birthday!

This birthday came around in a sort of bittersweet way. I didn't have any family with me this year, which is a change from the past 3 years. I also really wanted to get out of London and get to a beach, but for some reason, I felt like I should hold off on that trip. Instead, I gathered a very VIP group of my London people and planned a fun evening. 

The birthday started at 12AM exactly. I stayed up just so I could be excused in FINALLY opening the presents my mom and sister had so thoughtfully shipped over. The bag of gifts literally sat in my room for over a week, and I did not open it until the clock hit midnight. It was good to get cards and cute gifts that they thought about/made. 

I woke up the next morning bright and early and made my way to Central London to wait for day seats for Singin' in the Rain. After that, I met Dev, Michelle and Jeremy for breakfast and then I headed off for my interview with the London International Festival of Theatre. My interview went really well and I actually had an offer for their marketing internship by 3PM.

At 5PM, I met Dev, Jeremy, Michelle and Michael at Wahaca in Covent Garden for a delicious birthday dinner, and then we headed off to see the show. I absolutely loved Singin' in the Rain!

Overall, it was a good birthday, and I was glad to have my friends celebrate with me. I still haven't blown out any birthday candles, but at least I did get a fun birthday song from Michael and Alex.

Photographic evidence. Midnight indeed. 

Mom kept saying I couldn't open them for another 5 hours (EST) because 

I wasn't born in this time zone. I didn't listen.

Mom made this with some of the glass beads I bought her in Prague! 

I love this one! I spent soooo long digging through bead bins to find the cutest beads, 

and she combined them all into one bracelet.

Earrings also courtesy of mom.

My new Betsey Johnson courtesy of my sister.

GOTTA DANCE! Not only was it a perfect day, the sun was out in London!

KCL friends Devin and Jeremy.

Devin, Jeremy and Michelle! (we were missing our 4th, Brand). 

They were really sweet and not only agreed to come to the show (which was a bit pricey),

 but they also got me an adorable Oliver Bonas charm bracelet.

With Jeremy

With Michael

Excited to sit in the splash zone! It literally rains on stage, 

and if you sit in the first 3 rows, you WILL get wet. 

Our feet on the stage. We were in row 1. We got COMPLETELY soaked. FUN!

I loved seeing such an iconic show on my birthday. I had been looking forward to it for quite some time and was not disappointed. Adam Cooper, who plays Don, is stellar. I could literally watch him dance all day. Scarlett Strallen (who I had previously seen as Mary Poppins) did a fantastic job as Kathy Sheldon. The book is a little weak, but the choreography and lighting make it a pretty magical thing to see. 

Here is a clip from the Royal Variety show. Adam sounds a bit breathy at the end, but wouldn't you be too if you had just danced like that for 5 minutes?

Did I tell you...

That mom visited me on my birthday?

It was intended as a surprise... but alas, it is nearly impossible to surprise me.

C'est vrai.

But still, we had a lovely time.

We visited China Town which doubles as mom's favorite NYC attraction and my

 least favorite attraction in NYC, or possibly the world.

We ate delish Italian at S.P.Q.R. in Little Italy

(which is actually the first Little Italy restaurant we visited as a family in 2006).

Momma in Hoboken

Good thing this is a once-a-year event.
 I could have eaten that WHOLE thing... It was so delicious.

We visited Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, and proceeded to purchase the

most amazing chocolate ganache cake I have ever seen/tasted.

We celebrated with friends at the super chic Room Service Restaurant,

which looks far more expensive than it really is.

We bought many gifts for the munchkin...

because when you're the only member in our family under the age of 25,

you get a lot of presents, obvi.

We walked through the European Decorative Arts section of the MET,

which is my absolute favorite part of the MET.

We went to the movies, and ate yummy salads at Chop't

 (after a weekend of nothing but canoli and cake, we needed variety).

I had a party. Lots of people came and Mom made new friends.

Me with Rob

KLR & Karene

Mom and her two new best friends

KLR, Tash and Brad

Mark, Brody, Stef, Jane Madsen, Tashi, Liz and Rob

On her last day here, I treated mom to a true NYC brunch at Good Enough to Eat

which is quite possibly the best brunch spot in the UWS.

It was such a treat to see my mom. We share a very special bond and I miss her every single day.

 The best present I could have gotten has her company on my birthday.

What a lucky girl I am!

