venetia_sassy | Entries tagged with birthday

On my birthday last year, I was staring to emerge from the haze of unexpected side effects, including constant (instead of chronic) migraines, caused by a new CFS/ME medication I was trying. That was a fun three and a half months. That was during a year that included my first (hopefully only) ambulance ride and discovery of a (minor!) heart condition, falling off the back porch and narrowly avoiding braining myself, then tripping in a parking lot and acquiring of fantastic bruises.

On this birthday, I have just had my third round of botox for migraines and I am doing so much better. After the second round I even had TWO MONTHS without a single migraine or headache. I still have very little energy but I'm starting to feel like I'm living again not just existing. Bizarre to think that during a global pandemic my health might actually be improving … but it might be?

(I think I do need to go back to the physio again though. I strained a shoulder muscle cuddling the dog, FFS *sigh* This is after straining the same shoulder holding a friend's baby right after the first round of botox and getting very confused and painful signals from my neck. BUT I AM GETTING BETTER.)

And there was some very fancy cake for dessert.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Patty Gurdy ~ Over The Hills And Far Away

It's been far too may months since I've posted here - I'm living up to my journal title! I've been on tumblr but it's not the same. So many times I've meant to post ... it's been an erratic year. But there have been good things such as starting to volunteer at my local greyhound rescue, periods of decent brain function when I could work on my writing, catching up on movies I've meant to watch, losing weight, seeing my friends, SinpOz, a joint birthday party for me and Mum (100 years of living!)

And while I'm still getting over a sinus infection, the antibiotics are starting to kick in, the two-day migraine has gone, the temperature dropped from high thirties to low twenties, we had pizza and cake for dinner and I have fabulous purple suede boots, honeybush tea, Fast and Furious 7 (I will weep hysterically all over again and Mum will laugh at me), and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on DVD plus various gift cards from family. And amongst several lovely presents from our party, my best friend gave us vouchers for a whale watching tour on Sydney Harbour. Mum squealed/shrieked. Not sure how to describe the noise.

Like I said, it's been an erratic and, at times, stressful year but there are lots of good things. I think I will try to post a happy thing every day of December (likely most of these will be multifandom vids that have made me smile this year even when I have no idea what half the fandoms are.)

"[COLLAB] Multifandom // Here's to Never Growing Up" (Watch on YouTube)

Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Avril Lavigne ~ Here's To Never Growing Up
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/217450.html

Today was my 30th birthday. I thought I might have a internal freak out about all that I haven't done/have yet to achieve/my life in general but I think I already did that a few years ago. Plus it was too bloody hot and humid to freak out about anything.

And looking back over the year and forward to my end-of-year reflections, I think this year has been okay. My health has been utter crap, yes, and I've been less than productive but I've done new things, met new people, read a lot of new books. And I think I've done some good with greyhound rescue awareness. So that's something.

And I'm sitting here with my brand new birthday ring on - a wide gold band set with a gorgeous blue topaz and six tiny diamonds. The ring wound up being a family gift which is lovely.

Tomorrow morning I will go and listen to Nephew #2 and his preschool class butcher various Christmas songs. Birthday season has ended, Christmas season is beginning. We saw Niece on Saturday for the first time since she was born (in June.) Might even see her again tomorrow! Family season has begun as well.

I have at least three months of book posts to catch up on, don't I?

Current Mood: mellow
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/213494.html

Wide pappardelle with zucchini, olives, fried artichokes, pecorino and lemon (for me)

Potato gnocchi with smoked quail and pink pepper (for Mum)

Pork spare ribs with plum agrodolce and sauteed cabbage, plus a mixed leaf salad (to share)

Gooooood food.

Current Mood: satisfied
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/204099.html

My birthday yesterday! Quiet day, since friends are working/away and Mum and I decided to go out to dinner tomorrow when it's cooler.

