Weekend Wrap-Up: The last weekend of being 21! Bring on 22.. tomorrow! 

To kick off the weekend I called for a night in. After a good work-out at the gym, my craving for some Pad Thai and a little rest was in check. Thank you Spice delivery and a 6-pack of hard apple cider to share to getting my night off to a good start. Next, curl up on the couch and take advantage of using Chris’ cable without having to worry about some of the channels being in Spanish! It’s the little things in life, right?! One show I’ve been wanting to check is Portlandia, a new satire series about Portland on IFC. Only problem is the show is on at 10:30 on Friday nights and it’s also on a channel that I don’t have. Moral of the story I haven’t seen an episode since it started this month. Friday was the night though! It was pretty funny and definitely pokes fun of Portland’s cultural views. Portland is definitely one of a kind! Despite the outrageous scenes in the show it did make me a little homesick for the Northwest. I’m not sure the next time I’ll catch an episode, but check it out if you get a chance. I think you can even watch episodes online too.

Saturday was followed by a morning of sleeping in. Aww, I love sleeping in, and now that I’m getting old I need my rest! My plan for Saturday involved walking to Central Park to build an igloo, but apparently no one else was as excited to build an igloo as me.. so that didn’t pan out as I had hoped. Instead, Donna and I headed to one of our local favorites (I’ve mentioned before) Alice’s Tea Cup. The wait ended up being almost an hour so we took a little detour around the corner to Eli Zabar. Zabars is a high-end mostly Kosher store that definitely reflects in the prices. I have a soft place for grocery stores after working at Safeway so long so I can appreciate a good grocery store when I see one. This store took whole foods to an even higher level. They have a vast amount of fresh meats, cheeses, and produce. Speaking of produce, take a look at the wet rack of the produce department (above)! Now that is a nice display I have to say. They also had a whole wall of freshly made soups. Mmm. One day, if I make it big I will definitely be stopping by there to try some of their foods. Until then, Trader Joe’s will remain my go-to grocery store. I did make my first purchase from there though! A Shirley temple pop! I wasn’t even aware that they made those so I was quite excited.

Following out grocery store tour we headed back to Alice’s Tea Cup for lunch. Definitely add Alice’s Tea Cup to your list of go-to places if you are visiting. There are 3 locations around the city, but we are lucky to have one right off of E. 81st street. Stop in and grab one of their scones and tea for sure and if you have a little extra time order lunch! Donna and I ended up ordering scones, Raspberry cheesecake was my choice, and a nice selection of one of their detox black teas. We both ordered their curried chicken salad sandwich for our entree and their mix of spices made for a wonderful taste. This definitely won’t be the last time you hear about Alice’s Tea Cup either, because we’re planning on going back to try out brunch in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait!

For our evening’s events we met up for one of Donna’s friends from work’s birthday party. She has the same birthday as me so that was pretty cool. It was a good time too. We ended up heading to an Irish pub a couple blocks away to close out the bar New York style! To close out the night we all headed uptown to Big Daddy’s Diner to get some food. That place is hopping at 5 in the morning let me tell you! It’s not people getting up early in the morning either.. I will admit it was a little strange ordering a burger and fries at 5 in the morning, but since it was my birthday weekend anything goes! Which, also includes going to bed at 6:30 I guess.. I suppose it’s alright to have a night like that every once in awhile though. It was a nice way to celebrate my birthday weekend and make a couple of new friends in the process :)

Now it’s back to business tomorrow! The next time I write to you all I will be onto my 22nd year. See you later 21! You were good to me, but it’s time to grow up a little more and see what 22 has in store for me!