Birthday Girls
Originally uploaded by Sweet Blog o' Mine.

Ellen and I co-hosted a birthday party at the Magician last night. It was so wonderful to have such a rich cross-section of all the folks in my life: friends from high school, college, camp, bloggers, wine club society, and other assorted riff-raff with whom I socialize. The only downside to hosting a big party in a crowded bar -- not enough time or space to talk to everyone who came. Thanks to everyone who made it out, and extra-special thanks to the crew who made it for late-night karaoke at Winnie's!

You can see the whole album here (and yes, the photo above was posted through flick'r).

So it's Saturday, I let myself sleep ridiculously late in preparation for what may be late night at the bday bash, and I'm puttering around the apartment, listening to Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC.  I just heard two of the most depressing Sondheim songs: Sorry, Grateful, from Company, which attempts to describe the characters' feeling about his marriage, and Saturday Night from Saturday Night about how if you're alone on a Saturday night when you're single, "you might as well be dead."  Jeez.

This brings me back to a conversation I had yesterday with some married and formerly married female work colleagues, most of whom are somewhat older than I am -- they were basically saying that husbands were great to have around for reproduction purposes, but then they essentially wore out their welcome.   I sat there with a panicked grin on my face, then finally turned and said, "so I should pretty much stick with single life, huh?."  "No," one replied, "not if you want a family."  Yes, I do want a family, but I don't want to be unhappily married.  Look -- I figure I'm increasing my odds of a good, healthy marriage the later it happens.  Even if I met the perfect guy for me tomorrow (or tonight at the birthday party, perhaps),  we'd have to have a relationship for a while, so by the time we actually get married, I'll be solidly in my mid-to-late thirties.  I would like to hope that would help to prevent the "bitter married" attitute. 

And I generally really enjoy being single (well, except when I'm sick), but I don't want to lose hope that I'll end up in a meaningful, healthy relationship that will ultimately turn into a healthy, long-lasting marriage and a family.

Some of you married folks out there, gimme some hope, will ya?  And single folks -- we don't have it bad at all, right?

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Yes, I've joined flickr -- will play with it a bit this weekend.  Not sure what the advantages or disadvantages are of using it vs. just posting stuff up on my blog, but I'll give it a whirl -- after all, it's free!

So tonight I have two birthday parties to attend, and given the weather, I was excited that they were both in Brooklyn.  That is, until I looked at a map and realized that they were nowhere near each other and would require ridiculous subway transfers/walking in the freezing cold.  First plan of action, however, as soon as my stupid Palm finishes synching here (which is taking forever since it seems to have died on me and I had to start from scratch) is to go home and take a short nap.  That said, I have a feeling I'm only going to make it to the latter of the two birthdays (which happens to be the more subway-access-friendly of the two).

And speaking of birthdays -- tomorrow night Ms. Standard Deviance and I are hosting our belated birthday bash.  If you know me and didn't receive an email, drop me a note and I'll forward the details (it was most likely an oversight -- my contacts are in about 5 different places these days).

. . .  but not for any of the reasons that some of you (especially those who know me well) might be thinking.  Have you checked out the commentary on my Gothamist Food post?!  It has actually been a very interesting discussion, despite the personal attacks.   Thanks to those of you who have lent your voices in support of my honor, or stupidity, or whatever it is.

In case you were wondering about the "amazing opportunity" provided to me by the blizzard: Gothamist Visits Per Se.  No, it was not a smart financial decision, but it was definitely worth it.

