The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.
In the winter of 2012, as my fiftieth birthday approached, I began to write what turned into my autobiography, a look at my own life through the lens of food.
One of the shocks of a 50th birthday is realizing the fundamental fact that your youth is irrevocably over.
As I approach my 88th birthday, it’s become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren’t quite what they used to be. The prospect of long flights to wherever in search of whatever are not quite as appealing.
My best kiss was on stage. Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child gave me a really nice soft kiss on my lips during a performance on my birthday. It was amazing.
I’m amazed. When I was 40, I thought I’d never make 50. And at 50 I thought the frosting on the cake would be 60. At 60, I was still going strong and enjoying everything.
I had the worst birthday party ever when I was a child because my parents hired a pony to give rides. And these ponies are never in good health. But this one dropped dead. It just wasn’t much fun after that. One kid would sit on him and the rest of us would drag him around.
Somewhere it was written that October 18th is my birthday, and some people flew to Georgia to wish me! They came to my college, spoke to my professor, found out where I lived, and they were at my doorstep! I was shocked!
I’m a Virgo. That is me. To a tee. Me and Beyonce. And Amy Winehouse! Same birthday.
Towards the tail end of primary school, I was pulled aside by my headteacher and told I was joining a scheme for ‘gifted and talented’ children, that would run from my 10th birthday until I was 16.
I’m not big on dark chocolate, but I do have a sweet tooth, so it gets me in trouble. I love warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. Then there’s this chocolate pie my mom makes for me every year for my birthday. She’s been making it since I was younger, and there’s nothing like it. It’s really so, so good!
Cryptic messages and abstract statements are littered throughout the music of Happy Birthday, but it hasn’t made the band’s sun-baked pop-rock any less infectious.
For a meal out, my number one restaurant is Peter’s Inn. I first went there when it was an old biker bar. Believe me, when it was Motorcycle Pete’s, that was fun. I had my 30th birthday there.
Most artists don’t get paid for what they do, and they are lucky if they can persuade a friend to let them show something at a kid’s birthday party.
When I was in elementary school, I used to write letters to myself. I’d write letters and go ‘Dear Kristen-at-16-years-old, happy birthday. I hope you’re doing something.’
In Bollywood, birthday celebrations are usual and very carefree.
I never knew anyone who have growing up who had a clown at their birthday party. They are something I think of as being from the past. So I never had strong feelings about them. I do think that they can be creepy, I guess it depends on the clown.
James Gunn runs his set like a 12-year-old’s birthday party. Every day, he is so excited to come to work.
Let them eat cake.
Success happened little by little for me. I tasted the flavor of fame in small doses: I started at 10 years old when I won a music contest; I was performing at birthday parties, company meetings.
I came out at a very early age. I sat my mom down at my 12th birthday party and told her in front of my friends. She said, ‘Baby, mama already knows, and I’m going to love you regardless.’ Once I got my mom’s support, there was nothing else I needed.
Lesley Gore’s part-time field was pop singer, and in her brief but urgent prime, she was the Queen of Teen Angst. She endured heartbreak as a birthday girl betrayed by her beau in ‘It’s My Party,’ savored revenge in the sequel ‘Judy’s Turn to Cry’ and belted the proto-feminist anthem ‘You Don’t Own Me.’
I dated a guy for over a year who lied about his age the entire time. I found out after the fact and couldn’t believe it! I even threw him a birthday party for the wrong age… I couldn’t get over how hard he had tried to keep it a secret!
I love having my birthday at Australia Zoo.
Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.
Katherine Johnson is a shining example of what you can truly do with hard work and persistence. Under what had to be the most difficult of circumstances she persevered and stuck to her values. She is a real West Virginia and American hero. To honor her legacy every August 26th, on her birthday, is the least we can do.
Robert Duvall saw me playing at a restaurant in Louisiana and invited me to be an extra in his movie ‘The Apostle.’ He gave me a guitar for my sixth birthday, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
I have this PTSD from a birthday party where no one showed up.
I remember the one time, when I was in the 10th grade and the school president, my entire school had surprised me with a birthday song during the morning assembly. It will always be a very special memory!
There weren’t any astronauts until I was about 10. Yuri Gagarin went into space right around my 10th birthday.
I spent my 21st birthday chatting with my online friends because my husband had little interest in celebrating with me, and there was no other group of people I’d rather spend time with, even if they weren’t there with me in person.
First I wanted number seven since my roll number in school was seven. But, someone was already wearing jersey number seven. Then a BCCI manager said I should take 18 since my birthday is on 18 July. At that time, I didn’t know that Virat Kohli also wears number 18.
I always wanted to shave. It is a very natural process. For my birthday I got a lot of shaving stuff.
I’m the type who minds my own business and am not keen on giving interviews on my mom’s birthday, or my dog’s birthday.
Reaching F1 was always the ultimate goal, I suppose, ever since driving a go-kart my father had bought me for my fifth birthday.
Everyone who reaches a milestone birthday in their lives has an opportunity to truly appreciate the fact that presumably we have acquired all the gifts that maturity and age can bring us.
I remember going to see ‘Starlight Express’ almost every birthday I had as a treat because I just loved it, and the idea that you could rollerskate in a sort of scary old theatre… It was sort of a novel concept.
The day before my 16th birthday I got my guitar.
My mom and pop took me to the Apollo Theater on my thirteenth birthday to see Heavy D and Keith Sweat. It was late at night, up on 125th Street, and it was crazy!
Til the day I didn’t play under-19 World Cup, nobody ever celebrated my birthday. And the moment I played for Indian team, my family got excited and ordered and cut a cake for me in front of 40-50 family members.
When I was a teenager, the actors I was really into were Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn. I saw ‘Rumble Fish’ on my 16th birthday, and around the same time, it was ‘Falcon and the Snowman’ and ‘Bad Boys’ from Sean Penn.
The things people use Pinterest for tend to be universal. The core usage is every day, common, universal things. What am I going to eat for dinner? How should my house look? What gift should I get for my partner? What should my kid’s birthday party look like?
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
My second play, The Birthday Party, I wrote in 1958 – or 1957. It was totally destroyed by the critics of the day, who called it an absolute load of rubbish.
If I have the power to post ‘Happy Birthday’ on someone’s Facebook page and make them feel really good, it feels really good to make other people feel really good. I love it. I’m a huge Facebook and Twitter person. And I love talking to my fans. It’s fun.
I began seeing certain things happen in my life and other people’s lives and getting inspired by it and writing about it. And that’s where you get ‘Happy Birthday’ from and ‘Ross Capicchioni’ from or you even get ‘I’m Sorry’ from.
There are two kinds of people in crisis situations – those who fight and those who freeze. I’m a freezer, and that’s just going by the couple of surprise birthday parties I’ve had thrown for me.
The 20th anniversary of my dad David’s death coincided with my 50th Test cap and for it to be my mum Janet’s birthday, too, made it an emotional few days. It was not an easy week, being the Pink Test and my mum having had breast cancer twice.
Around my 40th birthday, I started to have extraordinary pain in my eyes and it was only happening overnight and I couldn’t figure out what the source was of this but it would literally shoot me out of bed in enormous pain, doubled over.
When I was 13 or 14, my mother used to gift me books that I was dying to read. Those are my most memorable birthday gifts.
I have a lot of respect for people who really work on their life – they’ve got this great apartment and a good personality, they write the thank-you cards and bake birthday cakes. That’s who I wish I was. When I see people cultivate their own life like that, I admire it.
My 21st birthday was awesome. I was in L.A., and it was great. I had a bunch of friends that came out. The night ended up in a completely different direction than we thought it was going to go.
