I’ve expanded this genre of blog post to be “Diamonds, Coal, & Other.” Those of you who know how much i love all things binary are probably surprised. I know, I'm unpredictable like that. You’ll be able to tell by the absurdly high diamond:coal ratio, that I had an absolutely fantastic weekend. (psst. I’m handing these out chronologically, no saving of Best Picture till last)

A diamond spoon to me. I woke up Thursday morning and took myself out to breakfast. I almost signed “happy birthday to YOU, Leah Pearlman” on the Coastal Kitchen receipt.

A spicy diamond to the Olivers and Olivias on my Frisbee team. They took me to lunch at the restaurant at which we’d first hung out. “Is this to bring us full circle?” Emery asked. “Nope.” I said. “I just freakin’ love Tortilla soup.” Alex Jhin gets an extra popped diamond for bringing back my favorite brand of popcorn from New York.

A diamond vase to my brother (‘s wife?) who sent me flowers at work. As I opened the box, I enjoyed the audience anticipation born of my inability to answer “Who is it from??” But if it’s not going to be a dashing secret admirer, your big brother is a pretty adorable second.

Homemade friendship bracelets to Nate Talbert and Angel Azcaraga for taking charge of the birthday night. Though it was the same thing we do every Thursday night, Pinky, try to take over Belltown Billiards; they made sure I spent the whole night feeling like a queen. A signed year-book to Josh Juster for hosting, Albert, Peilan , Nate Ackerman, Tom Russo, Leo Chen, Eric Wagner & others for attending.

A loose screw to my Ikea Bookshelf. I moved one little item and the whole thing came tumbling down like an imploding tic-tac board, crushing all my Xs and Os.   John speculates it happened because I’d forgotten 7 of the 8 screws that hold all the sides together. Circumstantial, I say.

A diamond mine to John Goodwin and Judy Peacock. Two of the most intrinsically beautiful people I know flew up from San Francisco to visit. The forty-eight hours felt like years with depth and quality of every moment spent together. We hot-tubbed, gossiped, drank bottles dry, dined fabulously, told our respective stories, reassembled an Ikea bookshelf, threw a great party, hugged a lot, exchanged life philosophies, ate more great food, said “I love you guys!” a lot, cuddled up and watched hours of Buffy, dined with friends, learned about each others childhoods, and I really truly believe that though we were great friends in college, got a little closer.

A diamond paved border-crossing to Shane Reader and Ben Thompson. The two bussed from Vancouver to celebrate Jason and my birthdays. While I was off battling the rain with a Frisbee (and losing) Shane went out and got us matching Sunnydale High shirts. I think it’s possible to feel just about every emotion around Shane and Ben with the absolute exception of boredom.

A platonic-life-partner diamond to Jason Burek and CJ Saretto for collaborating with me to bring together our fabulous aforementioned house guests.  By the weekend’s end, they were all trading contact info and ready to move in with one another (making more platonic-life-partners).

A diamond to the big pink house for throwing a fantastic shindig. Party favor diamonds to everyone who came, mingled, and helped put a smile on my face no amount of wash-clothing will remove. I wonder how much rent a diamond will cover?

The very coal that will fuel his airplane, to Jon Warman. He – like the other jerks I gave coal to last time, took a job at TheFacebook and is leaving Seattle. He waits till my birthday party to break the news!? I almost kicked him out…but I was only mad because I like him, so that wouldn’t have made any sense.

A we-like-you-here diamond to Spencer King for being voluntarily helpful with party execution.

A fed-ex delivered diamond to Andy. The fact that he considered flying up to help celebrate would’ve earned him the delivery – but the day-offarrival of an “I’m-sorry-I-couldn’t-come-party foliage in a martini-shaped glass made him a shoe-in.

A spirit-of-the-game disc to Ian Wallace-Hoyt, the guy responsible for flicking me into the Seattle Frisbee scene. I met him through his girlfriend, Jessica Kotke, a close childhood friend. Turns out Ian also has a close childhood friend too, my roommate, Ben Adams. To top it all off, Jessica works in a lab here in Seattle…with my other roommate, Heidi.