my weekend was fabulous. and yours? the weather was splendid here, except that the wind was killer. my birthday was fun. it ended with a just lovely on friday night. stan and i went to dinner at perry street. a fabulous jean-georges restaurant on perry @ wsh. my attire-a new j.crew brocade top from my mom. and my new fragrance decorated the air. at the restaurant, my dinner choice-the chef’s tasting menu. um…to die for goodness in your mouth! my dessert was even adorned with a candle. our waiter-from montgomery, al and went to auburn. smallworld.

saturday came quickly. my birthday high faded…i worked out hard after my BIG dinner. and made way to the au bar to watch the tigers stomp all over the razorbacks. war d*** eagle my fellow tiger friends. cam is part of the heisman talk, so i might just be in attendance to that announcement @ nyc’s nokia theater. just so you know…auburn’s got hard core fans in nyc. we cried “war eagle”, cheered until our voices faded, and chanted “it’s great to be an auburn tiger”. however, we didn’t roll times square. maybe for the iron bowl, after all it would be crazy convenient considering the charmin restrooms are nearby.

sunday i found myself on a long local train commute to church with a friend from san diego. the express train was not running. too bad i didn’t have the chance to enjoy a subway jam session from these guys. instead i was lucky enough to enjoy three amigos and there mariachi band. it was lovely at 10 in the morning. i went to church here. it was spirit filled and full of passion for jesus. we talked about conflict resolution, “if we really want to be a community, that means there will be conflict. how do we deal with this in a loving, Christ-like way?” we prayed for our city. we prayed for it’s believers. and we prayed for a spirit-filled world. the holy spirit was alive and well.

then ali took me to lunch for a late birthday. we went to a favorite: the hummus place. i have officially visited every location in the city now, i do believe. then we went for a longggggggg walk along riverside drive and the west side waterfront. beautiful. we were fully aware of god’s amazing creation that surrounded us, and completely swept away from the craziness city life. we found ourselves surrounded by green trees, the rocky banks of the hudson and a million bikers/walkers/runners/precious families.

god i thank you for a beautiful weekend. your grace is enough. all the good gifts we enjoy in our daily lives affirm your love for us.

Hi lovelies, what was your weekend like. It is 12:25 am here, so mine is officially 25 minutes over, but it holds LOTS of fun + food + friends + flea markets!

Friday night, us gals met for a fabulous dinner @ Elizabeth, We throughly entertained each other with conversation. And then headed out on the town…that is…until the town couldn’t handle us any more.

Saturday, Erika and I hit the Hell’s Kitchen Flea. She “enabled” me to make a purchase. I should have buyer’s remorse over it (b/c I have plenty of warm coats!) – BUT I DON’T. How could I say no? It was my size. It was Vintage Chanel. It was $200 (but I bargained the lady down, until she would have NO MORE!) The buttons were so fun. We stuffed it in the Baggu and headed South to ABC Carpet & Home. We ate at ABC Kitchen. We all four got different dishes, and played pass me a BITE. Then we walked and talked and saw John Derian at his store. But totally wimped out and didn’t strike up any sorta conversation with him other than, “yes I would like to checkout now.” They are hiring, and yes Erika…”maybe I will mail you half price surprises soon. ha!”

Saturday night. Stan and I met friends at Bread in Tribeca. It was deliciously YUM to the TUM. And then we headed off to a late night movie in Battery Park City. Stan informed me we might be in need of an oxygen tank as we escalated UP and UP and UP and UP and UP more escalators until we finally reached the theater another 1,ooo feet above sea level. Colorado Altitude sickness was coming on. Movie Theaters work a little different here in New York than in the ole’ South. Real Estate is prime, and things go UP. We saw The Social Network. I know think of Facebook in a totally different. In a weird way the movie was not good, but it was good. It was slow,  but kept you on edge, so it was constantly engaging. It would flip back and forth between the early days and flash forwards to legal proceedings dealing with lawsuits. You know more than 500 million people share details of their lives with Facebook. Crazy! It all started as a social network on Harvard’s campus.

Sunday was chill. Dinner in the West Village at a “contemporary American restaurant in a historic space” – Commerce. Totally recommend if you are in NYC. The food is fantabulous. [I got a Tapioca for dessert (I am not a sweets girls) in honor of you Dad!]

My weekend is not 50 minutes over. It was fun-filled. Tell me about yours. What did you do?? Anything stellar?

