today is my little brother’s birthday.  (well, technically it was 2 days ago, but i’m just finally getting around to publicly announcing, so he’ll have to deal with it.)

happy birthday asher!  (you can click on that link if you want to hear some really pretty music he’s written.)

would you like an asher-visual?  ok.

aw!  what a cutie!  (and thank you ryan for taking such amazing pictures!)

i like asher almost as much as i like making lists, so in honor of his birthday, i thought i’d compile a short list of reasons why he and i are buddies.  (other than the whole “sibling” part.)

1. he writes really pretty songs.  he also draws some pretty awesome pictures, some of which are decorating his music site.
2. after i’ve gone thrifting, he will come into my bedroom and let me show him every single piece i acquired and pretend to be interested in the exact location of the thrift store i found it at, as well as how much the garment in  question cost – both before and after the sale price.
3. he thinks Relax Game is as hilarious as i do.  i won’t tell you what Relax Game is, because if you don’t already know, you’ll probably think it’s stupid.  it’s not.  
4. he also thinks “Help A Sista Out” game is hilarious.  it is.  again, i’m not going to explain.  i don’t want to be judged.
5. he does a spot-on impression of mom trying to make our younger brother go to bed.    
6. he builds me things.
7. he is the other member of our secret organization called Citizens On Patrol.  we both refer to each other as “The Other Citizen.”  we are on a mission of confusion.  we find it hilarious.  no one else does.
8. he will go on Office-watching marathons and Eating Frenzies with me.  sometimes we’ll even make a pre-frenzy buffet and take pictures of it.
9. we look good when we hang out together:

me and the birthday bro hanging out at the preen party.  (yes, he played.)
(and thank you again to ryan for the photos.  i’ll be posting more of his amazingness soon.  promise!)

since i was nowhere near our house (which, by the way, did not burn down after the wildfire scare the other day.  the “wildfire” turned out to be a “sewage treatment plant fire” a few miles down the road, which has caused me to burst into the popular song, “the poop, the poop, the poop is on fire…  we don’t need no water let the waste management plant burn…” way too many times over the past 72 hours.  especially since no one laughed even the first time.)

anyway, where was i?  oh yeah, asher’s birthday…

being nearly 600 miles away from him on his golden day, i decided to do everything i possibly could to enjoy it for him.  starting with lounging on the balcony of my epic hotel room in a saucy bikini and then taking long-exposure photos of the tide rising beneath the balcony as the evening wore on.

oooh!  pretty!

after i grew bored with that activity, Road Trip Crew – Part Two (that would be myself and mike) made our way down to a friend’s beach house in dana point for a bon-fire beach party.  (note:  fire within 20 feet of the ocean = awesome.  fire in the sewage plant down the street from my home = not so great/terrifying.)  i like to think of it as the birthday party asher didn’t show up to.   he also missed out on watching the sunrise overlooking the ocean from our balcony, because he “didn’t feel like” riding his bike the paltry 470 miles to laguna beach after getting off work.   

in honor of asher’s Actual-Birthday-Day we headed up to costa mesa the next morning to hang out with the harlem dudes in the studio and lay down some (of my) sweet-ass lady-voice vocal tracks, but it became clear upon arrival that they were definitely nowhere near ready for my part of the process – clue number one being that curtis arrived two hours late, unable to locate his pants.

sorry asher – i failed you on that part of the day.

so we headed back down to dana point just in time to hop on the party boat with last-night’s beach-party friends, and head for open waters with fishing poles and over-priced beer.

in certain social circles sticking ones tongue out means “happy birthday little brother!  
i wish you were on the party boat with me!”

i watched the nearby boats for a minute or two and then got sea-sick.  (normal behavior on my part.)

you know…  sail boats and stuff.

i made the confused mistake of trying to use cheap beer to settle my stomach.  then i remembered that i hate cheap beer.  i actually hate pretty much all beer.  so i wobbled my way to the front of the boat and forced mike to take pictures of me “lounging” (read: attempting not to vomit) around in the sun, gazing thoughtfully at sailboats and casually-desperately trying not to puke as i double-fisted pacifico’s that i immediately pawned off on other people after Photo Time was over.  

the majority of the remaining 4 hours were spent practicing “fetal position” and texting photos to asher such as the following:

“happy birthday kiddo!  wish you were here – the free beer’s  flowing like mt. vesuvius!”

and

“aw, man!  you’re missing out on a great booze cruise!  don’t worry though -
i’ll drink one for you too…  
sorry you have to work on your b-day!  xo – your sis.” 

in other news – after Boat Time today, i do believe i’ve reached my goal of throwing up in every state along the road trip route!  email me if you want to know what address to send congratulatory gifts to.

happy birthday asher!!  i love you!