a deserving age...

i have no idea what this (points to the title) really means... the idea originated from a quote by coco chanel off wisdom quotes "A woman has the age she deserves"... of course i am referring to my birthday this past sunday, 11 june... and i am one year older. do i have the age i deserve? my birthday has had me pondering all sorts of things about age and life and more specifically me and my life... and my age. at first i thought of my age, twenty eight, with horror... but i have slowly come to accept it, afterall, you're as old as you feel, right? if so, i'd peg me at twenty five... although there have been changes. subtle changes, like feeling more of a woman than a girl lately. how did that happen?

i had a really awesome birthday, if you were wondering... one of the best ever... that without trying, or rather me trying to have it shuffle by quietly... because it was on a sunday i got to celebrate pretty much all weekend... ok not that i did entirely, but i could. it really started with saturday dinner at Fino with my sister. a really quaint little place - all white, even the waiter/esses dress in white, with pink accents brought in by the roses and candle holders, etc... i can recommend sitting at the bar for cocktails and calamari hot tapas. but do not, i repeat *do not* be tempted to have dinner there. we were sorely disappointed, even though the evening ended with us giggling *almost* uncontrollably whilst trying to flee the scene as fast as possible.

sunday my birthday. for some reason i couldn't sleep well. it was made really special by my sister who sang happy birthday to me (so sweet), and who made me a lovely, if rushed breakfast and gave me a stunning gift - a fine bone china tea set consisting of 2 tea cups and saucers and 2 cake plates, all with a pretty pink design and interesting ribbing, along with a silver cake lift. then it was off to pretoria, the good ol' home town, for church and lunch with the folks. yum... nothing beats my mom's cooking! seriously. i also got to speak to my "oupa" whom i have not seen nor spoken to in over 21 years. i look forward to seeing him sometime, i have a very vague recollection of him.

then it was back home - jhb - to tidy up a bit and make snacks for the pre-party cocktails... i made some pretty funky looking cocktails with vanilla vodka, grand marnier, sugar syrup, soda water and pink food colouring! they came out a glowing (i do mean glowing) dark pink colour, and were decorated with pink cocktail umbrellas with a cherry at the end and pink straws. we have named it pink plush.

the party. one day i am going to say that david gray played at my party. in reality i went to the party and it was a seated affair at the coca-cola sundome. yes, you guessed it, the david gray concert. i have never been to a seated concert before... it was interesting, and david gray is definitely the right type of band to be seated for. watershed opened up for them, an enjoyable starter. i'm not going to say much more beyond that it was an awesome concert, the stage effects were beautiful, and the concert made the perfect ending to one of the best birthdays i have had.

vive le twenty eight!

here are some age-related quotes i rather like:

I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel. - Elizabeth Arden

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. - Henry David Thoreau

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. - H. L. Mencken

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post script
- i went for a mtb cycle at logwood on saturday with one of my cycling buddies. although i enjoyed it, i have almost completely forgotten how to handle technical riding / obstacles. i have bruises now. thank you very much.
- i did my first official volunteering stint at botshabelo... i thoroughly enjoyed it, can't wait for saturday's visit again. although it left me tired, combined with the exhaustion from the cycling of course...