Furs

I spotted this photo op a couple of weekends ago on our Tour de SoHo New Year's Day. I told Craig my mom would love it - it's a fur coat store with a bunch of Barbies coated in their own furs as the window display! How glamorous! Fun! Only in New York City, or maybe in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere that likes Barbie Dolls.*I'm really writing just to unwind from the day. It was another wildly busy workday, with so many things happening at full tilt one right after the next that I just want to sit here and not think about it for maybe one hour. Craig and I traveled home together on the train and ducked into Ooki Sushi on 3rd Ave for dinner. We ordered a summer roll appetizer, spicy tuna roll, a Midnight Express roll and a Big Daddy roll. Ooki Sushi is my favorite sushi place in our neighborhood. It's warm, dim and relaxing and the sushi is pretty and delicious. I love sushi, love wasabi, and love the experience of it. The only problem really was the rowdy threesome next to us, and since restaurants in Manhattan typically seat between 20 and 50 only, sitting next to a rowdy threesome is like sitting with them. The married couple are business entrepreneurs (annoying to hear them boast about themselves) and the single lady with them was wasted on sake and throwing her arms all around. It sort of sucked the conversation out of Craig and me but we still managed to slide a few sentences across the table to one another and laugh on our way out at their lunacy. It's not like we've never been rowdy before. Just not on your average Tuesday.*I believe this week will cruise by quickly. Friday I will cook a warm dinner at home and we will either watch movies or Lost on DVD. Saturday I suspect I will finally get some writing done, after all the distractions and interruptions, but Saturday night we are meeting with Michelle and Al of Mexico (of Jersey, but who we met in Mexico!) for dinner in SoHo (hi, Michelle and Al!) That will be fun to see them out of our swim-up bar universe! And Sunday will be quiet. I love a quiet Sunday.*This past weekend we ventured over to Hell's Kitchen. We feverishly rotate what neighborhood we'd like to live in next, but right now the target is Hell's Kitchen. How cool is that to say? "Hi, I live in Minnesota, where do you live?" "Hell's Kitchen in New York City." Yeah! Yeah! Only problem I really foresee is that it is expensive. We're not talking Upper East Side Manhattan expensive (which is), we're talking, "I'm totally made of money, I live in Hell's Kitchen" expensive. It's probably out of the question. But a girl can dream, right?? Walking through the neighborhood there was nice. It's quiet - in the W. 40's and 50's between 8th, 9th and 10th avenues and seemingly much more of a community than our neighborhood, which is more like a giant frat party with some delivery guys on bicycles and a combo of ugly terrier dogs and the 2nd Avenue Subway Line construction. Oh, I shouldn't be a brat about my corner of Manhattan, because I do love it with a fierce passion. I just wouldn't mind experiencing another piece of the puzzle, and Hell's Kitchen seems like a fine place to spend time.*It's a little after 9 and that means time to fade to bed. I can't believe how quickly the days go by. I'm glad Craig's part of the project will carry us beyond the December 08 chronology of the project and on into mid 09. I'd gladly continue to brave the commute until late 09 or early 2010, whatever might keep us in New York, whatever might sway us to stay urbanites.*