Tana Banana

Happy birthday to one of my oldest friends! Old meaning we go way back, not old meaning she's...old. I can't tease her about that because she is 5 months younger than me. We were just talking the other day about how she used to take such pride in the fact that she's been the baby of the group but then laughed about it because when you get to our age 5 months just doesn't really matter anymore. Ha!

I love it when my loved ones have birthdays. I really enjoy taking the time to celebrate them and reflect on our relationships over the years and of course I just have to get all nostalgic and sentimental and break out the old photo albums. Remember when I said that Tienna and I go way back?

Mrs. Missal's 4th grade class

Can you spot us? I'll give you a hint: she's got on a pair of pretty awesome white high tops and I'm rocking a super hot head band. We were such fashionistas! 

And here we are the next year in 5th grade:

 Mrs. Welsh's 5th grade class

In this picture, we continue to impress the cameras with our style. Especially those bangs -- it's okay to be jealous. I remember that fleece hoodie quite well. It was my favorite and I'm pretty sure I wore it just about every other day or so. 

Here are some more pictures of my BFF throughout the years:

10 years old, I think

7th grade

Oh! And then I came across these goodies when I was digging through my pictures. We were probably 12 or 13 in these, and we had gone through my grandma's clothes and makeup and wigs and played a little dress up, trying our best to recreate a little Marilyn Monroe-ish style:

Like our fake moles and serious expressions? Ha ha! I laughed so hard when I found these. To this day I still don't think my grandma knows we raided her closet. ;)

I had to post this picture because my brother has had such a crush on Tienna since he was like 5 years old. Can you just see the glimmer in his eyes in this picture?!

We were so mean to him, too. Poor guy was the victim of a couple of bored girls who were in need of some free entertainment. One time we tricked him into thinking that she was his girlfriend and then got him to do all kinds of stuff for us.You know, stuff like this:

When we weren't being mean to our little brothers, we were probably listening to some All 4 One or talking about boys or eating Velveeta shells & cheese or crying on each others' shoulders or laughing uncontrollably or or making up a dance to a Janet Jackson song or trying on each others' clothes or writing each other notes in class. We've been there for each other during some of our toughest times and even though we've lived in separate states longer than we haven't, I know without a doubt that we'll be friends for the rest of our lives. She's one of those people that you can see how genuine her heart is the moment you meet her. I'm so blessed to have her as a friend.

Here's my Tana Bear at my high school graduation:

And here we are on a Caribbean cruise together. It was such a blast and I don't think I've ever eaten more in my life. Or laughed as hard. The mental image of Tony and Rick in a dance contest will be forever burned into my memory.

She was such an amazingly beautiful bride. It was an honor to get to stand up with her and witness her marry her soulmate. Of course Rick would probably argue that Tony is his soulmate and not hers, but that's a post for another day. LOL! ;)

I was so happy when she got to meet Harrison. We've been friends since we were 9 years old and used to daydream about the day we would get married and have children, and it's so sweet to get to share our dreams coming true with one another. (Now Tienna, if you could please hurry up and make a baby friend for H that would be great. Okay? Thanks.)

Happy Birthday, Tienna! I love you so much and hope you have a fantastic day!