Birthday Party

Last Saturday Jason kindly hosted my birthday jam. My sister came up early and made some of my favorite foods for dinner...chimichangas and grilled veggies. She brought lemon bars for dessert. Abbi came over next, bringing a lot of alcohol. Then Eric and Laura arrived, as well as Dan and Linda, and the party was in full swing. Marie and Sev and Kevin were the last folks to show. To me, all a good party needs is good food, good tunes, and good people. I made some CDs off Itunes before I got to Jason's. I made mozarella and tomatoes with balsamic and olive oil and put the mixture on garlic Triscuits. It was a big hit. We had sausage and cheese and fruit. Oh, and port wine cheese. I love me some port wine cheese. Much to my surprise, my friends brought presents too. Eric and Laura got me 4 wine glasses (which is awesome because I only have 2), Leah got me an Ovechkin Calder Cup t-shirt and a hockey trivia book, Dan and Linda got me this horror board game, and Marie loaded up a bag with bottles of tequilla and vodka and jagr. She loves me. :) She even got me a cat toy.
We played Celebrities, where you give clues to get the names of famous people. You can pretty much do it however you want without saying the name to get them to guess. I was on a team with Abbi and Marie and we kicked butt.
My favorite was when I used Dr. Phil and the hockey player Boyd Gordon to have them guess Phil Gordon. Only Abbi and Marie would have gotten that so fast.
We all definitely tied one on, as was evidenced by the empty bottles the next morning. Dan and Linda slept over, but were gone when we got up. And Abbi stayed as well. We had sweet potato pie and coffee for breakfast at 11:30. Of course, we went to bed at 4 AM.
It was an excellent party.

Birthday Dinner

Jason took me to the Melting Pot for dinner. We had 9PM reservations. When we got to our table, there was a teddy bear and a balloon that said Happy Birthday. The bear was holding a chocolate bar and two gift certificates for the Melting Pot. It was so sweet.
We had salad with gorgonzola cheese and this raspberry vinaigrette. Then we had an entre of steak, chicken, duck, pork, and shrimp. For dessert we had dark chocolate with amaretto. Jason really likes amaretto. It was a long meal and very romantic. We took half the dessert home because it is so much food. They took our picture right before dessert.

Birthday Poem

Every year my dad writes me a poem on my birthday...

This poem is for the vivacious baby blue
As she crosses an important threshold too

So you want to practice for the GRE
Your age is now 3! + 3…

Though her eyes on the license dob she tries to averty
There’s no turning back, she’s really reached 30!
And with that sweet smile, she’s often a little flirty

Rewind the tape to 1977 in Albuquerque
It’s an Indian name, not really that quirky
Got the call at 430AM, when I’d finished my night shift worky

Went to the hospital and got all the admission forms done
Ahead of the arrival of Grammy and her Mom’s for some “fun”

At 620AM she came into view
Announcing her presence loudly and clearly, she cried too

Back in Burke, in the 1979, the 2 foot snow
The drifts were over her head, we have the pictures to show

So she got another sister
And then a little brother, the Mr.

Some winter sports like sledding
Then rolling off while hitting your heading

Another thing which we brought out of the locker
In the snow, we played family soccer

In her Gammy’s pool with her cousins
She swam around and had lots of funzins

The jump off the diving board at Wakefield park
So you’d get used to swimming in the deep, just like a shark

The beach vacations to the ocean
We went into the surf and used lots of sun tan lotion

Then came the call, Jon’s on the roof
We said, “hold the ladder so he won’t break his tooth.”

Driving to school when steering the car was way too much work
When her brother took the fuse out…what a j..k

Took great snorkel trips together, some really great paths
To Eleuthera and then to BVI and the baths



Thru mud and rain and shine the music would play, that’s what we told you
And all those feet would march yet another day at LB or JMU
And march they did ‘til their legs felt like lead
While having an occasional instrument hit her on the head

You’ve moved around with your jobs like most young workers do
Doing the best when helping people one on one, because that’s you

She’s brings MANY more talents to the table
An old time sci-fi actress named Sarah Burnbagel

And there’s always h – h –h, that brought her alive
Started going to games with her Dad when she was about 5
Lots of ups and downs
Many smiles and sometimes there’s frowns
Watching the puck go in with a flick
She watched a very, very special Caps’ hat trick
Being able to say she was part of the crowd
For Ovie’s first NHL hat trick, she shouted out loud

She found a friend who likes to play with the mitten
The furry white ball, Ari the kitten

She’s now got that glow it’s very, very good to see
She seems very happy to her Mom and me
The reason we can say as we hasten
Is her friend and man named Jason

What else can I say
To brings you more hugs today?

