Turning 35

Lots of wine... Good times... Great company. 

Melted Together

Almost - Not Really

New Yorkers Are Dirty

#oliandmichael2014

To Staten Island

The Re-signing

PB Cup Cake for Cri

Beach Day

The Double Knot

Rehearsal 2

PMO Retreat

Sushi Date

Flight Day

Lauren's 35th at Disneyland

Filipino Seinfeld

VRay Ties the Knot

Bon Fire Rehearsal Dinner

Bachelorette Dinner

Nightmare Check-in

Bridesmaid Prep

Working Dinner

Marathon at Bocca

First Sprouts

Celebratory Cider

FaceTime Faces

Warm Again

Silly Scotts

Memorial Day in Central Park

I made breakfast ... Raisin bread French toast with bacon & fresh fruit. 

Then we walked into Central Park. Took a few photos in my favorite spot. Wandered around quite a bit. Stopped in strawberry fields since David is such a huge Beatles fan. 

When we got home I planted an herb garden and Lauren packed up to head back to CA. 

The apartment feels pretty empty now!

Brazilian Brunch, Les Mis, Brooklyn Bridge and BBQ

We met Lisa and Eben for a sunshiney outdoor brunch in the east village. Good food, great company, awesome atmosphere. There was a street fair and a parade nearby. Eben attempted to wear Lisa's sunglasses over his eyeglasses which made for funny photos.

We made our way back to Times Square for an amazing performance of Les Mis. Stellar show, I loved every minute of it. Though we all agreed that Eponine seemed miscast. I cried at the end, even though I've seen it so many times I shouldn't be emotionally impacted by the ending. 

Next up was a trek on the A train to Brooklyn. We had ice cream at the Brooklyn ice cream factory under the bridge. Walked across as the sun was setting and took some great photos.

We had a 9PM reservation at Blue Smoke. Lauren typically wants Virgil's but knowing David's taste, I wanted to be sure he could find something to eat. I insisted we try something new. It was also recommended by a friend of theirs who had recently been to NY. It was a hit. Everyone enjoyed their meal and the atmosphere was perfect for a sit down meal after a big day. 

Matinee Play, Evening Musical

Back to back shows are often how a day is spent when Lauren visits.

We saw Of Mice and Men, starring James Franco as George, Chris O'Dowd as Lenny, and Leighton Meester as the only woman in the cast. 

Cathy and David opted for All the Way starring Bryan Cranstan. They loved their show as much as we loved ours. 

We met at a steakhouse after our shows, just to get out of the rain. Ended up eating there, because it was easy and convenient. It wasn't the best meal, but such is the life in Times Square. 

We walked down through the chaos of Times Square to get to our evening show of Beautiful The Carole King Musical, but stopped amongst the crowds to take a touristy selfie. 

The evening show was a ton of fun. Carole King and her friends wrote an amazing amount of music in the 60s. I enjoyed reliving the music my parents played while I was growing up. 

Peter Luger

Eddie and Susie came to town this weekend. I already had plans with the Krinsky fam and theater tix booked up into every slot except tonight. Lauren and Cathy went to Hedwig, but I'd already seen it so I went to try out Peter Luger.

We had a great time. They invited another friend who is a friend from their residency in Buffalo. 

We had fabulous onion rolls while we waited on a bacon appetizer. The server convinced us we each needed our own piece. Thick cut and fried. It was awesome.

For our main course we shared steak for 3, fried German potatoes and creamed spinach. 2 T-bones flavorful and delicious I didn't even use the steaksauce, except to try how the steak was with the steaksauce, that my server friend recommended we eat with the bacon. The sides were good too... A nice complement to the meat. 

We were full, but fortunately had made the right call on steak for 3 rather than 4 to leave a tiny bit if space for some dressert. We shared a piece of Apple strudel and a holy cow sundae. Topped with a crazy amount of whipped cream, a chocolate cow that said Peter Luger and 8 chocolate gold coins. 

What a meal! Good food, good company...

Dragées

We had cupcakes at our break today. I chose blue velvet, mostly because of the white icing and the dragées. 

One of my colleagues gave me a bunch of grief because he didn't know the word dragées and thought I had been making it up... 

We ended up having quite a funny discussion resulting in multiple google searches and a audible pronunciation tool. 

Dress Bag

I went to David's Bridal over lunch today to pick up my bridesmaids dress for VRay's wedding.

They found my dress and then asked if they could put it in a bag for me... I was thinking a hanging dress bag. 

Nope. Super professional dress shop!

It's Not Yoohoo

For some reason, when I make my chock full o nuts coffee, chill it and add French vanilla coffeemate, it looks and tastes like the chocolate beverage, yoohoo!

