djsmama, я тут готовлю без ума и памяти. Ещё внуки свалились - надо утешать, кормить, укладывать. Уже 10 часов вечера. Я во вторник или в четверг опубликую, когда разберусь с катом. Мне ведь после бани до часу ночи пилить в Лонг Айленд на семинар.

djsmama, Представляете, я так и не разобралась с тем, как эти вставки делать - даже стыдно как-то, но ничего не поделаешь... Я решила просто опубликовать оригинал приглашения прямо здесь - в комментариях. Получайте.
My beautiful friends!

I have a little story to tell you.

My beloved grandmother Mira (mee-ra) loved to celebrate her birthdays. It'd give her a chance to see her friends and family, all at ones. She loved to be in charge of planing those parties, loved cooking and baking. Enjoyed treating her loved ones with best food and drink, with her own kindness. She had fun watching all of us talking, joking, dancing, and laughing!.. For her 83rd and the last birthday she was not able to prepare the feast all by herself: dementia was scooping deep in her mind. But she was willing to!.. So, I took over and let her "help" me, much like in old times she'd ask little me to give her a hand over some "very valuable" tasks. And voila: 30 people sat around table in our living room with baba Mira at the central place. Was she sooo happy! Even the giant heart-shaped cake with 30 baked roses on top that ended on the carpet did not spoil the mood. (Grandma was so proud to announce that I'm a big girl now and successfully overcame her "school of culinary arts", but her arms were getting too weak...)
I inherited that craving of gala from her :)) Love to celebrate! Love my birthdays. Love being the master of ceremony. Love introducing my friends to my favorite foods and musics. Have fun dancing with them, or just having conversations.
But this year, the last year of my 40s I want to do it differently.
There were (and are) so many lovely women in my life! My grandmothers baba Rosa and baba Mira; my mom, sister, daughter, niece, and all of you, my friends, who make me feel at home in this country. I do it in your honor. Do not take me wrong: I appreciate all wonderful men that happened in it, too, but this year I'm willing to celebrate the sisterhood. I want all of us to enjoy equality, so let me share with you something that I really love myself - a sauna!

I made a reservation at this cozy place ( venik.us ) for February 6 at 2 p.m.; session ends at 5p.m. May I ask you to join me for this relaxing and unpretentious celebration. No presents, please: your presence is the best gift! Instead, please, be prepared to pay $33 fee to Misha, who is the owner of the spa.
The sauna room itself is tiny and super hot. The resting room is big as a dance floor. So, we will take turns to heat up. I usually do not last longer than 5 minutes, and time to cool down for me is approximately 20-30 minutes. I normally do three sauna turns. If you do not feel like nudity and sauna - that's fine: come just for fun and don't strip: the party room is not hot.
Although, Misha has a reserve of towels, their number is limited. So, I suggest to bring a tote with your own bath towel, swimsuit if you're shy, shampoo and conditioner, and any sort of bathing accessory you feel like... I personally like to wrap myself in a bathrobe o something of that sort.
There are going to be cold appetizers, three kinds of tea, deserts, drinking water, beer, white wine.

RSVP as soon as you can.
I'm looking forward to see you.

Love,
Svetlana.