In honor of my favorite Canadian's birthday...

42 Things That I Love About Nathan

The hair
He's age-appropriate
Have you seen the man smile?!
His mom's name is Cookie. (I heart cookies.)
His parents are English teachers.
He grammars.
He's a geek. ("Age of the geek, babay!")
6' 1 1/2"
He's funny. I mean, sure Castle and Mal are funny... but NATHAN is funny!
His tweets.
He can laugh at himself.
He co-founded a charity to help get books into the hands of needy children.
Malcolm Reynolds.
Malcolm Reynolds. (Not a typo. I love Mal enough to list him twice.)
He asks people to donate $$ to buy water for the underprivileged - as a birthday gift - to him.
The hair.
The smile.
The one-eyebrow up look.
His laugh.
His watch. (You think I'm kidding. I. Am. Not.)
He wanted to be a high school teacher.
Nathan Fillion is his REAL name!
Captain Hammer.
He ALSO blogs. (Or did, anyway. Back in the MySpace age.)
The hair.
Dude sings along with Jason Mraz.
He feeds into the love of the fans. I've seen the man autograph a pkg of Oreos, so he could give someone his signature. (Yeah. They were HIS Oreos. ... YouTube doesn't lie.)
He did singing telegrams when he was in college. (How cute is that?!)
He has a brother named Jeff. ... I've always wanted a brother-in-law named Jeff. (Coincidence? I think not.)
He's a lover of superheros and comics.
Rick Castle.
The hair.
He has a tattoo of an Egyptian glyph on his left hip. (Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds, for that episode.)
He, too, had a pet bird that he hated when he was a kid.
He mailed me a care package once.
He has nice penmanship. (I know, because he wrote "For Laurie" on said package. I swoon.)
He looks good in a white doctor coat. (Maybe not quite as good as Dr. H does. But still. ... Good.)
He was a karaoke DJ.
His middle name is Christopher. (Not sure why I enjoy that so much, but I do.)
He's a cat person. (Be still my beating heart!)
The man read the Harry Potter books. All seven of them. ... More than once.
He is siiiiiiingle! (My hope lives on. Always.)

Happy Birthday, Nathan! ... Even if you don't know I love you, the rest of the www does!

xoxo

October 21

Four months ago today, I had a surgery that saved my life.

Again.

I have really GOT to stop doing that! (By which I mean: growing tumors. I don't plan on stopping having life-saving surgeries when I am in need of one. I'd just rather not be in that position in the first place.)

I plan on writing more about the surgery this week. I haven't taken the time to write about the experience of the surgery itself, in large part, because I have foggier memories of this surgery than I do the other two. ... It was a harder surgery. My body was in more trauma than it had ever been in. And one of the blessings of living in a human body is that when things are really hard on our bodies - when there is significant trauma - our memories won't allow us to fully access how bad that thing was.

My memories of that day, of the following weeks, are clouded. But there are a few things that I remember from that morning, clearly and distinctly:

* My friends and family who would not let me go into surgery without telling me that they loved me.

* The anesthesiologist was ridiculously good looking. (He was also wearing a wedding ring, otherwise I may have given him the same deal I gave Dr. H. You know, the "You save my life, and I will marry you." deal.)

* Dr. G looked totally different with his hair pulled back under a surgical cap.

* The frustration (and fear of the pain that I knew was coming) when the epidural wouldn't work. ... The surgical team spent a good half hour, trying to get the needle in right, but it wouldn't take. Every time the anesthesiologist would insert the needle, I would feel sharp pain or tingles down one side of my body. (Not a sensation anyone would ever WANT to feel, and the the possibility of permanent damage wasn't worth the risk, so they opted to not give me the wished-for (and desperately, desperately) wanted epidural.) The last two things I remember about that morning are the surgical nurse having me lean into her body, while she held my shoulders with her hands and held me still while the anesthesiologist tried, for the last time, to insert a needle into my spine, and the anesthesiologist rubbing my arm as he tied it down, telling me that I had done good. I remember thinking I had done well, not good, as I thanked him for trying. I had tears streaming from, oddly, my left eye as I went under anesthesia.

* I remember waking up blind, unable to see anything but light, and having to orient myself by listening really carefully to the voices around me.  With nothing but light around me, I wasn't sure where I was, what world I was in. I remember lying really still, not even aware that I was breathing, and then hearing my brothers talk,  and picking their voices out one by one, thinking, "I made it through surgery. Now comes the really hard part."