On days when I'm out of the office all day, I like to use the opportunity as a way to eat lunch either somewhere new or somewhere I can't usually  eat because it's nowhere near my office.  For example, last year, when I was stationed at the Legal Tech conference all day, I visited one of the Daisy May's chili carts for the first time.  Friday, I was at a continuing legal education training at 22nd and Park, and we were on our own for lunch.  During the morning training session I tried to figure out what I would be eating, and then it hit me.  I was close to Bao Noodles, and although we might not have time to sit and eat, we would certainly have time to get banh mi sandwiches to take out and bring back.  Perfect.  I enlisted my friend Kwanza from the City Bar to come along with me.  We made our pilgrimage, and returned just in time for the start of the afternoon sessions.  Their banh mi sandwiches are delicious, with grilled pork, spicy mayo, and pickled vegetables all on a toasted baguette, but at $6.95 they're certainly more expensive than their Chinatown counterparts.

The rest of the day continued on a very positive food note as well.  Dinner was a trip to Una Pizza Napoletana, followed by wine at Bellavitae, a new spot right in the hood on Minetta Lane that I'd like to check out when I haven't just eaten -- their simple, Italian menu seems to have been prepared with extreme care to highlight their high-quality ingredients, and the atmosphere was cozy and warm on a cold winter night.

During dinner, I got an automated phone call telling me that my flight to Maine on Saturday had been cancelled.  I was supposed to go up for a small memorial service for my grandmother, but the blizzard got in the way.  We're having another memorial here in New York in March, though.  The blizzard did provide me with an amazing opportunity, however.  More on that later . . .

So why is it that people feel the need to stand directly in front of the subway doors when they have no intention whatsoever to get off the train?  Okay, I understand that sometimes, the trains are very crowded and there's nowhere else to go, but I'm talking about the times when it's not that crowded and there's plenty of room to move towards the center of the car.  At the very least, when you see that there are people, like me for example, trying to board the train, you could at least turn sideways, or move slightly out of the way instead of just standing there impeding my progress.  C'mon folks, move to the center of the car unless you plan to get off.  Not that difficult.

And on an unrelated (yet still ranting) note -- it's so fucking cold!!!!  Ack!  I've been wearing my puffy coat with its furry hood over my dorky ear-flap hat.  Very sexy.

This is what happens when you're a regular at a place that serves condiments along with their cheese plate and they want to make you laugh:

Plus, there haven't been nearly enough pictures up here this week.  This piece of art is composed of two of the amarone cherries, a dab of the apricots with chili flakes and mustard seed, and my favorite, the truffled honey.

So I've been taking it easy this weekend.  I stayed in Friday night to watch Donnie Darko and John B. ended up keeping me company, which was much nicer than watching it alone -- I wasn't really in the mood for solitude after my very anti-social week.  Saturday I had brunch with some lovely ladies who blog, and then a few of us wandered down to Chinatown in the bitter cold to continue chatting and shopf for a few things.  Later that night, I had dinner with my mom and stepfather, then met up with my friend Lauren for coffee.  And since I had to walk by Otto on my way home, I had to check in the window to see who was there, and of course I saw Nic, David and Luke (from the wine club society).  I stopped in, but kept the drinking to a minimum and was still in bed at a reasonable hour.

Today, laundry, easing back into exercise, and some job-hunt-related stuff.  Next week is back to full-speed, but I still have to be careful not to overdo it.  We'll see how it goes!

I'm actually listening to my body.  For a change.  It's telling me that it's exhausted and gave me a good dose of what turned out not to be the flu, but was actually strep throat.  Yippee!  So, I'm on antibiotics, etc. and am taking it easy.  Waaaay easy.  And don't worry -- I'm not contagious anymore.

I used to get strep about once a semester in college, usually during some period of time when I was running myself ragged, so it doesn't really surprise me that much that I was hit with it now.  I'm not necessarily running around that much from a physical standpoint, but I am trying to do many things at once in my life right now, and I think it's a bit much for me.  So, I'm stepping back, slowing down a bit, getting sleep, eating right, and generally laying low, at least until my energy level is back to normal.  After that, I still need to stay cautious -- I have a tendency to want to do everything.  And I can't.  And although that frustrates the hell out of me sometimes, I've just got to deal with it.  Harrumph.

* A nod to Simon and Garfunkel