Ahh, spring is here.  It's actually kind of freaking me out.  Seriously, it's March and it's about twenty degrees warmer than usual.  It's been like that for WEEKS.  I'm not complaining at all, no way, I'm just a little suspicious (and I'm not the only one) of what this means for the summer.  I can only imagine the two extremes, that it'll either be unbearably hot in June (done that) or it'll snow (I think the latest snow I've seen in my lifetime was when it snowed in May in STL when I was twelve).  But until the weather decides to freak out, I'm going to kick back and enjoy being able to leave all my heavy clothes at home, and try to figure out where I'm going to store all my knee socks until it gets cold again.

Oh, no.  I think I just jinxed it.  Maybe I'll just leave them where they are until July.  Anyway.

Things are going pretty well in general.  Work is going well, though I still need more to do, but I'm sure it's lying in wait for me.  Plus after what I've heard about my old department's progress, I'm really okay staying where I am.  They can move my desk, but I'll keep doing what I'm doing.  Or more, I could do more, if anyone's offering.  Starting to think about plans for the summer.  I haven't been dancing as much lately, which I feel bad about, but I'm too cheap to go to lessons every month, and Monday night is not as convenient as Saturday was, but I need to start getting active.  I feel like a blob.  I'm probably not, but I am glad my boyfriend likes walking a lot.

Oh, and I'm already sick of it being election year.  Last election was an issue of who did I think would do a better job, this election is who am I least likely to punch in the face?  Seriously, where did they find these people?  Some of them are so conservative that I am shocked that more people haven't seen the connection between ultra-conservatives and Islamic extremists.  Not ALL Islam, just the crazies who don't think women should have freedom, and that fun is a ridiculous capitalist idea.  Oh, boy.  It's all so depressing.  And I'm just going to say this now, purely my opinion, I do not mind if you disagree with it, just please try and respect it: if you're a man trying to impose your will on what a woman can do with her body and the associated functions, DON'T.  Unless you can have a period/child/yeast infection, you cannot attest to anything that a woman feels on any of those points.  Some days I wonder if people even know how to treat other people like human beings.  Also, your faith is not the only faith.  I'm sorry, this is a really big planet, there's a lot of people around, you're not wrong for what you believe in, but neither is anyone else.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm done.  That's it.  I will not talk about this stuff again this year (hopefully).  I hate how torqued off I get.  That's what I really, really hate about elections, it makes us all a little bit insane.

Anyway, better things to talk about.  No PrincessCon this year, schedules can just not be worked out, sadness, but I'm sure travel is in my future.  And I know my friends really want to go to London for next year, but to be honest, I've been to London.  I want to go to a beach.  Plus it's going to be expensive and I don't think I have enough vacation time for a week there.  I don't know.  I'm trying to psych myself up for it, but I don't really want to spend a thousand dollars on travel and burn all my vacation time just yet.  I'm planning to move out soon, and that's going to take a good chunk of things.  I don't know.

Gosh, what's with all the complaining?  Enough of that.

Eric and I had a great double date over the weekend with our friends Adam and Dianna.  I cooked my curlycue alfredo, and finally nailed the alfredo recipe.  I've been having issues getting it to thicken, turns out if you just keep adding cheese, it works out fine.  Eric made asparagus and a salad (I love his salads), and set a lovely table.  Adam and Dianna brought tasty bread pudding for dessert.  We enjoyed dinner and the lovely weather, watched Megamind (excellent flick), played some Quirkle (I won), and went down a rather bumpy slide (ow, my tush).  Our friends left and though it felt like it was only 10 at night, it was actually midnight.  Spring is blowing my mind, but at least my sinuses haven't totally exploded yet.

Let's see, Kaleb's mystery party is this weekend, apparently my swordfighter character carries a bow (seriously?  I'm carrying a sword anyway).  I also plan to wear a corset and a skirt, so I may be an unusual looking guard, but hey.  We'll see how it all goes.  And then April is here.  Holy cow.

Muppet Show theme will now be stuck in my head, and hopefully yours too.

I should blog, shouldn't I?  Blogging it shall be.

