Goddess of.. Where did November go?

Seriously, where did the past month go?

I wake up suddenly, one crisp-cold morning and, it's December 1st, a Wednesday with yet another newsletter to send out. I read on Facebook about my friends who've just shaved off their Movember mustaches.. and those who've completed NaNoWriMo. The latter being the #1 reason why I didn't blog this past month, I must confess: I failed epically at NaNoWriMo.

I was so determined, but it just did not happen. Projects piled on at work, and that meant extra money.. so I wasn't totally willing to give that up (or the 5 hours of sleep a night, that kept me barely functionning). Also, I didn't have an outline and did not think my "rough idea" of the story I wanted to write would suffice to create a full-on 50,000 word novel. However, I did manage to write well over 36,000 words for my extra projects (SEO optimization texts, for those of you who speak nerd) at work. That's gotta count for something, right? I also managed to hand-in my freelance work on time, every week, despite the extra projects. Go, me!

Now, we're here, on the 4th of December.. the eve of my third bellydance show. I am finishing the freelance work I planned on getting done last night but finally had to postpone due to the arrival of some family friends' first grandson last night: Welcome to the world, baby M!

Did I ever mention that I don't really like newborns? All tiny, fresh-out-of-the-womb, fragile newborns.. don't make me go Awww or Ouhhh.. and I don't think they're cute. Give me a chubby/chunky 2 year old and I'll go nuts.. but those still covered in goo, not so much. Anywowzer, I digress.

My first show, Dec. 2009

Bellydance tomorrow should be fun, got friends coming: Violet, Lolita and Frantz will all be there, along with Mom. 

It's a bit of a big deal for me to invite more than 1 friend.. as Violet and Frantz have never seen me dance in person. But they are both great friends so I don't feel too shy to dance in front of them (and 200-300 strangers). Plus, this semester, I am performing with the most advanced bellydancer group at my dance studio so I nervous, but somewhat proud :)

Talk to you soon, 

Love XOXO

Goddess of .. Twenty-five candles !

On Saturday, May 8th 2010 .. I celebrated my long awaited (and kinda dreaded) 25th birthday.

Well, to be exact, I celebrated my very last day & night being 24 years old because my birthday is May 9th. Seriously, I wasn't going to just slip into my mid-twenties without mourning my early twenties an itsy bit. Except that it wasn't so much a "mourning" as it was a "celebration of life".. but I digress.

I definitely had a wonderful time on saturday and

I hope that my birthday celebrations are a reflection of

how much fun the next year is going to be

because I had a BLAST!

First, there were drinks and appetizers at my place. Lolita, Violet and the whole bunch of my girlfriends from high school were there.. about 10 of us crazies in all.

Mandatory rosé wine or sparkling pink lemonade for everyone.. alongside some delicious appetizers (arancinis, veggies & dip, all kinds of cheese, puff pastry hors d'oeuvres, etc.).

I was showered with gifts from my extremely generous friends (gift cards, beauty products, scarf, purse, chocolates, etc.).

By the way, I'm totally aware that posting pictures with stickers on everyone's face is pretty much pointless but I worry about anonymity.. so here goes. I hope it still gives you a vague notion of how much fun we had :o)

I was super happy that all the girls from the high school bunch made it .. because 3 of them weren't suppose to come until later.. but finally, they were able to make it !!!

It made all the difference in the world, I was so glad to have all of them over at my house because we rarely do this and mostly meet up in restaurants or at the movies.

I also got to spend some really fun times with Lolita & Violet. They hadn't seen each other since .. sometime in February or March.. when we went out to one of our favorite bars and ended up crashing attending a stranger's birthday party around 3-4 am.

It was fun to see them kind of catch up and mingle.

Afterwards, we headed to my favorite thai restaurant around 9pm, for a late dinner. I ordered one of my usuals .. the sweet & sour chicken (tomatoes, onions, red and green bell peppers & pineapple) with sticky rice. Lolita enjoyed my other favorite, the sauteed chicken with peanut sauce & crispy spinach .. so delicious !

I bought a delicious cake (tasted like Ferrero Rocher or Bacci chocolates) that I brought to the restaurant and they served it to us as dessert.

The staff was so nice and funny .. they were really young and friendly to us, they even switched my candles on the cake when they brought it out and it read : Happy 52nd birthday Aritza !!

They put them back in the right order when they served me my piece of cake thought, thank God.

I'm having a hard enough time dealing with being 25 .. there's no way I want to skip to 52 right away.

Once we were done with dinner, I said goodbye to my highschool friends .. who are not at all the type to go out to bars .. and Violet, Lolita & Myself headed to our home (the bar that Violet & I often go to on thursday nights). We've developped a sort of customer-friendship with the bartenders there .. so they were happy we stopped by for my birthday. I was offered a complimentary glass of bubbly from one bartender and another one offered us a celebratory round of shots (Jack Daniels topped with a slice of orange, the usual). All in all, a very good time !

We then met up with Ari and his friends, Frantz and David, at another bar nearby.

Violet, Lolita, Myself, Ari, Frantz and David had a really really fun time and all of them made it a birthday that I'll never forget. I had met Frantz before (super funny and super friendly guy) and I had heard a little bit about David (funny and sarcastic, self-proclaimed asshole) before through Lolita.

At the bar, David proceeded to yell at the barman to get me free shots for my birthday .. it was super rude and I thought he was a real asshole.. but it worked and I think he actually knew the barman or became friends with him afterwards .. so no real harm done there. Dr.Frantz spoon-fed me Jack Daniels & Coke as a cure to aging.. and it was hilarious.

Frantz, David and I talked and joked all night long and it was really cool.

Anywowzer, that's it my lovelies. Oh and Frantz wrote his phone number on a coaster and slipped it in my purse.. lol, I really cracked up when I got home and saw this. I sent him a little text message to thank him for the great evening and I added him on facebook. Such great people, I've really been blessed lately .. I've met such funny people, it's wonderful !

That was my birthday night, bloggies !

It certainly lived up to my standards of fun :o)

and I hope it lived up to your standards of an interesting blog post !!