Rested

I had no idea that committing to making a daily birthday post would be so exhausting so I had to take a week off to recover!

Birthday ended with an amazing weekend in Palm Springs. We go there pretty regularly and this was one of the best trips!

We did some furniture shopping at antique and consignment shops (did not find anything), went to an estate sale at the home of the very late Kate Smith (thought it was kinda creepy but sorta cool too.) We spent some good time by the pool, went on a hike, and had many cocktails and some really tasty food. The weekend plus the weeks leading up to it were very special and I could not have asked for a better 36th. You people have set the bar high so I am reaaally looking forward to what you are going to come up with for 37!!




Really tasty nachos, have seriously thought about them every day since we had them!

Pool that we did not spend much time at because my OCD self couldn't get my head around the fact that there was so much glassware at the restaurant that could break.




Broken glass at said pool.




On our hike.




Cocktails.




Guy playing.





A new friend that we made.

Birthday countdown, 1 day

Started 3-day weekend with shopping, nachos with margaritas, pooltime and...

Birthday. I win!

Many days ago I posted a list of chocolate things that I like and would like to receive!

So far I've gotten four! That is so awesome!!

Chocolate cupcake paired with Tina's box cake with homemade buttercream frosting made without egg. - Thanks Tina! two-for-one!! (although in all honesty I knew I was getting them when I made that post)

See's Bordeaux bars (mmmmmm) - a whole freaking box of them! Thanks Liz!! that was very special!

Reese's Peanut Butter cups - an entire tree of Reese's Peanut Butter cups!! Thanks Bryan - that was a huge and appreciated surprise!!

Here is the rest of the list and I will probably have one or two of the top two this weekend in Palm Springs -- all is right in the world
Flourless chocolate
Chocolate lava cake
Brownie
Chocolate silk pie
Chocolate mousse
Chocolate souffle
New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream
Junior's chocolate fantasy
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Caramels
Chocolate Ice Cream with hot fudge
Costco carrot cake.

Birthday countdown, 2 days!

Am feeling very loved today! Thanks friends!

First flowers and a REALLY nice note from Liliana





Then Tina brought in cupcakes for a little birthday celebration!


Bryan made an awesome peanut butter cup tree for me!




Kate gave me a glittery sword!



And we got high on sugar and celebrated!






Then we crashed.




Thanks friends! Best 36th birthday cupcakes EVER!

Birthday countdown - 3 days!

Man - you know what happens when you get old? You lose your memory. And your motivation. I TOTALLY forgot to post a birthday countdown blog yesterday and then when I remembered I was sooo tired from having a real, adult job that I just couldn't do it.

Today I remembered. But my real, adult job is KICKING.MY.ASS. and prohibiting me from really appreciating that my birthday is in 3 days! And even worse, it's prohibiting me from telling you about the kickassness of it - sucks! THREE!!! sweet.

In two days I'll be in Palm Springs. Yay. Happy Birthday to me. I'm totally gonna eat like shit. Drink a ton. Go shopping. Hopefully. yay for birthdays and birthday trips!

3 days!

Birthday Countdown, 5 days

wow - 5 days. In five days I will be 36. yikes.

You know what's not fair. You can never win with this age thing. I have friends, including one that happens to be my husband, that are a few years older than me and never let me complain about getting old. THEY can complain about it, but not me. But the funny thing is when THEY were turning 36 and I was still in grade school* they were totally feeling the age thing too. And they like to tell me and remind me that I am not old. But you know what. I also happen to surround myself with people who actually DO think I am old. Like in my jewelry class. Like if I happen to go to a show that's not at a sit-down, $80 a ticket venue. Like when I get on the swings at a playground. Like when I listen to my radio station. They were talking about how they're hosting a weekly (?) movie showing of old punk movies and how one of the kids was complaining about all the "old people" - fucking hell. Kids these days.

I don't really know what it means to "feel" an age. I always thought that was kind of a silly thing to say. I don't FEEL 36. I feel 17. But with some bad knees, a really fucked up neck and a lot more life experience. But I am still really fucking immature. Kind of impulsive. Pretty moody and probably do some stupid shit and act in some some stupid ways that most adults do not. I'm not a risk taker though. Kids take risks. Not me so much. Never really did though. One of my biggest regrets was not really mastering the skateboard and I thought about getting a skateboard and trying to ride it but my first thought was "oh hell no, I might break something" - kids don't think like that. Kids also don't call people under 25 "kids" - so yeh, I am old. So are you. Let me be old. It doesn't mean I don't LOVE my life and my experiences and hope that I can still have a long life full of new adventures. I just want some nice wine and massages to go along with them!

