An eventful evening

Charles came over Thursday night to help me hang the paintings Brian did. I'm very happy to finally have those up!

Howard met us for a Cuban dinner at Cafecito. Dave called to let us know about a party at Milk Studios in Chelsea, so we cabbed over there. Afterwards, we went to Passerby. It's a super-small bar, but yielded some excellent celeb sightings: James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins and Chloe Sevigny.

Planned vs. Unplanned

Met Jen for drinks and snacks after work at Riposo46. We'd planned this weeks ago. Still liking this bar... though the owner/bartender is partial to playing cheesy 70s music for background (Neil Diamond, Air Supply). At this point, it's still endearing. However, I'm bracing myself for Doobie Brothers at the next happy hour.

Unexpectedly, Biniak was in town for a shoot, so I met him for last-minute drinks at the W Union Square's Underbar. Hadn't seen him in like 2 years, so it was awesome to catch up.

There is mounting evidence every day that the ad world is way too small.

K11 news

Tuesday, there was another K11 project event. Guy screened clips from the 2 documentaries: the Virgin Harvest and also from the K11 Journey. More and more people are hearing about the campaign and becoming interested, which is awesome to see. The screening was at Earth, an Indian-themed nightclub in Chelsea.

Lin does NY

Franklin made his first trip to the Big Apple this past week. 1st night was dinner at Sushi Lounge and sake at Satsko. Thursday we survived the 80s party. Friday was dinner at frenetic Indian Panna II and drinks/jazz at Rue B.

Saturday was somewhat monsoon-like in NYC, but we made it to Chinatown to enjoy soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. Geet is moving back to Bombay, so her going-away party was Sat. night at Artisanal. Really good cheese fondue. If I go back, I will stick to the cheese vs. ordering a proper entree. After dinner, we went to an Irish pub nearby for a brief moment. But then we became inspired to walk to Koreatown and sing karaoke at Toto Music Studio for several hours. Who knew my friends were such songbirds?

Got a late start Sunday as a result of karaoke-ing til dawn. But did eventually motivate uptown to walk through Central Park and go to the Boat Basin with Robyn. Dinner at Esperanto.

These are my high points... Franklin will need to do his own blog to describe experiences like lunch at Shake Shack.

Just another Thursday night... in 1984

Last week Mario, Nick & Ryan hosted an 80s-themed summer kick-off party. A Flashdance-worthy time was had by all. Below are some photos from Grace:

It's all about the muscle shirts.
Did someone say "Thriller"?
Mario spoofs "Grease."
A cute bartender improves any party. 

Mid-day drama

Since drama class and one-act plays in high school, I've loved theatre. Though I definitely prefer plays to musicals. Overall, musicals are very showy (sorry for the pun) - so many lights, pyrotenics, loud music, singing and dancing. Does distraction/visual stimulation pass as true entertainment? However, there's something to be said when 4 actors on a minimalist stage with no set changes can captivate your attention for 2 hours straight (i.e. Proof). There aren't nearly as many good plays on Broadway as musicals, so I don't see plays that often. Actually the last play I remember seeing was The Shape of Things by Neil Labute in 2001.

And so I found myself in the West Village yesterday at a matinee performance of Neil Labute's new play, Some Girl(s). Good stuff. An all-star cast: Eric McCormack from "Will & Grace" plays it straight; Fran Dreschner from "The Nanny" speaks without her whiny, nasal, Brooklyn accent and strips down to her bra & panties on stage (nice stomach!); and Maura Tierney from "ER" was just fabulous overall. Neil Labute has a really unique ability to create dispicable characters. In all of his works, there's at least one person whose words and behaviors generate a visceral reaction from the audience. And this was no different, we were all groaning at the lead guy's antics.

Vino galore

Met Jen & Tara for drinks at 'inoteca on the LES Monday. Then we headed over to Suba; on Monday nights they have a 3-course prefixe menu, followed by a Latin movie. Suba is a cool space... the main dining room is below ground & it's actually designed like a moat (room is surrounded by water). Food - especially the tapas to start - was good. The movie was Plata Quemada (Burnt Money). Wasn't what we were expecting to see, but was still interesting to watch.

