One Foot in Sea & One on Shore

I need to buckle down in a major way.  Swimming, work, and general good habits need to be my life right now, and I am just all over the place doing everything/anything else instead of FOCUSING.  I am going out way too much, eating/drinking too much, not sleeping enough, and doing the absolute bare minimum in all aspects of general adult human responsibilities.  Ugh.

– Flight back from France was uneventful.  I feel like I always say that, but I sincerely think a normal, timely flight with no drunken Icelandic men duct-taped to seat or singing Whitney Houston fans is something to be celebrated. 

– Get home to find bedroom wall pulled down to expose 150-year-old brickwork, window seat taken out and moved to another part of room, and furniture in all different places than I left it.  The reality is not as bad as that probably sounds, but it’s a little crazy-making.  I need order and tranquility in my personal space to feel organized mentally.  I am not organized or tranquil lately.  S is running an RFP process for our renovation so hopefully that will happen soon.

– Threw on an LBD and tiny hermes gavroche (with pink mermaid print!) and headed uptown to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic‘s Singapore Sling Fling at the Mercedes Club.  The Mercedes Club is a very upscale fitness club, complete with roofdeck and small pool.  The view was beautiful and they had good food (mostly outdoor grill/picnic finger foods) and tons of drinks.  One of the sponsored cocktails was a bottled "Blood and Sand" and they were projecting Rudolph Valentino’s silent film "Blood and Sand," so that was cool.  Hung out for most of the party but made it a fairly early night.  Which was sensible because I’d been up for like 24 hours at that point.

– The next day I unpacked, showered, I think we did laundry, and didn’t do much of anything other than go out to watch Mad Men in the evening.

– Monday we had another Manhattan Cocktail Classic event, this one was a dinner with Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin featuring Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur.  It was completely over the top.  Mr. Ripert spoke about each course and was incredibly magnetic and charming.  Check out the menu – some of the cocktails got a little too complicated for me but the seafood was perfect.  The dinner deserves an entry of its own but I’ll count it a success just to get it all down:
 
"Canton Punch" – Domaine de Canton, Fords Gin, Strawberry, Ginger, Verbena Tea, Sparkling Water
 Amuse: Slivers of Fluke, Micro Watercress, Baby Carrots, Domaine de Canton vinaigrette

 "Bonsoir" Cocktail – Domaine de Canton, Lemon Juice, Orange Bitters, Champagne
 1st: Sauteed Langoustine, Chayote Squash, Seabeans, Domaine de Canton Sambal

"Don Quixote of La Mancha" – Domaine de Canton, Manzanilla Sherry
2nd: Wild Striped Bass, Bhutanese Red Rice, Green Papaya Salad, Domaine de Canton Red Wine Sauce

"Jackie" Cocktail – Grilled Pineapple, Domaine de Canton, Cana Brava Rum, Banyuls Vinegar, Soda
Sorbet: Macerated Mango, Black Sesame Meringue, Domaine de Canton Sorbet

"Le Mexique" Cocktail – Domaine de Canton, Tequila Cabeza, Mango Puree, Agave, Lime Juice, Grated Dark Chocolate
Dessert: "Dark & Stormy" – Madagascan Chocolate Ganache, Domaine de Canton Foam, Salted Chocolate Ice Cream

"Le Fin" Cocktail – Domaine de Canton, Castarede VSOP Armagnac, Chocolate Bitters, Demerara Sugar Syrup
 
– After dinner we took a cab back downtown and tried to go for one more drink at one of my favorite spots, only to find out it’s closed down.  So annoying – I loved that place.  Goodbye L’Amant!

– The next night we headed out to Williamsburg’s Nitehawk Cinema for a screening of The East.  Surprisingly good spy vs. spy type of movie, made even better by cocktails with the cast before the movie, including Alexander Skarsgard, probably the best looking man I’ve ever seen.  Actually everyone in the cast looked great, except for Ellen Page.  I want to like her because sometimes she kind of looks like Janeane Garafolo, who I think is great, but she was about four feet tall and wearing sweatpants.  I can’t even, so I’ll just quote Karl Lagerfeld: "Sweatpants are a sign of defeat.  You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants."  On the way out we ran into S’s old housemate from New Orleans.  Small world.

– Wednesday I worked out of our midtown offices, I had bare legs and wet hair in the morning and it was freezing cold all day.  I met up with S, we walked home, and had sushi for dinner.

– Thursday I had a horrible allergy attack and it was raining so S went to his friend’s graduation party and I lay around like a slug.

– Friday was effectively a half day with the long weekend so I headed way uptown in the rain to see my best friend from college, A.  We had lunch and she drove me home in her car.  Rest of the weekend was super relaxing, I think we needed some recuperation time so didn’t do much through Monday.  Tuesday morning was back to work.

