Thank you to everyone for the sweet birthday wishes! I love birthdays and celebrations. For a long time, ever since I turned 18 I had a huuuuuge party to celebrate my birthday, which always coincided with the start of the school year at college. I also remember birthday “outfits”. The one I wore when I was 21 was particularly choice–a dark-blue silk romper with a plunging neckline and short-shorts up to there (it was all one piece) that I wore with fishnet stockings, high heels and this amazing silver and blue stone necklace that my best friend Jennie gave me. I pranced around my dorm room and suite like I was friggin’ Madonna, man. I bought the outfit for $25 at the flea market next to Tower Records on 4th Street and felt hella glamorous.

When I was 25 I threw a huge bash at the backyard of my West Village apartment (it was the backyard of three connecting tenement style buildings) and wore a fabulous one-piece Pucci-esque halter jumpsuit that I had bought at Urban Outfitters for $39. God, I was so skinny then… and SO TAN! There were so many people at the party, including two boys that I was crushing on… I won’t say which one I kissed (Ok, the cute lawyer not the cute wannabe rockstar). I felt like Winona in Reality Bites…

For my 26th birthday, Mike and I were already dating for a year (we met a month after my 25th) and he threw me a huge dinner party b’day that I had no hand in planning (it was all a surprise!) at a French restaurant with thirty of my closest friends, we all sat at this long table and drank lots of red wine and champagne and ate steak frites.. It was awesome, and it was the first time “a boyfriend” had thrown me a birthday party instead of me throwing myself one.

My friends were SO impressed with him… that was definitely when I decided he was a keeper. (Although I had decided this two weeks after we had met. He was the funniest and smartest guy I met…and really chill. He was so relaxed. Unlike so many uptight guys I met then.) I always tell my husband I married him because he was the only guy I ever met who was funnier than me. (So many guys only THINK they’re funny, like Dane Cook. But really they are just jocks with lame ass jokes.) Definitely Ethan Hawke from Reality Bites. Mike used to wear these vintage polyester shirts with the collars that had a wingspan from neck to shoulders, and Converse Jack Purcells. But he would argue he was Ethan from Reality Bites, with ambition. He would never work at a newsstand and steal a Snickers. Hee.

Anyway, what did I wear for my 26th? An ivory Gucci tube-top and vintage plaid plants and Gucci platforms. I think the designer addiction kicked in around that time. Also, I was making more money so I had moolah to spend on such things…Although I do remember I bought the Gucci top for $50 at Century 21 and the platforms for $99 at the same store…

I sold my first novel at 27, and in the past several years, my birthday has been pretty low-key as the celebrations were more focused on the book parties, and promotional events… plus our wedding…which was a huge production…it just seemed too much to gather up all the friends and keep celebrating yourself..

In the Filipino tradition, when it’s your birthday, YOU take all the friends out, not the other way around… birthdays are a time to celebrate all the people who make your life worthwhile, which I always thought was a nice way to look at it…

Anyway, my mom threw me an awesome baby shower for my birthday this year, and I was so overwhelmed by everyone’s good wishes, and it was so great to see all our friends in LA, so many of them people we would not have met if we had never moved here…your life gets so much richer when you are open to meeting new people…You know when people say “I feel really blessed” and it sounds so corny? Well, I won’t say it but I felt like that at the baby shower. So much love all around! And it makes the baby seem like more of a reality now. Friends have bought us blankies and Marimekko sippy cups and fabulous chic velvet dresses for the baby! It’s really coming!

What did I wear? A black and gold Liz Lange dress ($150) and a sequin Barneys shrug ($300) and my gold Miss Trish of Capri Thong Sandals. But even if my clothes are more expensive now, I’d give anything to have back that hot size-2 body I rocked when I was 25…

xoxo
Mel