Party Weekend

I've been a very diligent blogger until this weekend. All the parties started piling up and I ran out of time. On Thursday night (or was it Wednesday? It was Wednesday...) after work I went with Dali over to LQ (Latin Quarter), a really cool dance club with a Latin-American twist. It has recently been in the news because of that football player Plaxico, who shot himself in the foot there. But Dali has been going there for years, because she loves to salsa. LQ is large and contains several rooms at different levels. A large sunken dance floor dominates the space, surrounded by turreted alcoves with tables for eating and drinking. It was very old-school glamorous. They were having a free buffet, so I scored a delicious dinner and Dali and I watched the dancing for a while. I didn't stay for the free salsa class, but I may go back one day and do it. Dancing looks like such fun, but I've always felt too uncoordinated to give it a serious attempt.

On Friday night a bunch of us from work met up at a delightful restaurant called Meson Sevilla over on 46th Street, or "restaurant row." It was our company holiday party of sorts, although not everyone could make it. Since a few of us leave work earlier, we made ourselves comfortable at the bar: Dali and Princess had margaritas and I couldn't wait--I ordered a plate of pasta. It was blizzarding outside--the first day of the wintry weather we've been enjoying all weekend, so it felt so nice and cozy to be in a charming restaurant eating delicious hot food with friends. When the rest of my coworkers showed up we were given a nice big private table downstairs and while everyone enjoyed dinner, I had a slice of rich chocolate cake.

The rubber boots that E bought me last year have really been useful the past few days. The snow turns to slush almost immediately in the city, and in some places it piles up and gets very treacherous. In Harlem the snow is blocking all the gutter drains, so at each intersection there are huge icy puddles that blend in with the street. My boots render me impervious to all this, and I am able to walk through anything as if it were nothing at all. Kind of like driving the Suburban in Massachusetts during the winter. My dad used to have so much fun taking that thing to the store while other cars were lining the ditches. If he saw a huge snowdrift, he'd plow right through it. Also, I've been getting all kinds of awesome broken-umbrella shots. Friday was murder on umbrellas. Collecting these pictures is so fun, but I'm wondering what I'm going to do with all these pictures of dead umbrellas. Unless I start the Blog of Broken Brollies, the only other option is to self-publish a coffee-table book called something like Discarded: The Broken Umbrellas of New York City.

Anyway, on Saturday night I attended two parties. The first one was at Jeff's house in Harlaman Hall, which is the apartment building that houses so many Mormons that the residents have nicknamed it for Helaman Hall, the dorm at BYU. Jeff had been dying to have people over to watch Babes In Toyland, the remake with Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore. It was made in 1986, and it is one of Jeff's favorite movies, not because it is good, but because it is very bad. By bad, I mean, hilarious. I won't try to explain, but it was really fun watching it with Jeff and a bunch of other friends as we ate popcorn and laughed. I skipped out before the ending, but Jeff assured me that the good guys win. Phew! I would hate for Bartleby Barnacle to have thwarted the Asian Santa/Toymaster guy and married Mary Contrary and taken over the cookie factory with his jar of Evil Essence. Anyway...

Next I headed downtown to a Chanuka party hosted by my coworker Lil' Debbie. She had made the most delicious party snacks, including some amazing star-shaped cookies. I'll have to get that recipe from her! I had a fun time spinning the dreidel, defending Debbie's wall decor, and hanging out with fun friends. The night flew by and I headed home sometime around midnight, enjoying my walk to the subway through the falling snow, which makes the city seem even more magical than it already is. I think the snow also makes the city lighter at night. The lights reflect off the clouds and all the moisture in the air, and sometimes when I walk through the city on such nights, I feel like its the middle of the day because its so bright. The city that never sleeps, indeed.

Tonight another coworker is giving a party, and I will probably stop by, although I kind of just feel like curling up and taking a long nap. Party weekends are so fun, but I'm exhausted.