birthday weekend

what a weekend - and it's not quite over yet. but i've been in such a daze, people have asked me what drugs i'm on - people, i am not on drugs. it's my birthday. and i spent all weekend celebrating it with wonderful family and friends! so thanks to all of you who came out on either friday, saturday, sunday - or later tonight - in celebration of my birthday!

i was never big on birthday celebrations until recently. in 2007, i had an awful birthday - there's no need to get into the events of that day, but i swore that the next year - i was going to go all out and celebrate my birthday - life is too short not to. and so in 2008, i threw two big parties - the first was at the W Hotel in San Francisco and the second was on Opening Day when the Red Sox came into town to play the Oakland A's - i rented a suite that evening and threw another party.

for 2009, i wanted to yet again go all out but break out in different groups so i could spend time with my friends in a more intimate setting. the lesson i learned last year was that in throwing big parties, one doesn't get a chance to really hang out and enjoy the company of friends. i was too busy stressing out and making sure things were going smoothly and that people were having a good time.

so this past friday, i had dinner with just family - and it was nice. it reminded me of birthdays from when i was a kid - dinner, birthday cake and presents. mellow.

on saturday, i hosted my birthday dinner at Acquerello - i invited friends from my college days. we laughed and reminiced over our Boston days - "traying" down Severance, boys from MIT taking the shuttle over to "take classes" and teasing each other about our crazy crushes. our friend, E, flew in from New York to hang out for New Year's and for my birthday. it was fun to see the girls. after our five-course dinner, we went to the Marriott for drinks and continue our converstaion about the good 'ol days. to cap off the night, we sang our hearts out at noraebang. first song was Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and last song was Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in tribute to the Red Sox fangirl in me.

last night, i hosted another dinner for my friends, N, M. and A., at Bushi-Tei where we dined over luxurious French-Japanese cuisine. it was a beautiful, elaborate dinner and i was happy that they were to share the evening with me.

and tonight, you might wonder? good 'ol pizza at Pizzetta 211.