So after the rather epic birthday weekend, really the work week was just details until we left for Des Moines and the kick ball change of a swing workshop.  I can't believe I just wrote that.  Anyway, I did manage to go to the doctor and have my first physical probably since I quit contracting.  I really like my doc, she's really nice but a straight shooter about things.  I like that, fair and forthright.  Getting brutal honesty is just as brutal as it sounds, especially when it has to do with your body and health.  But luckily, I'm so healthy she can see why I haven't been in a while.  But regular upkeep should be encouraged.  Especially now that I'm getting out of my immortal 20's.  I will probably start need to eat and sleep and exercise regularly, and stuff.  With that in mind, I also managed to come down with a sinus infection right before the weekend, making my life pretty unpleasant, but not unbearable.  Just lots of coughing and a rather sore throat.

But I was determined to go, so after work on Thursday, I peeled my way home and finished packing, trekked over to Eric's house where we packed up his car, and then went over to pick up Jillian and her minimal amount of stuff.  She is the smartest packer of the three of us, but as has been well-established, Jillian is a minimalist, and Eric and I are alarmists.  We pack for the unexpected.  Also, we discovered Lee in a rather unfortunate neon Flashdance outfit, but since she claimed she wasn't leaving the house that day, I will not fault her for that.  It's not unusual for me to wear unacceptable things when I know I'm staying home.  With that, we set off for Des Moines and the Thursday night kick off for Heartland.

Despite a horribly ragged throat, I danced a lot more than I thought, and have established the Wonder Woman shirt as an excellent thing to wear.  My boyfriend sang once with the band, Verity and our soon-to-be new friend and roommate Hurley won the endurance contest, and we enjoyed dinner with a man from Scotland.  How lucky can we get?  We spent the night with Rae and Larry, aka Miss Heartland and Mr. Heartland.  The inflatable mattress was a little questionable (rolling over was difficult) and apparently Eric got mad at me during the night (neither of us actually remember that), and in the morning we were all a little weary, but when everyone was tidied up, Eric, Jillian, Verity, Amanda, Hurley and I went for breakfast and got to know each other, then Target to pick up some more supplies, and then to the hotel where we all hung out and enjoyed some excellent pool time.

Later on, when everyone finally found their roommates and began checking in, and got themselves arranged, we met up with Adam and Dianna and went for dinner at the brewery we went to last year.  It was quite tasty, and we managed to stay inside for the majority of the trip.  After dinner, we changed out and headed to the dance.  It was fun to meet up with people we hadn't seen in a while, and run into new people, and just dance dance dance.  Christian and Jenny from STL, Jeremiah and Evan from Wichita, our own Omaha gang, the loveable Iowans, and of course Jamin is always great to see.  I did not get to dance as much as I would've liked because of my nasty drainage, but it was a good time anyway.  We didn't make it to late night, but we did enjoy the Jack and Jill prelims, and seeing the Hepcat.  Sharon Davis did a burlesque routine that was quite impressive (less burlesque, more solo jazz).  Dianna and I have decided we should like to learn some burlesque.  Adam has decided he would like to watch us learn burlesque, and I'm willing to bet Eric would join him in that opinion.

The next morning we managed to sleep through the first class.  I would say I was upset but I really needed the rest, and I enjoyed the classes I managed to do.  Eric and I went to Sarah and Dax's class on musicality which was pretty cool.  We danced to live music, and had to adapt to what they did, which at first was really hard, but I think the more I think of the music while I'm dancing now, I just love to do it.  Then we went for lunch at Bread Co. and ate with Ben, Carol the Vintage Closet lady, Christopher from STL, and James and Lindsay came later.  Then we went back for class number two with Jamin and Janie, which was mainly awesome because of their teaching presence.  They taught kind of unexpected tricks to with the usual swing send outs and swing outs.  I also caught up with Rae to ask about the finalists for Miss Heartland, and though I didn't make the cut for the official position, I did make it into the calendar, which was all I really wanted anyway, so it all worked out.  More on that later.

