usually i like irony

between my birthday and the evening before, it ended up being the best birthday i've had in sixteen years. i suppose, compared to other people i know, it seemed really low-key and uneventful, and maybe even a boring and sad birthday compared to what they're used to. no, for me it was the best in over half my lifetime.

the sunday before, dad made indian for dinner. there was dhaal, lamb stew, cucumber salad, a hot spinach and mushroom salad and i can't remember what he called it but it was incredible, and *cc* made a cream-cheesy, limey custard-thing and it was really good. she and i are in complete agreement. we don't like lime in our desserts, we like...

LIME!!!

and mom got me this little watercolor of hibiscus that was quite charming. "and it's pink!" she said, laughing at me. my choice of favorite color is always a source of grief and humor to my family. how sad that they'll just never be able to appreciate the fabulousness of pink...

there was also this lovely basket my mom covered in kitty fabric. "they did have a pink version of it," she said, "...but i just couldn't do it." heh. inside said basket, however, there was a treasure of my favorite scents from bath and body works: japanese cherry blossom (my new fantastic favorite) and velvet tuberose. i now have lotions, body sprays, eu de toilette, and oil for my infuser so i, quite simply, am now immersed in those heavenly fragrances. it does a lot to life my spirits.

i have to write my little sister in hawai'i and thank her profusely for that gift card to the body shop she sent me for christmas. it's what got me a little out of my fuck-it-i-don't-care depression enough to appreciate beauty and just smelling pretty. before *m* moved here and ruined everything, i used to always surround myself in pretty things that made me happy, and i always smelled pretty.

well, at work i smell like dog, but hey.

but after the exhilaration of shopping (and what woman can resist shopping endorphins???) and bringing home all these lovely smell-pretties, i thought to myself, "fuck him. my house is going to smell pretty again." just because i didn't feel like celebrating life with his oppressive presence around all the time, it didn't mean i wasn't going to try my damnedest to ignore it.

as for my birthday itself? i slept in. i went shopping for lip gloss (my weakness) at bath and body works and stepped into a dreamland: SALES!!! planning to spend maybe twelve bucks on just a couple of tubes of lip gloss, i walked out of there with fifty dollars worth of treasure...for only thirty bucks! WOO! after that, i figured since i was gonna see the boyfriend tonight, i might as well buy new dainties. i needed them anyway. and lo! there was a sale at frederick's of hollywood, too!

and lo, it was good.

yesterday, before yet another dr. appointment for my hand (i've seen doctors every fucking day this week, and see YET ANOTHER ONE this afternoon and tomorrow), i dropped in at work just to say hi. one of the girls there asked me, "so what did your boyfriend end up getting you for your birthday?"

i just grinned. "a jolly good rogering."

she laughed. i wish i had pictures. pictures of the people i talk about here, of the places i go, even just of the incredible food i get to eat that really does lift my spirit and change my life, if only for an hour or two. i'd love to get myself a camera, but i always shy away from the prospect because i lack two things: money and talent. i see the pics that jane takes over at painted house 52, or greggo takes over on his blog, and even boho mom's spontaneous scrapbook-like blog (which is wonderful), and i feel in way over my head. funky and colorful as i love my words to be, funky and bohippian and pink as i love my surroundings to be, i'm just not a picture person. i hate cameras that are pointed at me. beautiful scenery and moments that are captured in photograph by my hand lose whatever was magical about it. total lack of talent. my plain practicality comes through, i guess. just know that, while i don't share pictures of my life, the desire's always there to do so.

so that was the birthday this year. i don't want to make a huge thing of it, though, because this was most likely a fluke and i don't want to be getting any ideas. i just wanted to go, "wow, it was actually good this year," and move on.