Holiday Wrap-up

since I last wrote, I have celebrated a mini-milestone birthday & Christmas. bday w/e was great. I worked ½ day and then attended our office holiday party at noon. after a glass of xmas cheer, I treated myself to the most fabulous manicure / pedicure. the women were so kind at this pretty, new salon. the massage chairs were new & felt oh so wonderful; the madam of the house went around massaging the patrons while they waited for their nails to dry. the knot in my shoulder was so bad, she actually used mini-accupuncture on it; and, when it became apparent that I could no longer stay, another sweet lady took me into a dressing room, put my stockings on and buckled my shoes. I felt like a Princess!! I walked across the street to Tria to meet Chris and have a glass of bubbly (and presents!!) before dinner. Rittenhouse looked truly beautiful decked out in its holiday best. the city felt very Manhattan with scores of shoppers, Friday traffic and the normal w/e crowd. Chris took me to Barclay Prime for dinner which was way better than anticipated and felt reminiscent of olde Philadelphia with mahogany walls & polished black & white marble floors. the food was super yummy; truffle whipped potatoes are a must have. the next day, I took Simbalina for a long walk in the park and chris took me errand-running. reStore treasure finds (purchases) include a set of beautiful antique French doors (with mirrors!!) for the bath / dressing room and a 1920s pedestal sink on a Singer sewing machine base (sold separately, unfortunately). after a trip to the appliance store, we were exhausted & decided to call it a day after having lunch at the polish restaurant on Richmond street. it was chris’ first polish cuisine experience & he seemed to enjoy it. we decided to take a nap at my place before heading out to two holiday parties but after 30 min. of rest, neither of us wanted to move – let alone, go out into the cold, ready ourselves for celebration, or taxi around the city due to lack of parking. so, we heated up leftovers, stayed in bed and watched a video. we both needed to be up early the next morning (for 10AM clothing drive that I sponsored and early Eagles tailgate party that chris attended). xmas: what a lovely Christmas!! chris & I had xmas eve dinner at his sister’s house which was very good. his cousins are beautiful and it was nice to see his family all together. we had xmas dinner at his mom’s house which was also quite good. I received wonderful presents including a beautiful dress from chris (who left for Hawaii along w/ molly & Charlie this morning) tonight, Doreen, steve & I are going out to nosh & drink our way thru Rittenhouse. I took off tomorrow and our office is closed Friday for the New Year holiday. I am looking very forward to a long, relaxing w/e and to hopfully, finish my fabulous Cleopatra book.

I love Ft Lauderdale!

…even if I can’t get a latte within a 3 block radius. the beauty of the ocean and beach clearly outweighs any inconvenience associated with FL living. I just returned from a super-fab 5 day trip to warm and sunny Fort Lauderdale. Anthony picked me up at the airport Saturday afternoon and helped me settle in to the hotel (a super HoJo on the beach for an embarrassingly low rate of $5250/night); he went to work & I immediately headed to the beach. Despite the slight overcast & “chill”, I was happy to finally delve into my 900+ page book “The Memoirs of Cleopatra” which I immediately fell in love with. After 3 not-so-fruitful shopping quests (see beach vs. inconvenience note above), I acquired all supplies needed for a restful night of solitude at the hotel (i.e. food & wine). The next morning (Sunday), I settled in at the beach after 2 unsuccessful attempts at locating a latte (a cappuccino would have sufficed – again, please refer to beach vs. inconvenience). Anthony picked me up at 3:30PM and we took a drive by “Millionaire Mile” in Hallandale (which, btw, was less than impressive), stopped by Houston’s on the water for our ritual cocktail & then to Shuck & Dive for the greatest oysters, wings & fried green tomatoes – and, of course, to watch the Eagles game. I learned that Shuck & Dive has 3 of their own oyster beds in the Bayou which explains how their large, clean, sandless, incredible oysters remain so consistently fabulous. Christine met us there around 7PM and we later headed to the Coyote, a “southwestern” cuisine restaurant. The owner, an acquaintance of Anthony’s, sent over 3 incredibly large square bowls of desert; each more decadent than the other. After ingesting the ever-so-rich homemade ice cream and sipping on a split of champagne, I became immediately nauseous. Anthony thinks it was the bloody mary – champagne – beer – champagne – beer – champagne mixology but the mere thought of oysters and ice cream still makes me weak. needless to say, our stay at the coyote was short-lived. I stayed outside, accompanied by Christine, with fresh air and a glass of water to keep from puking. Anthony dropped Christine and I off at the hotel & I recovered briefly thereafter and was able to enjoy some girl time w/ my best friend. Monday, Christine and I had a nice breakfast which included a perfect cappuccino (after an unsuccessful attempt at the “cyber café” which is nothing but a room of internet portals) in a perfect outdoor beach setting at a new restaurant, “Trina”, which is open in the new “luxury condo building” on the beach just 2 blocks from the hotel. simply beautiful. it made up for the previous 5 unsuccessful latte trips. after breakfast, we basked at the beach for several hours before having lunch at primani brothers – another ritual. Marc & Megan joined us around 3-4PM and we dined at the “Greek Isles” for dinner. After dinner, Marc went back home and Christine, Megan and I went to Martarano’s to say hello to everyone and to raid the wonderful candy isle at Walgreen’s. We walked on the beach to find shells to play (our own version of) Mancala and retired for the evening with our candy booty (and leftover dinner wine). Tuesday morning, we returned to Trina for a perfect cappuccino and to Primani’s for another perfect lunch. Megan and Christine left for home and I readied myself for Anthony’s adventure. He took me for a ride through Victoria Park (my former Florida neighborhood) and to visit his investment property in Hollywood (under renovation), his dad / shaggy / home renovations and then we drove to the Biltmore in Coral Gables which was truly beautiful. The pool is reminiscent of a greek palace with all of the surrounding statuary; it was very apropos whilst reading about Cleopatra’s life and surroundings. After a perfect cocktail, we went to Coconut Grove (my maiden voyage – sad, but true) to a lovely little French Bistro (Le Buchon du Grove, “the cork of the grove”) for a yummy meal. On the way back to Lauderdale, we stopped to walk Shaggy and pick up a deck of playing cards. I was unable to keep my eyes open very long but I think we finished several games of Crazy Eights (Anthony won all less one). I fell immediately asleep and woke up in plenty of time for a relaxing sojourn to the airport. Overall, an absolute 10 of a trip.