in this black shirt, which happens to be one of my old hand-me-downs that I gave to her after my accident. (I always like it when I see my sisters wear clothes that I used to wear before my accident.) I bought this shirt back in 2002, I think, and loved it because it looked really good on me. Even though the shirt's 10+ years old, it's still a great shirt, so I'm glad it's still getting use. Oh, to be that thin again! :)

We celebrated Chandra's birthday on Sunday and the three of us had a nice dinner, along with Chandra's boyfriend, Joe. Here's pictures of Chandra opening presents after dinner. These are from Mom…

and these are from me…

I gave Chandra Bath and Body Works' PINK Fresh and Clean body spray. This fragrance smells SO good, and it's one of our favorite scents to wear!

Channie loves cheetah print and she loves scarves, so when I saw this sparkly cheetah print scarf at Target, I knew I had to get it for her.

I'm sentimental, so I love giving sentimental gifts. I found this picture frame at Hobby Lobby that flips, so I put a picture of me, her and Joe on one side and a picture of the two of us on the other. I like the expression on Chan's face in the first two pictures:

My mom made a cranberry cheesecake for Chandra since the girl loves cranberries!

Chandra and Joe:

Above is a picture of Mom and me in our festive sweaters. The sparkly green turtleneck that my mom is wearing has special meaning to us. In the fall of 2001 my mom and I went shopping together and bought these matching green turtlenecks at New York & Company. Even though this sweater is more than 10 years old, my mom still wears hers once every year to honor/remember that time in our lives.

One Sunday Mom and I had both worn our sparkly turtlenecks and black leather jackets to church and we took a picture together after we got home. We were still using a film camera at the time, so I don't have a great copy of that photograph (which I used to make a special present for mom for Christmas 2003--that's why there's little papers around the picture) but I was able to take a picture of the picture.