A legendary weekend

When it comes to my birthday, I take things pretty seriously – at least as far as self indulgence and celebration go. My attitude is that it is MY day and I’m going to spend it as close to precisely the way I want to. This condition has been consistent for me as far back as my 18th birthday, a day that began with my purchasing my first red lipstick and ended with a pocketful of never to be forgotten memories from NYC.

This year’s festivities involved a lot of moving parts and, to be honest, I wasn’t always comfortable with the complications involved with organizing 8 people from 4 households in two states to all be at Yankee Stadium for a Saturday afternoon soccer match. Amazingly, everything fell into place beautifully, but I had moments when the number of details, and the limited control I truly had of the situation, felt a tad overwhelming.

During that time, I made a decision that I’m quite proud of – I elected to take one of my three personal days the day before my birthday and to use that time doing whatever I felt like doing in NYC. By providing myself with a day of independent exploration and my own personal agenda, the pressure to find the balance between group activity, romantic shared time and personal space on my actual birthday was eliminated.

Reservations were made for trains and hotels, and in advance of my departure, I practically filled my luggage with enough clothing and shoes to get me from my Friday morning train through our Sunday late afternoon return and all the events, both planned and merely possible, in between.

I had an incredible weekend.

To begin, there was the most perfect September weather imaginable. Blue skies, warm air and unrelenting sunshine were featured all three of the afternoons I was in the city. The evenings were lovely and I was comfortable with my lightweight jacket or pashmina while I was out and about.

I arrived in Moynihan a bit before 2:00 and quickly made my way to my hotel in Chelsea, where I checked in and ditched my bag. As quickly as possible, I headed downtown, the area where I feel most at home, on foot. Ultimately, I walked nearly 30,000 steps between 29th Street and the WTC in the next 10 hours. 

My first nosh of the day was a cup of watermelon chunks scored from a vendor near Washington Square Park. This snack revived me and satiated my appetite enough that I could take in some of the entertainment, both organized and random, that surrounded me in the park. After absorbing my fill of the energy, I set off for a late lunch at my current go to for a meal at the bar, Via Carota. The cacio de pepe and the conversations with neighboring diners, including a couple who live in the town right next to where I grew up, were both thoroughly enjoyed.

After lunch, I meandered my way through the West Village and Meat Packing District with a stop at Sephora where I picked up a couple of new lipsticks. Their matte line is a favorite and going to the store in person provided me with both an opportunity to sample shades in person and to receive a pretty cool little skin care kit as a birthday bonus. Lips stained, I took the High Line back to Chelsea and relaxed in my hotel for a couple of hours before catching a train to go way downtown to the Financial District (FiDi) to meet a friend at Eataly for an event he had seen advertised.

All You Can Eataly is a one price ($95) all you can eat and drink party with food, cocktails, wine, hands on food preparation and music and it was awesome! Generally, these sort of things don’t appeal to me because I have zero interest in being elbow to elbow with people jostling to get a morsel of mediocre food and a mouthful of wine. Prior to committing to this excursion, I had actually phoned Eataly to ask what I might expect in terms of crowds and had been assured that it would be well managed.

The guy I spoke to was 100% correct. What I encountered was not the congested situation I had imagined at all.

Food, beverages, and music were all plentiful and we had a blast. From the moment we reached the Prosecco station at the top of the escalator to when we departed with the jazz trio’s rendition of Happy Birthday echoing in my ears, we had so much fun. The crowd was deliciously diverse and I was completely captivated by the attendees, like the group of pretty and well dressed Black women, who were having the time of their lives. I would attend this again in a heartbeat!

It had been a long day and by the time I made it back to Chelsea and to bed, it was close to 1:00. My night’s rest was brief, since I simply do not sleep well these days, and I was awake and moving before 8:00. I went to a nearby deli and picked up my regular NYC breakfast – a ham, egg and cheese on a roll with a side of fruit, and quickly realizing that I was not going to make that yoga class I had initially considered, returned to my hotel to shower and dress.

It was my official birthday and it was going to be another gorgeous September day. I checked out and shifted my bag to where we’d be spending Saturday in a hotel just a couple of blocks further north in Korea Town. Then I walked to Moynihan to meet my love and my middle son who were scheduled to arrive before 11:00. We made a brief stop at our favorite place (Pizza Suprema on 8th Avenue) for slices so the guys could grab some sustenance for our afternoon at Yankee Stadium and then walked to the hotel to drop off their bags.

Less than an hour later we were on our way to see the GOAT – Lionel Messi, make his debut with Inter Miami vs the NYCFC. It wouldn’t be possible for me to explain how much fun this match was but here are the absolute highlights: A sell out crowd with all three of my sons (including my youngest’s gf) and my guy, my guy’s sister, niece and sister in law all in attendance. The sun was strong and warm, yet we were tucked under an overhang preventing direct sun(burn). Cold beer. Messi on the pitch the entire game in a match that finished in a draw after a final minute goal by the home team. It was absolutely fantastic. If you’ve never attended a professional soccer match, I recommend you rectify that lapse asap. It’s a great time.

Once back in Manhattan, we freshened up and made our way to dinner. I won’t waste too many words on that experience beyond these – if you find yourself midtown in Manhattan searching for delicious Italian food, skip Duomo 51 because you won’t find it there. It was the only disappointment, with mediocre food, lax service and a shitty table, of my time in the city. Since we were unable to catch a server’s eye to order dessert in an attempt to sweeten our departure, we opted to pick up a couple of pieces of cake from Tous les Jours on our way back to our hotel. It was the right choice.

Sunday was yet another stunning day and we made the best of our time walking for blocks and blocks, picking up a few things at Chelsea Market and generally just enjoying the last hours of what had been a wonderful NYC weekend. Lunch prior to hopping onto our late afternoon train, was pizza (again for him!) with a black & white cookie (all mine) for the ride home along the Hudson. It had been one of my best birthdays ever.