MY BIRTHDAY

So far, my birthday has been pretty good. I'm not going to lie and say that I don't wish it was a year ago...that I don't wish all my friends were with me...that I don't wish I had plans to go out and get REALLY drunk...that I don't wish I had a reason to dress up tonight...that I don't miss everyone and am not sad about how my life has changed in the past few months. All of those things are true. However, the phone calls, the birthday cards, the facebook messages and e-mails have made me feel very special and have reminded me that out of sight doesn't mean out of mind.

I spent the weekend with Kate at her cutey apartment in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. After a LONG subway ride and some rain (gross) I made it to her neighborhood around 2:00 on Friday afternoon. We had a delicious sushi lunch which tided us over during the rainy and cold walk home to the apartment. Kate prepared some salmon and other food for Shabbat as I napped and then at 6:00 we went over to a dinner "party" that she had been invited to. The "party" consisted of Kate, Ellen (a mom), Man (a dad whose name I can't remember), Shoshana (8), Leora (8), Jacob (6), Kate and I. Hm.

It was certainly interesting to be around kids again...I haven't really been around kids since I stopped babysitting in May. And it's always interesting for me to be a guest in a very observant home where food is Kosher and prayers are ritually said before, during and the after the meal. At any rate, the food was delicious and the company was welcoming.

Saturday, Kate and I slept in and then went for a walk in Prospect Park. It was a beautiful day! I'm not going to complain about the 75 degree weather or cloudless sky...but it is weird to wear flip-flops and shorts around my birthday. That's never happened before. I remember what I wore on my birthday last year-a jacket over a t-shirt with jeans and a scarf. But anyway...

The walk was enjoyable. There were a lot of families and couples out enjoying the nice weather. We walked for almost two hours around the reservoir and the boathouse, through some foresty trails...
Then we went back to the apartment and read and lounged until Shabbat was over. We dinnered while watching the latest episode of "The Office" (awkward. that show is SO awkward) and then got ready to go out!! We did a modified bar crawl through Windsor Terrace and Park Slope. Surprisingly there weren't that many people out but we still managed to enjoy ourselves.

Bar 1: Gin and Tonics gulped quickly in a bar with many men, all over 35, watching a football game.
Bar 2: SoCo Lime shots. A small, intimate bar with a band covering Stevie Wonder songs.
Bar 3: soCo Lime shots (if it ain't broke don't fix it). A New Orleans themed bar, with 15 misplaced men and us. We didn't stay long.
Bar 4: Margaritas! A Tex-Mex themed bar with an outdoor/indoor patio deal.
Bar 5: "Tom Collins" (except they weren't because the bartender though "Tom Collins"' have whiskey and ginger-ale in them-whoops!), Cosmopolitans, Tequila Shots. The bartender was chatting us up, which I enjoyed. The "Tom Collins" and tequila shots were FREE.

We made it home around 1:15, and I was up this morning by 7:45 am. I call this "the double rockstar"-not only going to bed EARLY on a Saturday night/Birthday eve but also WAKING UP early on a Sunday morning/Birthday.

Kate had to leave early to go teach Sunday school, so I was up and out of the apartment by 10. I took the subway up to Grand Central, realized I missed my 11:07 train, and then killed some time in H&M while talking on the phone :)

Josh picked me up, graciously, at the train station and I've spent the past few hours on the phone and cleaning (yeah, cleaning on my birthday. birthdays just aren't what they used to be...). Josh is going to come over around 4:30 to hang out before Nana and Andrew get here to go over to dinner...

I'm going to enjoy this quiet time.