have yourself a merry little birthday
last december 22nd, i turned another year older. and all the candles on my birthday cake generated a pyrotechnic display that could be seen for miles...
instead of going through the all the time and effort it took to plan my 50-day birthday celebration last year -- which included 50 mini-parties with 50+ of my closest friends and relatives and around two dozen yoga classes with some of the best instructors in town -- i decided to make no plans at all this year and just let things run their course. especially since it took almost half a year before i lost all the weight i had gained from all that partying (and i can only wonder how much more i would have gained if i didn't fit in all that yoga, too)!
since my birthday sometimes falls on the same date as the winter solstice, the timing of this year's actual solstice on the evening of the 21st seemed like a great time to kick off my birthday celebration, starting with a yoga date with BDB (day 22 of last year's 50-day event). we met at maha yoga for tom morley's level 2/3 class on friday evening, then walked over to the harvest restaurant a few doors down the street for one of the best dinners i've had in a while (with my crazy work+physical therapy+acupuncture+yoga+blogging schedule, i haven't been able to enjoy anything more than a quick bite while typing away at the computer!). it was nice to finally be able to sit back and enjoy a leisurely meal with a friend with whom i can talk about almost anything. in fact, we were so wrapped up in our conversation that we didn't realize that the waitstaff had been waiting for us to leave so they could close down the place for the night. oops...
because my birthday landed on a weekend this year, i happened to receive invites to two christmas parties on that day: one with my running buddies in the morning, and another with my relatives in the late afternoon. that pretty much left me with just the morning to take a yoga class, so i skipped my usual saturday morning run (which has since turned into a walk because of my hamstring injury) and headed out to yoga works main street instead for vinnie marino's butt-kicking level 2/3 flow class. and did i get my butt kicked! it was frustrating, especially since i knew that i could have easily handled the class if i weren't injured. sigh. and yes, i'm getting old. you don't have to remind me...
right after that, i met up with the usual running suspects for our annual christmas potluck. our large group included many of those with whom i had spent time with last year: rose and michele (day 3), debbie and ellen (day 14), genaro, dan, jackie, ken, sheri, and steve (day 16), dana (day 19), martin (day 31), and anita (day 50). while everyone else brought all kinds of goodies like fruit, veggies, pizza, sandwiches, salad, chips and cookies, i brought a chocolate cake so i could squeeze in a little birthday party of my own... and happily shared the honors with debbie and ken, the other december birthday babies in the group :)
after a quick trip home to shower and make myself presentable, i was off to my aunt's home for a family christmas get-together. at the party were many of the relatives who had gamely gone out of their way to meet up with me last year: cindy and sonny (day 1), larry and trish (day 23), tita baby, lee, and natalie (day 24), marilou (day 25), and gina (day 44). when word got out that it was my birthday (since my "party" had spanned so many days last year, no one really knew when my real birthday was), one of my cousins ran out and brought back a yummy mocha cake from goldilocks, a filipino bakery located a few miles away. my second birthday cake of the day! of course, it was the last thing i needed after stuffing myself with all kinds of filipino treats -- pancit, adobo, kare-kare, ensaymada, bibingka, puto, kutsinta, and more. it's a good thing i don't find myself doing this everyday!
throughout the day, long-distance phone greetings came in from friends and family: my daughter christina in boston (day 10), my sister suzy in manila (day 12), my other sister gigi in orange county (day 21), and my LA-based friends cindy (day 7) and steve (day 35) who were nice enough to think of me while attending to their holiday chores.
later that evening, my daughter amanda (day 9) and my sister tina (day 8) joined me for relaxing thai massages in thai town. after an hour of getting all the kinks of the last 365 days worked out of my neck, shoulders, back, and legs, i was primed for a much-needed good night's sleep. something an old geezer like me could use more of...
instead of going through the all the time and effort it took to plan my 50-day birthday celebration last year -- which included 50 mini-parties with 50+ of my closest friends and relatives and around two dozen yoga classes with some of the best instructors in town -- i decided to make no plans at all this year and just let things run their course. especially since it took almost half a year before i lost all the weight i had gained from all that partying (and i can only wonder how much more i would have gained if i didn't fit in all that yoga, too)!
since my birthday sometimes falls on the same date as the winter solstice, the timing of this year's actual solstice on the evening of the 21st seemed like a great time to kick off my birthday celebration, starting with a yoga date with BDB (day 22 of last year's 50-day event). we met at maha yoga for tom morley's level 2/3 class on friday evening, then walked over to the harvest restaurant a few doors down the street for one of the best dinners i've had in a while (with my crazy work+physical therapy+acupuncture+yoga+blogging schedule, i haven't been able to enjoy anything more than a quick bite while typing away at the computer!). it was nice to finally be able to sit back and enjoy a leisurely meal with a friend with whom i can talk about almost anything. in fact, we were so wrapped up in our conversation that we didn't realize that the waitstaff had been waiting for us to leave so they could close down the place for the night. oops...
because my birthday landed on a weekend this year, i happened to receive invites to two christmas parties on that day: one with my running buddies in the morning, and another with my relatives in the late afternoon. that pretty much left me with just the morning to take a yoga class, so i skipped my usual saturday morning run (which has since turned into a walk because of my hamstring injury) and headed out to yoga works main street instead for vinnie marino's butt-kicking level 2/3 flow class. and did i get my butt kicked! it was frustrating, especially since i knew that i could have easily handled the class if i weren't injured. sigh. and yes, i'm getting old. you don't have to remind me...
right after that, i met up with the usual running suspects for our annual christmas potluck. our large group included many of those with whom i had spent time with last year: rose and michele (day 3), debbie and ellen (day 14), genaro, dan, jackie, ken, sheri, and steve (day 16), dana (day 19), martin (day 31), and anita (day 50). while everyone else brought all kinds of goodies like fruit, veggies, pizza, sandwiches, salad, chips and cookies, i brought a chocolate cake so i could squeeze in a little birthday party of my own... and happily shared the honors with debbie and ken, the other december birthday babies in the group :)
after a quick trip home to shower and make myself presentable, i was off to my aunt's home for a family christmas get-together. at the party were many of the relatives who had gamely gone out of their way to meet up with me last year: cindy and sonny (day 1), larry and trish (day 23), tita baby, lee, and natalie (day 24), marilou (day 25), and gina (day 44). when word got out that it was my birthday (since my "party" had spanned so many days last year, no one really knew when my real birthday was), one of my cousins ran out and brought back a yummy mocha cake from goldilocks, a filipino bakery located a few miles away. my second birthday cake of the day! of course, it was the last thing i needed after stuffing myself with all kinds of filipino treats -- pancit, adobo, kare-kare, ensaymada, bibingka, puto, kutsinta, and more. it's a good thing i don't find myself doing this everyday!
throughout the day, long-distance phone greetings came in from friends and family: my daughter christina in boston (day 10), my sister suzy in manila (day 12), my other sister gigi in orange county (day 21), and my LA-based friends cindy (day 7) and steve (day 35) who were nice enough to think of me while attending to their holiday chores.
later that evening, my daughter amanda (day 9) and my sister tina (day 8) joined me for relaxing thai massages in thai town. after an hour of getting all the kinks of the last 365 days worked out of my neck, shoulders, back, and legs, i was primed for a much-needed good night's sleep. something an old geezer like me could use more of...
posted by joni at 11:31 PM
2 Comments:
Happy birthday
- bonnie
thanks, bonnie! by the way, is this THE bonnie from san diego? i still want to find out about that other studio you were telling me about...
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