Last night, went to relatively new LES wine bar Jadis with the studio guys. Apparently a bodega was there previously. However, there are no traces left -- the owners have stripped everything down to show the beautiful exposed brick walls and ceiling. Very cozy; I totally felt like I was in Madrid. Cheap wine by the glass and yummy pate.

Brokeback Birthday

After the crawfish boil, I went home to "nap." I did rally late-night for Rick's Brokeback Mountain-themed birthday party. Was finally able to wear the cowboy hat that my mom & aunt gave me for Xmas.

This party was true to other parties that Rick hosts: too much food, too much alcohol, and people staying up too late.

Cavorting with the enemy

The NYC chapter of the Louisiana State University alumni association hosted a crawfish boil Sat. afternoon at the Hudson Beach Cafe on the (way) Upper West Side. I attended/crashed with some fellow UGAers. 3000 lbs. of crawfish, 4 hours of open bar, and the Baton Rouge-based band The Terms.

Fittingly, it was the first properly hot & humid day in NY. You know you're in the company of Southerners when everyone is chowing down on very heavy jambalaya and very spicy crawfish *while drinking copious amounts of alcohol* in the mid-day sun. Eric warned me to look out for the dead crawfish; I didn't really see any. The crawfish were tasty, but it's quite an intense process to peel them to get to the meat.

Afterwards, we went south 25 blocks and stopped by the Boat Basin Cafe to watch the sunset. Because drinking outside for 4 hours just isn't enough. However, the Boat Basin is one of my favorite places in the city for drinks. I don't go up there enough. Nothing fancy, but very peaceful views of the boats, the river, and (dare I say) NJ.

Spotted

MTV reporter Gideon Yago walking on 14th St. holding hands with his girlfriend Friday morning.

What people who work past 5 pm miss

Despite arriving at the office at an untraditional hour, I left "on time" to meet Robyn for a drink at Riposo46, a new Italian wine bar in Hell's Kitchen. The owner was friendly, the wine was refreshing, and the cheese plate was tasty - so we will be back.

Across the street, there was a stage with a band playing and a bellydancer going crazy. Intrigued, I walked over there to see what was up. It was the far west end of a Taste of Times Square, so I wound up walking down Restaurant Row to Broadway. There were more bands & lots of food tents, and a pretty good sized crowd for a Monday night.

More Shelley remembrances

I'm still deeply saddened by Shelley's passing. When my former co-worker Kevin Cahillane heard the news, he wrote the letter below to the other Draft executives:

"I was Shelley’s assistant at Ammirati & Puris in 1995. It was my first real job and my first day was her 40th birthday. There was cake, candles, joy and song. In fact, you could say that most days about Shelley. In my position, I managed to misplace petty cash, misfile expense reports and generally mismanage my menial existence. Shelley thought I was in the wrong position. She thought I should be a writer. Nine months later, she promoted me. I had no portfolio or prospects at the time, just desire. I didn’t know an OE from an AE. Shelley would have been a great teacher. She recognized passion. She taught me rule 1-A in my writer’s handbook: have a conversation with your reader.

Three years later, I left Ammirati to go to film school at USC (oh yeah, Shelley gave me a job when I didn’t even have a degree). I remember being a nervous wrecking ball before going into her office and giving her the news. I felt like I was somehow betraying her commitment to me. She hugged me, of course, when I told her. “I think that’s where your writing wants to go,” she said. My last day was the last day of the year (or December 23 or so on the advertising calendar) and Shelley was out of the office with the flu. I was so relieved. I didn’t want to say goodbye. I still don’t.

While I have precious few trophies, awards or songs written about me, I owe my writing career to her. It is a debt I will simply try to pay forward."

People who go to work around 11:30

I made some calls & sent some Blackberries from my apt. this morning, so I went in to the office later than usual. I sat down on the N train and realized Michael Showalter was across from me. I remember him from MTV's "You Wrote It, You Watch It" when I was in college, and he recently wrote, directed and starred in the indie film The Baxter. It was a bit surreal... on one hand I wanted to say hi; on the other hand, he should be allowed to take the subway in peace.