In the evening, we were diverted from making it into Zombie Burger (more on that later too), and went for Greek food instead.  I think we turned out taking up half the restaurant, but it all worked out there too.  Then we prepped for the dance and headed over in time to see the African demo, which I like, it wasn't quite as extensive as last year's but those ladies have skill.  I bought a big new hair flower from Sarah, which is lovely and came in handy.  Danced a lot with Eric and Christian and Hurley and Jamin.  Adam and I managed to St. Louis shag without getting ourselves killed...mostly.  I had to rest for the next few songs.  We watched the partner contest, and Christian and Jenny were definitely who I was rooting for.  And they managed to win!  Eric also got some pretty awesome pics of the coolest Cardinals fans in the room.  The evening rounded out with the contest winners, and as a Miss Heartland contestant, that also meant I got to be a prize girl.  Our official Miss Heartland 2012 was also crowned, and I think they picked a pretty good one.  She and Rae have real dedication to the position.  We also enjoyed a last song with the band where it turned into a bit of a mosh pit.  Dax managed to crowd surf.  The energy in the room was epic.  I love Heartland.

We were lame and went back to the room to sleep after that.  I'm a little bummed about not having as much energy this year as last, but I still had a brilliant time...so I don't know what I'm complaining about.  Though I did wake up Sunday morning with all the sinus drainage clogging my head.  Perfect setup for a pinup girl photoshoot.  Eric woke me up before he went to church, and then I got up to shower and pack all my stuff again, and figure out what to do for my photoshoot.  Next year, I hope I have warning before I actually go to the shoot so I'll have all I need, but it turned out all right.  We checked out when Eric came back from church, packed up the car, dropped Jillian at class, ran to the grocery store, had lunch, and went to the ballroom for my pinup shoot.  Miss Heartland 2012 was in there when we got there, and she looked super cute.  I came up with a couple good ideas for my calendar shot, so hopefully there was at least one good photo in there, but the photographer was a very cool guy, Rae and Pam looked them over and liked them too, so we'll see.  Cecily has already declared that I shall be Miss February, though I imagine I will be a more random month since I had no theme.  I'm thinking Miss September.

After that, we went over to the ballroom for classes.  I didn't manage to take any, since I felt the worst on Sunday that I had all week, but I did watch Mike and Dee's routine class, and Sharon and Nick teach their class.  Then we went over to get into Zombie Burger and opted to avoid the sit down area and just go through the to go area.  Big advantage.  Since the majority of the group was roaming around, only the three of us were in to begin with and managed to scout an area for the rest.  I enjoyed a burger named after a French horror flick, it had chicken and goat cheese and onions involved, so I was pretty happy.  I also had a Crunch Berry shake which was pretty darn awesome.  It made me super full which made the Sunday dancing a little difficult, but there was still some good dancing.  I hope Hurley can come to Cowtown, and the Jamin and Janie come too.  I'm always glad to see Christian and Jenny, Mike and Eve, Larry and Rae, and the rest.  I met some lovely new people, and I truly believe that I got everything I wanted out of it.

Can't wait until next year!

Not much to report on other than the birthday...which was totally EPIC.  So I guess this'll be an epic post?

It took a lot to get through the week.  Monday was President's Day and that was good, because I was kind of tired.  I had lunch with Eric over at his place of employment and then did a little shopping, and then went to book club.  I didn't manage to get to the book this month, though I'm kind of glad, because apparently there were a lot of rape scenes.  I really don't need to see any more of those.  Ever.  EVER.  Other than that, it was fun to catch up with the girls, ask Kelly and Meagan about their impending nuptials.  And play with their dog.

The rest of the week was really just a run up to the weekend, which was very difficult because I had NOTHING  to do at work.  Really.  Nothing.  I know it won't last, and I'm really okay with that, because it's really pretty dull when there's nothing to do.  I don't want to go back to being stressed out and overwhelmed by my job, but I like being engaged.  It'll get better, I just think this was the lull-in-action week.

