Yup! That’s what I woke up singing this morning. Bonaparte woke me up with coffee and two nice gifts—a J. Crew gift card (he knows my favorite store!)…and, this completely surprised me—a gift certificate to my favorite hair salon—Bleu Mousse! I received flowers from the kids too. A nice way to welcome the new decade of the 60’s!

 The card said “Happy 30th Birthday. I’ve trained raised my kids well!

It’s weird because I still feel young! OK. Maybe not as young as a child, but I don’t feel any different than I did in my 30’s or 40’s. I’m a bit more beefy—and saggier in places that used to be perkier, but overall, I don’t feel different!

I may not feel as young as I was in this pic from Christmas 1956, but….

Maybe I’m wiser. But trust me, I’m certainly not much wiser than when I was younger!

I still feel the same as when I was 29 (although the early ’80’s hair is clearly a “don’t” for me…

A few hours after my 12-minute labor and delivery with Oona. YUP! 12 minutes! My dad managed to always be nearby when I had the kids.   I DID go into the hospital with straight hair–but those minutes of intense labor caused sweaty frizz! One of my happiest days-I had my daughter!

I feel the same as I did in the early ’90’s!  I only WISH those metal clips with the huge-ass bows were still in style. I loved this look!

1986 after Roman’s birth. Milk-filled titties! I LOVED breastfeeding! I also loved my hair in that pic!

At 32 years old. Holy shit..that’s almost 30 years ago–almost half a lifetime ago! WHERE does the time fly to? Roman’s first birthday. I’m really diggin’ my 80’s hair and my eye glasses!

Early 1990’s at Tice’s farms in NJ. I would absolutely still wear that outfit today! I miss the J. Crew roll neck sweaters!

With my in-laws and Jake at Roman’s Kindergarten graduation from St. Ignatius Loyola School, NYC. 1991. Like the puffy headband and the wide shoulders?

In the kitchen, NYC. 1993?

Still in the kitchen. Pennington, NJ 1997.  The bobbed “mom” hair do. I miss my thick hair!

I have to be honest. Birthdays aren’t all that important to me. I got a bit weirded out thinking about this one. Face it. Twenty years ago when I hit 40, I could say with ease “Hey. In forty more years I’ll be 80”..and I could picture me all wrinkled with a walker and stilettos.

1995. Just turned 40 and never gave age a second thought!

At 60, it’s hard for me to say “Hey, in 60 years I’ll be 120!” That thought just brings a pile of ashes! The world just won’t be a better place without me! What can I say?

Twenty years later. The face has aged but the maturity level stays the same as many years ago!

Thinking of past birthdays, I can only remember a couple that stand out in my mind. One is when we lived in Ozone Park. It was my fifth birthday and I got two toys that I wanted—one was a stick that you held and a long streamer was attached. The other was a tray with a plastic “mesh” screen and you attached little plastic characters onto the screen while reading a story. I distinctly remember “the Three Little Pigs”. These toys were so obscure I couldn’t even find images on the internet!

My best birthday gift was my brother Pete. I’ll never forget that day. It was my 13^th birthday. My mother had gone into labor early in the morning and was very nervous. She had previously lost two babies, so we were all a bit anxious.

At around 11 in the morning, my dad called from the hospital. I swear he was crying. He told me we had a brother. It was so amazing. Having a baby brother wasn’t only cool, but it was the greatest birthday gift off all time. Finally. A TWIN!! OK—so it was 13 years later, but who cares!!!! Anyway, my dad, being the super-Catholic that he was, said to me. “Katie (Yes. That is what he called me—the only one to do so). Go into my top drawer, take out money, go to the bakery and get the nuns a bunch of baked goods. I’ll meet you at home.” He met me, and we drove to the local beer distributor. He bought a couple of cases of beer to compliment the baked goods and off we drove to the convent at St. Patrick’s to drop off beer and baked goods.

Beer and baked goods. What more could praying nuns want?

My father asked the nuns to pray that my mom had a healthy baby (boy?) and the prayers were answered. Payment came in the form of both unleavened dough and the blood of the Irish Christ!

Pete is a great man. He’s a great brother, a favored uncle and a super fantastic husband and dad! He’s a lot like our own dad! Happy Birthday Baby Brother!

Pete with Roman and Oona at Tice’s. 1992. Jake must’ve been off playing ball with his friends! Best uncle on earth!

