But wait a moment because FIRST things first: I saw American Idiot on Broadway yesterday. My sister and her boyfriend Andrew came up to the city to see me again. They are taking my very very grown-up nephew Gage on a special 16th birthday trip and stop one was NYC for the show. I'm thankful I was invited to join! The show was great! Very visual with a set unmatched by anything I've ever seen on a stage. The musical performances were spot-on. If you like Green Day you'll love it.
After the show we met up with Nicole for dinner at Dallas BBQ. It was the second time for me this week but they have great sauce, and I love sauce! Nicole brought me a floaty pen she found at work! I am thrilled, it has Will Ferrel on it and his pants come off! Dinner was good and the company was great, we talked about how Sarah and Nicole got to know one another. We all ate plenty food and then it was time to leave because we were going to meet our cousins Carolyn and Mitch!
Carolyn and my Dad are first cousins and Mitch is her husband. Mitch is a music producer with a studio in Manhattan and they divide their time between the city and Florida. My sister hadn't seen Carolyn since she was five and I had never met her. First we met them at the studio and got a tour. The studio is old school and lots of great performers have recorded there. They have a vocals booth and larger room for bands and a control room and office. It was too cool. Mitch has pictures all over the walls of many clients and performers. We sat for a bit in the office, chatted and enjoyed the view of the Hudson.
Me, Gage (how tall can you get?) Carolyn and Sarah at the studio
After just a little while Carolyn and Mitch suggested we head up 9th Avenue for dinner at a nice Italian place they liked. We didn't let on we'd just eaten. We thought we'd be waiting a couple more hours before dinner! We took a nice walk to the restaurant getting acquainted all along the way. It was amazing how well we all got along, without any pretense or awkwardness, as though we'd been family for years and weren't just now meeting. Even Nicole was chatting comfortably with Mitch as we walked along.
I had a moment to talk to my nephew which is a nice treat for me. He asked me how I felt about turning 30 coming up. I told him I was really excited. I can't wait for my birthday and I have a feeling my 30s are going to be so much cooler than my 20s were. Then we talked about his college plans, which is weird. I wonder how sick he is of hearing we all think he should be 7. I know I hated it for years, I just can't HELP it! He was SO much younger than me and now he's going to college?!
The restaurant was called Ralph's and it was everything you'd want an Italian restaurant to be. Small, authentic, delicious and just fancy enough to make you feel special. I was afraid we'd all get salad and I'd feel bad that they took us out but instead we ALL ordered pasta dishes. Carolyn, Mitch, Nicole and I shared a bottle of wine and I had Penne Caprese which was divine. We sat and talked like the oldest of friends for what MUST have been two hours, and we all even got desserts.
After taking up a beautiful window table for far to long for the comfort of our waiters Carolyn and Mitch suggested we head up to Lincoln Center to see what free music was available. We stopped to admire the fountain in front for quite awhile, taking tons of pictures together. Next we walked around to the band shell to see what was playing. It was a nearly indescribable middle eastern flavored rock band called Mucca Pazza and we all took seats and enjoyed ourselves. Mitch and Carolyn even stood and moved to the music and gave us a couple glares for being on our butts. They're just so charming!
After that we just couldn't part company so they invited us to the East Side to see their apartment. Its adorable and full of art and charm. Carolyn showed us tons of pictures and got out all her beautiful handmade jewelry. We ended up staying and chatting there for a long while until I realized it would be a long train ride back to Brooklyn and I had work in the morning. I was sad to have to leave and promised I'd bring Jake to see them the very next time he comes up. I think he'd really hit it off with them (but who wouldn't) and I wanted him especially to see Mitch's studio.
Sarah and I shamelessly pose with Mitch's Emmys
I didn't have much trouble catching trains, thank goodness and got to bed eventually. Sarah, Andrew and Gage are off today to Boston and Laura is off to St Vincent. Laura DeWitt is away too!
No comments:
Post a Comment