champagne birthday: twenty six on the twenty sixth

this year, i decided i wanted to pull out all the stops for my birthday. you see, i tend to be a little grumpy about my birthday, namely because of when it falls – the day after christmas. this has often meant either not celebrating it on that day, or not feeling like it was “special” enough. obviously this was a bigger deal when i was six. i always moped about having to invite friends to come over either a week before or a week after, and knowing many couldn’t make it regardless (i was kind of a sensitive kid). my loved ones spoil me rotten though, like last year when my parents threw me a murder mystery dinner with friends! but overall, something about being a boxing day baby always rubbed me the wrong way. this year would be different, i said. i’m turning twenty six on the twenty sixth! some refer to it as a golden birthday, but my friend iris always called it a champagne birthday. i liked the sound of that, and an excuse to live exorbitantly (my favourite). champagne birthday it would be!

after talking to my best friend lots, and having ambitious plans of perhaps celebrating my birthday in montreal, or ottawa… it became very clear that many of the people who i wanted to be there couldn’t regardless of where i celebrated it (hey, it’s the day after christmas, and i live pretty far). to top it off, if i really wanted champagne on my birthday, there would be no way i could afford that at any bar or restaurant… aside from the fact that very few of them are open on december 26th… especially when it falls on a tuesday.

all planning kerfuffles aside, i decided it would be at my house. if you could come, great! if you couldn’t, oh well. champagne for all! good food for all! and dancing. i started tagging things on tumblr as “champagne birthday” to figure out what i wanted. i brainstormed on livejournal. it became clear: debauchery, laughter, dancing, masks, sequins, sparkle.

later, when i saw this dress at hank & co., i stopped in my (online browsing) tracks. now, i don’t have very much pink in my closet… aside from maybe one hat and one scarf. even when i found great pink vintage dresses, i sold them instead of wearing them myself. for the longest time, i had a strong aversion to pink… namely because it was associated as very feminine. nicolette mason talked about this recently over at her blog, and i left a bit long comment about my own relationship to the colour traditionally imposed on girls and women. i think it was a combination of internalized misogyny and fear of the unknown, but lately i have crossed that line and am loving pink. so! hot pink sequins? fuck yeah! when i saw that it was my size to boot, i knew i had to snap it up.

and here are the tons of photos from my birthday celebration. enjoy!

champagne courtesy of simon’s recent trip to france!

my wonderful guests!!!

simon et karina

get ready for some grub! millet stuffed bell peppers from get it ripe.

post dinner champagne, anyone?

my decadent cake, courtesy of annemarie

i love these gals.

simon, his sister ély and his brother patrick!

now it’s time for a little bit of dressup.

annemarie playing with my glasses (hey! look at my awesome lucky jackson print from iris last year)

annemarie and i have a bit of tall gal-big feet solidarity going on.

some glamour shots…

and we’re ready for a break outside! followed by…

dancing!

corinne et karina

i’m a bit of a diva. how can you NOT be in this dress?

aaaaaaaand a little bit drunk.

happy belated birthday to me!