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