Now Pete is a great dad and husband.  Isn’t my niece, Jasmine, adorable? Pete. Trade the Notre Dame hat in for UT’s Beavo. Please. Remember–we are a Longhorn family!

So today, on my 60^th, I’m taking it easy. Bonaparte doesn’t want me cooking on my birthday—I really don’t mind, but he insists. I don’t want to go out because I’ll be tempted by empty points. I think maybe we’ll order from a local Thai restaurant or there’s always sushi!

What do I want now that I’m official in my Sixties? Just this:

I want world peace. But I don’t want wars or anyone losing their lives to achieve it. I would like to achieve world peace in the form of a cook-off. Rather than fight with knives and guns and bombs, we should use recipes and ingredients as our ammunition. The judges would be Ludo Lefebvre, that cute little Gallic spitfire of a chef, Gabriele Corcos, Debi Mazur’s ever-so-cool-and-Italian chef of a hubs, and my dessert girl crush, Christina Tosi. If any three people can bring peace on earth—it’s these three. Um. Once they calm down the Frenchman it’ll be peace on earth!

The contrarian Frenchman, along with the always-in-a-good-mood Italian, and..

The optimistic American would be the greatest people to bring about world peace–or, as they are chefs–world “peas”!

I want good health. (Every hypochondriac’s dream.)

I want happiness for my kids throughout their lives. Jake, Roman, and Oona are my jewels. I have to pinch myself at times for being so proud of them and for their successes. I want their success to continue but with that, I want happiness!

I want happiness for my babies. And yes, they will ALWAYS be my babies!

I want people to go out and vote. Yeah. That’s right. VOTE! Remember—you have no valid complaint about the lunatics that are running congress unless you vote. I can complain from here to kingdom come because I go to the polls.

 Do it or keep quiet!

I also want bi-partisanship between our political parties. Let’s bring “old-school” politics back—and for the love of god, keep religion OUT of politics. Remember the old school saying: Religion and Politics don’t match. You have your religion and I have mine. Give Jesus a break—he works hard enough trying to figure out who’s going to heaven and who he’ll turn away. He had enough of your political religious shit! He told me so in a vision. OK?

I want a “label-less” society. Just as I abhor labels on clothing and purses (Um. Michael Kors—do you hear me?), I despise people being labeled even more. I look forward to a day when same-sex marriages are NOT called “gay” marriages. They will just be “marriages”.   I don’t want to hear. “She’s a lesbian”. I just want to hear “She’s a woman” or “She’s a person”. Same with the menfolk. Stop saying “He’s gay, homosexual…” Just say “He’s a guy”. He’s just a person”.   Don’t label the person who was born in the wrong body either. Transsexuals are just normal people born into the wrong body. End of story. Stop labeling. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. We are all the same!

We are all the same!

 I want to win the lottery so that Bonaparte and I can move to a brownstone in Brooklyn. Hopefully, next door to Debi Mazur and Gabriele Corcos so that we can become great neighbors.  Debi will get mad at me for stealing Robert, her best friend, but I’ll just laugh and say “Oh Debi. Stop it! Robert needs a French meal tonight”. Then Debi will get all “pretend” mad at me, but we’ll laugh and her family will join us for a great meal of Chicken Veronique, Cheese Soufflé and for dessert I’ll make a ton of macaron! Yes. Debi and Gabriele are my delusional neighbors! I have Debi Mazur Makeup Moments—where she will do my makeup and put my hair in that very same epic ponytail she wears so well! I even go around the house humming the theme song to the “Extra Virgin” show!

Not only have I crossed into delusional BFF areas, but I’ve added delusional neighborhood to my imaginative thoughts!

Oh–and my BNF (best neighbor forever), Debi will teach me the secret to her perfect ponytail AND makeup secrets!

Lastly, I want good lighting to follow me around wherever I may roam.   I want life to give me a filter that surrounds my body and face so that my wrinkles will fade. I want my turkey neck to only be seen in lighting that erases those gobble gobble lines. Yes. My deep shallowness is always apparent!

Yeah- I took these photos earlier this morning.  Lighting and position count!

See what I mean about good lighting? HI OH!

So that’s it! I’m going to enjoy a nice afternoon. Bonaparte has a cancellation and we’ll find something fun to do!

XOXOXOXOX!

Here’s a Birthday song for my twin Pete. And everyone else who is celebrating a birthday!

Paul Tripp from Birthday House!!!!!!