arctic birthday

Hokay, so, someone had a birthday. And there was much wine drunk, and many bad pictures taken, and in the course of 3 hours we went through a huge bag of baby carrots - so what does that say about us and our friends? We shall drink to excess, but damn it if we aren't going to get our vegetables along the way. Also, does spinach-artichoke dip count as a vegetable? Partial vegetable? Probably not because it was microwaved into gooey goodness, and, as my mother will tell you, microwaves are the root of all evil. Also, did you soak your oatmeal yet?

Thanks to a coworker to whom I am undyingly grateful, I was able to work yesterday from 2:30-7:30. Seven-thirty! Practically midday! Shockingly early! When my usual get-off-work time rolled around, I was in my own home, glass of wine in one hand and baby carrot in the other, and blissfully warm. Jessmonster's #1 tip for lowering your heating bill: have a bunch of people over and wait for body-heat magic to go into effect. Earlier in the day I had spent a finger-numbing hour and fifteen minutes in the arctic chill (the news is referring to this cold-spell as an "arctic blast" and I'm working "arctic" into as many sentences as possible) of the warehouse at work, the miniscule heater and the vents in the wall in fierce competition. Fierce as in fiercely cold. Why, why are there vents in the wall? I'm sure they're nice come July, but, um, no thank you. And since my job requires me to do paperwork in aforementioned arctic warehouse, gloves don't work. For the first time ever the idea of fingerless gloves appealed to me, and if anyone wants to knit me some then BZ to you.

Anyway, it was Katy's birthday! And she's 23! And I'm using way too many exclamation points! Birthdays are funny things, though. Or the random things we assign to certain ages. Like my sister? Because she won't be 21 until May, she can't go to see a cheap movie without our parents. And only before 3 pm. Stupid, yes? I mean, I understand why the cheap theaters sell beer and card you. Beer and movies are a great combination, if you like beer. Me, I just like $3 movies. Instead, Lu and I are forced (forced, I tell you) to go to spendy movies in the evening. Three months shy of her birthday, and we can't go see Harold and Maude together. Oh well. (We saw Brokeback Mountain - a lovely choice for Valentine's Day, don't you think?)

I'm not making much sense, am I? Let's move on to pictures!