Last week, I had a friend ask me how old I would be on my birthday. When I answered 38, his response was, "I remember that age, thinking that the world was mine to conquer". I smiled and told him that I'm just glad that I'll be 38. I don't want to conquer the world, I just want to enjoy it.

Four months ago, I had a surgery that saved my life.

Today, I turn 38.

I'm so grateful for another birthday, for being another year older, for the life that I have and the people that are in it. (Also, for the perfect excuse that a birthday is to eat cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)

Never were there such devoted sisters...

It's my sister's birthday today. She's 25. That's CRAZY to me!

My sister is pretty amazing, and super fantastic. I love her for a lot of reasons. Here are a few of them.

She's:

funny
kind
a peace maker
principled
a survivor
a HUGE movie buff
introspective
big-mouthed (literally, not so much figuratively)
a quoter of TV and movie lines
good
witty
strong

She was the baby girl I spent my entire childhood praying for. She's an incredible woman. She's done a lot of amazing and really hard things, and she's done them with grace and with dignity, and for that, she is my hero. She's one of my best friends.

She's my seester.



Happy Birthday, Mooey! I love you!

And the celebration continues!

Yeah, I know that it's been, like, two weeks since my actual birthday. But I got a little prize in the mail today from my Cousin (with a capital C).

Behold the post-birthday bounty:



For those of you who may have noticed that the bag of chips is "sharing size", don't get your hopes up. This is the one bag of chips that I was gifted for my birthday, and under the Holiday Clause of The Potato Chip Rule of 2011, these are mine -- all mine.

It's what's for breakfast.

I'm not kidding.

Welcome to the world of what's for breakfast at my house, people.

Isn't that cake BEAUTIFUL?! (And I can't even tell you how delicious it was. There aren't words. ... And we all know that I know (and use) A LOT of words.)

Last night, I got a group of friends and family (who are also my friends) together and we went to Jesterz for some laughter and good times. (More on that later.) After the show, we went to The Sugar Bowl, where my good friend Charla had dropped off a cake that she'd made with her very own hands for my special day. I about passed out when they brought it back to the banquet room (we had made reservations - at The Sugar Bowl - who even knew that was possible?!).

Please allow me to show you a close-up of the top of the cake:



Yeah, those are Kit-Kats.(Who loves Kit-Kats? Uh ... me!)

I'm pretty sure that I squealed like an 8 yr old girl when I saw this beauty. And then they put it down right in front of me, and I swiped at the ganache.



And then I thought "that ganache is a garnish!" and I cracked up. And swiped at it again. And then I turned the cake to show Christine what I'd done, and said, in a horrified voice, "that ganache is a garnish!", and she asked me if I needed a spoon to scoop the rest of it up. And then the four of us sitting together in the middle of the table cracked up at the reference.

Ahhhh... how I do love quoting movies. (And friends who know movie quotes.)

I also love cake. And friends who make me cake. And friends (and family, who are also my friends) who help me eat cake.

I love my birthday. I love cake. I love to laugh. I love cake. I love my friends. I love cake. I love my life!

But mostly, I love cake.

And today, I get to eat that entire top tier by myself.

Lucky me!

I'm ready for my real life to begin.

Not that ...erm... I think this life is fake, per se. I was just reminded of a passage in a book.

Several months ago, I was reading a scene in which two women were talking. One woman was in her 70's, the other in her 30's. The older woman made reference to having lived in the same house for over 30 years. The younger woman responded with not being able to imagine staying in the same place for that long. At that point, the older woman asked the younger woman her age. The response was 37. This is the dialogue that followed:

"Ah, thirty-seven." She nods. "It's a wonderful age, isn't it?"

"It is?" Meri flicks the last ash off the cigarette.

"Yes, it is. It's a perfectly balanced age, to my way of thinking. With any luck, you've left foolish youth and vain hopes about your life behind you. You're done with all that kind of pain. But on the other hand, you're still young, you're still strong." She pauses, she looks out over the front yard, then back at Meri. "Ready for real life to begin."

Real life. ... I don't know what that means, exactly. But I do know about foolish youth and vain hopes. I know pain. Of course, I also know sucess and joy and laughter and love. I can't help but think that the past few years have changed me. Not just my body (which is creaky and old), but also my spirit. I'm happy to be thirty-seven, even if it is a little freaky to be on the edge of "late thirties".

I don't know what's coming, but that conversation in that book has stuck with me. Real life (whatever and wherever you are), I'm headed your way.

She LIKES red!

