Cailin and Connor got into town safe and sound and starving, and so we proceeded directly from Penn station in search of a restaurant. I blew any illusions of NYC know-how as we walked around the perimeter of Union Square for about an hour (luggage and all) looking for a place to eat. I think this might have been reported in a prior post, but just to cover all the details... we ended up finally (as Cailin lagged behind, body language projecting nothing short of total annoyance) at a kitschy little eatery titled the Coffee Shop, a place under the guise of a cheap diner, with all resemblance to an actual diner save some trendy european underground beats and mood lighting, which allowed them to jack up the prices far beyond what was appropriate.
Cailin and I enjoyed a little bonding time sleeping head-to-foot in my twin bed, while Connor let his feet dangle over the end of the little couch in the living room. The first time anyone has braved the common room in four months, but even after having broken that initial barrier, Connor was less than inclined to make it a habit, even of two days... he left to sleep on a friend's couch in Manhattan the next evening. This was not before remarking that the apartment smelled like, "someone took a dump in a pot of cabbage," not realizing that Rob was right around the corner. We enjoyed some awkward silence as Rob shuffled out of the kitchen to apologize for the olfactory aftermath of his dinner.
Cailin and Connor both joined me at work on wednesday, where Freyja and Katla were thrilled to have two more people on which to lay their charm. Freyja and Connor played a game of dress-up (pictures please Cailin!), and after getting her to proclaim, "argghhh, I'm a pirate," while wearing her black-beard hat, we tried in vain to teach her some other character appropriate phrases (I guess, given that she is only two, we'll just have to settle with "arghh, I'm a cowboy," and "aargghhh, I'm a fairy"). After work we hit up Williamsburg for some thrift store shopping, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I can't say the same for Cailin or Connor. Cailin's take on the experience, "eww, other people's clothes gross me out." Connor had some undergraduate analysis to lay on the adventure, stating that "you should just save all your old ugly clothes because in twenty years it will be just ironic enough to be worn by the opposite gender in a state of rebellion." I would have ended up with a lot more for my closets, but Cailin strictly forbid me from purchasing "any more shapeless men's clothing... you look butch enough already."
For dinner on wednesday we all enjoyed Rachel's, a mexican/bbq joint just a few blocks from my building where the waitresses call you honey and the burritos are so good you wouldn't care if the waitress greeted you with, "what'll you have a**hole, I haven't got all night."
Connor had to go meet up with some friends and Cailin and I hit a ten o'clock movie after dinner, hoping to get out of the theater just in time to ring in our birthday. We went for a rom-com, thinking you couldn't go wrong with the old Natalie Portman/Ashton Kutcher duo. Unfortunately we were very wrong, and Cailin turned to me at 11:30 and said, "this better be over in a half-hour... I'm not spending the first minutes of my birthday watching this awful thing." Luckily, the predictable ending happened soon after, so we were able to avoid such a fate. The process of picking apart the film was so horrible, however, that we went immediately to bed.
Thursday: OFFICIALLY OUR BIRTHDAY!! We woke up early to get breakfast at Daisy's Diner, a new favorite after discovering it with Daddy during the trip down to Brooklyn to see the Tracy Grammer concert. I had a stack of pancakes and Cailin had a waffle and we toasted our 21st year with a glass of tiny juice (Daddy might be the only one who gets this joke, he will have to explain). Then I went to work and Cailin returned to the apartment to sleep. Connor made it back to brooklyn around noon and I took Katla out in the stroller and met up with them (it was the most gorgeous day, sunny and warm), and we took a little walk around Park Slope, stopping for a slice at Joe's and finishing it off with cupcakes from The King of Cupcakes. Connor had to be in manhattan at 5:15 to catch the bus to Boston and Cailin and I were joining Lauren for dinner, so we all went into the city together, said our goodbyes, and proceeded in opposite directions. Connor will have to fill you in on his own journey from here, but I can attest that the rest of Cailin and my evening was nothing short of delicious. Lauren took us to a restaurant called Spice, a thai restaurant, where I got a delicious pad thai. We then went to Strand Books and poked around the 18 miles of books hoping to find something life-altering to read in the face of my twenty-first year. This is difficult to do when so many books look so darn good. I finally bought Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace... I don't know if it will be life-altering, but it is critically acclaimed.