If I hadn't pretty much totally given up meds I would absolutely close this little blog with a note about how I need some Advil for my neck because I spent too many hours today on my computer, on Excel. But because I am old I know how fucked up pharmaceuticals are and have no interest in them SO I am going to get my heating pad instead. You know who does not use heating pads? kids.

*slight exaggeration.

Comments have been enabled so you can either A) wish my a happy birthday or B) complain about what a freakin narcissist I am in which case I will wonder why the fuck you don't go somewhere else. Like to follow me on twitter.

Birthday countdown, 7 days

I wasn't prepared to celebrate tonight but we were out celebrating some friends' birthdays and the girls were so thoughtful and remembered mine also. A bottle of wine and a box full of See's Bordeaux bars. I feel loved. Thanks friends!

Birthday countdown, 8(?) days

I spent my Friday watching my coworkers set stuff on fire.











And eating tasty sausages and drinking TASTY German beers downtown.





I love Fridays. And beer. And I have a new appreciation for fire. Perfect way to start my birthday week I think!

Birthday countdown - 9 days!

NINE! Single digits! Sweet.



Probably my most awesomest birthday was when I was in like 4th or 5th grade (??) - whatever grade you are in when you're around 11ish - and I made a list of records that I wanted. When I got home from school they were ALL there! It was so genius. They weren't wrapped or anything, they were just spread out all across the living room.

I could be easily embarrassed by the albums on the list but I think it was pretty badass that I made a list with both Quiet Riot AND Michael Jackson and it's even more badass that they went shopping and got them all for me to play on my little portable record player!

Here are the ones I remember
Quiet Riot - Metal Health
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Men at Work - Business as Usual
Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
Hall & Oates - Rock N Soul Pt 1. (ok, that's a LITTLE embarrassing)
Flashdance OST
Billy Joel - Innocent Man
Olivia Newton-John Greatest Hits Vol 2!

I was looking at some old Billboard lists to refresh my memory and I feel like there was a Def Leppard album in the mix but I don't know any Def Leppard songs so I must be making that up.


Oh and by the way - I was looking at what came out in 82 and 83 and fucking hell… if only I knew then what I know now - here's what WOULD have been on my list:

Mommy's Little Monster - Social Distortion
Out of Step - Minor Threat
Rock for Light - Bad Brains
Christ – The Album – Crass
Junkyard – The Birthday Party
Miami – The Gun Club
The Record – Fear
Walk Among Us - The Misfits


In addition to Quiet Riot and Hall & Oates of course.

Birthday countdown, X days!

So I just read that the new Prius will have their trim levels noted with Roman Numerals? That's silly. I really don't like Roman Numerals. They make my head hurt. Reading is hard enough. Roman Numerals is like reading AND calculating. Like seriously. What's the point. We have evolved a bit over the past few years and I feel like we could use actual numbers, not this weird letter/number shit. BUT then. I thought. I wonder what my birthday looks like in RN. I wonder what my birthyear would look like.
III XXI MCMLXXIII
See. I mean seriously.
So much easier to say
3.21.73
It's so cute. 3.21.73. Like a kitten.

Birthday countdown - 11 days!

One of the reasons I love my birthday is because I generally surround myself with super fun and awesome people. They make celebrating really exciting and special. Even if it's just with some homemade cupcakes or a lunch during work, I genuinely feel the love. I say "just" but fucking hell those are some good cupcakes. We're having them next Thursday at 3 if you would like to come over down to El Segundo and watch us eat them.

AND - throughout the year they constantly make me laugh. So, I have a few friends at work* that read the blog regularly (hey-thanks!) and since I am realizing how hard it is to stick to my commitment of a birthday blog post everyday I asked them if they had any birthday blog suggestions. Here is what they came back with:

Reply #1
chocolate
sex
booze

Response #1 to Reply #1
Ooh, chocolate

Reply #2
Write about how cool it is that you have neat friends that care soooo much that they have put reminders in their own calendars starting next Monday counting down your birthday. So they don’t forget to acknowledge it each day.. Not that I would forget of course..its a just in case kinda thing.. Go ahead. Look in my calendar.

