birthday smirthday

My birthday is on Friday. I feel fairly ambivalent about the whole thing, however, after much deliberation I have gone to the trouble of trying to plan a casual celebration of sorts. There will be cake, and I will eat it. If no one shows up, there will be more cake for me, and Paul and I can sit at home and get drunk just the two of us, and I might even get lucky. If people show up, fun will be had by all. It seems to be a win-win situation.

Reasons I'm looking forward to it:

-My actual age and the age I tell people I am will be the same finally (other than people at work . . . my actual age and the age I tell people at work I am will be the same never). For some reason I had a mental birthday in August (August 19th, to be exact), so biologically I'm just catching up.

-I have a lunch date with one of my favourite seniors from the pool, Tina, and fellow birthday grouch, KD.

-Paulie is taking me shopping for new clothes! And he's going to come with and be my wardrobe consultant! Fun!

-I'm giving myself a long weekend from work, so some sleeping in is bound to happen!

-Some of my favourite human beings of all time have committed to coming over and helping me celebrate, as well as some new friends and some newly reunited old friends.

-It's an excuse to wear a party dress, although more likely than not you'll find me in jeans or stretchy pants (stretchy pants = more cake eating capacity).

-Did I already mention cake? To further that, I'll be making desserts that require the use of a blowtorch!

Reasons I think my birthday is cool:

-I share my birthday with The Great One (if I have to tell you who that is, hurry and come over so I can smack you one).

-Myself, my brother, and my grandmother have our birthdays 3 days in a row. My youngest sister also has a January birthday . . . my parents were BUSY in March!

-Two of my favourite people of all time, each named Kim, also have birthdays within 10 days of mine. We're going to have a special birthday outing just the 3 of us called the K-K-K birthday extravaganza! Inappropriate? Yes!

Introducing the newest member of our family . . .

The Koga-Miyata 100% carbon fibre time trial frame. This would be bike number four (five if you count my dingy old bike, forced to live out on the porch braving the elements while the others bask in the warmth of the living room . . .), though I'm told one of the others may be put up for sale soon.

To Paul this light weight beauty means taking actual minutes off of a 40k time trial, and who knows how much at longer distance races. See the height difference between the seat and the drop bars (soon to be replaced with carbon fibre TT bars, no doubt)? Can you see the crazy aero position that would force the rider into? And with a lightness and strength offered by no other composite material? This, along with renewed sponorship* from Asics, his favourite shoe people, and a great mental grasp on the style of racing he wants to do (draft legal vs non draft vs short course vs mid vs long course . . .) bodes well for a fast season. With big races coming up in Florida and Australia, this is a good thing.

To me it means more bike grease on the living room carpet.

*We are thankful for all of the wonderful sponors. If your company is interested in sponoring Paul, please contact him directly through his website. All sponorship offers will be considered.

A Helluva Holiday

Hello blog readers! Welcome to 2007! What do I have to say? Not that much, but in the interest of not getting killed by Miss KD or punched in the face by Rebecca, I had better put something down.

I enjoyed some much needed rest over the holidays, and other than excessive amounts of family time (both mine and Paul's), basically became a hermit, stayed in sweats or pyjamas and watched a kazillion DVD's. And ate chocolate. A lot of chocolate.

We rented and watched seasons four and five of Six Feet Under and watched them all in a matter of days. I am being as sincere as I know how to be when I say that this was hands down THE BEST TV series I have ever watched. It was created and co-written by Alan Ball, Oscar winning writer of American Beauty, and there are certainly some of the same elements from the movie popping up through the series. The series finale was, in my opinion, the best, most satisfying end to a series of all time. We watched it, bawling uncontrollably by the end (well, I was . . . I'm not convinced that Paul has functioning tear ducts - a theory I may test in the future by punching him in the nuts as hard as I can . . . oh wait, I want to have babies . . . scratch that), and then immediately watched the last five minutes over again, and then watched the last episode over again with the Alan Ball's commentary, which was also great. Now I want to buy the entire series and start watching from the beginning again. I've been scoping ebay for some sweet deals.

Santa came, and was good to me. A little too good, if you ask me. I got a Le Creuset french oven:

which I absolutely freaking love. It's cast iron coated with a porcelain enamel, so it heats evenly, can get up to and safely retain super high heats, and can go from the stove top to the oven to the fridge to the table. You can even bake a cake in it. These things aren't cheap, so it's my Christmas AND birthday present from my out-laws. I also received some great new frying pans to replace my crappy non-stick ones, and a Calphalon stainless steel frying pan, which I never knew I wanted but now can never part with.

New Years was awesome! I hate New Years, and the last three that Paul and I have spent together have all resulted in massive fights and starting the new year completely pissed off at each other. I refused to lift a finger to plan anything for this year, and Paul is inherently lazy, didn't make any real plans and kept changing his mind about what he wanted to do until it was just too late, so we stayed home watching movies and then watched the countdown on Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve, and were in bed by 12:15. Best New Years Eve ever!

Resolutions? Last year my resolution was to no longer support Starbucks. I am proud to say that I have been Starbucks free now for over a year. I had considered loosening up on it after the one year mark, mainly because when friends want to go for coffee and I tell them we can't go to Starbucks they look at me like I'm completely insane (which usually goes away once I explain my reasons), but I truly don't think that Starbucks needs or deserves my money. Maybe if they start using a biodegradable or recyclable cup, or make the incentive to bring your own mug a little better, or stop popping up on every street corner, I might reconsider. For 2007 I'd like to try to put more of my energy into me, and focus on good mental health.