20 posts tagged “friends”
Last Wednesday Stef called with an offer that I couldn't refuse, purchase a ticket to Vegas and everything else would be covered for the 4th of July weekend. Her manager was flying there with a high roller friend and apparently two hotels were covering all of their expenses. Crazy! They put the two of us in a suite one floor below the penthouse at the Palazzo, the new Venetian towers, with a fantastic view of the strip. We treated ourselves to lots of pool time, the spa and several decadent meals. It was fabulous.
I've known Stef for a few years now but this was the first time that we've done a solo thing together. I feel kind of special that she thought of me for the trip. It was a great time and we got along so well. We're more alike than we first realized and I know this is the beginning of a close friendship. Here are highs and lows from the weekend:
- Our suite came with three flat screen TVs including one in the bathroom, remote controlled curtains and a walk-in closet
- The lounge chairs directly in the pool were awesome. Who needs a cabana when you can sit in the water all day?
- Ran into a friend's bachelor party and got to hang out with friends that I haven't seen in years
- A very drunk girl fell into a friend’s birthday cake and then wiped her hands on my dress
- Went to Jet at Treasure Island as a favor to Stef's manager and discovered it was the "5’4 and under" club
- Pulled an all-nighter on Saturday to fly out at
7:30am on Sunday. I felt a little crazy
at the airport but well that's how Vegas is done I suppose
- My feet still hurt from dancing in heels all
weekend. Heh.
After years of going to Vegas for birthdays, getaways, bachelorette parties and one very cold New Year's Eve, I know better than to come into work the very next day. It takes a full day to recover from the excessive drinking and lack of sleep. Almost all of yesterday was spent either in bed or on my couch, minus the hour I spent unpacking and cooking dinner. Today my legs are still sore from all the dancing that I did on Saturday night. It was a fun time despite initial my concern that I was too old to be partying like that. ;)
The roundup from the weekend (includes only details that I could talk about in a public blog like this):
- Stayed in two awesome suites at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. Very swanky but it was about a mile of walking to get to the pools. We were hooked up with a discount so the rooms ended up being cheaper than staying in Mandalay Bay.
- Average temperature in Vegas was 105 degrees. Such a shame that I only spent a total of four hours in the wave pool.
- My longest stretch of dancing in one night without sitting down? 5 hours.
- Celebrity takeover: Kardashians at Pure nightclub caused the lines to shutdown at midnight. We thought there was going to be a riot since they had a zillion people waiting.
- Bill for bottle service and table at Prive: two bottles of Grey Goose vodka at $450 per bottle.
- Stef's friend hooked us up with a "party bus" that came equipped with a dancer's pole. I would like to note that I did not partake in the pole dancing.
- Met Steve Kim from Chippendale's at Seamless, a new after hours club.
- Missed breakfast every day. But we did dine at Bradley Ogden and Social House.
The latter's tasting menu of sashimi was amazing and worth every
penny. Bradley Ogden is owned by the same restauranteur as Lark Creek
here in San Francisco but it definitely wasn't as good.
- I slept a total of four hours in two days. Woo.
Sarah wasn't feeling well this afternoon so I drove her St. Mary's hospital over by Golden Gate park. I dropped her off at the entrance and then parked the car in the garage. When I walked through the entrance I expected to find a directory but all I got was some girl on her cell phone giving me the dirty eye. It's rather baffling that hospitals floor plans aren't made more intuitive. People come here in times of pain and stress and are left staring at the five million signs wondering which way is the right way to go. They need medical help not GPS.
I was kind of expecting the emergency room to open up in front of me when I exited the elevator. Kind of like in the movies where there's this huge room with patients shuffling back and forth. Not quite. After turning two corners and ending up in the radiology section, I asked a nurse where the emergency room was.
"Um, it's behind you over there." He said with a tired look.
Oh, I completely missed the white double doors that said "Emergency Room" on them. Heh. I tried the doors but they were locked. An old man walking down the hall kindly yelled out, "Dear, you have to hit the intercom before they let you in..there, hit that button." An intercom? What if I was having a heart attack?
After they buzzed me in I figured this was where I would see the big waiting room. I ran down the hall past curtained rooms, empty gurneys and medical equipment and somehow ending up in another lab section. WTF? Since the emergency room was on the bottom floor, there were really low ceilings and no cell phone reception, so I couldn't even call Sarah.