After that Cailin and I went to meet Lexy at the restaurant where she works as a hostess. We were going to wait for her to get off her shift. We were flagging a taxi to head over to that part of town (Renee provided us with the instructions and the means to use only taxis on the day), when one pulled over with two gentlemen in the back. We were about to take their cab when they got out, remarked on the weather and then asked if we were twins, to which we replied, "yes we are, and in fact it's our birthday." They were bowled over and insisted on taking us into the next bar to toast us. We agreed despite, or maybe because of, the fact that they were 60 year old men in very smart business suits. Don't worry, we didn't get in a cab with them, and we only agreed because the street was very crowded and it was still early in the evening and they both looked a little decrepit. They were quite dull and despite our best efforts at conversation they seemed only to be interested in who had done our orthodontia (That's Lebrizi... L-E-B-R-I-Z-I). We excused ourselves after an innocent champagne toast ("Don't even think of reaching for your wallets"... trust me, I wasn't going to shell over a dime for their less than scintillating company) and laughed at them all the way to Lexy's.
Lexy was just getting off her shift and she wanted to take us out around the neighborhood and show us a few lounges that she had been to and thought would be fun for our birthday party the next night. We were charmed by the very-Irish bartender at The Galway Hooker (a hooker is a ship, lest you get any wrong ideas about our choice of venue) and agreed right then and there to reserve space for a party.
I had to work at 6:45 on friday morning, picking up Izzy from a friend's house and getting her to school, but after 8:00 I was free and Cailin and I went back into Manhattan to explore SOHO. Our mission for the day was to get to the Dash Boutique, a store operated by the Kardashian sisters, a trio of very fine ladies of the reality television sphere who Mama looks on with disdain but Cailin and I adore. The Kardashian's new reality series centers on the opening of their New York store and features many scenes within the walls of the boutique, so a chance to walk on such hallowed ground seemed too good to pass up (just kidding Ma, no idolaters here). We found it and looked with dropped jaws at the merchandise and pondered briefly what we would have to sacrifice to purchase a DASH t-shirt, finally deciding against it in favor of rent.
I had to get back to Brooklyn to teach art class, but when I was finished Cailin was waiting for me back at the apartment with thai take-out and the instructions to "hurry, our party starts in an hour!" Forgetting that everyone in NYC is fashionably late we frantically rushed to the restaurant, then sat for an hour and a half in our reserved section, trying to make our three very large booths seem hopping and totally worthy of a birthday party. Our friends finally did show up... we had about fifteen guests, and it was so much fun! Great music, great people... it was everything I hoped it would be. Cailin and I got back to the apartment around 4 am and hit the pillow. But the celebrations were not over yet!
We relaxed on saturday morning then headed back into the city to go to SERENDIPITY, Renee's treat to us. I've been dying to go and was so excited, so even though there was a miserable frozen rain coming down, we were in high spirits as we approached the famous restaurant. The very handsome host told us that there would be an hour wait, which we agreed to, because what's one hour after a good dozen years of anticipation? We went to a coffee shop to sit out the wait and arrived back to hear our names get called. The decor was perfect, I wanted to spend hours taking pictures, but with a line snaking out the door we were afforded one or two shots, which Cailin will hopefully post here. We got frozen hot chocolate, each of which came with two straws and two spoons-- but, though it was meant to be shared, we were glad we had given into our gluttony upon tasting the decadence... we were sad when it was gone. Delicious.
We hopped on the train back to Brooklyn where we met KC for a great dinner at Sidecar, a restaurant right in park slope, and we had the most wonderful time. Food was good, company was better.
Sunday morning Cailin had to leave... it was quite the ordeal getting her on the road, but we did and I returned to my apartment alone. Sad day. Luckily, Mama knows me well enough to have sent down a bag of chocolate as big as a suitcase, so I ate my feelings and all is better now.
All in all it was a wonderful trip and a great way to kick off this year. Back to the daily grind... keep blogging! xoxoxox love to everyone
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