Life’s Rich Pageant

Back to the status quo…work work work work work. I got back into town Friday afternoon from my work trip, enjoyed being back with S again, then had an event Saturday afternoon/early evening. I got back too late to go to the event we’d originally planned, so we just took a walk around the neighborhood and dinner at Fatty Crab. Shared pork dumplings and clay pot chicken, their version of a michelada for me, beer/shot for S. Yum yum. Early-ish to bed, then shockwave in the morning. (Awesome circuit class with rowing machine races, push-ups, crunches, lifting and other stations that they switch up slightly each class. Fun and challenging because of the racing.) Napped and lay around together all day.

Monday was back to work but after a long day I met up with S – we took a walk on the High Line, then dinner at Isakaya Ten. Gyoza, sashimi, too much sake. Beers at Terroir back on the High Line, then another beer, intense conversation, and photobooth fun at The Tippler. Very nice…added bonus of my doing comic softshoe dance routine once we got home, starkers except for S’s (huge) work shoes. For some reason the shoes were so big they looked like clown shoes, so funny, the dancing made it even more absurd, we were both cracking up so hard…I am laughing a little now even just thinking of it.

Next day work, day after that more work, with added oddness of my car getting a flat on the FDR on the way uptown. I can’t complain though, the car service had another car there in less than 7 minutes – pretty impressive! After I got home S and I did dinner at Ryu, a very cute/trendy spot in our neighborhood. Yummy oysters to start, delish cold buckwheat soba noodles and lobster salad, rock shrimp tempura, and tender short rib skewers. So good!

Thursday S headed out on his annual canoe trip with friends, and I worked at the office until after 1am, took a car home, then did more work until 3am. Back up at 6am then to offsite work conference at Chelsea Piers. Really nice, guest speaker was the artist Ryan McNamara – really neat to hear from him and see videos of his performance art. Great change from the usual boring corporate talking head types. After the conference I went to the library with a work friend, took out some books, only to leave them on the counter at the library, not realizing until I got home. Grrrreat. I’d say my brain was broken but probably just sleep dep. Friday night I stayed home and did work until 2am.  Loser.

Woke up at 10am, went to hair appointment (keratin), then had a lovely breakfast. People-watching on the lower east side over buttery toast, eggs, and coffee. Background noise of traffic and construction but I felt strangely calm, almost euphoric, watching life’s rich pageant go by. Walked over for some shopping in SoHo after that, haven’t bought new clothes in forever and I need to. Purchased at H&M: two paisley matelasse dresses, one black, one cobalt blue, and one boatneck cotton teeshirt dress, a lovely thistle purple color. Black teeshirt at Uniqlo. Then in to the office, did work until 6pm, then headed out to dinner with my friend A at Empellon. She was really late, almost an hour late, so I had a whole margarita before she showed up. She hates guacamole so we had chips and borracha salsa and queso fundido with green chorizo and spinach with fresh hot tortillas. We both got the fish tacos for dinner – they were huge, we each ordered the appetizer portion but in hindsight should have just gotten one appetizer portion to share. (Thisiswhyyourefat.com) More micheladas all around, then I walked her to the subway and dropped her off just before it started to POUR. I had an umbrella and not too far to walk but it was really coming down. I had work papers with me, which got damp, so I spread them all out like a fan to dry. Did work till about midnight, then went to sleep.

Woke up this morning at 7am and luckily the papers were dry (if a bit warped in places.) Got showered and dressed and cabbed it up to Grand Central. Purchased ticket, iced coffee and black & white cookie for breakfast. My favorite Grand Central routine! Now am on my way to CT for another day of work. I like the Hudson Line better, with its grey-blue seats and beautiful river view. The Harlem Line MetroNorth train is jarring red inside, and views of small towns. It’s a beautiful day though, and hopefully a successful one too.