The Single Life

This was bound to happen - first was the Tamagotchi - the japanese electronic handheld pet, then came the Sony robotic dog, Aibo - then life-size poseable sex dolls created in the eye of their buyer for some carnal recreation - then the boyfriend pillow - hysterically chronicled by my boyfriend on his blog here - and now - wallpaper for singles. I am so not kidding.

Their website boasts that while people don't like living alone, many of them do - but they don't have to anymore...

"The single-wallpaper shows attractive, original-sized individuals, in different situations at home. Talking to yourself ? ­ Well, never again! And if once again someone pities you for the fact that you have been living on your own for many years, you can always say: "Why? I've got someone !"

My personal favorite is this girl - mainly because she looks like some of my friends. Plus she's having a cocktail. And i love her shoes...

All seemlessly conceived out of a need for connection - something to care for - along with a little kitsch. Surprisingly, this is something that didn't come out of japan - a hotbed of kitschy, over the top gadgets and sleek, ultra modern electronics.

Take a peek and get the party started at your place, even if you're the only one actually there...

http://www.single-tapete.de/maine.html

R.I.P. Betty

My darling little BMW got totaled yesterday by some bitch in a mini-van. A piece of shit mini-van. She tried to beat me to the intersection, as an oncoming car, to turn left onto Lombard. She didn't quite make it. Most likely because I wasn't turning, I was going straight. She hit me so hard i have major seatbelt bruises on my shoulder, down across my body and where the belt hits you as your sitting. Basically think of what the seatbelt looks like as you're wearing it - that is my lovely bruising pattern. My side hurts, my body aches, and the most disconcerting thing about this - besides losing my darling car and having to now assume a lease or car payments, is that i'm gun-shy on the road. I'm an aggresive driver - not reckless or irresponsible - but aggressive, aware, alert, etc. - and it was strange for me to be so overly cautious. I'm driving a jeep laraedo (larado? sp??) now as a rental - i like it because it is big - i feel protected in that giant. I also drove through the same intersection i was hit in yesterday. I know that sounds silly, but i had to do it.

This sucks, I loved my car - her name was betty, she was champagne colored and so pretty. And that bitch in a piece of shit mini-van took her out. I cannot explain how truly livid i am.

And yes, everyone keeps telling me how lucky i am - that i should be thankful i wasn't seriously hurt, that i could be in the hospital right now, or worse, so yes, i understand all these things - but i'm still livid and upset.

I don't want a new car, i want 'my' car back. Bitch.

I hate mondays.

K

Birthday Wine Tasting

We went wine tasting on Saturday - when temperatures peaked around 105 in the valley. A bit too hot to be tasting - but we piled on the bus and headed north to napa. The bus, again was stocked with beer, champagen, bagels, cream cheese, bottled water and great music. I finally got to meet kevin's new girlfriend - a total sweetheart named julie. There were a lot of people i'd never met as well - newcomers to our little outings - so the group was an interesting bunch.


We headed north to Healdsburg - drinking mimosas and catching up. Our first stop was Roshambo winery (pictured above). A very slick, modern location with a gorgeous view and mediocre wine. They did, however, have the best swag and a very cool vibe. We hung out, tasted, enjoyed a great catered lunch and the sun. The wine was really awful, so we were glad to leave and head on toward Armida - a completely different feeling than Roshambo. The tasting room was small and crowded and the staff were a bit too stiff. We asked to taste their famed 'Poizin' zin - they're response - um, there isn't an unopened bottle. Please. The wine we did taste was fair, not fabulous and their attitude put their average wine on my list of what never to buy. We boarded the bus - which at this point sounded close to death (fun birthday, yeah, i know...) and was incredibly hot considering we had a good air conditioning system. We headed to rabbit ridge. At this point it was around 105 degrees out. I was done tasting, opting for water and a cold beer instead. The tasting room was a little to homey and country for me - too much kitsch and crap around. I didn't taste the wine, so i can't compare to the others, but i did notice serveral people coming out with several bottles in tow.

