Pasta + Lipstick

I am thirty! Behold my radiating wisdom, my sudden certainty, my unambiguous confidence that will never again tremble like a sad leaf upon seeing an offensively hot fitness instructor! All of my problems have been solved now that I am no longer a twenty-something, but rather a thirty-person.

To celebrate the last night of my twenties, I enjoyed an evening of wine, pasta and forced lipstick application with a tremendous group of women. If you've never turned thirty, tried Maybelline's Vivid Liquid Matte lip colors or dined at Alimento, I highly recommend doing all three. Also, look how cuuuuute:

Alimento's pasta is on another level. It is, it's perfectly al dente, it's draped in layered, creative, delicious sauces. Their tortellini en brodo al contrario is the famous menu item, and it's basically a tortellini soup dumpling. My favorites were the gnoc and the radiatori, two meat-sauce pastas that were both luscious in their own distinct ways.

I will never, ever make pasta this good. But I will make more of it! I received two different ravioli makers for my birthday (and have since used them both). I felt very known. But as I step into my thirties, there's a natural instinct to assess my life and compare it to others, or even to certain benchmarks. I'm single, unemployed and will never, ever make pasta like Zach Pollack (age 32) (and married) (to a light-eyed Jewess named Ali who, in a cruel twist of fate, IS NOT ME).

wishing to have a Freaky Friday with that other Ali

I compare myself to other people all the time, so the whole turning 30 thing just gave me another excuse. But in an effort to slightly remedy this, I'm going to leave other people out of the equation and just compare myself to past me. Here are some ways I am much, much better than past me:

-I am way more confident wearing lipstick.

-I can make more things without using a recipe.

-When I go over to someone's house and they have a cat, I don't make a thing about it anymore, since I almost always carry allergy medicine.

-I still bite my nails, but less severely.

-I have fully accepted that I hate running.

-My skin's been pretty good lately, and I'm gonna give myself credit for that one cause I've been pretty good about washing my face.

-This list is making me less sad than I think it would have a few years ago.