Birthday Weekend

Last fall, I attempted to hike the Sugarloaf Trail. I got off the train in the right place and headed in the right direction, but failed to find the trail head. While I enjoyed a pleasant few hours wandering back and forth along the Hudson River and admiring West Point on the opposite bank, I was disappointed that the 7-mile loop I'd planned did not come to fruition. This year, I set off on the morning of my birthday into a clear, chilly day with a set of maps and an engineer, sure that my problems were over. Things got off to a poor start when we missed the train we should have taken by minutes and had to wait an hour for the next one, though we used the time well with a quick trip to the library in Bryant Park, which Ed had never been into. Our late start meant that we did not have enough time to do the whole hike, nor even half of it, because we had to be back in the city in time to prepare for my party that evening. Still, we found the trail head and got to hike at least part of the way, and it was lovely to walk through crunchy  leaves and admire the changing leaves, cool fungi, and views. 

A hilltop "castle" that was off-limits to the public, but still very nice to look at from afar.

With old friends from Vanderbilt

Back in New York, we navigated a shopping cart through the most crowded grocery store in the world, then headed back to Ed's apartment, where he started cleaning and I started cooking. I whipped up a dill dip, then put together a rather involved layered Mediterranean dip my mom is famous for, then cleaned myself up just in time to greet my friend Michael, who was the first to arrive. I chatted with guests as they showed up while frantically making a baked brie, and Ed contributed some tomato slices topped with mozzarella and basil. The guest list was pretty diverse, and included friends from elementary school, college, Japan, and all over New York! The party was definitely a success, though not everything went quite as planned. For one thing, I asked everyone to bring either a snack/appetizer or a beverage. I think every single person with the exception of one (who contributed a bucket of delicious popcorn) brought a bottle of wine, which almost no one ended up drinking! Most of the crew stuck to cocktails, and few people made a few beer runs, which was fine with me. Ed had bought all the ingredients for making Moscow Mules - his are delicious - but by the time the simple syrup was ready, decided they were too much work. Few things spilled though, just about every bite of every snack was eaten, and we had a great time. After everyone went home, I finally had time to open gifts from my parents and grandparents, and to reply to the texts I'd been getting all day from friends and family.

I had hoped to watch part of the marathon on Sunday, but I got to the race course so late that the only people left were scattered wheelchair competitors. Whoops. Well, on the day after my birthday, I think I can be excused sleeping in a bit. It was odd to watch competitors on the sidewalks and subway throughout the rest of the day and think that next year, I'd be one of them! Instead of watching the race, Ed and I walked through Central Park for a while. It was a beautiful day, replete with typical, awesome New York sights, like a husky pulling his owner on roller blades at a full sprint. Later, we went to see Moneyball, a movie I wholeheartedly recommend, and capped the weekend off with dinner in Union Square. Altogether, a fantastic weekend. While I'm not wild about the prospect of getting older, ringing in birthdays like this make the whole thing easier to take.