This poem is ending WAY too soon
For thousands more rhymes, there’s lots more room
Like she’s half as old as her Dad
In other b’day years, that ½ figure will be harder to had

But I’ll just sign off and say
We love our Deb in every way!

Love, Your Dad


Yeah, okay, so some of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch, but isn't he sweet?

Top Ten List

Top Ten Reasons I love Jason:
10. He's a really kind and considerate person to other people around him.
9. He can cook.
8. He tolerates my kitty, who considers him a tasty toy.
7. I can be myself around him all the time.
6. He does all these nice things for me all the time, like today when he took me to work because I didn't want to drive on the icy roads.
5. He puts up with my hockey obsession, and even goes to games with me.
4. He's really really cute and has no idea. I love his salt and pepper hair.
3. We have more fun than two people should all the time.
2. We have more fun in bed than two people should all the time. It's exhausting, but good.
And the number one reason:
1. Whenever I am with Jason I get the deep satisfaction of knowing I have truly met my match.

I'll Try Just About Anything, part 2

I loved my job at the National Defense University. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun too. I would say 80% of the people at the University travelled, and they all had to come through me. I knew almost everyone there.
I worked in the Resource Management Division... where all the money came through. One of my co-workers and friends, Patricia, was on the multicultural committee. For Black History Month, the multicultural committe planned a fashion show of African clothes.
Pat said they needed some diversity in the show, so she asked if I would do it. I said sure.
They moved us into this auditorium where a lot of people were invited, dignitaries and high ranking military members. To give you an idea of how nice the place is, the President speaks there when he comes to the University.
I was the only white girl in the show.
I wore this yellow dress with a pattern on it that had slits up the sides of the skirt that was very flattering on me. The lady creating the fashions had us bring our own sandals to wear with the clothes. I was pretty nervous going up on stage, and I looked out and saw all the people and got a little more nervous. When I walked out, Pat read this little statement that I wrote which said something to the effect that African Americans and Jewish people had suffered many hardships in their histories, and I felt it was important that we learn from each other in order to grow. That got a lot of murmuring in response, and I struted across the stage to a lot of applause. It was very fun. I'm glad that I did it. I think I surprised a lot of people that day.

I'll Try Just About Anything

I have a very low embarassment threshhold.
I am not sure why- I guess I just don't really care what people think of me.
I volunteered for an AIDS Walk here in Washington DC my junior year of college. One of my jobs that summer was to sign people up for the walk at the Capital Pride Parade. We stopped people at the metro station and got a bunch of signatures (everyone was very nice) and then we were allowed to watch the parade.
At one point, the parade got a little log jammed, and there was a gap between floats of a couple of minutes. In the middle of the gap was a huge blue balloon.
I decided I wanted the balloon, so I walked out into the middle of the street and bent down. I put my arms around it to pick it up.
Boom! Bits of balloon went everywhere.
I laughed, and blushed a little and then stood up and took a bow.
Everyone clapped for me. :)

There are times

There are times when Jason says the perfect thing.
We had talked about living together. My lease runs out at the end of April, but his sister is still living with him, so I renewed my lease until the end of May next year. I brought up the subject of getting engaged before we live together. And he said "I've been meaning to bring up the subject myself."
He always berates himself for saying some silly things at the wrong times, but that time...it was perfect.
It's very nice to be on the same wavelength about so many things.

Yay

My birthday is the 15th of this month and I'm turning 30. Jason is getting me a shiny new Caps jersey!
I wanted an away jersey because I go to a bunch of away games. And I got Mike Green's name and number, a young defenseman, because everyone and their mom has an Ovechkin jersey, and I am nothing if not unique.
I am very excited. Woooo!!!