It was tripping me out as I took a sip, to the point where I told the story of it's preparation on our walk to lunch. Come over, you can try it... Or just make it at home. ;)

Curls Make It Shorter

Did you get your haircut? Yup!

6 inches don't just fly off... 

But it looks shorter today because it's curled.

Silly men and they poor understanding of hair...

Feeling Dim Sum-ish

I wasn't sure what I wanted for breakfast... No eggs, no bagels, no toast, then I knew... I was feeling dim sum-ish!

I sent a few texts to see who was around & interested. Shawn and I met in Chinatown for a fun time. We had a new shrimp ball coated in rice with a single kernel of corn. I couldn't find the pinapple pork buns so I got one of each... Yum! And for dessert we got coconut bubble shakes and I added mixed jellies to mine. 

Good fuel for my afternoon of Target and Costco! 

Iced Coffee Returns

The transition to iced coffee is my favorite. Add a flourescent green bendy straw and it gets even better!

Fashion Plate

There are some women around the city that are so well put together, some who are a holy disaster and others that wouldn't muster a second look. 

This one... Perforated leather jacket with a purse with 8 inch fringe flopping around. Then pink and black hot pants and sneakers. Where are you going? 

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

I failed to celebrate during work today... But made up for it tonight. A few extra to have for dressert & two dozen for work tomorrow!

Kids in Concert

Kian had his chorale concert at school today. Andrea tried to FaceTime me but the hotspot failed us, so I got a bunch of video clips and photos instead. 

Super cute, kid. 

Flat Tired

The door caught my flip before it flopped. I had to stand on one foot, take my keys out and unlock the door before I could continue on my way to work. Silly door!

Logistics!

I am often teased about logistics... My love for planning and worrying about minutia. 

Today was the first of five demos for our new system vendor. 100+ invitees, 3 hours of demonstration, catering for lunch, dessert/coffee and an afternoon snack. Handouts, emails, preparations... Logistics!

AK is 33

Met Aaron, his girlfriend Leslie, his cousins Lisa, Sarah and Eben, and his friends Wolf and Stokes for dinner at Aria, a wine bar near his place in the west village. Split many small plates and a few bottles of malbec. It was a nice mellow night to celebrate his 33rd by blowing out the candle that was lighting up our table. :)

Lobster de Mayo

A charity event, at Capitale, an event space in Little Italy/Chinatown. It benefited City Harvest and was hosted by Food Network's Katie Lee. Many of the top restaurants around town made lobster dishes and Patron sponsored the event... all-you-can-eat Lobster and all-you-can-drink tequila. 

Shawn and I were stuffed, to the point of uncomfortably full. Going counter-clockwise starting top left: We had lobster guacamole--made with the roe, chicarones and chips for dipping, posole soup, a few different Asian inspired lobster buns, a lobster sushi roll, we had a few pieces of that one! A beer battered lobster taco. A lobster slider. Poached lobster with an amazing sabayon. The only dessert was a butterscotch pot de creme and a delicious grapefruit margarita. Poached lobster with a spring pea side and finally, lobster mac and cheese with chunks of lobster, a lobster cream sauce and a lobster roll. Yum!

Bullets Over Broadway

Andrew had mentioned before it opened, that he'd like to see Bullets Over Broadway... a Woody Allen musical starring Zach Braff. I had proposed a few dates in the past, but they were always a conflict. Tonight we were able to go. We had a greek dinner, first. Delicious Mezzes and shared entrees with a bottle of Pinot Noir. It was nice to see everyone. Aimee and Andrew, Oli and Michael all free on the same night is a rarity these days. 

The show was not great... like most Woody Allen things, hard for me to watch, so slow in some places. But I'm glad I went... once.

Chirashi Mask

At the front of Nada, there is a mask, in a case, that used to creep Jared out. He refused to look at it, and I didn't really love it myself. But today, as I looked at it, I realized how creepy it really is. Like a geisha, but also like a clown... ack. It's made all better though, but the delicious chirashi. 

Ambiguous Fashion

A purse, a wallet chain, big curly hair, a purple puffy coat and acid washed jeans... combat boots, big legs... is it a man? is it a woman? Everyone guessed differently... man.

Meandering in Central Park

I had a lovely walk in Central Park, tonight. From the office, up Park Ave, through FAO Schwartz, into the park, a stop in Sheep's Meadow, a meander through Writers' Walk, by the Bethesda Fountain, to my favorite spot just as the sun was setting beyond the Dakota. Spring has sprung!

Cinco de Mayo

Lunch outside. Bright sunshiny day. A little windy, so the fountain blew some water on us on occasion, but it was still a beautiful spot to eat our salads. 

For dinner ... Mexican lasagna to celebrate cinco de mayo. Layers of shredded chicken, baby portobellos, reconstituted dried chilies, chihuahua cheese, sour cream and corn tortillas.

Not bad for a Monday!