We again boarded the bus to head home. It was hot. HOT. Our bus had officially turned out to be a piece - the fan belt broke - leaving us air conditioning-less - and with the windows unable to open - the ride home was dreadful. Truly. About a 110 degrees. It, of course, got worse, we lost most of the power to accelerate and it took us nearly double the time to get home. I, at one point, had my phone out to call a cab because we really did not think we would make it up the hill from Sausalito to SF.

Fun fun fun. So, we finally peter to a stop in front of kevin's apt and we all pile out. I probably lost about 5 lbs in water weight from sweating so much - and i felt like a giant salt like...

Some how - we decided to go to dinner - without changing - to Havana - a great and very authentic cuban restaurant on Van Ness in SF. We had a table of about 12 people - lots of cocktails and even more delicious food. It was awesome. However, I was exhausted and i just wanted to go home after we finished our main courses. Soon after we said our goodbyes, i flagged a cab and headed home. Exhausted, hot and salty.

Happy birthday to me.

Birthday Kitten

Meow Meow Meow

It's my birtday tomorrow - and i'm already starting to enjoy the day because of the amazing friends i have in my life. Rich sent me the most beautiful bouquet of roses - gorgeous - they arrived this morning, along with an awesome little note that was just so perfect. Thank you baby - they are so beautiful - MWAH. Literally right after the roses arrived, another package shows up at my door. I teased rich about getting me a bottle of wine - or a bottle of veuve cliquot (our favorite) - he said it wasn't him. SO, I proceeded to open it - still thinking it was from him - and oh my goodness - OH MY Goodness - but what do i pull out of the package - only a decadent bottle of Dom Perignon - vintage '96 - from my darling and amazing friends Matt and Jeremy! YAY! Champagne is wonderful - and there are a few that i truly enjoy - regularly - but a bottle of Dom - is just so special. Thank you thank you thank you!

How lucky can a girl be to be blessed with such wonderful friends. So very very lucky - on so many levels...

I'm heading to Napa tomorrow - as i did several months ago - aboard a bus full of friends to go tasting at a few select vineyards. Cannot wait - will be so great to see my 'boys' - I haven't seen them in a while - and it's always a guaranteed great time when we all do get together.


Here i am kissing the "Cline guy" on our last trip to Napa - he was really disgusting and made of some weird malleable plastic - it almost felt like skin - the winery had several of these 'guests' in and around the wine tasting room... kinda creepy - yet very entertaining after an entire day drinking...

I don't want to 'taste' to the extent that i did last time - and i'm hoping we will actually get to go out for drinks at Balboa once we return home. I wish rich was here so he could enjoy my birthday and wine tasting with me - but he's coming out for Labor Day Weekend and we have a slew of things planned. And honestly, it's just a day... we have the rest of our lives to celebrate.

Okay - i must go - off for a little birthday pampering in the form of a mani and pedi.

Meow

NY Wrap-up

New York was amazing. Truly. I'm finally recovering from the jet lag of which a nearly 4 hour plane delay only compounded. I'll try to back up a little bit and go over the last week of my trip. That saturday, rich and i headed to Soho (shock, i know) to do a little shopping and have brunch at Mercer Kitchen - we sat across from Keira Knightley (who looked bored, but pretty) and Neil Young was across the way. Lunch was wonderful as usual - and i discovered a new little cocktail called the Caiproska - so delicious - it's mashed black cherries, lime and vodka. I could have had several - but since it was so hot out - held off on the alcohol consumption. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the stores and finding yummy things to bring home to family and friends.

I'm still so tired and having difficulty remembering what we did - oh yeah - sunday we went to brunch at Panorama and then headed off to a very cool flea market (i love them - hear the ones in paris and london are to die for!) on the West Side - we spent a little bit of time perusing the tables - some shabby chic french country home accents and furniture, some handmade soaps, a table of limoges and herend porcelain, a lot of crappy jewelry, some nice jewelry, and a small farmers market off one end. It was dreadfully hot and humid - and we cut our perusing short and walked to the park down the block. Sitting in the shade - we talked and hung out - watched the dogs and people pass...it was nice and relaxing - and cool - which was most important.

I think we ordered in that night, can't remember...