Response #2 to Reply #1
I was thinkin "ooh sex and booze" LOL
Somethin for everyone there ya go!

Reply #1 to Response #2 to Reply #1
and you could always write about the upcoming homemade custom cupcake order you’ll be getting on Thur

See. They're funny. And Fun. And sex-crazed boozehounds. Except KC who wants chocolate. I wouldn't want to celebrate a birthday without any of them (the people. Oh and the suggestions.)

Thanks Friends. I would dedicate this post to you but it's not your birthday, it's mine. See you next Thursday at 3!



*they are friends that I work with, not work friends. Figure it out.

Birthday countdown - 12 days!

I said in an earlier post that I don't need gifts for my birthday - cuz I'm trying to get rid of "stuff" - BUT in all honestly there are a few things that I would really like. Here they are in order of most wanted.

- Leonard Cohen tickets.
- for people to stop saying 'oh-10' when they're talking about 2010. Yeh - we are working on 2010 items at my office and I have to constantly hear '010' -- it's just '10 people. TEN. not OH TEN. bah.
- a well-healed tattoo
- Kindle.

I'm a simple girl with simple wants.

Birthday countdown, how many days?

So. I know I committed to making a birthday countdown posting every day BUT I've had a really nice Sunday that has included Watchmen, beers, wine, more beer and friends. So yeh. You'll just have to accept that I can't fulfill my commitments today. Happy early birthday to me. Have a beer. Pretend I bought it for you.

-- Post From My iPhone

Birthday countdown. 14 days.

So why are birthdays important? Why do I LOVE birthdays instead of dreading them and the aging that comes along with them like most sane people? Well first, I'm not a whole lotta sane, I'm having an email exchange with a friend right now that totally proves THAT(hah)!!!

But mostly, it's that I feel like we should really appreciate and celebrate our time here. I mean how many people do we know that have gotten sick, passed away, lost someone. Sure, some days suck more than others. Some days suck a LOT more than others. But fucking hell I have made it almost 36 years through wars, earthquakes, Republicans, and West Nile virus. You better believe I am going to celebrate that! Sure, aging sucks. The fact that at 35 I have started using a heating pad on my neck and shoulders every night before bed is bumming me out but all things considered I have lots of reasons to justify eating that birthday chocolate flourless cake.

Birthday countdown, 15 days

There are some birthday traditions I love and some I am not so fond of.

Cake - I love it. Especially if it's chocolate. Especially if it's chocolate with chocolate frosting. oh hell yeh.

Singing - I don't like that. I don't like to sing happy birthday. I don't like it to be sung to me. Not necessary. It just keeps me from the cake.

Gifts - gifts are always nice. But the obligation of gift giving is not nice. I hope that people don't get me a gift actually. I am really trying to cut down on stuff. I love to shop and think of good gifts for people though. It truly is better to give than receive. Hopefully the person I GIVE to isn't also trying to cut down on stuff.

Sweet sixteen parties - no. Maybe it's because I grew up poor but I never had a really great birthday party and the kids on the MTV show need to be slapped.

Cotillion, quinceañera, bar mitzvahs/bat mitzvahs - all described in Wikipedia as "Coming of age parties" --- maybe. I mean if it's for religious reasons and your parents are making you do it and you'll get some money for it and you appreciate that money and don't expect it, ok.

Drinking - drinking is totally a birthday tradition that I fully endorse. Drink responsibly people.

Celebrating the birthdays of famous people - love this one IF I get a day off of work or/and if it means mail doesn't get delivered... I am petitioning the end of all mail. Getting the mail is a pain and it causes so much waste. bah.

Here are 15 types of desserts you can make me instead of buying me a gift and we will eat them before you sing:

Flourless chocolate
Chocolate cupcake
Chocolate lava cake
Brownie
Chocolate silk pie
Chocolate mousse
Chocolate souffle
New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream
Junior's chocolate fantasy
Reese's Peanut Butter cups
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Caramels
See's Bordeaux bars (mmmmmm)
Chocolate Ice Cream with hot fudge
Tina's box cake with homemade buttercream frosting made without egg.
Costco carrot cake.

Birthday Countdown - 16 days!

I totally believe in Astrology. Like not enough to really know a whole lot about it* - but everything that I have ever read about Aries is ALWAYS true. So how can I deny that astrology is awesome! Also, I tend to love people born around my same birthday, especially after - those last few days of March have really produced some kick ass friends!

