Success!

When asked about my guilty pleasure here, I mentioned that one of my guilty pleasures would be occurring in the upcoming weeks. In another post, I mentioned that I was going to try to make sushi at home. Alas, my guilty pleasure and the sushi-making collided and I'm sure you are all totally intrigued (or disgusted) by that image.

My guilty pleasure started several years ago, when I was living alone in an apartment, approximately 15 minutes from my mom's house. The Academy Awards were coming up, and we had a history of watching them together (even when we were 3000 miles apart during my college years, we'd IM throughout the telecast). I mentioned that it might be fun to get all dressed up in formal wear and watch all of the red carpet hoopla. I even decided to cook a mulit-course meal. With that, my mom and her (now ex) boyfriend came over in their gown and suit, respectively, and I served stuffed scallops, orange-glazed chicken, spinach rolls, and apple crisp; all the while, we enjoyed the spectacle on television.

Since then, we've continued the tradtion, some years more elaborately than others. Last year, my relationship with Jersey was sitll new, but she jumped right into the silliness and we ate pizza and breadsticks in our pretty dresses. It's always been fun and goofy and I look forward to our annual Oscar celebration.

This year, my mom had to be in Orlando for work, so she couldn't join us for our party. Jersey and I planned to just hang out together and do our own thing, but then her best friend decided to fly in from California and dress up with us! I figured that I had a great opportunity to make sushi for the first time, and studied proper sushi techniques extensively. Everything was a success, and here are the pictures to prove it...

My Next Thirty Years

Well, I've been 30 for over a week and it's been great so far. As I've said, I love my birthday, so I stretched out the celebration for a handful of days. Here are some of the highlights:

On the morning of my birthday, my mom and I met at a restaurant for breakfast and she presented me with a birthday sash and tiara. Personally, I think it may be a good idea to wear this combo more often; it scored me a slice of chocolate mousse cake (which was a little odd after my omelet, but who am I to turn down free food?!?) and a coupon for a complimentary appetizer on my next visit. Then, we went to the office, where I had two birthday cakes, a VERY decorated desk, and lots of birthday wishes/gifts/cards.

That evening, Jersey and I headed over to happy hour at a convenient chain restaurant with an awesome bartender. Oh, and Jersey gave me a different sash and tiara to wear ("Birthday Bitch").


We were joined by my mom


And about 10 friends/coworkers. It was a lot of fun and I behaved rather well. One of my friends got a little too tipsy and got dragged out by her hubby. I don't think I was really drunk til toward the end of the night when one of my friends offered to buy us a couple of drinks...we had already closed out our tab, but I went ahead and had those last two cocktails. Honestly, I don't get drunk very often, so I won't apologize for being goofy on my 30th birthday. Plus, we had planned ahead and Jersey was driving. I'm not exactly sure how Max felt when I got home and scooped him up...


Ah, love the glassy eyes.

On Friday, my mom, Jersey, and I drove to California to spend the weekend at Disneyland. And, as if that wasn't enough, my sister flew down from the Bay Area, Jersey's sister flew in from Albany (where she's attending college), and Jersey's best friend drove down from LA. The six of us exhausted ourselves, but we all had a blast!


One of my favorite parts of the weekend was when we went to dinner on Sunday night. I had decided to pick a restaurant outside of Disneyland so that my best friend and her husband would be able to meet up with us. With her there, we had our wedding party intact:


Her sister (second from left) is her maid of honor; my sister (second from right) is mine. Her best friend (far left) is her bridesmaid; my best friend (far right) is mine. It was great to have everyone meet at least once before all the actual wedding stuff.

My entire birthday celebration was terrific and I look forward to rocking the next ten years! Whooooo hooooooo!

Not Under a Rock Anymore

I'm not a big "people person", despite what most people might think. I get along with others and enjoy spending time with friends/family/coworkers, but I don't usually get super close to many people. And as I move through schools, jobs, etc., I just don't tend to keep in touch with anyone. It's not that I have a falling out with these people, I just move on and they become part of my past. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

This tendency has been obvious to me for years, and I'm not sure if I would necessarily consider it a fault. I do, however, recognize that there is something pretty cool about long-lasting relationships and I admire people who have friends they've known forever. I also do think a lot about the people who have come and gone in my life, and I wonder what they are doing now. So, after all this time, I've finally decided to join Facebook. In all fairness, I should credit Jersey with pushing me over the edge; she joined and I figured I might as well take the same leap.

In the few days I've been on Facebook, I've had a blast looking though the list of people who have joined my middle school and high school groups (I am having trouble locating a general group for my university). It's so strange that we're all grown up now! I've become "friends" with a a few coworkers and family members, and I've reached out to a couple of people from very different times in my life. It's all a little strange, but I'm having fun with it.

I can also sense lots of my own insecurities as I find names of people I haven't seen in 15-20 years. There are a ton of people I would love to contact, but I worry that I'll be "that person" that causes them to roll their eyes and click "ignore". Or maybe they won't remember me (though I have an unusual name and it probably stands out). Plus, some of them were the popular, pretty ones and I always felt like a bit of an imposter growing up along side them. Still, I am genuinely interested in where their lives have taken them and I may take the chance of sending out these goofy friend invites.

Oh, and then there's the guy I had a crush on when I was 8 and he was 14. He was always super sweet to me, considering that I had to be one hell of an annoyance to a high school kid. Saying hi to him could be hilarious!

For those of you on Facebook, has it been a generally positive experience? Any cool stories about connecting with old friends? If you're not on Facebook, what's stopping you?