By Beauty Damned

Birthday Wrapup

Five best things about coming home after work:

1. Beer
2. ...Um, okay, I couldn't even think of a second thing. That is so sad.

Please standby while I shamelessly complain for a moment. I'm tired and my neck hurts and the only thing that's making me feel better is the fact that I have a Corona in a yellow Penzoil cozey. It's kind of like that Sublime song 40 oz. to freedom, where he sings the line "a forty ounce to freedom is the only chance I have to feel good even though I feel bad..." Except that I think if it was actually a 40 oz. that I was drinking, I might be a little concerned about myself. I wrote a long dissertation today to my lawyer who is handling my car accident, and for some reason, it made the injury in my neck act up. Hilarious, right? I also had to fill out a questionnaire for my lawyer who is handling my divorce from the man I impetuously married seven years ago. I used to just work for lawyers, now I'm putting them to work for me. But it's making my ass (and neck!) tired, filling out all the paperwork. But that is undoubtedly, "what I get" for procrastinating.

I've had a highly stimulating, activity packed week since my birthday. On the big day I received 18 long-stemmed, multi-colored roses from Darcie, delivered right to my desk. She is THE BEST. She knows that every girl wants to get flowers at work on her birthday and she came through like a true friend. Totally awesome. They were beautiful and I've cherished them since then. I think it's ironic, since I bought her lingerie for her birthday. Apparently, we give eachother the things that our boyfriends should be getting us, but don't. Haha. Not that they're all bad. Rob did very well for me on my birthday. He bought me a mini-Ipod before my birthday and on the 15th, after picking me up in the city after work, he presented me with a little box, adorned with a cute little red bow. I opened it excitedly...STOPPIT! It was not an engagement ring. God you people are so obsessed with marriage. ;o) No, it was an absolutely stunning pair of silver heart shaped hoop earrings that could not have been more perfectly suited to me. He claims to have seen them months ago and thought of me, and he finally went back and picked them up. I don't ever want to take them off. So after the earrings he took me on a lovely walk down to the water at 80th Street on the westside, where there was a restaurant/bar that had waterfront seating. It was too perfect. I'm obsessed with marinas, or anyplace where there are boats, so this was an ideal place to enjoy the twilight. We had a beer and a smoke there and chatted awhile before heading up 80th St to Columbus Ave., where he took me to a Cuban restaurant called Calle Ocho. The food and the restaurant and the service were all beautiful and we enjoyed every bite, every sip and every gaze at eachother and our surroundings. All in all it was a perfect evening for which I am so grateful. Rob has taken me on some amazing dates in the four years that we've dated, and this was another great night. Of course, I've left out the part where we had a knock-down-drag-out argument on the phone earlier that afternoon about where he was going to pick me up. But who really wants to hear about that? It was all in the past while we basked in eachother's attentions, wrapped in the warm glow of Calle Ocho.

The next night, Friday the 16th, I met up with Kathleen and Kimberly and Rob at the Sugar Lounge here in Brooklyn. Kimberly presented me with a gift that I've been wanting for a long time: doorway beads. Yes, those hippy dippy strands of beads that hang from the doorways of kitchens and bathrooms in the homes of bohemians. I've been wanting them forever. And Kimberly gave them to me. They are bamboo and I love them, but they smell funny. Kathleen gave me three cds that I've been wanting forever since I lost the last copies I had: Bootsy Collins, "Back in the Day"; Ween, "Chocolate and Cheese"; and - get ready - The Phantom of the Opera box set. Can you say, "Fuck YES!"??? I listened to them in succession twice in a row the following day.

So after Sugar Lounge, we went to Melody Lanes to bowl. And bowl we did. Bowling is always a blast. We don't do it often enough, but Rob is damn near pro, Kimberly has the most enviable stance ever, my friend Anya can rack up some serious strikes...the list goes on. It was a good group of about 12 people bowling, so we had a complete blast. A couple of other friends showed up later to cheer us on with drinks in hand. It was a great birthday celebration. Kathleen even made cupcakes. What a girl.

On Saturday I listened to music and read articles in New York magazine and...I don't know, but it was nothing important. I made a kickass pasta with shrimp and some crazy homemade garlic, lemon, tomato sauce. Then Rob and I got in the car and drove to Newark, New Jersey where we checked into a hotel. Ooh-la-la. Well, actually, he had a trade show to attend and I was just along for the room service and king sized bed. So we spent Saturday and Sunday night in Newark. Sunday night we ate at the hotel's steakhouse, which actually turned out to be great, and then we walked down the street to another hotel where we drank martinis and shot four games of pool before going back to our own hotel for some rest. I worked at the trade show with him on Monday. I'm telling you...a shoe tradeshow is the place for me! I love shoes. But none were as awesome as the ones that we were showing.

So that was my three-day weekend, plus my two days of birthday celebrating, boiling down to about five days of unadulterated self-love. I went back to work today feeling satisfied that my birthday had been sufficiently dragged out over several days. At about 4:15 p.m. an email came from my friend Michele down the hall that there was yummy leftover food in the conference room for a meeting. It's sad that I'm so predictable, but I got out of my seat and said to Anya, "there's food in the conference room. Let's go." (Yes, being an administrative assistant is a vibrant and fulfilling career, and it also comes with cookies! And sometimes even a decent sandwich. Thank god for a highspeed metabolism or else I'd be a real fatass at this job. There are ten conference rooms on my floor, so there's always food. It's ridiculous.) ANYWAY, back to the point. So we got to the conference room, and when Anya opened the door...surprise! Those fuckers. Half the litigation department was sitting in there pretending that they cared it was my birthday so that they could all have cake. It's okay. I'd do the same. We're all shameless pigs. My bosses had purchased a couple dozen cupcakes from Buttercup Bakery. YUMMMY. How could I have fallen for that damn trick? I've done the same thing to Anya on her birthday and I fell for it! Oh well. The cupcakes were worth it and all the nice hugs and kisses and the card signed by my co-workers were pretty nice too. Thus, the birthday celebration continued for fifteen more minutes while we all stuffed heavily frosted cupcakes in our mouths. I've always been against the office birthday party. I've felt that the occurrence of office birthday celebrations is unfair, because not everyone has one thrown for them and maybe it could cause others to feel scorned. I've felt that if I throw a birthday party for one boss, I should throw one for another. After all, I work for three lawyers. Should I throw a party for each of them? Apparently, the answer is yes. This year I threw one of my bosses a birthday party. Bought him a big strawberry shortcake. I didn't surprise him, because I didn't think he'd really appreciate it. He was too busy, so I had him pencil in his birthday party to take place during a ten minute break between conference calls. He seemed to appreciate that as much as the cake itself.

So I guess what went around came around. They threw a party for me. With cupcakes. And other administrative assistants and lawyers who either really like me, or really like cupcakes. Either way, it's cool. I guess office birthday parties aren't so bad when they're happening to you.

Now I promise I won't talk about my birthday again for a whole year. But it sure was fun being princess for a few days.

Posted by Maria at September 20, 2005 09:00 PM | TrackBack