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04/25/2008
Cumpliaños
Morning my lovelies! Well, it's my birthday today and I'm all caught up with my work, my boss is away, my partner in office criminology theory is out and I'm all alone in the office at work with the faint sounds of education drifting up to me through the open door.
There are some flowers on my desk, not for my birthday, but for Administrative Porfessionals Day, which is really just a PC way of saying I got flowers for Secretary's Day even though I'm not a secretary. I was really surprised to get them, actually, but pleased nonetheless. I like staring at them from time to time.
So, as you can probably guess, I made it home from Sedona safely. I'm not one to actually enjoy the experience of flying, but the journey was made more bearable when our plane taxi-ed up to the gate and I saw, emblazoned on it, a giant California state flag. Oh yeah. It was a Bear Flag Republic plane! It was the greatest thing I've ever seen on a plane. And it pleased me immensely. That and the fact that Matt and I had a whole row to ourselves.
What didn't please me was the fact that I had to pee for almost the entire flight and the lavatories were always...ALWAYS...occupado. Still, I was in a Bear Flag Republic plane.
Upon arriving to the airport, Matt and I had to manuever our way through an inslaught of airport phenomena people. By that, what I mean is this: have you ever noticed that in airports, people seem to be dazed and confused? They walk at irregular speeds, stop without warning right in front of you and stand to look at the flight information screens right where they'll be most in the way? Yeah. Those are airport phenomena people. They wander around elsewhere too, but there always seems to be the largest concentration of them at airports.
So yeah, running the gauntlet was fun. Especially considering I needed to pee.
Jeff picked up us and took us back to the apartment, which was very nice of him. Our place looked as though it had vomitted all over itself in our absence. There were unwrapped gifts lying about, half-opened ones on top of those, rubbish everywhere, clothing that didn't make the honeymoon packing cut...it was really bad. Like, really bad.
Still, it was good to be home with my fog and my bay and my husband.
Matt and I tried to make some sense of everything before our plans got going once again. To welcome us home, my mother and grandmother toiled over tomatillo sauce in order to make some enchiladas verdes. But oh man, was their toiling worth it. Those enchiladas were freaking and amazingly yummy. So much so that I had to go back for second helpings of them.
So that was that. I haven't been over to the house in Oaktown since then. But that's going to change tonight.
You see, the rule growing up was that when it was your birthday, you got to choose what you wanted for dinner. It's a rule that has pervaded our lives and made for some really rockin' memories. I was torn this year between a taco bar and barbeque.
A taco bar would have consisted of soft flour tortillas, crispy corn tortilla shells, meat, beans, Spanish rice, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro and queso cotijo. We would have filled the crispy shell with rice and meat and whatever other toppings we wanted. The flour tortillas, however, would have been spread with a thin layer of beans and then wrapped around the crispy shell. Oh man. That's some seriously good eats right there.
Still, I opted for a barbeque tonight. The weather here is beautiful today, so it'll make for some nice times around the dining room table with food, family and, as always, fun. I imagine the windows will be open for some nice breezes and the dining room table will be extended to accommodate the number of people in my family.
The food is gonna be great. We're having barbequed ribs with potato salad (grandma's homemade potato salad no less! *excited*), green salad, corn and maybe watermelon. It's still a bit early for watermelon, but my mom said she'd see what she could do about that. There's a chocolate cake with strawberries for dessert and in the midst of all that, margaritas will flow plentifully.
I'm heading over to the house right after work so I might pop into the backyard to see if there are lemons on the tree to make some lemonade. It's a shame Jeff won't be around for that part. He loves my lemonade. Maybe I'll freeze some in an ice cube tray for him.
Jeff is the only one who won't be there tonight. He's leaving for Sodom, which is to say he's leaving for Reno, the biggest little city in the world. Every year there's a jazz competition there for all the states west of the Mississippi River. Jazz bands from all around go and compete for top honors in the west coast division, so Jeff and his band are going to represent our Titans!
Good luck, guys!
That said, Uncle Arnie and Uncle Benny both will be at the house tonight. I haven't seen Uncle Benny since the wedding, so I'm excited to see him. I've been promised a night of games, so I reckon Trivial Pursuit might be pulled out as well as some other trivia-ish games. Have I mentioned that I come from a very competative family? Game night should be awesome.
So lately I've been having moments where I fondly remember something either right before the wedding or during the wedding. I don't know why, but each time I smile.
One memory is of Lisa. We were at the market two days before the wedding and she just disappeared for a minute only to return with a big box of Cheez-Its.
Another is of Liesl. We were all sitting in the bridal room at church the day of the wedding. All my girls were in their slips and sitting on the floor so that their skirts wouldn't get wrinkled. Liesl was regailing us with the story of how she had been walking around the church barefoot the day before and when she got home, the bottom of her feet were just black. We were all pretty grossed out.
Yet another is of Sara helping me and Lisa build the arch for the cake. Good times doing that! The three of us also decorated the birdcage. And for those of you who don't know, I used a Victorian birdcage and decorated it with flowers and leaves and ribbon so that people could slip their cards into it. It's an easy way of keeping all the cards contained as opposed to a basket, which is easily tipped over and spilled.
Another fond memory is all my uncles working together for the backdrop for the cake. Uncles Arnie, Ben and Kevin were amazing.
My aunts were amazing too. Aunt Barb and Aunt Becca were there helping with anything that they could. I can't imagine setting up for the wedding without them. They made it all possible.
There was also Eddie, who told me when he got into town Sunday night that he had been hoping all along I hadn't chosen anything pink for the guys to wear because he looks horrible in pink. I laughed when he told me that.
Well, the annual barrage of phone calls made on birthdays hasn't really happened this year. I suppose it's still kind of early for that. My mother called me first thing this morning, so she did her motherly duties. I'm looking for my uncles to call me, as well as my grandmother. Jeff better call me, the bum! He's leaving and he needs to call his only sister on her birthday.
Work has been pleasant so far. I had a couple cards waiting for me on my desk this morning. Room 101 and room 102 sang happy birthday to me when I went in to do my thing. It was great. Alex wished me a happy 21st birthday because he's wonderful like that. I laughed when he said that. And he got into my good books because although I'm not that far off from 21, he still made the effort to be charming.
I made some chocolate pistachio fudge and brought it in to work today. Two pieces have already gone away, but I look for the rest to disappear as the day progresses. I've learned today that apparently it's never too early for fudge. Okay...so scrap that first number. I just took a piece. Don't judge me.
Well, I have some actual work to do at the moment, so I think I'll go away. It's nice being back!
Later Days,
Arty
10:19 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
Comments
Awww, Happy Birthday to you!
Arty, arty, arty. It's been such a long time since we've known each other and my, how you've grown. How you've grown downwards in my estimation, obviously.
Just because you're older it doesn't mean you will get to rule the world before me.
One last thought: congratulations on your wedding. I have since looked through the first third of the pictures, all of which were charming, including the ones of you (and yes matt, you too), but I have yet to return and look through the others. Exam revision you see. How I hate it.
Take care Arty and glad you're so enjoying married life. Until next time =D
Posted by: dj | 04/28/2008
Just as an FYI...it's cotija cheese. Cotijo isn't a word.
And you call yourself Hispanic...p-shaw!
Posted by: Alf | 05/01/2008