impromptu girls dinner

two nights ago, the girls [daisy, han, rose] and i met for an impromptu dinner at khe-yo, a laotian restaurant opened by restaurateur marc forgione in tribeca. we had originally planned on doing dinner, drinnks, and a movie at our loft, but canceled that when kevin's business trip to virginia was cancelled. as usual, daisy came to the rescue with a list of handpicked restaurants which had availability and made the reservation day-of.

the restaurant is relatively dark when you enter, and opens up to a nicely sized, well-lit dining area with a few large booths towards the front of the restaurant for larger parties. it has a chic yet warm feeling due to the black colors and wood. 

we ordered a bottle of white wine to begin with and quickly decided on which dishes we would order. we had the sticky rice with bang bang, grilled laos style sausage, crunchy coconut rice, smashed green papaya salad, chili prawns, berkshire spare ribs, and skirt steak wrapped in betel leaves. the portions were relatively small, so i don't think anyone was overly full at the end, but happily full we were. in my opinion, the tastiest dishes were (and i've never had laotian cuisin before btw) the coconut rice, chili prawns (especially the THICK ginger scallion toast that comes with it  and thai basil sauce), and grilled sausages.

i think everyone was in a good mood that night and although we'd gotten together a few weeks ago with kevin and dustin, there was something different about going out with just the girls. lots of interesting work stories from han, updates from rose's open houses, as well as european travel plans coming up for daisy and han. not so much on my end, just unpacking and decoarting - ha.

i had two glasses of wine, which is two more than i've had in months. it was the perfect way to spend a cold february evening.

a cozy night with friends

there was a snow blizzard this morning! but even that couldn't stop good friends from getting together for a nice dinner at bar primi tonight :)

it was the perfect way to end the first week of the new year and the first full week back in the office. and who knew management consultants had such "interesting" job training?

red-eye monday

after a relatively pleasant 4-5 hr nap, arrived at newark airport and following in my friend, daisy's footsteps, i used the public transport system for the first time to get home. pretty easy with just a carry-on and about 55 minutes door to door.

work work work ... in my next life, i would like to have a career where thanksgiving, christmas, and independence day holidays are slow, rather than the busiest times of the year! (>.<)

best: early dinner with girlfriends on a monday evening! what an amazing way to start off the week ... 

worst: at a loss for words all day (all weekend for that matter) due to leaving my brain in the wrong time zone! i'm terrible with time zone changes, even 3 hrs :/

smile: rose and i are about to embark on the cuyana lean closet movement! or some version of it anyways. in search of ways to simply our lives and our homes, we will do our own massive closet purges and then limit ourselves to future purchases. the terms are to be determined .. getting ready for 2015!

too many whites

monday again and today was BEAUTIFUL out.

even after a blueberry muffin for breakfast, i felt hungry by 11am and RAVENOUS by 12:45pm when dais and i went to buy lunch. therefore, i treated myself to a large market lunch at diginn, a yakimochi, and a box of sesame biscuits from cafe zaiya. i was quite stuffed afterwards :)

the work day flew by and before i knew it, it was time to head out for my weekly meeting with the contractors. the meeting was quick and it sounds like they are working to finish by 12noon this friday, october 31st (one week earlier than their original projected timeline), in time for our move-in. how sweet! i have had a wonderful experience with russ, mike, and grant, and all their subs at fulton landing and would definitely recommend them to friends and family based on our experience.

then off to home depot to pick out materials and order window treatments - done! and back to the office for some late S&P announcements and a quick dinner at tappo (their margherita is awesome!), before returning to the apartment to ... yes, MOVE MORE BOXES.

apparently we didn't move enough out of the master bedroom on saturday so the painters couldn't finish the ceilings. it might sound a bit wierd, but it's fun to get involved in the remodel, even if it is just moving boxes. and it's a little empowering to accomplish something as a couple (boxes moved - check!). maybe a little like nailing the first dance at your wedding?

backsplash colors and materials - we decided to go with glass because we like to cook a LOT and i didn't want to have to deal with stained grout lines, which you can get with tiles. although i LOVE marble herringbone backsplashes! i think they're probably more pretty than practical. now for glass, our options were acid etched or back-painted glass? acid etched gives a soft milky look, but again, i think oil and cooking particles can get easily caught in there, so back-painted glass it is. now colors ... cool white, polar white, chantilly lace, matte white, lace white, wedding white, on and on ...  i think we chose the one in the middle ("matte white").

and finally our pendant lamps are up :) though their heights will need a little fine-tuning.

best: relishing the fact that i have amazing supportive girlfriends! i mentioned the possibility of a france trip over the holidays to them over email this afternoon and i was floored with the quick and comprehensive responses with regards to accommodations, places to eat and visit, and other suggestions based on their recent trips. love you guys, dais, rose, & han!

worst: eating too many sweets! im not putting in our usual mileage these last two weeks so probably need to tone it down with the treats ... 

smile: osmin at home depot shades dept was amazing to work with! she was friendly and efficient, and very thoughtful when answering my questions about the differences in shade materials. i have had a very good experience with HD's shade dept and would highly recommend them in the future.