Last Weekend

It was raining when I left work on Friday, so as I left the office I popped open my umbrella and ran to the subway dodging stalling cabs and stalling tourists. I stopped in Magnolia Bakery to pick up a little b-day cake-ette for TB, and then rushed home to shower and pack for a weekend in Brooklyn. A weekend in Brooklyn?, you say. Isn't that in the same city?  You're right that the boroughs are relatively close, especially if you are driving, but if you take the subway (which is notoriously slow and unreliable on the weekends), it takes at least an hour to get from my apartment in the 'Hood (with a capital H) to my friends' apartments in Williamsburg and Clinton Hill. So I packed a stick-tied handkerchief (a tote bag from Aspen) and left my 'hood for a weekend of bumming around in Brooklyn.

I got off at the Bedford stop on the L and immediately felt at home in Williamsburg, Yeah, yeah, hipster schmipster. I met TB and a pit bull named Billie Holiday outside her new apartment a block from the water. She gave me a tour of her new space (chalkboard wall, hells yeah!), and we went on the roof to check out her unbelievable view.

Billie ran around in the puddles that had accumulated after the heat wave broke just hours before. I took too many/not enough pictures, and we went back inside to make/eat/drink our dinner. We had lots of greens and lots of vodka. We had the kind of heart-to-heart that we're known for, and there were tears, then growth and a better understanding. For dessert I lit birthday candles as a surprise, and we dug in to the Magnolia goodness with forks in our hands.

DB, ET, and friends (new Williamsburg neighbors) popped over, and we went back up to the roof to see the bridge and skyline lit up in the Friday night sky. We gazed at the Domino Sugar Factory and schemed ways to break in. Someday. Friends went home, and I stayed with TB in her drive-thru window bedroom.

Saturday morning, TB and I walked a few blocks to Simple Cafe where we had a brunch buffet that was simple but delicious. We met up with TB's roommate's boyfriend, his friend, and our friend SS. (I know, a confusing bunch of people to explain). Our motley crue drank warm beer and discussed artisan condiments while laying under the hot sun on the roof (Also apparently pronounced ROOF, not ruff. Lay off guys, I get it!). 6 airplane sky-writers zoomed overhead and we played the sky version of jeopardy trying to guess what each word was. It was a Geico advertisement, and it was seriously cool.

Photo credit to SS! This photo rocks!

Soon I had to leave to go to Park Slope to help with a one year old's birthday party. They rented the Carrousel at Prospect Park and needed some help setting up and cleaning up. I did both, and ate some fancy catered hotdogs and crumbs birthday cupcakes, then left with a nice check in my pocket. All in a days work. I walked to Clinton Hill where KS and AP were having dinner, and I filled them in on my weekend meanderings, then listened to AP talk about how INSANE her boss is. Seriously, INSANE. We went back to their apartment where we watched The Beginners, and I convinced AP to braid my hair because I'm really into braids lately.

I woke up Sunday morning to a blind date suggestion (obvi I said YES), and then I snagged some homemade banana bread (KS and AP's apartment really IS a B&B). I hoped on the C train headed back to Harlem to throw on a dress and some mascara before meeting DP and AI at the Pride Parade downtown.I waited outside Urban Outfitter with my eyes peeled for two extremely attractive, well dressed and groomed gay men walking my way and was overwhelmed by so many extremely attractive, well dressed and groomed gay men walking my way. But then I saw the two MOST handsome and felt totally cool because they were my friends! We stood together in the sunshine, then the shade and watched the insanity of the parade go by.

I saw: feathers, rainbows, bubbles, condoms, boobs, sparkles, confetti, music, drag queens, floats, posters, chants, celebration, color, love, balloons, roller-skates, fairies, costumes, and beads (technically I heard some of these things, but you know what I mean). It was a sensory overload, but over all it was a parade of love. But then someone blew up a condom like a balloon, and it kept hitting me in the head. So it was time to go.  

 Then the three of us went to a roof top party in Hell's Kitchen were there were more gays, one Buddhist, and a big bowl of skittles. DP, AI, and I talked, and I met a girl who works for Katie Couric, and I was jealous of her dress and jealous of her life. I left after an hour with a dull headache but a happy heart.

Photo credit to DP.

 I guiltily ate a slice of greasy pizza on my way home, then crawled into my bed for a Sunday evening nap (a weird time, but who cares). I was happily exhausted and gratefully fulfilled. It was a good weekend.