Okay, okay. Who's kidding who? She loves it, actually.

Behold, my birthday present to myself:



It's red, it's shiny, it's sparkly, it's a little ostentatious, and it has a diamond center. This sucker had my name written all over it. You know I had to have it.

Happy Birthday to me! :-)

Celebrating early

For those of you who were not previously aware, this is my birthday month. In fact, we're officially in the 10 Day Countdown to National Laurie Day. It's true. ... I love my birthday. L-o-v-e, love it! And there's nothing I love better than an excuse to celebrate early.

To fully appreciate the beauty of the birthday accessory I used tonight, let me tell you a little story - complete with show-and-tell pictures. (Visuals - they're how I roll.)

As some of you may recall, my friend Jenni came in July. It was a time of much good times and laughter, conversation and bonding, Panda Express and shopping. It was pretty much the best of times. (Every time I get some good quality time in with Jen is the best of times. I love that girl. So much.) ... Anyhoo, when Jen came, she brought along a little early birthday present for me. (This is why I love her. She gives me birthday presents in July. Now, there's a pal!)

Here is what she gave me:



It's awesome, isn't it? Yeah, that's a hot pink satiny shower cap covered with chocolate brown lace. You can understand why she thought of me when she saw it in a boutique this summer... Satin and lace are basically symbols of everything I stand for.

But what Jen didn't know/realize was that there'd come a day when I needed to shower, but didn't want to get my hairs wet, and I'd actually use said shower cap.

That day was today. Behold:



Super sexy, no? ... No?

Okay, okay.... So maybe it's not super sexy, but it is super fun. (And how awesome is it that I have pajamas that totally match The Most Incredible Shower Cap in All of the Land? Pretty awesome, I know.)

Happy early birthday to me! :-)

*Note: My arm is not skinny. It looks a little skinny in this pic, because of the angle of camera, but I promise you all that it is still soft and squishy and the very opposite of skinny. Don't you worry and/or send out the authorities to take me away and force feed me cheesecake so as to fatten my arms back up. Again, I repeat, the skinny-ish arm is an optical illusion.

**Further note: On the other hand, if the authorities are now force feeding people cheesecake in order to fatten them back up, maybe you should give them a call. I could use some o' that - STAT - before I have to alter/take-in one more article of clothing.

Aaaahhhh.... George. I love him!

As you may recall, I just posted from Holiday Inn for Abraham Lincoln's birthday. ... This is how much I love this movie, they celebrate both Lincoln and Washington's birthday. (Oh, to go back in time to 1942. The good ol' days, back before they combined the two men into Presidents Day, when there were two - count them, two - paid/federal holidays in the month of February.) The only bummer is, YouTube doesn't have the Washington's Birthday song up. (It's tragic, truly, because that scene makes me LOL every time.)

In lieu of having yet another Holiday Inn post, I'm just gonna have to tell you (again) to watch the movie. Also, you'll have to deal with me and my sappy patriotic heart telling you, once again, how grateful I am for this country that we live in.

I like to think that anyone who knows me knows that I love this country, my homeland, in a fierce way. Any of you who've been to my home know that I have the Arthur Friberg painting pictured above placed prominently in my living room. I remember the first time I saw that painting (Diana Flake had borrowed it from Allen Ballard's mom - you may remember either or both of those names from this old post - for a visual aid in an oral report she gave when we were in the 8th grade). I so teared up the first time I saw it (I'm pretty sure Di mocked me for that), because I am a sap and beautiful things always make me cry (and I'm pretty sure she mocked me for that, too... but it's okay, because I know only a true friend would mock me for caring so much about stuff that sometimes I can't help but spill over). I can't even explain what the knowledge that George Washington was a good, honest and God fearing man does to my heart and soul. Oh, my word. I love him.

Good gravy, I love my country. I'm grateful for the good men and women who have sacrificed their possessions, their time, and sometimes their lives for the good of our nation, and for the freedoms of future generations. I'm so grateful for our first president, for the man who was known as "the president most likely to be found praying" (it's true - I found that online today and it made me smile).

And now that I'm worn out from all this fervent talk of patriotism, and I'm cried out because I just can't even think about how grateful I am for my freedom and for this country without getting all sappy and tearing up, I need some sustenance. In honor of George, I think I'll go and make a cake. Yup, for breakfast. I think I'll frost it and then use my red, white and blue sugar sprinkles so I can feel especially patriotic today. I think Mr. Washington would like a breakfast party being thrown in his honor, don't you? (Even if he wouldn't, I know I would. And it's my house. Pretty much, any time cake's on the horizon, life's looking good here in Casa Evans.)

