That's what it says on my cake. My kids were more excited about Conan O'Brien's debut on The Tonight Show than their mother's Half Century, so I let my daughter decorate the cake for his Big Day. If you look carefully, you can see a little scrap of parchment in the lower left corner with the words (Happy B-Day, Mom).
I had a good day. I caught a glimpse of colour through the living room curtains while preparing to drive my son to school. It was a flock of fifty pink flamingos, courtesy of my neighbour and BFF Carol. She phone later and played the innocent, but I knew it was her.
Throughout the morning, emails and Facebook messages started slowly, growing from a drip to a steady trickle. Thank you all for your cheerful messages. When I got to work at 2pm, my desk was decorated by the Classified Department with lots of glittery 50's. My Production co-workers nearly gave me a heart attack at around 4pm. A dozen strong, they sneaked up behind me, shouting Happy Birthday. Graham approached brandishing a fire extinguisher for the (not fifty) candles. I worked until ten, and arrived home in time to wolf down two slices of cold pizza and take a call from my brother-in-law, then blow out the candles.
We stayed up long enough to watch Conan's debut, and now I'm finally winding down. Thanks everyone for the great emails, Facebook messages and blog shout-outs. Aerin, I wasn't able to comment on your blog - sometimes Blogger hates me, but thanks for mentioning me!
And now, for a shameless plea to help me win an e-reader! Champagne Books, my publisher for Bad Ice, is conducting a contest for their authors. The author who sells the most copies of their titles (today through August 31) wins an EBookwise E-Reader. I've never owned an e-reader and I think it would be keen to have one. Tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on....
Chumplet out.
