Oh happy day

Happy 30^th birthday to me! I’m ringing in the new year of me…in pain! Awesome! I finished the course of corticosteroids on Monday morning, and since Monday night, my face, neck, shoulders, and upper back have been sore and tender, to the touch, even. Are there any doctors in the house? Could this be a side effect of coming off a short course (one week) of prednisone? Because: fucking OW.

But my face seems to be working again, for the most part. I still get the twitchies, but my left dimple has reappeared and I can smile almost normally again. Most importantly, though, my left nostril is in fine flaring form again.

I had a most excellent birthday weekend. Stella came up from L.A. to hang out and we spent two days eating amazing food and trying to pass time between meals (favorite between-meal activity: napping). Saturday night, a whole posse of friends joined us for tapas and drinks in the Mission. My big 30^th birthday revelation of the night was that I need sparkly red walls in my apartment, much like the ones in Beauty Bar. That and I have lots of shiny, sparkly people in my life who make me laugh till I pee my pants and for that I am grateful. We spent part of Sunday driving down Rte. 1 to Pescadero for the incomparable cream of artichoke/cream of green chile soup and ollalieberry pie at Duarte’s Tavern. The day was perfect: slight breeze, sunshine, tons of people out at a plane/car show in Half Moon Bay…we opened the sunroof and soaked up the heat. Heaven.

And now, I am knocking off work early to go lie on Mae’s couch, watch cheesy romantic comedies, and eat cupcakes. Bliss.