That Great Day.

Well here we go!

This is Kristine's gift to me- Crate and Barrel wine glasses! Look at the presentation! When I got out of the shower this was awaiting me!


Staci also gave me her gift- what sweet roomates! Staci's was wrapped in magazine pages, and was a Kate Spade book on Manners (oh, she loves me!) and Sleepless in Seattle. And... soon... a drawing of Alberto, of course!

After that I dealt with the computer melt down of October 2005, which has been fixed and now my comp is happier than ever! After taking my friend iBook in to the Digital Society to consult some nerds, I met Elizabeth and we went to a restaurant called the Boat House in Central Park! It overlooks part of the pond where people paddle around in little boats... so cute! And romantic, may I add! So E and I sat right by the windows, the sun was shining in, and it was just perfect!

Here is a picture of the view we had from our table!


Here is a picture of me and our french waiter! Aww Europeans, so affectionate...?
They brought me out this really fantastic chocolate lava cake with raspberry chocolate insides... oh boy, it was good. That is chocolate at its most edible, let me tell you!

Here is on of me and Elizabeth- isn't she just beautiful!!!

After lunch we sauntered through Central Park and down 5th Avenue to Barney's, where I had never been before! We walked around and Elizabeth educated me in the ways of high fashion, and I decided that yeah, if I were super rich, I could probably spend some money there. This is a picture of Elizabeth trying on a Bobby hat- I think it was probably just shy of $600.00- but isn't it just so versatile and FABulous!?


After a fantastic afternoon with Elizabeth, for which I can't thank her enough, I headed home to meet up with Staci.

We chatted a minute and then walked up to 25th where Megan and Laura live (Navigator and bible study friends, if I haven't informed you of this already!). Megan made a really good chicken and barley soup, and we had cake!
Here is me and my cake!

Here are some other fun pictures from dinner:

Me and Susan


Me and Staci


Me, Megan, and Kathryn!


After that great meal Stac and I walked back to Carlyle. I got to chat with Gavin and get his advice on drinking: Liquor before Beer, in the Clear, Beer before Liquor, never been sicker! And that night I stuck with Dark McSorley's beer and only beer, so I was just fine.

SO... Joanna and Josh picked me up at Carlyle and we headed to McSorley's, New York's oldest Irish Pub! Here are some fun pictures from that, and there are more to come, cause Josh has a lot of them on his camera!
Here is one round for the three of us: 2 little mugs of beer, the equivalent of one whole bottle of beer-



This is Joanna and Me!


And a Terrible picture of me, and Josh!


Joanna and me again- we laughed a lot that night- the guys at our table were so crazy!


And here are the two boys!


This is a good group shot- Dan Brown came over to the pub after his water polo practice and joined us, so he's the blondy on the far right!

We had a great time there, including some crazy table guests, and a fantastic moment of me walking into the men's bathroom- which did not occur because of any alcoholic alteration, but rather because I am an idiot, and also because women only started being able to enter that place in 1970 (yeah, a little slow, are we? Those Irish...) and so the ladies' is in a far corner and is basically a closet... that was one of my finer moments! It was a great time!

I had a truly great birthday! Thanks to everyone who send their birthday wishes, and for all the calls, texts, facebooks, letters, and e-mails! I wish you all could have been here! And if you weren't I'll look forward to celebrating together the next time we're together!