I turned down two more hallways and then circled back around to the nurse's station out of breath, "Have you seen my friend? She just came in..she's about this tall, um.." The nurse looked at me like I was crazy. ".. Um, do you have a waiting room or something??"
She pointed me to a set of white sliding doors that I just ran past. OMG. I finally find Sarah and we spend the next fifteen minutes sitting in a tiny waiting room flipping through brochures about medical alarms and hospital billing options. There's an 80s cop movie playing on the crappy TV and the guy beside me is picking at the wound in his knee. Lovely stuff.
Finally she got checked out and I went back to the waiting room which was now filled with too many people. After five minutes or so, the guy behind me decided to rest his feet on the seat next to my head. Um, so gross. I sat perched in my seat watching the knee guy fidget back and forth. After ten minutes of this I couldn't take it anymore and bolted for the sliding doors. Except um, they didn't slide this time. Push. Nothing. I turned to see one of the ladies in the room staring at me stupidly. I looked at the doors again and saw the fine print, "Doors do not open on their own." Seriously? Why the hell not? I turned back to the check-in desk, "Um, the door doesn't open on it's own???"
The nurse rolled her eyes, "No they don't." She hit a button and the doors opened up.
ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Sarah was treated with medication through an interesting plastic breathing contraption. I almost took a photo but it looked kind of phallic and I was sure she'd kill me for posting it. She's doing better now and despite the craziness of that hospital, we did get a good laugh about all the things we saw but couldn't txt anyone about.
Summer has made it's way to the bay and with it comes the onslaught of weddings and festivities. On my coffee table are the first set of invitations with another two still on their way. One invitation sadly went from having Nick's name to just a singular "1". People sure like to punish the single folks. Ha. I really thought everyone was done getting married years ago but they just keep coming. I'm looking forward to each of these especially the ones out of the city. The first couple will be married at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, the second at a private estate in Palo Alto and the third at one of my favorite restaurants, Yank Sing.
This weekend I'm headed to Vegas for Mel's bachelorette party. I've been to Vegas more times than I can remember so I'm only looking forward to the part where I hang out with girlfriends by the pool. In July it'll be Suzanne's cocktail bridal party at a french bistro in South Park (btw, I love this idea since it's neither a shower nor a bachelorette) and then in August I'll be taking a Napa wine tasting and spa trip for Sarah's shower. It's going to be a busy but fun summer. I'm looking forward to the time spent with friends.
Thievery Corporation put on an amazing show last night. But I expected nothing less since the Greek Theater rarely disappoints especially when it's beautiful out. It was still well into the 80s for the earlier part of the evening. Beau, Chris and Alex came over to my pad before the show where I fed them shots and made them listen to songs on repeat. They were good sports about it. ;) And Patty made it just in time despite the horrendous bridge traffic. Yay, to a fun night with friends and good music.
Tiff left a gift on my desk this morning: happy tears crafted after her own work along with mini-stickers and a Hello Kitty paper kimono. I about died with glee over the kimono. Ayako (she's in the SF office this entire week) came by shortly after that to hand me a bunny. "I was born in the year of the rabbit!" I exclaimed. She nodded eagerly as if she knew all along. Two gifts in one day. I am a lucky, lucky girl.
There were letters lined along the top of the mailbox when I came home. Has it been that long since I last checked the mail? Apparently so as I yanked open the bulging door and a pile of magazines fell out. For a moment I felt like one of those old spinsters, the ones still living in the same apartment after thirty years and spends days eagerly awaiting the next subscriptions of Mary Kay and Penneys. How did I get here again?
Oh right. Welcome to the new single life. Where friends pack you with condoms, dare you to get "that" guy's number, and graciously pimp you out to their best friend's roommate's cousin, who's really awesome but not your type. Granted I do appreciate that friends are trying to keep me busy. So busy in fact that much of the last month has been one fuzzy dream. I'm not sure I was ever really in the moment. I'd go out, smile, talk, nod, shake hands and make witty remarks at the appropriate times. Yet through all of it, I just felt kind of numb. Sometimes I'd remember where I was and what I was supposed to be feeling. And then I'd just want to go home and eat Oreo cookies.
It's part of the process everyone says. Those blues came yesterday in the late afternoon, making the task at hand suddenly unbearable. Thank goodness for Sarah's idea of hitting the Ferry Building after work. I needed the company. But the dinner high lasted only until I was on the bridge, at which point I proceeded to call everyone on my speed dial list. My dear friends are good cheerleaders and never fail to offer the kind of advice that keeps on giving.