Happy Birthday, George. I love you, man!

What do I love? (Or, rather, whom do I love?)

Answer: friends who know me well enough to buy me the perfect gift. We all know that my latest tv crush is one Mr. Richard Castle ... what not everyone, I'm sure, knows is that ABC actually released the novel, Heat Wave, that has been discussed on this (and last) season of Castle.

Check it - it's a real book. And my friend Christine knew me well enough to know that this was the thing to get me for my birthday. (I so love her!)


And here's my favorite part. This is the head shot from the back of the book - with the author bio. Hahahaha that ABC had a fit of marketing genius and actually released the book, and faked that it was written by Castle, himself. AWESOME!

Oh, gosh, I love my birthday. Oh, gosh, I love Richard Castle. ... This is the best day ever!

My early birthday present...

Meet my newest little niece, Hillary Brea.

Isn't she adorable? I love her!

She was born tonight, about 6:30-ish... She was 8 lbs 12 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. (Not bad for being 10 days early, methinks.) She has a head full of hair that may or may not be curly (it's early yet), and eyes that look like they're gonna be big and round... but right now, her chubby little cheeks are helping her keep them shut. Oh, and her fingernails. They're pretty much the prettiest fingernails I ever did see on a baby. (I know, that sounds ridiculous and cheesy and more than a little bit over the top, but I swear... her hands are beautiful, and her fingernails have the prettiest shape.)

She's pretty stinking cute, right? Gosh, I love babies! :-)

My new favorite accessory

Please allow me to introduce you to my new favorite thing: The Red Bead Necklace. (Also known as: The First Birthday Present of 2009.)

I'll tell you the story of how I got this. (I love the story as much as I love the necklace, if not more.)

When I was in San Francisco with Genevra Lynn and Beal, we were walking down the street and Genevra and I stopped to admire the wares of one of those cute little sidewalk sales people out by the pier. There were scads of beaded necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Of course, I was in love. (I do love me some beaded accessories, as anyone who knows me is well aware.) My hand reached out to touch this very necklace, and then the cute little possibly-Asian-but-maybe-not salesman asked me if I wanted to try it on. Of course I did. And try it on I did. I admired it in the mirror he gave me... but then, as it was our first day in the city and I was still living somewhat in the land of Don't Spend More Cash Than You Brought With You, I just couldn't let myself buy it. Genevra Lynn asked me two or three times if I was SURE I wasn't going to get it. I assured her that I was not, and was actually grateful when she said if I was sure I didn't want it, she did. (I mean, if I was going to lose it to someone, it may as well be a friend who I could see wear it, right?) She bought this and kelly greenish beauty and we proceeded down the hill to go to dinner. (Remind me some time to tell you about the potatoes I had with my dinner that night. Honestly - The. Best. Mashed. Potatoes. Of. All. Time.) We walked about 10 feet, and Genevra stopped, giggled and said "I just can't wait 'til October!", and she pulled the bag with the red necklace out of her purse and handed it to me. I was so giddy (and surprised) that I hugged with her joy, teared up with joy, thanked her PROFUSELY and then put it promptly on.

I pretty much wore this puppy the whole weekend, as well as the full week after I got back. After 10 consecutive days, I retired the necklace for a period of time (I didn't want to wear it out, y'know) and then today, because I wore a black and white dress and I thought it would look smashing, I pulled it out again. Oh, my good girly giddiness, I love this necklace. I may wear it every day for the next month, I love it so much.

Here's a closer look of the beads/stones (oh, and my chest, too). Aren't they fabulous? (Meaning the beads/stones... not my chest, of course.)

Thanks again, Genevra Lynn. I LOVE YOU!

I've always been a messy eater...

I'm on the far right (the only child at the party who merited having a parent sit on the couch with her). You'll note that the rest of the kids are eating their ice cream cones peacefully - nary a smeared face amongst the bunch (other than the kid who is, again, being held on to by her parent).

Good grief. Some things never change.

It's a tie...

...between the two cutest pics of the four cutest girls.

Aren't we adorable, and don't we look like we were having the most fun EVER?!


... It's because we are. And we DID! (And now I'm so tired that using these few words has worn me plum out and I must go to bed - at 9:00 pm. I know - weird.)

It's all about me...