Busy, boozy weekend

Casey was visiting from Boston this weekend. We had drinks at Satsko, followed by dinner at Pylos, a cute Greek place in my neighborhood. Everything was tasty. The ceiling of the main dining room is covered by scores of clay pots/pitchers (a cool design element, though I briefly wondered how secure they were fastened to the ceiling). Margarita nightcap at Yuca Bar, which wasn't the smartest move.

Attempted to recover on Saturday morning. The Picture played an afternoon show at Union Pool in Williamsburg, so I motivated to that. Union Pool is actually an old swimming pool supply store that's been converted into a bar & performance space. It also has an outdoor garden. The show was good, and the space was interesting. So there could have been worse ways to spend an afternoon. After seeing the band, I met Shani at Dumont Burger for a mini-burger snack and a couple of beers. Would have walked home over the bridge, but it was way too breezy. Had dinner and too much sake at Kasadela. My heart belongs to Satsko, but there are many good things to say about Kasadela's black edamame and rock shrimp tempura. Went home and watched Matchpoint, which was well-done (but I probably could have done without staying up til 3 am).

Sunday, I got up and did the usual coffee/bagel/paper in the park, ran some errands and straightened up my apt. 1492 had a little party in the afternoon to celebrate summer and the official opening of their garden, so I stopped by for a glass of sangria and snacks. Satsko was entertaining some sake makers from Japan Sunday night, so we stopped by to meet them and sample their sakes.

Latest TV escapism

I'm definitely too old for this crap, but I'm watching the new MTV series The Hills. Basically it reminds me why I'm glad I live in NYC vs. LA, and also why I'm glad that I work in advertising vs. fashion. Total train wreck to see these girls making some of the same mistakes my friends & I did at that age.

Lovely dinner

Last night's 3rd installment of the Dining Out group was a success. Had a drink at Vin Noir and then headed to Bar Marche in NoLita (Gail's pick). It was a solid choice: service and all the food was great. I especially liked one of the appetizers - almond-stuffed dates, wrapped in bacon, with a rasperry glaze.

My only complaint was about the decor. The restaurant is quite homey, but they have lucite boxes around the antique chandeliers?! Apparently this is a design element to reflect the chef's modern take on traditional dishes. After working in a creative industry for 11 years, I should probably be able to better understand this. But it still bugged me.

Summer bedding

Apparently it was *hot* in NYC for Memorial Day. However, it's been rainy & in the 60s since I got back. A bit of a let-down after experiencing 90s in GA.

However, I have taken a step to prep for summer: I packed away my mack-daddy, extra-warm, heavy down comforter. And I purchased a lighter quilt and new shams from West Elm in anticipation of 3-4 months of milder weather.

The Buelter clan grows

Scott, Karen & Sebastian welcomed a new addition to their family Friday: Annabel Lea. Is the name choice a coincidence? Anyway, after hours of labor and giving birth, Karen looks better than I do after hours of primping at home. 

Fresh meat

I think a summer session at NYU is kicking off, or perhaps the interns have arrived for summer housing... I've seen a lot of fresh faces wandering the East Village in packs, and a lot of freaked-out parents standing around the Palladium dorm.

Back in the saddle

Flew back to NY Sat. vs. taking the train.

While I was in GA, I had a nightmare that I was walking down Ave. C and I couldn't find Satsko! So I went there for dinner with Duck about an hour after I got back to my apt. You know, just to make sure it was still there. We hit a few bars afterwards: Sunburnt Cow, Thirsty Scholar and Bua (a chill place on St. Mark's that I always walk past but never have stopped in).

Yesterday I went to Gary and Marina's apt. for brunch. 3 Tarts was asked to contribute to the Tony Awards goodie bag. So I helped assemble ~300 packets of their sea salt and black pepper biscotti for that event.

More fun at home

Took another day trip to Savannah yesterday. Had lunch at the Gryffon Tea Room, saw the Vera Wang exhibit at SCAD's Red Gallery, and did some shopping on Broughton St.

Otherwise, have spent the past 3 days catching up with more family and friends. And stuffing myself with a lot of incredibly fattening Southern foods. Case in point: Had fried catfish tonight with my grandparents at Country Girls Cafe!

Of course, there are more people I would like to see and other things that I would like to do. But I've been down in GA for a week & a half, and I do have a job... so I head back to NYC tomorrow morning.