"Keep these things in mind and you'll be fine. Don't die. Don't get an STD. Don't get fired. That's in no particular order btw." said Tyee before wishing me a good night.
Right. Okay, will do.
Last month I celebrated a friend's birthday at Michael Mina. It's been on my list of 'must try places" for the last two years but has been slipping down the charts in favor of more affordable restaurants. The benefits of eating with a large group (there were 12 of us) are the number of dishes that you can try. But large sittings generally mean larger bills. My grand total was $260, which was thankfully less than my meal at French Laundry.
Located in the Westin St. Francis hotel across from Union Square, you can ride the hotel's glass elevator to the top floor and look over all of downtown. Or well, at least one side of downtown. The atmosphere at MM isn't as stuffy as French Laundry, in fact the noise level can get pretty high in the open areas. Men aren't required to wear jackets but you can always find a few suits that have come in after work. It's the type of place where men talk business, couples celebrate anniversaries, and girls get way too dolled up in organza skirts.
They serve a three course prix-fixe menu as well as a chef's selection tasting menu. The tasting menu is easier for those that hate making decisions. But when you're paying a hefty price for it, might as well do the work yourself. Within each course there are several selections, of which you can choose only one. Each selection has one core ingredient and is prepared in three different ways. There are also "classics" to choose from, which are dishes that the chef is known for but those are only prepared in one way.
Confused? So was I.
For my first course, I chose the the Hudson Valley foie gras served hot to cold with huckleberry gastique, pickled strawberries, poached rhubarb and pistachio crumble. It was amazing but there was so much of it. I ate half and gave the rest to Katie who proceeded to wipe down two other plates of extra foie gras.
The dishes came out so slowly that by the time course number two arrived, most of us were kind of full. Eep. This was disappointing since my trio of premium beef was so, so good and I couldn't really enjoy it. The first preparation was grass-fed rib-eye in a sauce au povre with creamed spinach, second was American Kobe short-rib with horseradish whipped potatoes, and the last was Misami Kobe sirloin in a bordelaise sauce with marinated mushrooms.
Dessert wasn't really memorable except for the caramel flan and green tea bon bons served with toothpicks. By the time the bill came, it was almost midnight and I was falling asleep at the table. No better way to end the meal I suppose.
Mirabelle and Leonard had extra tickets to see Chris Rock last Friday. Luckily they thought of inviting me. I've never been to the Paramount Theater in Oakland but it's a lovely venue. Reminds me of old Hollywood or downtown Las Vegas, especially when you see it light up in the early evening. Very surreal since this part of downtown Oakland clears out once the work crowd heads home. The theater iteself is done up in ruby and gold tones, with plush seating and great lighting. They needed a few more bartenders as the lines were insane. I downed an entire glass of champagne in under a minute thinking I couldn't bring the drinks inside. Um no, you totally can.
Here are some of the quotes from his act:
1. "My kid is spoiled. He asked me for a new bike the other day. I told him HELL NOES! Your daddy never had a bike. I was sooo POOR…I was 9 years old before I reached your age... of 5."
2. "Why is McCain running? McCain was too old to become president 10 years ago. He’ll be dead before seeing the effects of his policies."
3. "The only thing we can be guaranteed of when Hilary becomes president? She can forgive like no one else."
4. "How is Hilary going to handle becoming president? Man, imagine having to sit in that oval office where your husband got #$&*%*$&%. She’d redecorate that shit into the rectangle office."
5. "Barak can’t become president because that means we’ll have a black woman as first lady. And that ain’t EVER going to happen. Yea I said it! In OAKLAND too. Booyah...
Now lemme tell you why… It’s because all black women want to be president. “You ain’t gonna tell me what to do. We become president together. Oh and make sure Keaky is Secretary of Defense. She can fight!”
6. "I face racism every day. Every day. I live in this beautiful gated community in New Jersey…in a nice multi-million dollar home. There are four black people in this community. FOUR: Mary J Blige, Jay Z, me and Denzel Washington. Each one them, exceptional.
Mary, the hip-hop and R&B queen. Jay Z, needs no introduction. Me, I did the Oscars. And Denzel Washington, one of THE best black actors in the world.
And do you know who lives next to me?
Some white DENTIST!! That’s right. Just a plain ol’, yank your teeth out dentist. Ain’t no plain ol’ black dentist ever getting into that community without millions. Not unless he starts performing some miracles too."
