For my birthday...

On Friday (my work birthday)...

1. my friendly co-workers took me out for lunch (awwww!)
2. our super-nice waiter sang to me and gave me free chocolate cake
3. after lunch, Sharlene surprised me by coming back to work (she quit(!) to go to grad school) and bringing me a homemade peach pie -- amazing! I was so touched. =) Aaaand it was yummy.

For my actual birthday (today), I...

1. got several birthday cards from: Tina, Jesse, Pip, my mom, my dad and my uncle
2. had a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast
3. went on a picnic with Jesse at our favorite picnicking park (Vasona)
4. flew a kite (a flying stained-glass-like honu -- a sea turtle)
5. shopped for shoes
6. bought 2 new pairs of shoes (sweet! dress-casual shoes comfortable enough to walk in to and from the train)
7. went out to dinner with Jesse
8. ended up at dinner with Jesse and my mom, dad, brothers and uncle (Jesse surprised me!)
9. worked a little, so that my Monday would be less stressful
10. blogged

Jesse baked his first-ever cake today, and it was a total success. =) It's a pretty pink strawberry cake with fluffy white frosting.

Anyway, all in all, it was a really nice birthday, and I think 26 is going to be a good year. =)

Thank you, Technology.

I am so out of the habit of blogging. Good thing I told Teresa I would keep up with this thing, otherwise I might just quit altogether. Here's the problem (shh! don't tell): my old job allowed for more time to read funny articles online, emailing friends and blogging. Now, in my new job, I tend to be busy and slightly more tense all day. It's not that the job is stressing me out -- it's that it is made up of 100 tiny tasks to complete throughout the day, and I'm constantly worried that I've let something dropped, which would screw up a dependency and mess up the delivery schedule for some project... so I'm always "on." I have post-it notes everywhere, and Outlook reminds me of tasks I have to complete every 10-15 minutes. =P

So anyway... Life is good right now. =) I've been taking the train to work for pretty much the last 2 weeks. I love it. Although we sometimes have to rush to get to the train station, Jesse and I (I think!) are more calm in the mornings. The train schedule sets up a rigid go-to-work time and a rigid come-home-from-work time, and I am enjoying the routine. I also like walking a few blocks to work in the morning, then back to the train station in the evening, and the community feeling of travelling in the same direction as a large group of people at the exact same time. Although this phenomenon also occurs on freeways, I'd say that rush hour is not a community that I miss being a part of. =P My car also loves not driving 40-50 miles per day.

In other news, Jesse and I have cemented the date for our wedding. It's going to be on January 27, 2007. We have updated Wedding Central (2.0) with this information, and pretty soon, we'll get around to adding more text and pics to that website, so go there for wedding-related updates. Aaaand at some point soon, we're going to figure out the "save the date" thing, too. People (especially those with crazy schedules or people who have to travel long distances) should get either an email or a paper notice.. we'll see how that goes. If you're reading this blog post, you're pretty much one of the first to know the date. =) Congrats. Thank you, Technology.

Gah! My ring finger is naked.

Jesse made me do it! =(

I am without my engagement ring. It was too big. It has to be re-sized from an 8.75 (it fit easily on my thumb) to a 6.75. You may be asking yourself: Was I insulted to receive a ring that was that much too big for me? Not at all. It's not one of things that crosses your mind when your best friend gives you a diamond ring and asks if he can spend the rest of his life with you.

(w00t!)

Anyway, back to the point of this whole thing...

It's gone! I feel a little bit lonely without it. =( I won't have it back until Wednesday the 16th. That means that when I see two people tomorrow at Jesse's birthday party for the first time since the engagement, they won't be able to check out da ring. =(

Oh well... Apparently, when I get it back, it will fit tightly to the point where I won't be able to yank it off my finger very easily -- it'll get stuck at my knuckle. Does that mean I'll have to shower with it? Sleep with it? Will I ever be able to take it off, or will they have to cut it off of me to prevent the deadening of that finger once I've swelled into my 60s?

...the answers to THESE questions and more in 40 years, folks!

I think I'll go back to pining for my ring now...

Jesse is 30!!!!!!!

Run on over to Jesse's blog and wish him a Happy Birthday! Or better yet, send him a ridiculously sparkly piece of Happy Birthday animated web art on MySpace.

Have the happiest of birthdays, Bug!! I think it's going to be a great year!