Blah, Blah, Blog: September 2012

Well tomorrow is Friday. And it is the very first Friday since the middle of May that I won't be able to leave at 1:00pm. Early Fridays are over. And I'm afraid that (despite the fact that there are technically two more weeks in the season) Summer is over too.

I kicked off the end of Summer with a very long, much needed weekend. After my boss's surprise farewell last week, a holiday weekend couldn't have been more perfectly timed. We spent the weekend with a friend visiting from Tally. I even watched the FSU game...if you can call it that. By "watching the game" I mostly mean that I sat on the couch perusing the internet while Hugo and John watched the game on the projector screen in front of us. Perhaps the four years of art school alienated me from my roots- because while all of the NYC Tallahassee kids were practically bleeding garnet and gold like they had never left the South, I sat there in my pink blouse staring in dismay at how somebody had failed to match the red-garnet jersey to the magenta-garnet hats that the players were wearing on the sidelines. I can't tell you the final score of that game...but I can certainly tell you that someone didn't take basic color theory before deciding on that hat color.

While John was in town, we ate quite well. Our most notable stop was at the restaurant Ippudo- a Japanese ramen restaurant. We had a delicious seared yellowfin, a lovely hot sake to compliment our dinner, giant bowls of ramen, and then finished up with a cold, sparkling sake called Mio. Naturally, we took a precious picture of sake Mio with Hugo Mio. Haha. The next day, I welcomed my new roommate to the house, did some chores, enjoyed a pedicure, and met up with Hugo and John for one of the fattest meals I've had since moving to NYC. We went to Criff Dogs- a little East Village hot dog joint. Its an awesome little restaurant with the most interesting hotdog toppings and combos- but it is most well known for the fact that it is the entrance to a hid-away little speakeasy. The restaurant seats about 15. In the corner there is a phone booth which is actually the entrance to the speakeasy nextdoor- called Please Don't Tell. There is no other entrance to the bar except for through the phone booth. You go in the booth, pick up the phone, say the magic words, and you're in! Though, I wasn't interested in any speakeasy's. A) It was noon and B) I was rather occupied with The Tsunami Dog and loaded fries that I had ordered. The tsunami dog consists of a hotdog wrapped in delicious bacon, topped with terriaki sauce, scallions, and pineapple. It was heavenly. How I did anything productive or even waddled home that afternoon is beyond me.

As John was leaving the city, my mom and sister were arriving for their visit! Hugo and I met up with them at the Chelsea Market- where we sampled vinegars, salts, olive oils, and cheeses. It was paradise. Sadly due to labor day though, we couldn't find an actual meal there. So we headed over to Eataly- an artisinal italian food and wine marketplace. We perused the wine, the cheese, the seafood, the pasta as we waited for a table in one of their many restaurants. We ended up at a vegetarian italian spot, where we sat across from some Columbian actor/celebrity/superstar (complete with his own security and an entourage of fans wanting pictures with him and autographs). I ate some tasty crostini type dish, drank some delightful wine, and then indulged in a cannelloni. We then walked around browsing shops in the area, took a small break, and then meandered down to soho. We walked through the cobblestone streets window shopping at all of the fabulous stores... until I found an Alexis Bittar store and demanded to go in so that I could drool over the jewelry in person. That night, we went to Nicoletta's and got an amazing pizza with prosciutto, crimini mushrooms, and creme sauce. It was so good. And we followed it up with an affogato- gelato, a shot of espresso, and some amaretto crumbles on top!

The next two days, I worked while Mom and Emily explored the city. And by "worked" I mean was slammed with my usual workload plus all of the work my manager would normally do. So here I am- a design assistant (bottom of the totem pole dweller) trying to cover the workload of a design director (top of the totem pole dweller). It has been absolutely nuts. But you know what, I've done a damn good job if I do say so myself (yep, I said it). On top of the director leaving, our other assistant has had jury duty all week. Leaving a two girl team to carry the weight of two brand's jewelry lines. So, while the week has not been easy- hopefully my performance makes someone start to consider me for the next role with more responsibility. Though my days were stressful, I had good company to look forward to after work! On Tuesday I went with Mom and Emily to Periyali's- a Greek restaurant not too far from their hotel. We ordered several dishes to split: a greek salad, some lamb chops, veal medallions, cous cous, veggies, and chicken with fennel. It was such a good feast. And we wrapped it up with some pleasantly light Greek desserts. Last night, we went to a place called The Hurricane Club. This restaurant had a bit of a party atmosphere. It would be a great spot to dine before a night on the town or for a girls night out. The cocktails were delicious. I had a tasty drink served in a little tiki man cup. Since we had such success sharing dishes the night before, we opted to do it again at this restaurant as well. We had: duck tea sandwiches, lobster dumplings, filet with sesame hollandaise, shiitaki mushrooms, and jalapenos, a peppercorn lamp chop, and some tandoori shrimp in yogurt sauce. It was so good and the perfect last dinner out in the city.

It was so wonderful to see them. Hopefully sometime this Winter, I can make it out to Colorado for a snowy getaway!

Tomorrow is Friday. TGIF. Seriously, thank you God. I need this week to conclude. We have no guests all weekend and I fully intend on squeezing every lazy moment available out of this weekend. I don't want to change out of my pjs one day. I don't want to leave my house for food. I will have it delivered. And I'm going to watch a whole season of my favorite show. Maybe I'll take a nap at 3:00 one afternoon. Oh how splendid it shall be.

Hope everyone had a great week. Here are some pictures of mine.