Non-Stop November: Part 2

One of the reasons why this month is so busy for us is because we know a lot of people with November birthdays. That's a lot of Scorpios, which means that's a lot of parties, because if there's one thing that we Scorpios love, it's partying. Yeah, baby!

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The first birthday we celebrated was my best friend Deb's. Now, Deb and I go way back. Waaaay back. Back to the days when Deb was still working at CBS and I was still dating white guys. Then, we used to really do it up on our birthdays. And though eventually she quit working at CBS and I stopped dating white dudes and started dating hot Chinese accountants, we continued to celebrate our birthdays in high style. Here we are at our joint birthday party in 2005:

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Look at those drinks! They're the size of our heads! No wonder I look so... happy in these pictures.

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Clockwise from top left: Benjamin, Matt, Jay, Baby Vivi, Vince, and Calliope; the Boo with Auntie Deb; Brian and George at the grill; Calliope and Deb
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Even though our birthday parties involve fewer kamikazes these days, they're still a whole lot of fun. I would say that they're even more fun than they used to be, because now we have more people to celebrate them with. Small, chubby people named Benjamin and Calliope. Here we are celebrating Deb's birthday with a poolside barbeque.
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The next November birthday we celebrated was buddy Nolan's. He had his party at a nifty indoor playground called The Little Barn. We all dressed up in our farmy best and had a blast sitting on bales of hay (the Bowens, above left), getting hugged by James (Calliope, above right), and shoveling imaginary piles of manure (Benjamin and Sydney, bottom).
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After The Little Barn, we headed to Pasadena for yet another birthday celebration. This one was for Cecilia, the daughter of Vince's old fraternity brother John. The party was also a joint baby shower for John's wife Nina who is expecting their third baby. Bravo, guys, bravo! Or should I say, brave, guys, brave!

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A week later, we attended the birthday party of siblings Maxwell and Novella. Like Nolan's party, theirs also had a theme: ninjas. Never one to turn down an opportunity to appear publicly in costume, I made sure that all of us dressed up. Even Calliope went as a little baby ninja.
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Vince's ninja gear helped him to run this obstacle course at lightning speed. You can see that he's a hair's breadth farther ahead than his competitor, Max and Novella's dad Sammy, who is dressed as a mere civilian.
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To round out the ninja festivities, there was a big ninja pinata (a ninjata, perhaps?). Most of the kids had a great time whacking the bejesus out of it, but Benjamin seemed disturbed by the whole thing.
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At the end of the month, we celebrated one final birthday - mine. Yup, yours truly turned 35 last month, and my girlfriends Julie, Mona, Deb, Tanya, and Brooke surprised me with tickets to see a show fitting a woman of my age: the national tour of So You Think You Can Dance. After all, nothing says, "God, it's good to be 35!" like watching a gaggle of limber young twenty-somethings spin, flip, and contort in ways that I haven't been able to since W's first term in office.

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The day before my birthday, Deb gave me yet another surprise: she'd taken the songs that I'd written for my kids - "Benjamin Baby," "The Booby Song," and "Little Calliope" - and written instrumental scores for them. Her husband George designed CD covers, and their roommate Brian mixed the tracks. I was floored by their collective talents and completely touched by their thoughtfulness. It was one of the sweetest birthday gifts I've ever received. Thank you, guys!

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On my actual birthday, Vince treated me to some shopping at Century City Mall. I wound up buying myself two shirts, but the real treat was watching him juggle both kids in a crowded public place so that I could shop in peace. I have to admit that it was hard to contain my glee at watching him sweat under the pressure. YES! Feel my pain!

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I guess it wasn't that nice of me to laugh at my hubby, especially since a few days later, he threw me a terrific birthday bash. It was at a karaoke bar where we got to enjoy sushi, sake, and the vocal stylings of Shawn Bowen. The only way the evening would have been more perfect is if the waitress would have carded me for my drinks. Perhaps that was asking for a bit too much, but a girl - or a 35-year-old mother of two - can dream, can't she?