twenty-three

Birthdays are my favorite days. This year, it was tough deciding how to celebrate. I had a lot of suggestions: Vegas, Gaslamp quarter, Vegas, beach, oh and I think someone suggested Vegas. I was a little overwhelmed with my choices. Then I realized, my birthday is the one day where I can do exactly what I want, when I want - OK I'm sure I sound like a birthday diva, but it's true! And all I wanted this year was a big slice of not much. Luckily my birthday fell on a weekend, so being lazy seemed only appropriate. I slept in, went kite-flying with Jon, watched a couple of kick-ass movies while drinking my favorite beer, and went to bed relatively early.

When Sunday rolled around, I was ready for some action, but wanted to stay true to my me-centric plan. So naturally, I spent all day in the kitchen with Julia Child's cookbook, preparing boeuf bourguignon, garlic mashed potatoes, and soufflé à l'orange. What an adventure, and what a payoff!



Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon...


...Garlic Mashed Potatoes (hats off to Miss Betsy for the fabulous casserole!)...


...and Soufflé à L'Orange.

One thing I learned on my birthday is that even when you plan on a perfect day, things can still go wrong. Not with my French cooking, thankfully, but take kite flying for instance. I borrowed a beautiful, fierce-looking kite from the equally beautiful and fierce Joyce. Mission Bay was ideal for kite-flying that day; not too crowded, and plenty windy. Hopes were high when Jon and I claimed a grassy stretch for what we imagined to be hours of languishing in the shade, watching the kite float lazily in the breeze. Jon grabbed the kite and strode down the lawn, while I went the other way, letting out the line. We waited til the wind picked up, Jon threw the kite up in the air, it shot straight up, the line was taught in my hand, I was laughing with the wind in my hair, it climbed and climbed...then did a few ginormous loop-de-loops and dove nose-first into the grass. We tried in vain to get it in the air, but got the same results every time. Highly disappointing. After checking and double-checking the kite, we concluded it just wasn't the right kind of kite for flying (perhaps it's more suited for fighting?). We were sad for a few minutes, but then Jon offered to take me to see "Clash of the Titans" and I felt better.

In short, I learned that you can't always get your way, and sometimes, you just gotta figure out a plan B. Good lesson to start off my twenty-third year, I think. Here's to another 23 years - hopefully more! - to put my newfound wisdom into practice.