Sorry, kids. I know my birthday was 4 days ago... but it was truly an exhausting (in a wonderful way, but still exhausting) day, and I'm just now getting around to talking about it. I'm emptying my camera of all its pictures before I pack it up to take with me tomorrow... and I thought "ya know, I had an awful lot of good stuff this year... I should brag to the world about it". And so, I am. There are some seriously great things about being me... one of them is that I have the coolest friends and family IN THE WORLD, and they all seemed to get/give/make me the best presents OF ALL TIME this year. So, without further ado, and trying to keep to the order in which they were given... here's a little look-see of how good you've all been to me this year. :)

At the top of the list... this is what I got from my mom. How freaking amazing is this? It's my grammy's old cookbook - the cookbook she used when my mom was growing up. (I type with tears suddenly welling... Grammy would be so proud. She's who I get the easy crying from, bless her...)

And yeah, check it. Copyright 1950. 1950! ...Awesome!

And this, this is the apron that my cousin Julie made me. (That's right - MADE me.) It's pretty sweet, right? But what you can't see is... THIS THING IS REVERSIBLE. How awesome is that? AND it's fitted... it's a high-waisted FITTED A-line apron. WITH POM-POMS. Aaaahhhhh!!!! I love it!

Oh, yeah... and for the girl who loves to make lists (that would be me). Check it- an autobiography through lists. It's pretty awesome, it has pages for pets, best friends (I am currently accepting applications, for any of you who are trying to make the short list), places I've lived, favorite foods... Oh, this was a GREAT buy, Jenni! I love it!

And then, this... this was about the sweetest thing ever. I (gasp) worked on my birthday. I know, I know... I don't believe in working on my birthday. However, with the whole bank/FDIC situation at work, I no longer get paid days off, and since I do have a vacation coming up... I opted to work half a day. (I figured that if I worked at least 4 hours, I'd buy myself more spending money for when I'm in Mexico.) Would you just look at what Christian did to my cube? I love her... AND I love red. Oh, she's the best! (And, yeah, I know... what's up with the stickies all the way around my monitor? ...I love stickies. They are my brain, so my real brain doesn't have to think.)

Oh yeah, and this was one of my favorite parts of the whole day. Check the picture & quote from my daily calendar. Could Mary Engelbreit have been any more inspired? (The answer is no.)

And then, like decorating my cube and making me a cake weren't enough... Christian went ahead and got me THREE presents, too. (Have I not told you people how much I love her? Because I do.) She gave me a passport holder & luggage tags (because I needed them), a sweet photo album to put cruise pics in when I get back, AND ... a piece of Ireland. That's right. A PIECE OF IRELAND. Who knew you could buy Ireland?! (This is sooo much cooler than a star.) And Claudine... Claudine got me this uber cool purse. I'm calling it my Purse of Many Colors (too bad my name's Laurie and not Jo, huh?). Or my Prophetess Purse. Or maybe The Biblical Bag? ... I can't decide. Whatever you call it, it's pretty sweet. Check out that bright red stripe running up the middle... Oh, I'm in love with it.

The Big Hunks are from my boss, Robyn. Man, I do looooove big hunks. (Don't get me wrong, I do prefer a big hunk ala Christian Bale. But in a dark corner, on a late shift... a candy bar will do.) :)

Christine, my sweet friend who listens when I talk randomly about wanting things like a garlic press, got me this awesome garlic press AND garlic holder. Not to mention the pizza cutter (so I could make pizza with fresh garlic, and then cut it instead of tearing into it with my teeth) and this can opener that's pretty much... THE COOLEST CAN OPENER OF ALL TIME. Check out all its cool gadgets. I want to open every single can in my kitchen - or at least a bottle of Martinelli's. :)

And this... this is my cake. Isn't it swell? Christian, knowing my love of all things red (as well as my deep and abiding love for buttercream icing) made me this cake. It's red velvet with marshmallow flavored buttercream. Holy poo, it was DELISH!

I left the office at noon, and went to lunch with Jo and Maggie. It was pretty much... the best lunch ever. I'd been craving this Steak & Gorgonzola Fettuccine thing at The Olive Garden, and Jo was kind enough to take me there for lunch, where we got totally lucky and ended up with a waiter who understood my need for a bottomless Shirley Temple. Truly, it was the best lunch of all time. (And the company was pretty good, too.)

