this week two beings in my immediate family celebrate a birthday: mia is 7, george gershwin is 6. 7 years ago today i watched mia gracefully exit the womb and somehow got it all on camera. and a year and a little while after that, a fluffy ball of dreadlocks tumbled into my home in illinois for a life of playing, eating shoes, and regularly being called some variation on the most annoying word not in the english dictionary: rasta-dog.

it is weird that i've been watching from afar as they grow til tall and every day i wonder if, now that i'm out of school, it's worth it to still be in new york and not where they are.

luckily i'll be going home this weekend for {among other things}: lou malnati's, stoopie's bachelorette party {i've never been to one of those, should i be scared?}, delivering american girl stuff to a birthday girl, eating doggie sherbet with a birthday boy, making one million macaroons for passover, and hopefully judging at the big mustard competition.

happy birthday, mia and george gershwin!

-yeh!