Monday was work again - a deal was closing and i got 2 more - which made it a busy day. That night we went to Dos Caminos on Park Avenue South - it was so good! I love mexican food and this was undoubtedly some of the best i've ever had. It was delicious.

I'll cut to wednesday - i wanted to surprise rich with a nice dinner someplace fun and unusual. I spotted the central park boathouse restaurant on the way home on and thought it was a great place - on tuesday, in our cab ride home - we passed the boathouse and he said - ooh - i want to take you there! I played dumb, asked him what was there, etc...and he explained to me - a very romantic restaurant - on the water - with a beautiful view. Hmm - sounds good. :)
We head out on Wednesday night - and i finally reveal to the cab driver where we're going - rich was totally excited. We got there a little late - i had no idea you had to walk into the damn park - i wore, of course, high skinny heels, and teetered down the path to the boathouse - so we had a cocktail while they prepared our table. We took a few pictures - the night was gorgeous - humid - but not terribly. Our table was right on the water - and after we were seated we ordered another round of cocktails (too warm for red wine and i don't drink white) - and checked out the menu. The restaurant itself could easily be a 5 star if they tried - however, i personally wouldn't go back for the food - it was mediocre, at best. My grilled chicken resembled poached salmon (so much so that i actually had to ask them if it was indeed chicken) - and my tuna tartar was not quite chilled enough. However, the company was perfect. We finished dinner, despite the bad food and boorish waiter, and made our way back up the walk to the main gates.

While we were meandering up the path, handing the phone back and forth to each other (my parents on the other end) - what sounded like a loud explosion rang out - we stopped in our tracks, turned toward the noise and brilliant colors lit up the sky. FIREWORKS! I told my mom i'd call her back - and used my cell phone to capture the moment. It lasted at least 10 minutes - and was incredible. The philharmonic was playing in the park that evening and that capped off the grand finale. It was the perfect way to end the evening.

Thursday evening came around and we went to dinner at a cool little spot called Acme - it's all about southern, new orleans cooking. I spent a month in new orleans a few years ago while working on a deal for a client - and i have to say - Acme came pretty close to duplicating the flavor and selection that 'nawlins' is famous for. Sadly, i was exhausted - and while dinner was wonderful (with 2 dear friends) - i kind of tuned out toward the end of the meal and wanted to go. The restaurant was incredibly noisy - we literally had to yell at eachother - and my patience was wearing thin - so we paid up - and headed down the street for coffee. Afterward, we all piled in a cab and headed to our respective homes - and once home, i made a bee-line for the bed and fell fast alseep.

Friday was Balthazar - and it was incredible as always. We each started with the usual - i had the decadent french onion soup and rich had the escargot - and for our main courses, rich had the steak frites and i had the halibut - it was incredible. Adam Duritz - lead singer of the counting crows sat a seat away from us - with 3 other friends - i didn't recognize any of them. One guy - who looked vaguely familiar - had a huge ring on (thing superbowl huge) - so i think he was sports related - other than that - no clue about the others. Adam kept getting up - and with the narrowness of the space btwn tables at Balthazar - kept making the girls at the next table grab their wine and water bottles to avoid his ass from knocking them over. His hair is atrocious by the way - atrocious.

We made our way back home after that - snuggled up with eachother and fell asleep.

Saturday we called matt, jeremy and dave for a late brunch. We decided to meet at 2-ish at Mercer Kitchen - secured a corner table at lobby level (can't stand downstairs - too dark) and cocktailed the afternoon away. It was so great to catch up with them - initially it was just matt and dave, and then jeremy, who hadn't been feeling quite well, joined us later in the afternoon. We ordered some food - cocktailed - chatted and people watched - it was actually a perfect saturday afternoon! Once jeremy arrived - we ordered once last round, and headed out to the shops. I had to go to Louis Vuitton - it was 6:30 and they closed at 7pm - so we all made our way over there. I shopped a bit - picked out a few bags that i wanted - and asked the boys for their opinions. After selecting 3 - and noticing that we were the last people in the store - we made our way up and out and headed down the street to a very cool - hip little shop called Kid Robot - which carries 'toys' for adults, and no - you perv - not 'those' kinds of toys. Cool japanese anime, action figures, etc... we hung out there a bit - and then it was time for us to go our separate ways...