26

yes, so obviously, i am still not sure what the blog will look like, and i think it bothers me more than anyone else. the computer is still not fixed, but never mind all that.

i had such a good week. last week, my very awesome boss let me stay over at their house while they went on vacation. my job was to puppy sit. i love that little monster. she is the sweetest little thing ever. so full of love and energy. i had such a good time walking with her through central park. it was such a fun feeling to walk into their house and have her cute little face waiting for me. i love her so much. i told my boss i am taking her with me for good. she laughed and said "yeah, right." 

then last wednesday, my sister amalia and her boyfriend came for a visit. we did lots of cool stuff. thankfully, none of it was "touristy." there were lots of restaurants in the mix... some of them vegan, some of them not... my new favorite is caracas arepas bar. it's down near alphabet city, but i totally love that part of town anyway, so it was a treat to go down there. we also went to my favorite italian bakery, veniero's. 

the weekend was filled with many birthday festivities. we went to one of my favorite thai places in hells kitchen. it's called room service. i really love the energy of that place. it's also really pretty inside, but the prices are so low... it was a win-win-win (since the vegans loved it as much as the non-vegans).

delighted by the sight of chocolate mousse cake and really well-dressed singing waiters

i love how happy i look in this picture. it's how i felt. and i love how happy lizzie looks too. 

wonderful people that came to celebrate with me

a birthday trip to the guggenheim. most of it was post war stuff which i don't really dig, but they had a small gallery which contained some older art, such as cezanne, monet, manet, some pre-cubism picassos (beautiful!) and degas. it was so cool to finally see a real degas piece. his style inspired mine while i went through the advanced placement art program in school. i really love his use of color and medium. did you know that towards the end of his life, degas started going blind which is why his art often looks unfinished? he used bright colors, texture and dark charcoal outlines to make up for it. such beautiful work....

the kiddies made the birthday so, so special. they are good people with good hearts. so happy to have them here. 

maya went to crumbs and got treats. they were a big hit at the party, and an even bigger hit with my mom, who got her own little box yesterday.

the wonderful people i get to call my friends. such inspiring people. lovers of peace, equality and all things beautiful. 

more friends! these 3 are some of my favorite people in the world. 

a birthday cake from little sister is the best present i got. it's been a while since i've had her around for my birthday and i loved having her here.

snaps to kristin for beautifully capturing the moment on the iphone. i know i often make fun of her giant iphone case that could withstand a nuclear blast, but i am grateful she got this picture~

also... this rain is driving me up a wall. i'm done with it. but watch this song... it made my day lighter and makes me think of summer.




 i miss the gc so bad. may 7th. may 7th. may 7th.
{ps he wrote this with robbie (on guitar)}

Amalia Week

OMG... The sister reunion was amazing. My little sister and I are only 1 year and 7 months apart (don't even tell me she looks older than me. I already know) and we grew up sharing a room... so we grew up to be extremely close. Well, I moved away from home almost 6 years ago and not having her around as much has been really hard. But... now that I am living in NYC, she is determined to visit often since we are at least on the same side of the country now.


She decided she would come up for her birthday, so we had a week filled with festivities and sister-bonding time.

She had been here before, but only once and for 3 days during which we saw Times Square, and yeah... that's pretty much all we saw during that trip.


So this trip, I wanted her to experience as much of NYC as she could... We pretty much walked the entire city (IN THE RAIN!). We walked through some areas I knew she would like like Greenwich Village, Chelsea and the Upper West Side... We also went out to eat a lot. We had some amazing Thai food from Chelsea Market and I introduced her to Fat Witch Bakery, Pink Berry and Maoz vegetarian.

We did the museum thing... Which I have to say I probably liked the MoMA more than she did. I am WAY more into art and grew up studying it, so I was basically in heaven. But I think she loved the MET, especially the part where they had rooms that were brought over from Europe. I felt like I was at Versailles... Not that I've ever been there, but you know... It all looked very Versailles-ish to me.

We also got to see some Broadway shows which is surprising because my sister is totally my opposite. She does not love Broadway the way I do. But she surprised me by saying she wanted to see Hairspray and/or Wicked.

On Wednesday, we got student rush seats to Hairspray and it was amazing! But we still wanted to see Wicked...Bad. So, we tried the Wicked lottery like four freakin' days... It was so discouraging, and I am convinced that "Shades" (AKA the guy at the Wicked lotto) was not pulling my card on purpose because he totally knows my face and he knows I live here.

Anyway, on Saturday, we recruited some helpers and ended up winning tickets for Saturday night. It's kind of funny actually, because we had three people there to help us and it was my sister's name that was called, not the helpers. Still.... a shoutout to Anna, Mary and Karene for being so selfless and braving the NYC rain to come help us win. I will totally help you win lottery tickets next time you need them.

Anyway, it was an amazing experience for her. I could just tell how excited she was to be there. It reminded me of my first time seeing Wicked and how I almost cried because I was so excited. After the show, I took her to the stage door to meet the cast (which is totally a tradition) and we our programs signed... We did this at Hairspray too because I LOVE Constantine Roussouli (AKA Link Larkin). Like... A LOT.

We also did the birthday thing... We went to dinner at Maoz which is so good, by the way. Then we went to Max Brenner's with two of my sister's friends and then we went to Arlo and Esme for dancing. Natalie, Elise, Kristin, Jeff and Rustin joined us for the dancing as well.

The weekend was a little more relaxed. We went through Central Park (which is so beautiful in the fall), walked the Brooklyn Bridge, walked the East Village, and shopped for vintage glasses frames. That last one took forever, but we miraculously ran into a vintage shop near the Life Cafe in Alphabet City that specializes in frames. So all was good.

My sister left very happy with her trip and I am so happy I got to spend nearly a full week with her.

Pictures to come soon. I promise!