Friday came about and I was all excited for the weekend ahead.  And then I poked my head over the wall to look out the window and saw that it was snowing like crazy.  What the what?!  So that caused some panic, but it was so warm, that the snow didn't stick around too long.  However it did get a lot chillier than I expected, so I dressed fairly warm to meet Eric at his house, before we headed downtown to our photoshoot with the fair and talented Chelsea.  Very good Valentine's gift.  We did our photos in the Passageway in the Old Market, which was pretty neat.  It was all lit up and the plants were pretty, and it was warm in there.  We did some outdoor photos, which lasted as long as Chelsea could feel her fingers.  Not too long, because I felt parts of me going numb.  Thankfully, also, my boyfriend is warm, and keeps a blankie in his car.  But first, dinner at Trini's, super tasty and convivial.  Then we headed over to swing dancing where I received a most impressive birthday present.  Cecily, Dianna, and Adam had spent most of the week testing and creating Angry Birds cake pops especially for me.  I have to admit, they were one of the coolest birthday cakes I've ever had, second only to the Great Mouse Detective cake, but that's a whole different thing.  Kudos to Adam for making the smug green pig.

Then there was the longest birthday jam I've ever had, I probably danced with about twenty people.  Cecily and Eric made the effort to keep from ending the jam with creepy Steve, many thanks to Cecily for taking that bullet.  I then managed to somewhat avoid creepy Andy (alas, on your birthday, you cannot always get a pass on the creepy guys).  He kissed my hand but I managed not to dance with him.  Seriously, why is it that when a guy kisses your hand, rarely is it ever by a guy you even want holding your hand?  Oh, well.  After the dance, I needed salt in my system after those enormous Angry Bird pops, so we all went to VI to hang out and in my case, eat onion rings.  Nobody sang to me in there, thank goodness.  There was plenty of singing throughout the weekend, also plenty more sugar.

Saturday I slept in, and had a low key day.  Poor Eric was under the weather, feeling pretty icky, but he put up a lot of effort to give me a nice birthday.  I really think my friends gave me a pretty good one.  Though Saturday night I went to bed early and foolishly left my phone by my pillow without turning it to vibrate...

And slept straight through until about 7:30 without hearing the dozen email notifications or the text message that made no sense at all.  I was a lot more tired than I thought.  I slept for another hour or two, missed a few more emails, and then met Eric, Joe, and Frank at church.  Frank and I sat together because Eric and Joe had important parts to play, and the church was pretty packed, but it was the first Sunday of Lent.  Not a bad day for a birthday, I suppose.  After church, we went to the Bella Italia fest where I ate some great meatballs and treated myself to a birthday cannolli.  Nom.  Then Eric and I found First Street, and spotted a giant chicken, and then I dropped him off at his car, not his house.  Then I went shopping again (got to get rid of those birthday gift cards), and went home to hang with my parents.  Talked to my grandma, then went over to Susie's house where Carroll was having her annual Oscar party.

Oh, Carroll.  She made me a cake, Susie made me a cocktail, and I brought the Angry Birds pops to share.  We played with Jen's new baby Nathan, Susie's little girl Ellie, heckled the awards, and enjoyed pizza.  I also drooled over some Robert Downey Jr.  And the girls sang to me.

I went home late and tried to go to bed immediately.  It was one heck of a birthday.

Let's blog about Valentine's Day.  Yes, I am going to be that person.  Yes, you should be prepared to vomit with all the cuteness to follow.

I kind of left the Valentine's planning up to Eric, mostly because I was dealing with my grandma's funeral and getting back to work, and still coming to grips with the notion that he really was going to be my boyfriend.  Seriously, it's taken some time to get used to, not in a bad way, more like, wow, we really are doing this OMG YAY!!! way.  I'm really happy.  Valentine's day itself I managed to get out of my Jitterbugs operations board meeting (I don't really know what we do other than talk about stuff, but Ian is very smart and energetic, so I dig him), then I went to Eric's for dinner.  Chicken paprikash by request, and I brought his Valentine's day present, a particularly clever card (at least I thought so), and a gift card of ice cream (though he's given it up for Lent, so I guess it'll be April before he has some).  We had a lovely dinner and despite his promises, Troy did not do a shot every time Eric and I kissed.  Our quiet evening was only slightly interrupted by Frank, who was bringing over Kate, potentially Eric and Troy's new roommate.  It's an interesting story, but we'll see how it goes.  My reaction to everything was more like annoyance at our date being interrupted.  Oh well.

