Sam's New Tattoo

My cousin Samantha asked me to draw

a little bow so she could bring

to get tattooed.

She said she wanted it drawn by someone she loved.

Aww. (That's me!)

So I drew a bunch of them with a

Chinese calligraphy brush so she can pick the best one

to her taste.

The final result?

Well I'd have to figure out

how to get the photo she texted me on this blog,

so that'll have to wait for another time,

but it did turn out pretty cool.

Birthday Cloud

Yeah, it's a penis and balls.

Birthday Drinks at Pincher's

So in Florida there's this thing called happy hour

and you get discounted appetizers

and two for one drinks,

where you get those two drinks

at the same time,

so you'd better drink up that one beer

if you want to drink that second one while it's still cold.

I didn't drink.

I know, I know, it's my birthday!

It's my thirtieth birthday!

But someone had to be the designated driver.

And I don't really like drinking much anyway.

Jon got some margaritas.

My cousin Steven got a bucket of fun (or 32 oz of love).

It was orange creamsicle flavored with marshmallow vodka.

He loved it.

My cousin Sam got some beers.

The twins also got beers.

The minivan we rented for the six of us

was actually quite big.

We called her the gray whale.

With two clicks of a button on the remote,

both side doors opened or closed and as well as the trunk

(depending on which button you pushed).

It was so freakin cool.

But really, it was like driving a bus.

We passed by smaller and shorter SUVs and laughed at

their inferiority and puniness.

With the environmental/gas-saving thing on,

we save half a tank of gas,

which sucked for us since we prepaid.

Anyway, after birthday lunch

(which was sponsored by Wee!

Thanks, Wee!),

we went to the outlet mall.

The gray whale smelled like a drunk bus though.

And I was getting quite queasy.

It was a little rough when I had to roll up the windows because

of a downpour that we had to drive through,

but we made it in one piece

and bought out the place!

Steven treated me to not one, but TWO pairs of shoes!

Such a good birthday!

I wish I could have one every day!

(Like two of these bags are actually mine.

But it's a deceptively funny photo, isn't it?)

Prebirthday Flowers!

On my last Friday as a twenty-nine year old,

I received a bouquet of flowers.

I nearly dropped the ball on this one though.

An unrecognizable phone number kept calling my cell phone,

but when it called my work,

I was like WTF? 

Who could this possibly be?

And why don't they just leave a message?

Turns out it was the flower delivery dude.

I had no idea who they were from.

And I thought that perhaps he just go the wrong person.

Jon had tried sending flowers to work

when I interned at the TimeWarner Book Group (now Hachette)

the summer I turned twenty-one.

I think I got them the next day--a little worn for the wear

of being traveled around in the hot June weather.

They were from Dani, Sarm, and Hetal! 

Such awesome, awesome ladies.

Aren't the flowers just gorgeous?

I love the peach.

It's vibrant and happy and summery and fun.

Last year I bought myself two dozen peachy/orange roses.

It was so nice that someone else thought to give me flowers!

I love flowers!

I wish I could've brought them to Florida with me.

When I got them at work, I set them on my desk

and every time I looked up it reminded me of how awesome

my friends are and how turning thirty isn't so bad.

They love me anyway.

I brought them home,

and set them in the corner of the computer screen/our TV.

Happy flowers.

Happy day.

I brought them with me to my aunt's house

and gave them to her since I couldn't bring them to Florida.

It brightened my day,

and rather than wilt and die in my apartment while I was gone,

I hoped to brighten hers.

Birthday flowers!!!

I'm in an Acknowledgments! (and Not Just in a List of Names!)

When dropping off an invoice that she signed off on,

my department head mentioned that I was called out in Short Seller.

At first I wasn't really sure what she meant--

was this a book review site and she meant one of my books was called out?

And then I realized she meant that it was a book I was a copy editor for last July or so.

I remember this book pretty well now

because I had to ask Jon a lot of questions about stocks and math.

He helped me put together those Excel charts--or "impressive mathematical charts!"

I also had to ask Dani questions about mono since the main character has mono,

and the doctor in the book seemed to be convinced that she was cured after she had a blood test.

I have no idea how my queries are resolved,

but I hope to find a copy and reread it.

It was good and interesting!

The two star review is by some mean person who has no interest in the topic.

I hope more people read it and enjoy it.

Maybe the image I'm posting is bad, so:

"A big thanks to everyone at Simon & Schuster who worked on this book, especially Christina Solazzo, whose copyedtiing went above and beyond (and involved a number of impressive mathematical charts!)."

So freakin' cool!

That's me!