In a fit of sentimentality and raw ambition, I decided to make my own birthday dinner.

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Bush may do some boating and then will have a birthday dinner with his family, aides said.

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Whether you are asked to give a toast at a wedding, say a few words at a birthday dinner, nail a sales presentation, or speak to the student body, might as well shoot for the stars.

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"Customers choose to dine out for many occasions -- whether it's a lunch outside the office or a special occasion, such as a birthday dinner, " said Joy Dubost, director of nutrition and healthy living for the National Restaurant Association, in a statement.

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The night of my dinner, the sighing neighbors were locals celebrating a birthday, which meant that after dinner they had to hit that road.

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It was my wife's birthday and I was late for dinner.

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Von Hirsch and her Greece-based partner, Evi Aidonopoulou, handle guest requests: filling each room with specific flowers, arranging a birthday cake or a boat to dinner on Mykonos, flying in food, finding the perfect guides, drivers, butlers--you get the idea.

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' laughs Kurt Wiesenmaier, a 27-year-old New Yorker, who has organised the dinner for his mother's birthday.

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Such benefits of civility were scarcely visible in the rowdy Harvard students and others who forced cancelation of a university dinner for alumni at their university's recent 350th birthday celebration because they objected to the university's investments in companies doing business in South Africa.

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