Eric also gave me flowers.  I *heart* that.  And him.

Thursday was our "official" going out, dressed up, fancy dinner Valentine's day celebration.  Eric and I met at the 801 Chophouse, which was very nice, he wore a suit and he brought me more flowers, and after we'd been sitting for about five minutes to consider what to eat...the fire alarm began going off.  Thankfully we were not evacuated, and there wasn't a serious emergency as we later found out.  The food was super tasty.  I haven't had onion soup that good in quite some time.  Also, the time together to talk and hold hands was just lovely.  I really like hanging out with my boyfriend.

Now I'm starting to annoy myself with the cuteness.

We also got to talk to Chef Brian, who is my kind of chef, similar to my big brother and my two cousins, laid back, likes his food, and willing to make you eat it.  He managed to talk Eric into dessert, which was an enormous slice of cheesecake that we couldn't finish despite combined efforts, but we also ate a lot of steak preceding it.  We also found out the source of the fire alarm, a very hot pan not under the proper ventilation system.  Oh, work place shenanigans.  Also, the restaurant is inside a really gorgeous apartment building with an awesome Deco lobby.  Ah, luxury that I don't really want to pay for, but maybe just borrow for an hour or two for pictures.

And I didn't really do much until the weekend, game night, shopping, and the like.  I'm kind of tired.  Maybe I'll write more later.

Wowee, it has been a manic couple of weeks...again.  I seem to vacillate between being too busy to post or too bored.  Silly me.  Well, here we go.

At the beginning of the month, my grandma for whom I am named went into the hospital because she was having a lot of trouble eating and as much as I should state all the details, it's really hard to think about, so I'll skip to the end and say that after a week in the hospital and a lot of issues, she passed away.  It was sad, but I know she's in a better place, and my mom and her siblings and my grandpa made sure she was never alone, and she went away in peace with grandpa holding her hand, so I think it'll be okay.  I was a little annoyed that I found out via facebook...in fact I was pretty upset at the time, but I'm over that.  I'm more upset about my grandma being gone.  When I saw her laid out at her rosary, all I could think was that wasn't my grandma.  I mean, it was, but she didn't lie down like that, she was always active and alert and looking after all of us.  The pictures made me feel better, because that WAS my grandma.  I was sad, and I cried a lot at different times, certain things set me off, and I'm still sad when I think about how I won't be able to see her anymore, but I know she's at peace, and she's watching out for me, and all of us.  The priest made me very happy by calling her a lovely and gracious woman, because that is exactly what she was.

In the meantime, the rosary and funeral meant everyone would be gathered together, and even though I prefer weddings and baptisms and anniversaries, it was nice to see everyone.  I love my cousins.  And my cousin Matthew and his lovely wife Jayna let me play with their new little one, Janie Lou, which helped me get through a lot of the rosary.  My wonderful sister-in-law got me through the funeral.  I have a great family, and I have to admit that I'm pretty lucky.

Family news aside, I'm pretty lucky in other ways.  The job still treats me pretty well, though this new car management assignment is a bit too ambiguous for my taste, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.  I got my bonus and my raise, which is always the awesome part of the year.  I have to meet with the head cheese tomorrow (take that however you like), but I think it'll be okay, I just need to look nice and bring a notebook.  Jack and Heather had their birthdays, Jack liked his present, I still need to mail Heather's, but since she has yet to mail my Christmas present, we figure everything will get where it needs to go soon enough.

The other wonderful news is that I have a boyfriend now.  Eric asked me to make plans with him for Valentine's day, and for the first time in almost 27 years, I will have a date for that particular holiday.  He's also been supportive and sweet while I'm missing my grandma, and he plans to spoil me.  For the first week, it almost didn't feel real, since it was something I dreamt about so many times.  But it certainly seems to be happening, and I feel so happy I can't stop smiling sometimes.  I keep waiting for someone to come up to me and flick my ear and tell me to knock it off.  I just adore him, and I don't always feel like I deserve it, but apparently he does, so I will defer to him.  Expect to be totally annoyed by our cuteness.  I plan to make everyone vomit with sappiness.

