All That and a Bag o' Chips

Has it really only been a few days since I last visited the friendly confines of the HoB? Hard to believe. It's also hard to believe that 72 hours can go by so slowly at certain times (say, when you're behind enemy lines with alligator clips attached to, respectively, a Sears-brand car battery and your genitalia) or so quickly (when you're running through a wonderful few days with your other half.

Saturday was our day to run around Soho, just for walking in and down and up and through a variety of stores, stalls, vendors and shops. We made a reservation for Mercer Kitchen for brunch, and as per usual, we wound up spending some face time at the bar downstairs, each of us nursing cocktails (she had some red wine, I had a pomegranate mojito) before we were beckoned upwards to our table to a sense of deja vu -- we each had the same entrees -- and were holding back laughs as we kept sharing an inside joke. The celeb sighting of the day -- although there were many -- was seeing Robin Williams, replete with beret, black microfiber pull-over and sneakers -- slide in and downstairs.

Once we finished our lunch/brunch, we tooled around Soho for awhile; though we enjoyed checking out the variety of artists and their handiwork, we also managed trips to a few stores, including Vuitton, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn and Bloomingdales. It was a nice, non-agenda afternoon/evening. Since we were totally relaxed and meandering, we eventually opted to return to the hotel and just chill for awhile.

Night came fast and we were enjoying the weather and each other. Just lounging around, watching (or trying to watch) Mullholland Drive (the living room DVD was nish good), and getting hungry, we decided to order in rather than dress to go out. About seven restaurant choices later (everything else was either closed or too far away) we opted to do take-out from Smith & Wollensky around the block. I went down and scored din-din and some sodas (after much searching) and finally returned. We sat down on the couch and enjoyed a cozy candlelit dinner (and some SNL, MTV and god knows what else) before we adjourned to the bedroom to watch the DVD and fall asleep.

Once we woke up, we decided we'd go to brunch with my sister and her boyfriend before heading downtown, so we wound up at the Panorama Cafe on the East Side, sat outdoors and soaked in some sun, the air and some more relaxation. By the time we finished and had enough motivation to leave, we nixed going downtown in favor of hitting a pet store near my place, where we four spent an hour or so playing with lhasa apsos, chihuahuas, shitzus and I tried fitting my other half (unsuccessfully) with a muzzle ;-) We discussed possible names for a girl cat and a boy dog -- Elvis -- and opted to keep looking for an eventual pair. Eventually we split with the goal of heading to my apartment and then downtown, but we decided instead to rest and spend some downtime at my place.

Sunday night was Balthazar. Same menu, same choices, different wine (Chateauneuf du Pape 2001 -- rockin') and same result...we had a wonderful dinner, smiled all the way home, fell asleep too quickly and woke up happy and together.

***

There's more on the way, so I'll be back soon...first I need to unplug these alligator clips and the battery...

-B-