Kittens

Today marked yet another in a long (or, too short) line of Staycations. We've got these vacation days which do not roll over into another year if unused, and for which we are not reimbursed, so we figure a day here, a day there...and we'll make it through to December. Anyway, last night we headed to the Zipper Factory for dinner and Lauren's concert. When we entered the restaurant portion of the venue, we spotted Megan and Amanda immediately, but they did not see us (I stared at Megan like 5 times to get her to look at me but she is the most amazing listener on the planet and remained entirely engrossed in Amanda's conversation, props to Megan!) It would have been a little inappropriate to cross the restaurant and make a scene, so we waited til after dinner to wave them over. Anyway, I ate a fantastic Mediterranean plate with hummus, fresh pita, olives and tzatziki (I'm relying on the internet's spelling of that, by the way...and the internet is not Greek, so let's hope it knows its international spellings) and Craig ate a sandwich of grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, avocado and arugula...mmm. Lauren's show was scheduled to begin at 8, so we wrapped up eating and waving over our friends and headed to the venue portion of the Zipper Factory. What a great place...this marked our second time seeing Lauren and band there. The seats are retired van/car/any motor vehicle seats, and the stage is just right for her presence. I can't thank the Universe enough for introducing me to Lauren back in the college days of Comparative Literature when she called the cherubs in the painting "fluffy". (I love you Lauren!) Since then, she has been this massive creative force, conquering musical worlds in ways none other have...and of course, I say that because I know her and am glistening with pride like a mother hen. :) She played a few new tunes, including this inexplainably awesome "folk" type song with two other singers, about "idle" hands. I think the grin on my face during that was probably regrettably nerdy! She even jabbed Sarah Palin in a two second "political" song. Lauren has this way - she's got the thing an audience needs a performer to have. She's gorgeous, funny, brilliant, talented (that doesn't do her justice) and downright kind as a human. We had so much fun.*Afterwards, we returned to the restaurant portion for a few drinks with Jeff, Lauren, and two complete (???) that work with Jeff. Sorry, Jeff...I won't go into incriminating details. Being around Jeff and Lauren is like this giant gulp of amazingly clean and environmentally friendly breath of fresh air, and every night that Craig and I have with them is stored permanently in our memory banks. Thanks, LC, for rocking the house so hardcore! You are GREAT.*This morning, of course, due to alcoholic intake from the previouse night, we were lazy beings. We actually crashed on the couch for some reason, Craig and then me ontop of Craig (??) and woke up that way at 5 a.m. Craig has had three memorable and absolutely hysterical situations with taking out his contacts...one being that after a Purdue game back in the day, we crashed in a room at the Union and he soaked his contacts in glasses of water (being w/o solution and a case) and in the middle of the night, I either drank them or threw them out!, two being, one night we came home so late from the bar that he decided to pluck them out of his eyes en route to the apartment tossing them onto the sidewalk, and three...last night, as we settled into the couch, he decided to take them out and store them on the cover of his New York Time Out Magazine. So, this morning, when I found the magazine on the coffee table, ontop of it was a shriveled dried up CB contact. HOOT! I don't even know where the other one is - likely somewhere on the carpet. I went for bagels at 10.30 this morning after crawling out of bed. That is like waking up at 9 o'clock at night for us!!! We rarely sleep past 8 or 9. And then we cleaned up and headed down to Union Square to find a couple of cups of coffee at Mud. And after that, we just walked. We walked, walked, walked, walked...it was great! Ate lunch at Five Points, which was strangely unlike the description of it he had read on Foodist Colony, but good, and then just walked a lot more. We went to Room and Board to once again sit on "THE" couch, which is still not schedule to arrive until mid-November, and we wrapped up Vacation Day with a beer at dba. Above pictured is the kitten I encountered upon exiting the bathroom there. Nice! A bar kitten. If there is anything that can turn both Lauren and me into gushy melty piles of complete mush, it's cats and kittens. We often talk of purchasing one of which we'd share custody. That kitty would live both in Manhattan and in Queens. It would be a diverse creature.*