caught in a bad romance

Today had the advantage of being the day before my birthday, which means it's not a "national day of service/remembrance", which means it was totally awesome. I got into work by nine (not awesome), and discovered that persons unknown to me had decorated my cube in a most delightfully ridiculous way (including signs saying "30", even though they knew that I am turning 29). It turned out that the mysterious person was Natasha, with help (randomly) from this dude Sriram who sits in the next cube over and happened to still be there at seven last night. I got to thank her in person because we had a birthday lunch at Fiesta del Mar, which was an excellent break to the day. Then, I went back to the office for a couple of hours, stayed longer than I intended, and ended up coming home around 4:30.

This didn't give me much time to prep for my dinner party, but it all managed to come together. Chandlord came over v. early, which was lovely, and so we hung out and she cut up a bunch of strawberries while I prepared a double batch of a recipe I'd never made before. So, it was kind of slow going, and I was feeling v. behind, but I got it in the oven about five minutes before the first of the rest of the guests showed up, which was just about perfect.

So in addition to Chandlord, my birthday party consisted of John and Jess, Connie and Chris Boyd, Fauxneil, and Katrina. This turned out to be the perfect number of people, as we were able to crowd quite cosily and amusingly around my kitchen table (although it necessitated Katrina sitting in the rocking chair and Oniel and I both sitting on the cubes that are usually my living room end tables). We consumed several bottles of wine that people brought (including the $70 bottle that Adit failed to take with him - tanks for the birthday gift, Adit!), and Connie brought some truly lovely flowers which made me inordinately happy. In addition to the wine, we had two pastas: the meat pasta was the Greek lasagna that I was eager to try out, and the non-meat pasta (mostly for Chandlord, but everyone had some) was fettuccine with truffle butter sauce, which I adore. I abandoned the salad I was going to make because, really, no one wants to eat salad and I didn't have time to chop stuff. Then, we finished off with strawberry shortcake. So it was an incredibly carb-and-cream-errific meal, which was lovely.

Even better, though, was the company; I have to say that when I first met the boys' drawgroup (eleven years ago this month), I never would have ever guessed that I would still be friends with them so many years later. So while I've made a lot of friends since then (well, not that many friends, since I'm choosy and have hermit tendencies), it was nice to celebrate with the people who have been there for most of them. I believe that everyone had a genuinely winning time, and it certainly lifted my spirits about getting older (which were crushed this morning when I was sitting at a stop sign and watched a bus of v. depressed looking old people drive by and wondered what it would be like when we were all on some version of that bus).

Everyone left around eleven, and I spent a bit of time loading the dishwasher and rinsing pots and pans so that the dishes won't be too gross tomorrow. And now, I desperately need to sleep -- I have to be in Berkeley at nine a.m. tomorrow for the SF area romance writers chapter meeting, which means I have to get up at seven, which should be illegal on one's birthday. Then I'm going to the city tomorrow night to see Craig Ferguson (YAY) with Chandlord -- but based on how tired I am, I suspect I'll drive back here and take a nap/relax for a couple of hours before going back up to the city, since even though that's an unnecessary amount of driving, I'm going to need a nap so that I don't fall asleep while watching the love of my life perform on-stage.

But first, since it's officially after midnight and so officially my birthday, I opened the cards and presents that I had patiently saved for my birthday. Katrina brought me a card, which was hilarious; Felicia sent me a very sweet card and some hair tinsel (which is great, since I need to retinsel soon); and my parents sent me a random medical bill that had come to their house for me (not a present) and a present and a card. The present turned out to be the stovetop espresso maker and a milk frother I've had my eye on so that when I am poor I can make my own lattes and not give Starbucks $4 every day (although I'm not kidding myself that I'll completely cut back on cafes) -- I can't wait to try it out! And the card was a Hallmark (because they care enough to send the very best) that was v. sweet, appropriate, sparkly, and made me tear up just a bit, which proves that I'm turning into my mother. There are worse things, I suppose :)

And now, I really must go to sleep. Have a lovely national day of mourning -- goodnight!

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