ain't no party like an espanglish* party

*The correct spelling of "Spanglish" in Spanish is "Espanglish" var. "Espangleesh"

Yesterday I turned twenty-tree. Pause. Yes. I did just write tree. I was thinking about veintitrés. tres, tree... oh my. So yesterday I turned twenty-three. As you can see from previous sentences, my English might of been better twenty years ago. But my Spanish sure wasn't!

I have this consistent desire to have parties and invite todo el mundo, everyone I know. I just really like having all the people who are special to me in one place. Since yesterday was my birthday, I decided to throw myself a big American fiesta. (let's be honest. Usually big is a synonym for all things American.) I invited probably sixty people, knowing that most of them wouldn't be able to come. Yesterday was also an historic event for Jerez fútbol fans: Jerez's team, which last year was awesome and went from 2nd to 1st division, played the deciding game to see if they would stay in 1st division. They lost. Wahn, wahn. So that took out about all of the fútbol fans.

In the end, I think I had 18 people. It was a good number for the size of our casa. I baked many, many things. Banana bread. Birthday cake. Pumpkin pie. Apple pie. Wiki bars. Extra pie crust baked with cinnamon and sugar. (that was a hit. "what is this deliciousness ellen?) I also put out olives so that it would feel more Spanish. (I just reread that sentence and it makes me laugh).

It was so much fun! We played the game where everyone gets a name taped on their back and has to guess who it is. I was Obama. It took me about 20 seconds to figure that one out. They loved the desserts and the games.

Despite the fact that I specifically wrote on the invitation "el único regalo que quiero es que nadie fume" (the only gift I want is that no one smokes), I still received gifts. My English student who's a dermatologist gave me lotion and make-up remover... especially timely considering I was out of make-up remover and my skin has been hating Spain lately. I got a beautiful book of photos of Spain, a pastry bag from Faby to ice things, lovely and fun jewelry, a scarf, a belt, and a CD. I was very, very touched and felt really loved, no, mejor dicho muy, muy querida. I also got a card from my hermano that was top-notch. Really, really hilarious.

Here are some videos so that you can share the moment. Sorry they are sideways. My camera doesn't believe in creating edit-able videos...

You may note that I have one hundred and thirteen years in this video. Or you can choose to look at it the awesome way: half of twenty-three is in Roman numerals --> Roman --> latin --> Spanish!