This was an eventful two weeks full of birthday and non-birthday activities.
It started with mom's arrival in New York. She came out for Zoe's graduation and to hang out with her blessed children. The first night I took her to Hope and Anchor. I didn't realize it was karaoke night! Awks! We were both very impressed with vocal range and hair volume of the towering drag queen hostess. The next few days were spent eating and resting, running errands and walking. We also went to PS1. Mike joined our little group a few days later, wearied from a Preakness bender with Erin.
Mike was most excited to go to the Condé caf which I don't think lived up to expectation.
Then came my actual birthday day!!! Despite the rainy weather, I had a fun time that day. Since it's Nadine's birthday too, there were three cakes at work. They were all delicious! After work I headed to Fette Sau where all my friends (and Mom and Mike) were waiting! It was such a warm fuzzy feeling to see everyone there! We ate lots of awesome things including, pork belly, brisket, pork ribs and beer. Hannah made the most awesome lemon curd and coconut cake. It was delicious. Surprise guest of the night: EZRA KINGDOM!!
Friday was Zoe's graduation. Mike and I went up to Bronxville in the morning. It was a really nice day to sit outside.
In the middle of the ceremony, this cool guy with Ray Bans walked down the aisle with his hand over his mouth, clearly about to throw up. This white foam spurt out from between his fingers. He still tried to keep it cool in front of all the parents. Pretty amazing. 4/5 of the family went out to lunch after the graduation. Congrats Zoe!!! We're so proud that you're a strong sexy independent woman!!
Then Mike and I headed back to the city. That night Paul, Mike Jess and I went to the new beer garden in Crown Heights. It is so nice!!! I'm going to go there all summer. Then we had a late dinner at Bar Tano. Very delicious.
Saturday night was my 2nd birthday party at Big Bar. Sam spilled a drink on me, but luckily I'm a really forgiving person so we're still friends.
People brought lots of treats like goat cheese cheesecake from the dessert truck (thanks Jeff and Jess) and beef horseradish chips (thanks Gretch!) I forgot to take pictures cause I was having too much fun! Thanks for coming everyone!
Sunday was Mike's last day here, so we took some long walks with Sam and just enjoyed Brooklyn. For dinner we tried to go to Bogota which is always fucking closed! It's ridiculous. So we went to Brooklyn Fish Camp instead where I had the most disgusting shrimp tacos ever. The beer and mussels were good, so not a total loss. Then I met up with Ken and some friends, one of whom is a writer at Allure. We had fun gossiping about coworkers.
Monday was the 2nd Annual Adam/Zara/Vanessa/Snugget Memorial Day BBQ. With temperatures in the low 80s (a vast improvement from last year's scorching temps and high humidity), it was a perfect day to lounge, eat and drink outside. There was tons of delicious food, most of which I can't remember. I just know I had fun! Thanks AVZS!!!
Wednesday I went to dinner with Adam in Chinatown. We got free squid balls in our soup! The woman making the soup was really insistent we get them because they'd just come in that day. They were pretty good. Questionable texture.
Then we went to Winnie's for karaoke with Ken and his friend/twin Alex. Sam jumped in on all my songs, but we're still friends. We did a dynamite "I've Never Been To Me" and sang "Movin' Out" with some rowdy Hawaiian teens. Adam's an incredible singer. Who knew?!?! Ken and Alex were good too of course.
Friday Laila, Sam and I saw the Sex and the City movie. I can't even begin to enumerate the myriad ways this movie is FUCKED UP AND BAD because I'll get very upset. I'll just say it was abysmal and that no concealed weapons is a good law because if I ever saw any responsible party I'm not sure what would happen. GOD IT WAS SO AWFUL AND OFFENSIVE. Ok I'm going to take a minute.
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Aaaaaaand I'm back. I took a little walk. I'm calm and collected.
Saturday was my THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY canyoubelieveitiknowright?1?!!? Jess Park (the most beautiful woman in the world) organized a Korea Town extravaganza. She sent out an incredibly detailed itinerary. Very impressive and so cute I'm going to paste it here for posterity.
Subject: NAOMI HAS YELLOW FEVER
YO BITCHES,
Here is the rundown for Naomi's birthday dinner fiasco. we will traverse boroughs and eat meat and sing and DRINK.
SATURDAY, MAY 31 (this saturday) RUN OF SCHEDULE:
* 6pm: Naomi's OPENING at GOWANUS - 7th St btwn 2nd & 3rd Aves in Brooklyn.
* 6-7 pm: drinking and watching naomi's art.
* 7:20 pm: depart for ktown.
* 8 pm: DINNER in KTOWN: Kang Suh, 1250 Broadway at 32nd St., 212-564-6845
o http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/kang-suh/
o reservation for a room under my name: Jessica Park
* 8 - 10 pm: eating and drinking. paul yee sits near jess park to have asian domination over food.
* 10 pm: KARAOKE: Grammy Karaoke, 23 W 32nd St. NY NY 212.629.7171.
o http://newyork.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/karaoke_bar/grammy-karaoke-midtown/56975/content
o Res for room under Jessica Park.
o * This joint is cheap - $100 per hour for 15 people = under $7 an hour. Coors light $4/Heinekin Corona $5. You can do this.
o 10 pm - sunrise: renditions of Mariah Carey Hero dedicated to Naomi Leibowitz by Jess Park.
LETS DO THIS.
see you later.
KOREANS ARE BETTER THAN EVERYONE.
The opening in Gowanus was good. There was a much larger turn out than I expected. I saw Sam's friend Joe Hassett, but didn't say HI because I couldn't place him. It was very hot inside. Thanks for coming Haley! We scooped up Sam and headed to K-town to meet up with 7/9 of the Chain for a feast! We got 2 bibimbaps, 5 orders of meat for bbq-ing, a cold noodle thing, seafood jeon, hmmm some other stuff too, but I can't remember. Anyway, it was delicious. Great job ordering Jess.
After dinner we went to Grammy (or Grand (the establishment was suffering a pretty profound identity crisis)) Karaoke. It looked like a pediatrician's office inside. They brought us treats TOTALLY GRATIS. The only bad thing about this place was their pithy song selection. It was no problem for the Chain though!! We still had a most fun time! It all went so quickly I can't remember what songs people sang. Oh god. Ok I'm thinking. Oh! Kat and Zaq did "Zombie" which was nice. Jeff and Ben did "Semi-Charmed Life." Also good. Chain members just leave other highlights in the comments section please. Thanks! I had a great time. Thanks for coming everyone!!
Other exciting events/news in the past week(s):
1. I have perfect teeth says the dentist!
2. I went to Craft which was just fucking fantastic and everyone should go it's so delicious and Tom's sexy as fuck.
3. I kind of quit smoking! Not reeeeally, but I've only had 2 this week. So that's basically like a quit, right? No strokes for me!!
4. I had a bed bug scare, but I was just being paranoid! Mosquitoes and other critters just love my sweet blood! That or it's a mild strain of flesh eating (Adam's hypothesis).
5. My ex-boss and Chicago Sun Times rock critic Jim DeRogatis testified in the R. Kelly trial! Here's a colorful recap of what happened. So amazing!
6. I bought a really spendy bag. I love it.
7. 3 people (Jason, dlb and Adrienne) sent me mixes which are filling my ears with much needed new refreshing sounds like:
a) The Dodos - Red and Purple
b) The 1900s - When I Say Go
c) Tim Fite - Big Mistake
d) She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
Next post will likely be a recap of wedding season 2k8 in which I play a bridesmaid. HWAT??!!?!?!? K THX BAI.
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