2004-11-20 - 9:00 p.m.

Today, I got up and showered, made some coffee, went to the laundry room, and met Deb for brunch at 11. Went to the dry cleaner, then uptown to meet my cousin Sam, who was taking her daughter to the Americ@n G1rl Extravaganza uptown for her birthday. This little excursion was actually far more strenous than usual, due to the pregnancy stupid.

See, Sam was coming in from PA, and I told her that I'd take the subway uptown once they were done, and that I'd call her when I got out of the subway to find out exactly where she was in her whirlwind sightseeing tour, and meet her. Except that after I went down the four flights of stairs to the subway, waited for the train, and rode to 53rd Street, I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone. With her number on it. Leaving me no way to contact her in the midst of the ridiculous crowds here for the holiday season. So I had to get back on the train, go all the way back downtown and home, get my cell phone, and start over. *sigh*

We had lunch, she gave me a giant gift bag full of tiny blue baby clothes, we checked out all the loot her daughter got (aside - have you ever checked out the accessories for those Americ@n G1rl dolls? I am totally into them - not the dolls, just the accessories - I swear, I could EAT them ) and then took her to the train. Spent far too much time in the train station due to abovementioned stupidity (had to refill my Metrocard, realized after walking a quarter mile to my own train that I really needed to pee and had to go back upstairs to the waiting room..) and then decided to walk downtown so I could stop and run my errands. Shopped fruitlessly for flat boots, bought coffee and facial scrub and paper towels and Christmas cards, then decided to stop for a manicure before I dropped off my bags and headed back uptown to Bl00mies for the big sale.

But once my ass was in that manicure chair, my friend, all bets were off. I had a lovely chat with a few women while my nails were drying - I have noticed that when you're pregnant, strange women are nice to you. They smile at you on the street, and talk to you, and tell you no, that shirt doesn't make you look fat. It's like some secret club I never knew about.

Anyway, by the time I got home and finished the laundry, I was whupped. Decided to skip Bloomies, ate dinner, cleaned up a little, made some decaf, and figured I'd go online and do a little Christmas shopping. However, I am somehow unable to manage even that, spending the time cruising journals and typing this long overdue update.

And speaking of, I was perusing my archives (so I could remember how to link, shut up) and am really wishing I could get back into the habit of the daily update. So many little things fall through the cracks - the daily interactions with people on the street, the places I go and things I see. No excuse, really, except that I'm tired. So here's a quick, unsatisfying recap of all the things I've done lately:

~ I had a lovely dinner last week with nycme at a restaurant uptown. I love to get together with her, feel like I have known her far longer than I really have. And not only did she keep a straight face when I practically licked my plate AND ordered dessert, she paid for it too! Love you, nycme! One of these days, when I get my concentration back, I'm going to hit her up for cooking lessons, but she doesn't know it yet.

~ M and I spent a long weekend in New Orleans, one of my all time favorite cities. Not exactly the best place to go pregnant, but there you have it. No oysters and beer at the bar for me, no cocktails in the afternoon. But we had a great time, and I got up every morning, with or without him, and walked to C@fe Dum0nde for cafe au lait and beignets (the baby really, really likes the beignets, it's not my fault) and we had fabulous dinners and kicked around and generally had a nice last hurrah.

~ I found out that my childhood best friend, Ellen, is also pregnant. This is most excellent - when we were children we would talk about how we'd get married and have kids at the same time, and go to the beach with the kids in the summer, and now look - it's happened. Granted, we didn't think it would be when we were pushing 40, but hey, you take what you get. So we are now talking weekly, and frankly, about the joys (ahem) of pregnancy. All good.

~ I've had dinner at M@rio B@tali's newest restaurant, for M's birthday, and a great girlie dinner with Maria and Kate at P@lma as well.

So while I am sorry that those little snippets leave out all the good details, at least I've made record. Oh, and one more thing. My assistant told me that if I don't watch it, the kid's first word is going to be fuck. Heh. So, work is the same as always.
I have good intentions for an update tomorrow as well - but I'm not placing bets.

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