Zero to a Hundred Real Quick in Magical Realism

Week before Labor Day - Worked out a lot, Wednesday went for rooftop drinks at Brass Monkey with my friend Dustin, got caught in rain. Had Friday before Labor Day off for a 4 day weekend, went out to Coney Island for a Sunrise swim. So nice. Drove back with A, showered up and went back to Coney for brunch with my best friend A from college. Did yoga, not sure what else I did that weekend but on Saturday night we went to see Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Magnusson, Furniture Painter at the Minetta Lane Theater. It’s an Icelandic rock musical about the recession - quirky and dark as you’d probably expect. It was a nice night out. Don’t think we did much on Sunday, but in the evening we did go for a drink and to see Fading Gigolo at our fave screening room, very cute John Turturro movie with Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, and Woody Allen. I don’t remember hearing anything when it first came out, but overall a sweet, funny movie.

A left for his annual canoe trip on Wednesday, on Thursday I had a dermatologist appointment. Worked out that afternoon, but didn’t do my usual yoga afterwards. Friday I went to work, did yoga, went home, drank wine and watched the Marina & the Diamonds Electra Heart Archetypes videos

obsessively until I fell asleep. Worked out Saturday, then ran errands. Went to Dustin’s rooftop party at his amazing apartment (with balcony and ridiculous shared rooftop) and had a blast with his awesome friends. A got back from his canoe trip in the evening, showered, and met up with us for the last bit of the evening. Such a fun day!

Worked from home on Monday, did rowing class and yoga at the Tribeca gym. Ropes class and yoga on Tuesday, switched up the order on Wednesday and did yoga, then ropes circuit class in midtown. Thursday, September 11th was a tough day as always. Barely slept the night before, then had to wake up at 5am and presentable for a work trip leaving at 6. Got there then couldn’t check into my hotel until nearly 4pm. Got a phone call with some expected but not good news when I was in public and kind of struggled to keep it together. Checked into my room and it was a suite twice as large as my apartment. Very nice of them but I would rather have been in a normal room hours ago. Work stuff went fine in the afternoon/evening. I’ve been trying to delegate more and not try to do everything/be everywhere, and this was a good test of that, it worked well. Early work stuff in the morning, then headed back home around noon.

Got home a bit earlier than expected, met A at his office, went home and changed for this dinner thing in Brooklyn. Neat venue - event started well with lots of oysters and champagne, then we sat for dinner.

They had Tartine bread flown in from San Francisco. I never bought into the hype, but it was quality bread. I think my fave bread is still Balthazar, but that Tartine bread was good too. Some sort of goat cheese spread too, would have preferred some olive oil or whipped butter. Next course was fluke with citrus and cashews, then a nice tomato soup with chunks of gorgeous toasted bread. So yum. Next course was squid ink pasta, with mussels and butter beans. Very nice but on the salty side. After this we had two more courses left but I was full, it was late and I was zonked with an early wake up time the next day, so we just left.

Got up early next morning and headed downtown for an early morning swim. Saw all my old buddies and walked around the pier for a while while A was volunteering. Then it was time to get into the water…we got on the boats, headed out to the Statue of Liberty, then swam to our beautiful new Freedom Tower. I think this is my favorite swim now - one of the few healing things I can do this terrible week every year. Plus, New York Harbor, tough to beat it. I think this photo captures my joy perfectly. Maybe my favorite photo ever taken of myself.

After the swim we hung out a bit, caught up with everyone, then said goodbyes. Headed home where I showered and put on a suit for a work event, then headed back downtown. Did the work event, then headed back home to meet A. He was still sleeping, ha! Got changed into party clothes and headed back to Williamsburg to a Dinner Lab event at the old Pfizer building. If you don’t want to click the link (Stupid Curbed!) It’s their old manufacturing facility that was abandoned and now is being turned into spaces for different artisanal foods and stuff. Quintessential Brooklyn! Dinner was okay but kind of filled with tools. We had some really nice fresh figs but other than that, the food wasn’t amazing either, and the ratio of the coolness of the venue didn’t really outweigh how inconvenient it was. The New Orleans events look SO much cooler, plus, Chase! Hit the Wythe Hotel bar with a couple we met at the event, they were kind of random so we bailed early and took a cab home around 1am.

Sunday we slept in, went to brunch, then did errands. Worked out early morning bootcamp on Monday, I had some late meetings after work, then went to a Literary Libations cocktail event at the New York Public Library.

Tuesday stayed at work late, skipped my ropes class and went straight to yoga. After yoga A met me for this “Ultimate Workout” class. Cheesy name but it was pretty good. A little dance-y for my taste, but a decent workout.

Worked way uptown on Wednesday, then went to class at midtown, yoga first and then the battle ropes class. Good class but one of the rotations had us doing chin-ups/pull-ups which I cannot do. Need to work on that, if I could do 3 good ones of each I’d be happy. After class I went home and A had made seared tuna with avocado and cucumber wrapped in lettuce cups and we had some white wine - so nice.

Thursday - worked from home, did yoga during the day, then met A uptown for the rowing class with my new favorite instructor. She’s ridiculously cut and a fitness model - very inspiring, so nice, and great energy. It’s a different class, but we did circuits again and I’m at the top for most stations, hers included this climbing portion on the same bars - which I just couldn’t do. Need to work on this. Wonder if they told the instructors to start incorporating the bars? Had never had a class that included the bars, much less two in two days! After that we were both zonked so went to grocery store and A put together green apple and avocado slices wrapped in sliced turkey. Yum.

Today am at work, few more meetings before heading out to yoga. We have fresh figs, bleu cheese and lavender honey at home, so looking forward to that tonight.

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Last updated September 20, 2014