– Wednesday we went to a screening of a recent version of "Much Ado About Nothing" and Q&A with Joss Whedon afterwards.  A subway train had derailed and I had to walk to another line and barely made it on time.  There were only about 30 people in the audience, which he noticed and commented on, but I think it was due to the subway issues.  I really liked the movie, it always reminds me of "Romeo & Juliet," but with a happy ending, and his comments afterwards were really fun.  He seems like such an interesting person – so full of stories.  "Dollhouse" and "Buffy" were both so good, would love to see more shows like that.

– On Thursday afterwork we had the Wall Street Run, it was super hot and we ran it verrry slowly.  Walked home along the river as the sun set, so beautiful.

– Friday I had a nail appointment in the East Village, but the train just stopped for like 20 minutes so I rescheduled for 10am the next morning, then proceeded to walk from Brooklyn Bridge to Union Square in the oppressive heat.  I got a table at our usual sushi spot and had a glass of cold sake.  S met me there and was already tipsy after drinks with a friend.  I was tired after a long week and had that appointment plus a swim the next day so we were aboutto call it a night but it was my sister’s birthday so we rallied and met up with her in Tribeca around 11pm.

– I wanted to do something fun to celebrate so we got a table at Bubble Lounge and booked a sabering lesson for us.  I’d done it a few years ago for S’s birthday, so he insisted I do it too.  It was a lot of fun.  Here is a video on how to pop the top off a champagne bottle with a saber, or any dull, heavy knife.  We called it a fairly early night and were home by 1am but that still felt late.
Me and my sis: 

– Did not want to wake up on Saturday morning, but I had to get packed for my swim and leave the house before 9:30am.  Yuck.  Got my nails done, (Essie "DJ Play that Song" – a nice orchid color.) Headed up to Grand Central to take the train upstate for my swim.  When we got there, the air temperature was in the 90’s, and the water low 60’s.  Nice to see swim people for the first time in a while, and the views were beautiful, but I swam horribly, hitting current along the way and worrying they were going to pull me for going too slow.  But I finished, dried off, and headed back to the train, just managing to catch the express, hooray.
 
  

– Laid back Saturday night, just a walk around the neighborhood and pizza I think.  Lazy Sunday per our routine.  We did go out during the day to the Ziegfeld Theater, finally, to see "The Great Gatsby."  It was okay.  I was predisposed to like it, but in the end there just weren’t enough technicolor music montages for my taste.  I love the Ziegfeld though, one of the last classic NYC movie houses.  We walked home and went to see Mad Men in the evening.

– The next morning was a painfully early start, I’d of course lost my voice from allergy and had to facilitate an all-day training.  No fun.  It was humid and rainy but I tried to get my act together and went to the grocery store and even cooked an actual healthy meal for us. Lemon tilapia over a mix of chopped apples and cucumber sprinkled with balsamic vinegar.  I think it was the first time I’d cooked since like February.  

– Tuesday we went to a reception/screening for Pedro Almodovar‘s "I’m so Excited/Los Amantes Pasajeros" at Lincoln Center.  It was great – I really love him.  He’s so cute and funny in person too – another great spirit.  I love how he came from very humble beginnings and really grew his filmmaking organically.  One of my very favorite filmmakers.

–  Rest of week was a blur, until Thursday when I met my mom for a curator’s tour of the Mary Cassatt exhibit at the New York Public Library.  My mom really liked it, and loved the space.  I don’t really love Mary Cassatt and the exhibit was mostly unfinished prints.  We had a glass of wine and some snacks at the reception, then a cocktail at Campbell Apartment before dropping my mom off at her train.  Headed crosstown in the rain to meet S for my friend’s charity’s gala at the Dream Downtown. I was so not in the mood to stay out longer and it was crowded, but I wanted to support her and at least the venue was close to home.  Our endurance was rewarded with the single best passed appetizer I have ever seen, full size ice-cream cones facedown on a tray full of sprinkles. (!!!) Totally worth it.  And the swag bags were great too, I love free stuff.

– Friday morning wake up call came waaay too early, plus I had to haul my ass out to Queens in the pouring rain for a volunteer project with my interns.  The good news was that it was indoors and only 3 hours long, and I skipped the happy hour afterwards to come home, do work, and veg out.  S came back from his conference all cute and tipsy, and we stayed home the entire night, vegging out and listening to the rain on the roof.

– Saturday morning we had dentist appointments so got up early but then didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I like our dentist, there are so many bad ones out there.  The Manhattan Island Marathon Swim was on Saturday too, we followed it a bit online but it turned out to be a complete cluster, one of my friends got pulled due to really bad hypothermia and like 30 out of the 40 swimmers weren’t able to finish.  Such a tough situation.

– Lazy lazy Sunday, we didn’t even go out to see Mad Men, but watched it online on Monday night over a delicious quinoa salad S made for us.  With avocado.  That’s love!

And with that, I am caught up!  For now.