But it was a good day. We had some nice Thai food last night and I made this Strawberry, Orange and Chocolate Cake which is very nice but very solid. I only made a half-quantity of the ganache and that was plenty - I didn't even use all of it. I think it could have more strawberries, too. They're really good. Mum spoiled me greatly with presents - two books (Murder on the Homefront by Molly Lefebure, which I'm reading now and A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin), two CDs (Native by OneRepublic and Sweeter by Gavin DeGraw), Iron Man 3 on DVD, a very pretty pair of dangly gold earrings, some manicure scissors and ... a spiralizer! Curly fries and zucchini noodles, here we come!

*
( Finding a New Dog Quest )

And our new boy was sweet and calm and placid ... and after a couple of day we were wondering if we'd made the wrong choice.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Gavin DeGraw ~ Soldier
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/203898.html

Well, my throat isn't quite as sore today as it was last night (ow) but I definitely have a cold. Yech.

But in the realm of happy things, I received a beautiful birthday card from my aunt (lasercut card, birds among willow branches) and the DVD of Jamie at Home S1.

Also, I really have to get around to reading Seanan McGuire's books.

Growing up a girl geek and becoming a geek girl.

I've been watching the "fake geek girl" mess go around, and it feels like middle school. It feels like people going "your passions don't match my passions, ergo your passions must be invalid." And I say fuck. That. Noise. Geeks like things. That's why we exist.

I've had people in my my life who didn't 'get' me, including family, and that could be hurtful. But mostly I've been lucky to be around people who understood or at least accepted if they didn't understand. Why is that so hard?

Online, I've often felt that I don't get as passionate or as involved with things as others do, partly due to illness, partly by nature, but really, it's to each their own. Who decides what's enough passion or involvement?

Every individual geek, for themselves and no other.

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Florence and the Machine ~ All This and Heaven Too
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/186957.html

Thank you for the birthday wishes!

It's been a quiet (and cool!) day day which I was glad of since I was awake way too late last night with a headache. But today was good. Starting with two packages arriving, one of them a Christmas present for Mum and the other an indulgence for me - this delightful Alice in Wonderland tea cup. I just couldn't resist it. And yes, I had my first cup of tea in it. Good timing!

We decided to have some take away for dinner (and maybe go to a restaurant later this month) since most restaurants are shut on Mondays. There's a very new Thai place close by and while I don't always like Thai and this place does a lot of seafood (which I don't eat), we'd had some food from there for Mum's birthday and it was delicious. So we went with that again and a St. Honore cake from Michels - which was suprisingly large for a 'small' cake! Mmm, profiteroles.

And then I was thoroughly spoilt with presents: a bunch of purple lisianthus, two CDs that I've been listening to tonight - Florence and the Machine's Ceremonials and OneRepublic's Waking Up (Mum asked me if the former was British; I gave her a blank look and said I didn't know, I'd never read anything about them. How very odd to have found new music via fanvids instead of RPF), three books - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders and On The Trail of the Silver Brumby by Elyne Mitchell.

I saw the last a couple of month ago and immediately said it was going on my wishlist! I still adore the Silver Brumby books and they were among the favourite books of my childhood. Not just because of the wonderful secret world of the wild animals who could talk to each other but because of how Elyne Mitchell wrote about the high country, the mountains, the bush. She showed me the magic, the beauty and the mystery in my own land, not just the foreign or pseudo-foreign landscapes in my other books.

My last present was another beautiful teacup and I'm so lucky Mum manged to get it for me! We saw it at a T2 near us and I loved it but when she went back they were all out ... but they rang around for her and found that a store in town still had some and hey, we were going in to town in couple of days! And at one point there, she told me she had to go do something that I "did not need to know about." We always have fun Christmas shopping. *is amused* The ladies at the post office laughed the other week when we went it to pick up a package and Mum leaned in to take a look (I hadn't been sure what it would be - blank moment) and I promptly snatched it away. "No! You do not need to see!" I then explained why to the ladies in case they thought I was nuts.

