Birthday

First, I meant redundant, not oxymoron in my previous post about snow blizzard. Strange I used the antonym. Secondly, I find it frustrating that I have lost not one but two earrings this past two weeks. And no, not from the same pair. I am really bummed as they are the ones I use all the time. I’m hoping the one I lost today was lost inside my house this morning before I headed out. I feel very naked without the earrings on at work today.


On the upside, I had a good review this morning. It helped me deal with a short term financial quandary. I’m very aggressive with my retirement savings. Which is to say I do what I feel like is the minimum to retire without having to worry about running out of money when I’m a little old lady. I like cats but don’t want to be eating cat food. I’m still amazed at how little some (most) of my friends prioritize retirement savings and instead, focus on the now and immediate satisfaction. I have a master plan, and due to the joys of house ownership, my allocations for the different pots I have, had to be shifted. Basically, I held off buying my 2012 IRA to make everything work out. I was trying to figure out how to swing it, and it just wasn’t working which was bumming me out. But now, it looks like my bonus covers the gap I was staring at. Hurrah!
This morning I completely forgot it was Valentine’s day until I was sitting on the subway and noticed a bunch of people carrying stuff. It dawned on me and that was the end of that. I’m not a big Valentine’s day person since my birthday outshines the holiday. But this morning I get into work and on my desk I had a nice little treat. Someone had left me a special dunkin donuts bag with a pink iced, crème filled, heart-shaped donut. It was so sweet. I then proceed to gobble it up since I had too light a breakfast and didn’t even think to take a picture until after. Luckily there is a stock photo out in internet land.

I have a good working relationship with a lot of my coworkers, who are almost mostly guys. It’s funny seeing them scramble today getting last minute cards, flowers, chocolates to bring home. So I could see it being from someone doing something nice. But then I started wondering if it was someone who is a “secret admirer”. I’ve asked a bunch of people and no one has fessed up to it yet. Now I’m really curious.
I do love my sweets. Some people are really big about celebrating their birthdays. I’m in the middle. Not a big fan of the spotlight on my birthday. I like to do something special, if nothing other than having dinner with friends or family to share it with. But at the very least, it’s not a birthday without cake. I always insist of having cake. Last night, as I was running through what I still have to do before I leave for the weekend, it dawned on me that I’m getting not one but three birthday cakes this year! And I’m looking forward to all three. The first cake is perfect - I get to be all sneaky. It’s at work and it’s not for me. I’m at that strange age. I like to be thought of as young but I also want to be considered old and wise, especially at work. Basically I want to be ambiguous and keep people guessing. And if you celebrate your birthday at work, you inevitably get asked the question - how old are you? So Fred, who is turning 65 BTW, is on my floor and I got a special invite to celebrate his birthday on Friday. So cake #1 for me.

And then cake #2 is later Friday night. It’s funny how much I’m looking forward to spending my birthday with “friends”. My special dinner friends I get to pick up at pre-school (yes it’s Cameron and Maggie) and I’ve been told they’ve been preparing for the big day, including baking a cake - that they already made yesterday (they better not be nibbling at it!) We should have a blast and I get to par-tah with them into the wee hours since I’m spending the night and enjoying a birthday breakfast too!

This weekend I’m planning on heading up to VT to visit family and get some skiing in. So I get my cake #3 on Saturday. Seems like a lot of cake, but not for me. It’s just the way I like it.