Letter from The Editor: The Thing About My Birthday Party (And You're Invited)

Next Wednesday is my birthday. For years, I've made an elaborate show out of this day, declaring it a national holiday whereby everyone deserved to make merry and have a good time basically because I cried into the world. Maybe it's because I'm an only child, maybe it's because my mom made a HUGE deal out of my birthday every year, but it's never occurred to me NOT to make a big deal out of the day. As my mom is fond of saying, "The alternative to a birthday is death, so why not celebrate it?"

This year, however, I fell into a bit of a funk. Not necessarily at turning a year older, but at turning a year close to one that ends with a zero. What is it about those birthdays that end in fives and zeros that cause us to pause and either reflect or freak out (or perhaps a little bit of both)? It started to occur to me how close I am to an age where the backchatter of the media starts to permeate my brain and those comments about not having kids, being single "at my age", professional challenges, etc. start to wear on your sense of accomplishment.

I even canceled my own birthday party because I didn't want to add stress to my life this year...I'm not sure I have it in me to worry about the guest list, people being upset they weren't invited, people being upset because I invited someone they don't like, boyfriends showing up and making me leave my own party because they were too stupid to book their flights properly, party crashers, comped drinks, gift bags, etc. I'm just kind of over it.

Then it occurred to me that it's not about the party and about the people I was throwing these massive parties for: it's about ME. My birthday is a celebration of being alive, about the life in my years, about living an extraordinary existence. I, like everyone else in the world, deserve to celebrate my hard work, my successes and for one day stop focusing on emails and the needs of anyone but myself. It's a day all about ME. I never thought that would be a hard concept to accept, but the more I think about it, I like it. I'm fabulous and I deserve to celebrate being fabulous. Haters, step aside.

So, this year, instead of throwing some massive party here in NYC and worrying about the gift bags and the guest list, I've decided to keep it small and invite a select few people to celebrate with me for the next week. That would be YOU, dear readers of FSB. Because, let's face it, if anyone deserves to get the goodie bag at the end of the night and party like rock stars, it's you lovely people out there who click on those links every day and respond to my musings about fashion, style and beauty.

Beginning this afternoon and for the next week, I'm going to be doing a Birthday Giveaway Of The Day of gifts that I would personally LOVE to have in my gift bag, and every day you have a chance to win something. Think of it as my way of saying "thank you" and your virtual invitation to celebrate with me. So, for the next week, keep it tuned here for some pretty fabulous giveaways and look for a HUGE gift bag opportunity for one lucky reader on my actual birthday, June 9th. Oh, and if you want to celebrate with me on my actual birthday, I like champagne, red wine and dirty vodka martinis straight up with blue cheese olives. Feel free to select one (don't mix those - not pretty) and raise a glass somewhere around 7 pm, which is EXACTLY what I'll be doing.

Oh, and for my birthday party? I decided to have just a few girlfriends out on the town, the ones that make me feel forever fabulous and loved. It means that my birthday party won't be big, but I rest assured that it will be incredibly happy.