now is a good time to go "oh, crap," because if you live in New England, you forgot my birthday
For my birthday, I requested that everyone wear a party hat over the weekend. Diana was by far the most enthusiastic hat wearer.
Friday:
Patra, Souzana and I went out to dinner on Friday at Mamounia, a Moroccan restaurant, so that we could watch a belly dancer. The girls were a little shocked when our food was served without silverware.
I, on the other hand, embraced eating with my hands...
Souzana was very resistant when I broke the news that everyone had to wear a party hat in honor of my birthday this weekend. Finally, we compromised and just wore them during dessert.
Saturday:
Jenn and Catherine were kind enough to bake me some sort of Jewish cake for my birthday to feed my Judophilia.
We had a girly slumber party, where we tried home spa treatments and watched the adorable Audrey Tautou in À la folie... pas du tout, which we thought would be a chick flick (but decidedly wasn't). Above, Jenn and I are grating a cucumber to put under our eyes to reduce bags.
We tried both an oatmeal concoction for our hands and mushed up apricots for our faces. We attempted to put cucumber slices over our eyes like they do in the movies, but the darn things kept sliding off our faces (which is why both Jenn and I are cucumber cyclopses in this photo).
Sunday:
Like I said, nobody was excused from wearing a hat for my birthday...
I don't have very many photos of me with my grandparents, so this was a good excuse.
Diana baked me a white cake with chocolate frosting that she decorated with birthday dinosaurs and "Bon Anniversaire." My family gave me some very lovely presents including gold necklaces and money (in both dollars for now and euros for next year).
I don't feel older like I thought I always would when I was younger. I haven't magically grown an inch today, nor do I have any newfound wisdom. Celebrating my birthday this year has highlighted being older, however. Taking after my mother, I did some of my own birthday shopping instead of receiving all surprises from my family. Even so, my birthdays are finally about something other than getting presents. All it took to make me happy was a phone call, or a bouquet or balloon accompanied by a hug-to be noticed, remembered, appreciated.