Now go listen to "L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole and feel the way I do.

Goodness me, the end of January already?  Well, since my last post, I have been requested to talk about myself (how dull), so let's see what's the haps.  Not a whole lot, Christian and Jenny came back for another workshop weekend, which was quite productive.  I think I only skipped one class, the beginning lindy (should probably know that by now), and I took a private with them, so I think I learned plenty with them.  They taught the Tranky Doo routine, more STL Shag (awesome!), how to practice alone, and we fixed my swingout (again); staying low, keeping my arm a little less extended, and hooking my triples in front of the swivels.

Yes, I speak dancer.

Christian and Jenny are just lovely people to hang with.  I hauled them back to Troy's for my lesson, and later went to dinner with them, as well as Eric and Ben.  That was good times, plus barbecue was nom.  I think I'm getting pretty good at this dancing thing, and I'm quite looking forward to Heartland.  I'd love to be in the Miss Heartland contest, but I'm not too confident in my entry.  We'll see.  It'll be fun either way.

I've also been given a more active role in Jitterbugs now being the Volunteer coordinator.  I think Nate and Christy are okay with how I do things, I have no idea what the volunteers think, but no one's complained yet.  We shall see on that one too.  It's not as scary as I thought it would be.

Work is still kind of just work.  I had my evaluation, I did fine.  People think I should've been rated higher, but honestly, I have a better job now, I'm getting paid better, people are satisfied with my work, I really have no complaints.  They're eventually going to move my desk, and eventually I'm going to have walls, and there will be new duties and responsibilities, but no one's in a huge rush.  Oh, and I get to meet with my scary vice president on Valentine's Day, joy of joys.  Hopefully I won't take anything she says personally.  I'm trying to rise above that if I can, but it's a work in progress.

Someone did mention the other night how girls didn't know anything about swingouts, which did get harshly under my skin, and I did want to punch him.  But I didn't and he wound up apologizing, as he should have.  You shouldn't generalize about people like that, and he has no right to do so, because that would imply he dances with all the girls, and I don't like dancing with him because he acts like a creep.  And I know what's going on in a swingout.  Twit.

But anyway...

Last weekend there was dancing, practicing my Christian and Jenny advice, getting cranky because I was hungry, ice skating in some very chilly weather, and late night shenanigans.  It was fun, but next year, I will eat in advance and wear much warmer clothing.  But it was a good cause, and the Thriller Dance on ice was impressive, and watching Dena, Clint, Adam, and Eric do the Shiver skate was pretty fun.  They are braver than I, and probably have better circulation.  Boy, I was cold towards the end.  We went to Village Inn post skate and warmed up, and then I went home and wisely took muscle relaxers before sacking out.

Saturday I went to the zoo with Cecily, and despite it being January, it was a pretty nice day outside.  It was a pretty cool zoo, and I'll have to go back when it's not under construction to see the rest, and when Cecily and I haven't been up till 4 the night before, but the parts I did see were great.  I was a little shocked at the open water features in the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit (hello, open pool of water in the dark?  Safety hazard!) and the animals that were allowed to wander (lots of birds, the ducks were cute though), and how many tigers the zoo has (and the stoner jaguar, what the what?).  We saw the desert, the swamps, the big cats, the primates, and the jungles.  We ate lunch in the cafe that overlooks the jungle and watched the white handed gibbons play.  We also discovered why tapirs are not normally viewed standing up (it's like a fifth leg!).  But we had plenty of giggles.  I liked the orangutans and the wallabies a lot.  We also saw an aardvark and an armadillo, and more than enough snakes (eek), and some really big fish.  With an f, not a ph.

After the zoo we went over to Adam's for a viewing of Sherlock Series two.  I only got to watch the first episode, but it was pretty epic.  They are almost too clever for their own good, but I had a blast.  Then I headed over to Matt and Vivian's for their appetizer partay, which was fun AND I cooked something for it.  Spinach artichoke dip, not bad if I say so myself.  Which is good, because I have plenty o' leftovers.  The crab rangoon won, but even I have to agree with that.  Plus lots of hors d'oeuvres apparently come covered in bacon.  That's all right with me too.  There were further shenanigans plus THE BABY!  She's so cute, she can hold her head up now.  I got to hold her a little while, and then got shafted because Lisa didn't get to hold the baby because she'd been sick all this time, so therefore she got the baby the rest of the time.  Whatever.  I got to hold her when she was six days old.  I managed to make it home not long after midnight, and then slept till noon the next day.