Sorry for my little blog hiatus, but it was only a result of the fact that I was computer free (woohoo!) for almost 5 days. I barely even checked emails on my phone. I was on a little city escape to another city :: Montreal, Canada. It is only a 1.5 hour flight from nyc, which makes for a quick weekend getaway.

There are so many things to do in Montreal. The city offers a little bit of everything from downtown high rises to the charm and history of the Old Port area. My favorite street being Rue Saint-Paul. The little cafes, charming boutiques, cobblestone streets and historic facades are reminiscent of a little street in a European town. If this doesn’t scream CHARM, then I don’t know what does.

Now only was the architectural elements of the area fabulous, but the landscaping got lots of attention too. The early cool weather up North, with 40s and 50s already gracing the city with it’s presence, there was an abundance of MUMS. They were everywhere.

As I walk down the streets of Montreal, I came to quickly understand that Tim Hortons is the Starbucks of Canada. I don’t know about you, but the name, “Tim Hortons”, does not really suggest coffee, bagels, donuts and pastries, but HEY I needed my morning dose of caffeine. It works for a quick morning pick me up. After grabbing a cup I felt compelled to join in on this fabulous conversation between these three lovely and rather plump bronze ladies. I do not know why I am even posting this picture, but it made me laugh. Typical woman chatting anywhere, even in the graffiti adorned alley way up on a platform with planters flanking their sides. Too funny.

Walking towards the Old Port from Downtown you surely will not miss the colorful facade of the Palais des Congres. The whimsical and playful facade gives way the structural workings of the building. It is interesting to me because the structure is so “SERIOUS” and the facade is “FUN”. And on another fun note, who doesn’t like to play airplane when they eat there spoonful of banana baby food. Or better yet, race car or ducky? Product designers have such a nifty job. How fun are these baby spoons.

And after walking in and out of boutiques in Old Port, admiring architectural buildings and exploring secret gardens our stomachs quickly reminded us we had not eaten lunch (or breakfast for that matter). That coffee had warn off. So we head over to Cluny ArtBar. It is found in the Old Darling Factory. And with out a doubt if you go to Montreal, eat lunch with local artists and trendy businesswoman/men at CLUNY. You will not be disappointed. The lunch grub is to tasty and fresh. It beautifully presented. The atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of a Tribeca cafe in NYC or Urban Standard in Birmingham, AL (for my old stomping ground friends).

And after lunch, we trekked up the Lachine Canal (way further than we’d anticipated” to the Atwater Market. Aside from some good ole’ exercise, the walk was well worth it. The market smashed FALL all in my face and I loved it. I knew I was born in October for some reason. I love fall. The weather is crisp, temperatures are cooler, pumpkins + mums are all around and the smell of apple cider and pumpkin spice fills the air. I discovered flowers I’d never seen before, interesting varieties of tomatoes and an extensive meat selection at this market. To bad I didn’t have a kitchen in Canada. I was feeling very tempted to buy up the market to bring back to NYC. I remember that US Customs isn’t so friendly on the declaration form when it comes to trying to bring foods back into our homeland, so I keep temper my excitement with snapping lots of pictures.

And if we hadn’t had enough walking for the day. We hiked all the way across town to climb to the top of Mount Royal. Keeping our fingers crossed the clouds would clear, we climb…

catching glimpses of beautiful homes along the way.

and climb, and climb, and climb…

And finally. The VIEW of all of Montreal.

RE:ENERGIZE…we walked enough this one day to deserve a more restful (I use this term loosely) day. We hoped aboard a “ducky boat” (as Mom and I would say from our Boston experience“) also known as the Amphi-Bus. You know the one’s that go on land and water. It was a blast. We toured through the Old Port area, and enjoyed miraculous views of some of the famed architecture of Montreal from the water vantage point.

The trip was fun. Just not the cab ride home. I was calm traveling the entire way, even waiting 2 hours at the airport. But I wanted to lose my cool with this cab driver. He went the most ridiculous way home, and I just wanted to get HOME. Why? He went on the wrong bridge, went north, curved us through Little Italy, took us to East SoHo and everywhere in between. UGH. I repeat over and over to myself. Patience, patience, patience. 

I digress…

Other MUSTS in Montreal: 

Eat @ Olive and Gourmando, Barroco, le Cartet, Fairmount Bagel, Le Enfantes Terribles, 

Stay @ Hotel Le Crystal, St. Paul Hotel, Hotel St. James, 

See Botanical Gardens, Olympic Stadium, beautiful homes along Redpath Crescent at the base of Mount Royal, all of Old Port, Mile End, the interior of the W Hotel, Basilique Notre-Dame (light show), beautiful homes