nonad (no-næd'): n. a group of nine things -- me(Title shamelessly and gleefully stolen from @karamelicious's birthday tweet, which made me giggle for pretty much the rest of the day.)
This is a big birthday. One of those birthdays that puts you into a new age classification in the surveys -- and I answer a lot of surveys*, so I should know. To properly mark the occasion, I decided to go whole hog and celebrate for nine, count 'em, nine days straight. Hence the nonad. Nine events to pull me out of my hermit-like existence.
It is such a big birthday that, were I to write this in a letter, four sides of paper would be insufficient to contain all my delight. In other words, I ramble a bit more than usual. You have been warned.
The Saturday before my birthday was the big kickoff. I had brunch with D who is heading back to Paris soon to continue making us jealous with tales of picnics under the Eiffel Tower and on the Passarelle des Arts. Afterward, I picked up a few cupcakes from Dlish which mostly survived the journey home. I had the Salted Caramel after doing a bit of cleaning that afternoon. Later that evening, I went to dinner at Southern Accent with I** (jambalaya! Woo!) and then to the NAGs Players pantomime. Afterwards, we went to Future Bakery because we had dined a little too leisurely to have time for dessert. We made up for our haste over delicious cake; my friend I*** nearly missed the last subway. Excellent start to the nonad.
Sunday I puttered. I drank tea, did crosswords, and ate the second Dlish cupcake (chocolate coconut). Sunday night was the monthly swing & blues night at the Imperial. It's usually DJ-only, an oddity in Toronto's mostly live-band scene, but because we were celebrating the birthdays of a very special couple (not mine, actually, but I included it in the nonad anyway) they got Combo Royale to play. There was even a pinata. Every dance should have a pinata.
Monday night I went to see The Artist. What a terrific film. I hope it wins all the awards.
Tuesday was the long-awaited cream tea at MoRoCo. My friend L took some time off from being with her adorable baby to join me. It was elegant and lovely. Afterwards, I bought some macarons and the only reason they survived the evening was because I put them in my purse and forgot about them!
I should point out that during this entire week, I had been treating myself to tea in the lovely tea cups I borrowed from Aged P for the Tweed Ride. There were more than enough to use a different pretty cup every single day. On the third day, I realized that on the Tweed Ride I used a mis-matched cup and saucer. Oh the horror!
Wednesday morning, I found the macarons in my purse. Because on Wednesdays I have a 3-hour block of prep time (including lunch), I usually bring a thermos of tea to drink. Today? I got to have macarons with my tea. Most excellent.
The original plan for the evening was to go to a Physics & Pints meeting, but ironically a student kept me late and by the time I would have reached York Mills C.I., the meeting would have been nearly over. So I went shopping instead. I am nothing if not flexible. Especially when I get a new, pretty dress out of it. This dress, in fact. In burgundy. Half price. The last one in my size -- no doubt because it was on the mannequin; fortunately I am not shy about asking them to take dresses off the mannequins. (Yes the skirt is rather tight, but it's very stretchy and so suitable for biking.)
Thursday at school was a bit sad because a year ago that day, a dear friend and colleague died of cancer. We remembered him by wearing his uniform of white shirt, black pants and eating his daily lunch of fries.
I had planned a low-key evening of skating and bubble bath. However, I had set a test for my grade 12s for the next day and a bunch of students kept me late at school because I am a
On Friday I celebrated by having the actual birthday. The day began with the mostly mellifluous tones of my family singing Happy Birthday over the phone. My classes went really well; of course this is a normal occurrence, but it's nice that I had no incidents that would have made me cranky.
When I got home (before 4 pm for a change!) I treated myself to a proper tea before heading off to dinner. Now, I drink a lot of tea. It would be cost-prohibitive (not to mention messy) for me to always drink loose-leaf tea, so I usually get by on the bagged floor-sweepings that come in packages of 144. For my birthday, however, I treated myself. I got to use my tea strainer what I brought back from the Empress Hotel in Victoria. Serenity. I need to make this a weekly thing.
Going to New Generation Sushi in the Annex has been a birthday tradition since I was in grad school. It's always packed, and the group has grown large enough that they now send us over to their sister restaurant across the street. Same menu, though. I always get Matsu Combo #2. It was lovely to be surrounded by so many friends, new and old. There were unexpected presents; R brought macarons which I managed not to eat all in one sitting. There was even free, candle-laden, green-tea ice cream.
Afterward, we tried to squeeze ourselves into Future Bakery for cake, but Friday night in the Annex is not a good time for large groups. My cousin is a terrific organizer and managed to claim a few tables, but I didn't want to leave people standing around too long, so I wolfed down the goodies and we headed off to the Reservoir Lounge to hear Dee Dee and the Dirty Martinis. To say this place was packed is an understatement. We arrived just in time; the velvet rope went up about 5 minutes after we got there. I've never been to the Res when they had to use a rope. We were also saying goodbye to (another) R who was leaving to study in France. The postage-stamp-sized dance floor was crowded with non-dancers, but I managed to get a number of bluesy dances in with all the right people. A couple of apple martinis later, we had closed the place down. I got home at 4 am, tired but extremely happy. And slightly tipsy.
That would have been a fitting ending to the birthday celebrations, but the nonad still had two days to go!
Due to my inability to sleep in past 9 am, I woke Saturday morning bright and early. Far too early, only somewhat bright. I made myself some chai pancakes, did some grocery shopping, had some tea and macarons, then took a nap in the afternoon. I awoke fairly refreshed, dressed in my killer Stop Staring dress, and went to Dovercourt for my birthday jam.
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| Photo credit: Amaya Mocha |
This morning, on the last day of the nonad, I woke up even brighter and earlier than the day before. I had some tea and macarons, did some crosswords, and generally puttered around until Aged P came and got me for brunch at the Muddy Duck. The food was not spectacular, but I always enjoy spending time with Aged P. It was the perfect way to wind down the nine days.
I highly recommend the birthday nonad. But I'm gonna go have a nap now.
*Why do I answer a lot of surveys? Because I seem to be the only person left in my age bracket(s) with a landline. Favourite aborted survey so far: Lady: "We need males between the ages of 18 and 25." Me: "I'm afraid there aren't any of those here." Lady: "Oh, I'm sorry about that."
*Sigh* Me too. Me too.
**I am not being grammatically weird here. That is his initial.
***I think we're going to have to change his name if this keeps up...
UPDATED: Some of these events are being/have been written up in more detail as part of the Utilitaire-12 challenge.
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