Sunday I had many goals, but no energy, so I did laundry and gassed up my car, and left it at that.  My weekends have been quite activity filled lately, and I think that the end of January 2012 may be shaping up better than the beginning of January 2012.  We'll see.  Less than six hours left.

I also think my life would be much improved if I kicked every morning off playing "The Circle of Life and "Sister Suffragette".  Thank you, Disney on Pandora.

"I'm home!"
The housekeeper, Mrs. Koraleski came out of the kitchen as I put down my bags and started pulling my coat off.  She took my coat from me and smiled.
"So nice to have you home, Miss Violet.  Your aunts have been waiting most anxiously for you.  They can't wait to celebrate your birthday," Mrs. K told me, hanging my coat up and waving me into the kitchen.
"Have they indeed?" I asked over my shoulder, while my stomach led me towards the smell of cinnamon rolls.  Yes, they had been expecting me.
"Is that my little girl?  That stylish young lady?"
My stomach was temporarily waylaid by the sound of my Aunt June's voice.  I smiled at the mature woman of seventy, beginning her years of being known as "cute little old lady", who was wearing a pale blue silk dress trimmed with fine lace, and sock monkey slippers.
"Still your little girl, Aunt June.  I promise."
June Ames smiled her pert little smile.
"Don't be so silly, Violet.  You're 22, you swear, you drink, you wear impractical underwear, you are hardly a little girl.  But you still come home for your birthday to spend time with your decrepit aunts, so I appreciate the efforts," she said, teasing me.
I grinned.
"Where else would I spend my birthday?"
"With your sophisticated college friends, of course, like other girls your age."
I shrugged and resumed my journey for cinnamon rolls.
"My friends can hang out with me later.  They know this is tradition."
Aunt June laughed softly from behind me.
"Such a good girl.  Bella tells me she has a special treat for you, just for the occasion."
I raised an eyebrow and swallowed a very large bite of cinnamon roll.
"You guys didn't get me a stripper, did you?" I asked cautiously.  Aunt Arabella, or just Bella, was notorious for that threat.
"Goodness, no, dear.  We have to serve at church this weekend, we could hardly do such a thing in good conscience."
I smiled again and munched away at my snack.
"Not that you won't have a very handsome date for dinner this evening.  We couldn't let you go stag on your birthday, even if it is with just your aunts," June said, dropping the statements like Fat Man and Little Boy on Japan.
And then she whisked out of the room while my mouth was full and I knew I'd have to wait for an explanation later.  Aunt June was crafty like that.  But I didn't mind.  June and Bella had raised me since I was four, and became my official guardians at six.  My father was their younger brother, and he and my mother had no interest in having children, and even when they did they had no interest in raising one.  My aunts came to visit for Christmas and found me cooped up in one end of the house with a nanny who was barely seen.  Aunt June pursed her lips and carried me off to the Ritz-Carlton, and Aunt Bella called Social Services, fired the nanny, and gave my parents an earful.  My parents never took me back, but I was happier with my aunts anyway.  June had been widowed young, and Bella never married, so we became an odd little family, but it suited us.  I couldn't ask for a better place to be than with my two demure little aunts in their stylish brownstone, Mrs. Koraleski the housekeeper, and Mr. Koraleski the driver.
As I finished my cinnamon roll, I pondered what birthday surprise was in store for me.  Aunt June would've only vaguely disapproved of the stripper, and Aunt Bella could be crafty too.  I theorized that my former French tutor would be draped naked across my bed when I went up to my room, and my dreamy British History TA would somehow be using my shower.  My aunts, for all their perceived daintiness, were not above something like that.  But I was sure Renard was married by now (he was too handsome and intelligent not to be), and Oliver was back at Brown, so I didn't theorize too far.