We said our goodbyes - hugged and double cheek kissed - excited to know that while my trip to NY was almost over, i'd be seeing matt and jeremy in SF in a few short weeks. YAY! Rich and i made our way back to the apt - had dinner - and spent the night wrapped up in eachother.

Sunday was hard - i didn't want to go. We got up early and headed out - i had a few things i needed to do and a seriously sexy pair of stilettos i had to buy at bergdorfs. We went downtown first - got a few things i needed and then made our way back uptown and then home. I packed - we played - fussed around the house - made sure i had all my stuff and then, waited. And waited. My plane was delayed. So we hung out some more and i finally made my way to the airport - where i waited even more. My flight was supposed to take off at 8:00 - didn't take off until 11pm. I couldn't sleep at all on the plane - so i was miserable and exhausted when we finally arrived in SF at 3:00 - i fell into bed around 3:30am and don't think i moved a muscle until my alarm woke me out of a dead sleep.

Long trip home - but the trip itself - the 17 days rich and i had together couldn't have been more perfect.

I spent yesterday evening at my parents - my sister and the littlest one were there as well and tonight i'm meeting with the board of directors for the league of museums in sf - i've been asked to join the board and am meeting 3 of the members - 1 of whom i know well - at Nectar - a chic little wine bar in my neighborhood. I'm looking foward to meeting some of the members tonight - and am hoping they 'officially' extend an invitation to be a Board member. A gala is planned for Oct 22 - the opening of the new De Young museum - and i know i'll have a lot of fun planning that event.

Nothing else to report except that rich is coming out to SF for Labor Day weekend and my parents are totally excited to meet the man that has so captured my heart.

Meow - K

New York New York

I'm in NY again, going on my second week. All is well. Rich and i are getting along perfectly, as this is our little 'test run' for the future. Besides his literally having to drag me out of bed in the AM (not a morning person), it's been a smooth week with no road blocks, let alone, bumps. I decided not to stay at the W this time, to forego the penthouse suite with the wrap-around terrace to stay with my honey. I couldn't have made a better decision.

We celebrated the 4th with friends - on their roofdeck - it was great. We had a wonderful dinner at Zoe the evening I arrived (july 1) - spent that saturday in Soho - with a delicious brunch at Mercer Kitchen and then a little shopping at Louis Vuitton. Rich jokes that as soon as i walk through their doors in Soho, it's like a jackpot going off - ding ding ding ding ding - they know they've just made their quota. However, i really only work with 1 sales associate - Jessica - because she takes care of me, shows me all the newest goodies and has the best understanding of what i want and what i'll buy. She's a doll.

The next day we woke up relatively late, hung out and then went to Eli's to secure a number of delicious items for a barbecue at rich's parents home in New Jersey. We each purchases her something at pottery barn the day before, rich a gorgeous candle and i got her fragrant infused oil with reeds - each in paper white scent. She loved them! It was a great day - we had a wonderful dinner - and ended up staying until nearly midnight. His family is fantastic.

The work week was just that - a work week. Short, but full. I had 2 deals closing, got three more and met the new regional VP on the east coast. Great guy - we had a productive first meeting, and i'm meeting the rest of his team next week. Everything is coming together for the transition to the NY office. They changed my badge so i can get into the NY office so i don't have to check in with security each day when i arrive. Baby steps.

This weekend is going to be mellow - there is a lot i want to do, but i'm not going to push. We're going down to Soho again today, there are a few places i want to visit before the weekend slips away. Next week will be very busy. A lot of work, 2 of the 3 deals i just got are closing so i'll be quite busy.

Rich is coming to visit at the end of the month. We're both very excited about his meeting my family, equally as much as they are about meeting him.

Have to hop in the shower or this day will disappear and the weekend will be half over...

Meow - K

London

The horrific events of 9-11 are again brought to the forefront as London recovers from a series of terror attacks this afternoon. I can't imagine the pain of not knowing if a loved one was safe or missing - or worse. My thoughts and prayers go out those who are starting down a path we are far too familiar with. I'm so very very sorry for your loss...

There are no words.

K