April 5, 2002. Even more birthday fun! Went to lunch with Meredith today, and I am now the proud owner of a Monkey with Fez Salt & Pepper Shaker Set. I love their kitschiness, but they're practical too, since we don't actually have any salt and pepper shakers. Meredith and I went to On the Border, a cheesy and yummy chain Mexican place near both of our places of employment. I happily agreed to go there (in fact, I may have even suggested it), not at all rememebering that they do that whole clapping "It's your birthday birthday birthday" thing for people. And of course Meredith called ahead to make sure they'd do it. Which they did. I'm not too easily embarrassed though, and was too psyched about the free brownie sundae to worry about all the clapping waiters. The best part was that our waiter was sort of leading them, and before they launched into their special birthday On the Border song, he carefully counted, "One, two, three..." under his breath so they'd all start at the same time. As if: a) the song was really complicated, or b) it mattered at all if they started at the same time. Which they didn't, even though he had counted. Poor guy's probably some frustrated musician and it really steams his biscuits that they can't get the timing right on the Birthday Birthday Birthday song.

April 4, 2002. Got a pedicure at lunchtime today! My toes are now Essie Very Cranberry. It must be spring if my feet are fancy! I hope you can tell that the picture above is the nail polish color, and not drops of blood. Somehow it looks ghoulish out of context.

Betseeee mentioned me on her website, and says she likes my stick figures and cat photos! Hurrah! Thanks, Betseeee!

April 3, 2002. I just got back from getting a haircut. The guy who cuts my hair, Frankie, is kind of a pompous jerk, but he's so good at cutting hair that I still have to go to him. I don't know if he's really brilliant, or just a giant exaggerator. Last time he told me that he's Gloria Steinam's personal hairstylist. Plus all this stuff about being on photo shoots with models in the islands. Then this time he told me that the head of Estee Lauder keeps offering him a job, and said, "C'mon Frankie, I mean, you're one of the most creative hairstylists in the...world!" The thing is, he is really good. I don't really have enough background hairstyling knowledge to be able to tell if he's one of the most creative hairstylists in the world. He does pretty great things with my hair, that's all I know. I never know what to say to these things, because I'm afraid I take them all fairly skeptically, but I don't really want him to let him know that, in case it affected how he cut my hair. Anyway, I've got a good new haircut going on. He did something with cutting out the hair around my shoulders, giving me more texture, and lightness on top. Looks good.

Learned to tune my guitar today. It seems strange to wait until after 8 months of lessons or so to learn to tune the thing, but I'm sure my teacher has his reasons. Maybe he was waiting until I understood more about the guitar in general. We decided this week would be a good week for the guitar tuning lesson since I didn't practice at all last week, which is pretty unusual for me. I guess I got all caught up in my birthday. And then when I went to practice last night, I realized I couldn't because I'd gone to the eye doctor, gotten my pupils dilated, and couldn't really make out the notes very well. Anyway. It's good to finally know how to tune my guitar.

My cousin Christina sent me this link for the Museum of Non Primate Art. She sent it specifically for the cat dancing. Hilarious. My favorite parts are the videos: the cat dancing video where all the people are dancing with stuffed animals (because most cats wouldn't put up with a cat dance class, "You can expect to spend about $20 for a reasonable stuffed cat, but $50 will buy a top of the line, life-size bendable model that is perfect for most movements"), and the cat painting video where the cat is oh-so-carefully dabbing on colors. Here's my most favorite sentence of all: "Remember that purring is the way a cat modulates its energy reserves in order to restore its psychic equilibrium." I'll try to remember that.

April 1, 2002. More birthday fun! My college roommate sent me an "Italian Herb Kitchen Garden." I love it. Especially since about a month ago I bought basil seeds with the intention of starting a kitchen garden, and then promptly did nothing at all with them. So I just went ahead and planted this new kitchen garden. I'm sure I can add more basil seeds when this initial kitchen garden flourishes. That's how it works, right?

Dave and I are finally getting to our taxes. Or, should I say, Dave is opening the W-2 envelopes I've had stacked on my desk for months, while I cower in the corner, whimpering. Last year we moved to a different state, Dave worked for himself for part of the year, and then I freelanced during the summer. Yikes. Won't they get done by the tax fairies if I just go to bed right now?

March 31, 2002. I turned 31 today. The horoscope in the paper spoke creepily of a year of betrayal and disappointment, but I think I'll completely ignore that.

I always demand a Carvel ice cream cake on my birthday, and Dave always happily goes along with this. But since today's Easter as well as my birthday, all the stores are closed, so no Carvel cake for me. I think Dave understands how ridiculously upset I am by this, but he keeps muttering something about how I'm 31 now, and I should be able survive a birthday without an ice cream cake. I have no idea what he's talking about. To his credit, last time I checked, he was in the kitchen trying to make homemade chocolate crunchies to go into some kind of homemade Carvel cake.

I got an excellent pile of loot for my birthday! I hope I'm not too old to still feel unbridled glee at a large pile of presents. Dave gave me a wooden box that he had made, with four drawers in it, and polished beach rocks as drawer pulls. He even gathered the beach rocks himself. He also gave me a new martini shaker (our old one was dented on the bottom and had a tendency to try to pitch itself off the counter -- can't have that!) and a set of office aromatherapy, which he knew I'd love just for the packaging. My mom gave me Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz and Fruitflesh by Gayle Brandeis. My friend Anne gave me a little memo pad that I think she got in England, with a cartoony drawing on it that I think looks just like me. She also gave me a beautiful silver bracelet. And my in-laws got me Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser. I have a lot of reading to do. In addition to our giant book group book this month.

back to archives