Birthday: the Last Gasp

Do you feel it?

There!

That change in the air, that specific tang to the breeze, the way the light slants just so?

That's birthday season coming to a close.

[SUMMARY: Drama R Us.]

Thus I present the final photos and a eulogy for the glittering phoenix that is My Birthday.

As previously mentioned, Nathan sent a small truckload of chocolates to the office so I could share. Which I did.

Really.

Because I'm a *giver*.

Fortunately, the people in my office are pathologically opposed to taking the last of anything, so I got at least one of each kind. My review: *grrrgle*

Fran's Chocolates make Godiva look like Hershey's.†




I love the heavy, rich boxes and Miami strip club-worthy‡ satin ribbons.

But mostly I love the chocolate. I had apricots, ginger, coconut, almonds and caramels.

And figs.




I didn't really share the figs so much. One might say I didn't share them at all.

I did let Hans look at them.




They're stuffed with dark chocolate ganache and dipped in dark chocolate and *grrrgle*...

[SUMMARY: Experiencing technical difficulties.]

Juno sent me this perfume, which smells like nutmeg and cloves and vanilla and is not nearly as sugary as you might think from this description. It's rich and ever-so-slighly understated and makes you snork your wrist as you try to go about your business.§

And just look at the kick-ass bottle.¶




She even wrapped it up in pretty pink paper.

[SUMMARY: From candy to candy-coating.#]

Speaking of spiders††...

The nephews got me what they hoped would be a remote controlled nightmare.




I had to explain that I'm not so much afraid of tarantulas. It's MEDIUM-SIZED spiders that get me.

Tiny little dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin spiders, no big deal. Tarantulas are basically eight-legged gerbils.‡‡ Medium-sized spiders are forever scuttling out of corners, dangling over my head at dinner, hiding in the sheets when I get into bed at night...

*shudder*










That clicking at the end is me trying to get the tarantula to turn around, but the batteries were dead.§§

Let's see... Dad got me a family membership here. Brother got me two tickets for this. Aunt Chris sent a gift card. I got many cards and greetings and well-wishes and comments.¶¶

All in all, a delightful birthday season, but over.

[SUMMARY: Alas.]

Time to pack away the birthday suit## until next birthday season.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Please note that none of these things is in the least bit bad, just some are gooder than others.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Let's all thank Hans; I'll never look at satin the same way again.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): By "you," I mean, "I."

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I took a picture of my own bottle but somehow managed to miss it in the Blogger upload. So I kyped this from a website. It's probably just as well. Mine has nose prints all over its shiny black surface.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): If you cloak a black widow in pretty pink paper, are you not candy-coating in a metaphorical sense?

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Yes, we were.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Which is not to say if a gerbil scuttled across the kitchen floor from a dark and hidden place I wouldn't scream like a girl and possibly wet myself. Sneakiness and the scuttling really get me. But medium-sized spiders freak me out on sight.

§§FOOTNOTE (turn! turn!): I can't imagine why. We only played with it for about an hour on my birthday.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (see? I'm tearing up from the beauty of it all): Thank you. I love you all.

##FOOTNOTE (those may be extra chocolate pounds): Y'know... like when you clean your sweaters and put them in a space bag for the summer.