And on top of lunch... Jo got me a very elegant reed diffuser (that I could have sworn that I had a picture of, but I guess not... I can't find it) and this VERY COOL book. She found it in a book order form that her kids brought home from school, and they knew it was the way to go. She also made me this home-made card that makes me laugh out loud (we all know that I'm absolutely PHOBIC about wrinkles), so I'm gonna go ahead and post it for all to see. :)

After I left Jo's and I went and ran some errands and treated myself to... the most hideous and gaudy pedicure of all time. See below. My big toes have so much glitter on them that I hesitate to look down, lest I wonder who spilled the bottle of silver all over me. Egads. Yeah, this is not what I asked for... but I wasn't watching her closely enough, and... well... you know, there's a language barrier. So, me & my sparkly self are gonna be pretty much the hottest item on the boat. Oh, well.

As soon as I got done with the errands and the pedicure-that-wasn't-so-hot, I met up with Lizzie & Myra for dinner. We'd planned ages ago to go to The Cheesecake Factory, and boy howdy, was it delicious! We had Chicken Madeira all the way around (yup, all three of us ordered the same thing... it was pretty funny), and then split my two favorite cheesecakes for dessert. (Lemon Raspberry, always. And we tried the 30th Anniversary cheesecake, too. Holy poo, it was awesome!) Liz & Myra let me open my gifts (again... MORE GIFTS) over dessert, and they are truly awesome, because Liz got me super yummy lotion from Vicki's and My gave me a gift card to my favorite store (Barnes & Noble). There are some pretty sweet pics of us that night... but they're on Liz's camera, so they're to come.

Since Tuesday, it's been a slow trickle out of the birthday phase... but not to disappoint, I did get four (yes, FOUR) more presents today. (How awesome is that?)

Tiffany sent me this pretty hilarious card, along with a Wicked Witch (from Snow White) figurine/ornament, and some candy. (We all know how I like to eat candy.) I don't know what she's talking about with the card... For some reason, she thinks these black & pink plaid mary-janes are a bit much. Whatever... they're so the best $7 I've ever spent on shoes. :P

Beal sent me this pretty sweet box. Check out the cake pans (I do love how supportive my friends are in my new cake baking & decorating endeavors), but more importantly... check out the sweet Hot Wheels Beetle. Oh yeah, now that's friendship. (And again, the candy.... Mmmmmm, candy.)

Genevra Lynn sent me books, because she knows me so well. I'm SUPER EXCITED about all three of these books, two of them I've heard of, but I've never read any of them. Oh my gosh, I love that they came today, they're so going in the bag tonight... Awesome!

And my friend Jennifer sent me these LOVELY COOKIES. Seriously, you all have NO IDEA what you're missing out on over here. I L-O-V-E THESE COOKIES. They're the perfect mix of salt & sweet. They have cashews (YUM!) in the actual cookie, so the cookie's a little salty, in its thick soft and deliciousness... but then the icing is creamy and perfect and... oh, so delicious. She usually makes these at Christmas and my mom & and I fight over them... but, guess what? Judy's not here, so they're all mine. HEAVEN!

And that's not all, though I'm pretty sure you're about sick of it... so I'll spare you any more pictures, but I have so many fabulous friends and relations who sent emails, e-cards, texts, letters, cards and calls my way on my special day. I am truly the luckiest girl in the world to have so many wonderful, thoughtful people in my life! What I ever did to deserve any/all of you, I'll never know. Thanks for making my life so much more fun than I know it would have been without you. Each and every one of you bless my life in a way that is original to you. Thank you for loving me and for helping me along in the journey of my life. I love you - mucho, mucho!

1974 was a good year

Thirty-four years ago, I was born.

So was this Volkswagon Beetle Love Bug edition.

For those of you who don't know, I am in love with classic VW Bugs. I have wanted one for as long as I can remember. Few things make me as happy as seeing a classic car on the road, and the VW Bug is my classic car of choice. So, that having been said. And my birth (and the birth of this car) having been mentioned, I'd just like to put it out there... My birthday's in 13 days. And if any of you are wondering what to get me, I'll be more than happy to help you out. I'd love you more than anything (or anyone) if you'd get me a vintage VW in mint condition. My colors of preference are (pretty much in this order): kelly green, canary yellow, black, orange, red. Of course, if all you can afford is a rusted out piece, I'd take that, too. Maybe I'll get lucky and meet some muscle-bound man who'll help me put it back together. (Listen, this is my birthday wish. Don't rain on my parade. So what if muscle-bound men aren't really my type? This is my birthday fantasy and I'll play it out any way I please.) Please and thank you very much (for the car, not for allowing the fantasy - though that does make me happy as well).