And on top of all this, when Brother called he not only wished me Happy Birthday, he invited us over to dinner on Thursday. *is dumbfounded* That's ... twice in eight days we'll see them.

Happy things!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: florence and the Machine ~ Heartlines
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/185950.html

It's so much cooler today, thank goodness! It's supposed to heat up over the week but at least we get a bit of a break.

Before the happy thing of the day (besides cool weather) something alarming: Mum found a dead funnelweb spider in the living room this morning. Aghh, aghh, aghh and ick. At least it was dead. Thank you, exterminator!

*
There is a BABY ALPACA in the next street! And it is SO CUTE! Mum told me about and I saw it as we drove past one day. It was lying in the grass, head up, all solemn and fuzzy white and soft. When we went out a few days later, I asked Mum to drive back via that route so we could stop and have a better look.

SO CUTE! And the four adults had just been shorn in the last day or so and they looked ridiculous. Really, really ridiculous, all neck and leg, trying to have a scratch and nearly toppling over. When the baby alpaca (I'm standing there going, "... foal? Calf? What are they called?" Mum says, "Cria." Because my mother knows these things) is more coordinated than the adults, it's pretty funny.

Here, have some stylishly shorn alpacas.

*
Huh, it's almost my birthday. Just a few more minutes! Funny, a few days ago (on Brother's birthday, yes, we did get to see him, no, we have not seen Nephew #1 for his yet, although he was very happy we called to wish him happy birthday) I was trying to remember how old I'd be. Remember when you were a kid and each birthday was soooo important and the year was sooooo long? Why does that change, do you think?

Current Mood: so much cooler
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/185614.html

Thank you, lovely people, for the birthday wishes!

It was a quiet birthday but I like it that way. I woke up to a big bouquet of sweet peas from Mum and presents! A rather nice little clutch purse from brother and sister-in-law (although it's from the Kardashian collection which made me go WTF for a minute.) From Mum, this birthday card (I love their cards so much. And this one! We saw Mandarin Ducks at Taronga and they are gorgeous) a new loose powder brush, The Lion King on DVD (I loved that movie as a kid. I watched it so many times on video and listened to the soundtrack on tape ... these days, 101 Dalmatians might just beat it as my favourite but I still love it), the BBC's South Pacific documentary series on DVD (incredibly beautiful visuals, wonderful music and narration by Benedict Cumberbatch. That man's voice ... ) And a Reader's Digest book on travel destinations around Australia. We received a advertisement for it just after we got back from the South Coast the first time. We considered it a sign. *g*

Dee called to say happy birthday and then we went out to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. Mmm. We shared dishes of antipasto which included two kinds of arancini and beer battered broccoli (amazing), then tagliatelle with lamb ragu followed by roast duck with salsa verde, roast pumpkin and a mixed leaf salad. *moans faintly* It was so good but we were so full!

Then we came home to discover that in less than two hours we'd missed three calls (all for me) but I called my aunt in Brisbane (as happens every year, she apologised for the card being late. I tell her it just extends the birthday celebrations), I'll see brother tomorrow and will email Pip tonight!

After an hour or so we decided we had enough room for cake. I made my own cake last year (to Mum's bemusement. Well, I wanted to make a fancy cake! What better chance than on my birthday?) but since we were going out to dinner tonight and going to a 4th birthday party tomorrow, I figured I could do without a cake of my own this year. But Mum bought me a cake today. Chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge covered in chocolate ganache. Oh yeah.

I'm tired, I'm full and I have some lovely flowers. It's a good day.

Current Mood: content
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/154974.html

A shiny, silvery rhino that Mum had been ooh-ing over in the shops. In the first place we saw it, it was ... expensive even when discounted for a broken and re-glued tail. We saw it at a second place that had it for half the price without any damage. Guess where I shopped?

This did involve telling Mum to go away and let me shop and hey, give me the car keys so I can hide stuff from you more easily. Other years I've done my shopping for larger items with Pip but this was the only large thing left so I managed it.

