Thank you to everyone who helped make me feel special on my birthday, even though I couldn't eat pastina or cake or swim or go to the beach or anything. I did at least get to hang out with Chelsea, Christie, Sarah D, Danielle, and Paige, who's my birthday twin! I then got to have our first girl talk in AGES with Meredith, Lauren, Laura, and Shannon. Long live the girl talk tradition. Also, my mom felt so bad about how poorly the doctor's visit went that morning (during which they told me it would be no less than 12 more days of the all-liquid diet) that I was allowed to drive myself to the library and Starbucks! I got to enjoy a delicious iced Caramel Macchiato and three fresh books--Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand; Life of Pi, by Yann Martel; and A Christmas Carol, the Dickens classic, because I have an off-kilter internal calendar.
To backtrack a few days, I got to see Kimmie for the first time in nine months. Conflicting school schedules, the fact that we have entirely separate groups of friends and commitments, and living irritatingly far(ish) from each other kept making it difficult to meet up. When she knocked on my door Wednesday as a surprise it was the most euphoric reunion. Since I'd literally just stepped out of the shower moments before, I left her to catch up with Deels and Eric for a few minutes. When I got back upstairs, she and Deels were talking dance and she was hugging Eric off his feet for being a Doctor Who fan. Here's to seventeen years of being in each other's lives and families, babe.
Also, it was the best when she called at 1:30 am the night of/morning after my birthday to talk about meatball marinara-scented things, Doctor Who, mashed potato sculptures, and to finish catching up on the personal details of our social lives.
I have now successfully turned my brother, father, and Nonni into avid Doctor Who fans! This does make it more difficult to watch episodes because we have to coordinate four people's personal schedules, but it's so worth it.
As the days of my liquid diet wind down (I've lost thirteen pounds!), we're continuing to get more creative with the recipes. Today I spent 45 minutes making myself an elaborate "entree" called Creamed Chicken. It was absolutely delicious, incorporating butter, flour, onion powder, chicken, chicken soup, milk, and other delicious things into the most convincing meal I've yet had to drink. We've also made milkshakes a nightly thing for most of the family. It's good, I feel like I'm useful instead of just prone to making messes in the kitchen. Nutella, peanut butter, all flavors of ice cream, and all cookies are being explored. It's not necessarily that bad an arrangement.
My brother gets a Star Student Award tomorrow! I'm so proud that I'm getting up early to go to the breakfast I can't even eat anything at!
Danielle came over this afternoon. We colored pages of an Alice coloring book, drank Nutella milkshakes, and listened to Disney princess music because we're sophisticated. We also discussed bows, the blessing that is the Asian community in Manhattan, and put plans in motion for a Disney animation sleepover to occur sometime before she leaves to be a camp counselor. It was the most lovely afternoon. One might even go so far as to say it was golden: "You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June, there's a wealth of happiness and Romance all in the Golden Afternoon."
The Dirty Dancing Legacy Edition Soundtrack is the CD of the day. Rest in peace, Patrick Swayze.
"I just cried sunblock." -Paige
"Poor skinny girls. They can't make this beautiful fat thigh music." -Paige
"...a pheromone-inducing poltergeist?" -Laura
"Hashtag bigboobproblems." Deels, discussing the dynamics of a bandeau.