In general I am skeptical of most people (NO! get out! You don't say!) but when I find out you are a March Aries I totally immediately love you. AND - if I then find out your birthday is 3-2-1 you better be prepared to spend the rest of your life putting up with me. In honor of 16 days until my birthday here are 16 total kick-ass people who share it.

Al Iafrate (NHL)
Ananda Lewis (she was actually born same year)
Benito Juárez
Eddie Money
Forrest Mars Sr., (MARS - like candy, M&Ms, mmm)

Gary Oldman
Johann Sebastian Bach!
John D. Rockefeller
Kevin Federline
Matthew Broderick

Robert Sweet (Stryper)
Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)
Rose Stone (Sly and the Family Stone)
Rosie O'Donnell (yeh yeh)
Solomon Burke
Timothy Dalton

What makes these people "kick-ass" you ask? Well the fact that they were all born on March 21! Duh.

*like most everything I tend to base my opinions on superficial evidence since I don't have time (read: am too lazy) to fully educate myself on any one thing.

Birthday countdown - 17 days!

To celebrate 17 days until my birthday here are 17 syllables expressing some birthday thoughts.

Years fly by too fast
Times can be tough and days long
Birthday! Time for drinks!

Birthday countdown - 18 days!

When I was 18 I had a friend who had a TOTALLY fucked up way of determining if he would consider you a friend. He said that you were only his friend if you would do "ANYTHING" for him. And by anything he meant anything - step in front of a bus if he requested it, eat live cockroaches, shave your head. He said he didn't have many friends because he wouldn't do many things for many people and knew that most people wouldn't do what we demanded of them. I still chose to call him "friend" even though I clearly would not have shaved my head for him. Or most anything else. I do feel like I would do a lot for a friend. But I don't do things because they are expected or demanded, I do things because I care and want to help.

ANYWAY.

One way that I gauge a level of friendship is how people treat the days, occasions, events that they know, or should know, are important to you. Like if Christmas is my husband's favorite holiday, damn straight I'm gunna do it up for him. And well, I tend to sort of assume how much someone cares about me by whether or not they remember or/and acknowledge my birthday. My Birthday is ab-so-lute-ly-withoutadoubt my most favorite day of the year and anyone within earshot of me during the month of March will know it! So if you are a good friend and I don't hear from you well I take that personally, assume you don't care about me, move you down the list and move on (with two or three hundred other judgments thrown in between those last two steps). Now, casual friends are forgiven. Good friends are not.

I dunno, maybe friendship shouldn't be measured at all. Maybe we should just accept what people can give and not put any additional pressures or judgments on them. We obviously have no idea what is going on in other people's lives or bedrooms. There is a line in a TV on the Radio song that goes something like "Life is a measly portion, light on good friends and fortune." It's true. You can have 1,256 friends combined in your Twitter, Facebook and Myspace accounts but the really truly good friends are rare, and, well, this is why I need to measure them. Since I am still human and fiercely flawed I will continue to hope that my good friends remember my birthday because I want to love you, I really do, but I also tend to look for reason's not to trust or care about people, so just don't give me one, ok?

So I was thinking about all this last night while I was brushing my teeth (it takes much longer to read it or type it than it does to think about it btw) and I was wondering if Neil and Sharon remember by birthday. Neil and Sharon are not my cats or my friends from 7th grade. They're my parents. And I was thinking how totally bizarre it is to wonder if your parents remember your birthday. Even though I haven't see one for 33 years and the other for 17 years I still sort of assume they remember. And wonder what I'm doing. And then wonder where I am living so they can call and ask me for money. They probably assume I answer the phone and would never guess that I have a borderline phobia about using the phone. The parents in Sixteen Candles forgot Molly Ringwald's birthday. But they had a lot going on that day. Birthdays probably get forgotten ALL THE TIME. But seriously people how totally fucking lame is that. Don't forget a birthday. It's an important day. Tomorrow I'll write about why.

3...2....1.... the countdown is on!

So in 19 days I will be 36. I'm having mixed feelings about this but if you have spent any length of time with me, especially, say around March you know that I love my birthday. I love birthdays in general. Yours, mine, the cat's, all of 'em. I used to officially start my birthday countdown kickoff on September 21 - "6 Months till my birthday!!" So in celebration of my 36 years on the planet (shit, that's a long time to be on one planet!) I will post a birthday thought every day until the 21st. Come back soon y'hear.