Okay, I have to order a couple of books and we need to buy a gift card for Brother and restrain ourselves over adorable presents for Nephew #2 but I don't think I need to go out for anything else! Amazing.

This will give me more time and energy to focus on Christmas cooking. I have a brand new candy thermometer and plans.

*
Acupuncture will continue until Christmas and it might just be doing something? I don't know, it's hard to tell, the last month has not exactly been routine but despite the post-exertional fatigue, the various headaches plus migraine, etc, I think I've been coping with it all better than I would have a few months ago. But maybe that would have happened anyway? I don't know. I'd like to be doing the acupuncture during a quiet time when I could follow a routine and measure improvement more easily ... it's so bloody hard to tell with this illness.

*
I've started receiving parcels from Etsy. You know, even when the contents aren't for me, it's fun getting parcels! Much better than hauling around the shops.

*
It's my birthday tomorrow - in half an hour - how did that happen?

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Katherine Jenkins ~ Angel
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/154625.html

One day older, one year older.

neversince, thank you for the v-gift! It was a lovely way to start my day.

Not much happened today, just went out to do some financial transactions and grocery shopping with Mum. Important purchases included prosciutto, parmesan and basil for homemade pizza and strawberries and cream for a birthday cake.

When, earlier this week, I said I was going to make a cake, Mum was kind of O_o at the idea. Not at the idea of me making a cake! But the idea that I should have to make my own birthday cake. I blinked at her and pointed out that I rarely have an excuse to make a fancy cake and what better excuse than my own birthday? I knew she would gladly buy me a cake but I wanted to make my own. And the homemade pizza (homemade pizza dough, homemade pizza sauce, omg so good) with mozzarella, basil, prosciutto, rocket, parmesan and lemon juice is a definite treat.

The cake I made was this Strawberry Cream Cake. My first time making a layer cake (not just a sponge cake) and it turned out very well! Not quite as pretty as the picture because I didn't have enough whipped cream to make the decorations (I think the amount of cream needs to be increased to three cups for an 8-inch cake.) But it still looked very pretty with strawberries arranged around the edge. And it tasted very nice. I hadn't made a chiffon cake before and I think my oven sucks at cooking two tins at once but it still worked out pretty well.

And hopefully there will be a weekend gathering with brother and company (he did call today) and I will take half the cake with me so it doesn't sit there and tempt me.

*yawns* It may not have been very exciting but I liked it.

Current Mood: content
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/97373.html

Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, where did that come from? I keep being surprised by my birthday which is kind of odd since it's four days after my brother's and two day after my nephew's. *shakes head* It has been a supremely lousy couple of weeks on a variety of fronts - weather, computer, finances, health, ridiculous and upsetting family drama but things are looking up (she says cautiously.)

The crazy hot weather has calmed down (we're now half-drowned but I'll take that over being scorched), we have the computer back, virus-free (knock on wood), money is still tight but things should ease up soon (please?), I am pretty sure I just had a cold and was not experiencing signs of a relapse (please, please, please) and sister-in-law has apparently decided that even if Mum is the mother-in-law from hell (which is a degree of WTF that leaves me blinking and wondering if the sky is green in her world) that doesn't mean she gets to make everyone miserable by being nasty about it. Mum is greatly relieved and not lying awake at night from the stress, I'm not upset from seeing her upset and there is potential for a multi-birthday gathering on the weekend.

So. Things are looking up. And tomorrow (today) I will make cake.

And something that's been making me smile amidst the stress:

Kris Allen, you are such a gorgeous, adorable dork. I cannot help but smile watching that.

Current Mood: relieved
Crossposts: http://venetia-sassy.livejournal.com/97243.html

Consistently, predictably, dependably, unwaveringly ERRATIC

There's logic in here somewhere ...

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

Belated birthday dinner

And on ...

Bleghh

Happy Birthday to me

Cria cuteness!

Happy Birthday to me

I bought a rhino today!

yawns

Oh hey, look at the time ...

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March 2024

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