Where do we go? Nobody Knows.

Soundtrack of the Day:
Where do we go nobody knows
Don’t ever say you’re on your way down, when
God gave you style and gave you grace
And put a smile upon your face, oh yeah

Current Temperature: Or I could live in my office.

Where will I be living in two weeks? Should I have started packing? When I moved into 631, for the first time in a long time I completely unpacked all my boxes and here I am having to pack that crap all over again. The good thing is if I don’t find a place I can still stay. The brownstone hasn’t been sold yet and probably won’t be until the end of January. However, I am so over this commute, this one hour of standing squished between people who hate me. It’s enough to bring out that agro New Yorker in me, this monster that was conceived out of living like a canned sardine among other salted, rotten fish. Oh, how I hate her.

The neighborhood I live in pretty much blows and I have to lie to the potential buyers when they come around having passed all the liquor stores, barber shops, and loiterers and ask me, “so how do you like this neighborhood?” Paul and Claire are two of my closest friends, like family, and if I have to fib to help them with a sale I will. After all, the house is a gem and my lies are merely half truths. I tell those house shoppers that the neighbors are super friends (absolutely true), that if they have a car they’re not far from a good supermarket (true), if they come home late they should take a cab because just like any neighborhood in NYC you shouldn’t take the train home late (lie). To that last one I added, “you have to be careful anywhere in the city, and be alert.” But in all honesty, I’ve walked home to Gramercy from Union Square at 4 in the morning, half of my wits gone down with a bottle of gin, and encountered no problem other than the inability to find my keys.

I potentially have a place in midtown, close to my old hood in Murray Hill. It’s a ten minute walk to work, which is basic heaven relative to the hike I take now. It’s surrounded by all the amenities a girl could want: nail shops, dry cleaners, laundry pickup, health food store, gym. But it lacks a very important thing: community. It’s a simple apartment surrounded by giant buildings, offices that empty out after 6 and pour into the pubs that line the street. And there’s a deck.

Another option is in Boerum Hill, a section of Brooklyn I happen to love for several reasons. The restaurants are great, homey, charming, and have a warm neighborhood feel. The stores are plentiful and specialized: with a butcher, fish shop, health food, ole! The gym is just a few blocks away. The apartment itself is as large as the brownstone I live in now and I wouldn’t have to sacrifice any space. But it’s still a long commute. Plus the roommates are two guys who have known each other for years and I have to make them like me. An architect, a graphic designer (both workaholics), and a day-dreamer ad girl who sometimes spends days in her bedroom staring at the ceiling while working on her 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

On the other hand, with the holidays coming that means more travel, more dinners, more presents for little children, and for big children. Maybe delaying the move could help me financially. And maybe I would rather step on my tongue than have to stay in this neighborhood for another winter.

In any case I have to begin the big purge of 2007 and get rid of books, clothes, and all the basic crap that I hoard thinking some day I’ll need it. The decoupage experiments can probably go it the trash at this point.

Soundtrack of the Day:
"It came without no warning" said Bobbi Jo McLean
She and husband Nolen always loved to watch the rain
It sucked him out the window, he ain't come home again
All she can remember is "It sounded like a train"

Current Temperature: How’s that for romantic lighting?

I’ve finally come up with a great menu for game night. This will be my first ever in Brooklyn, and I’m pretty stoked to use my Anthropology dishes carefully selected from the online catalog. I’ll start off with cocktails to loosen us up for a night of hard core competition and ass kickings. I’m thinking margaritas, chips and secret ingredient guacamole, hella loaded nachos (I represent the South Bay), and crudite just to keep things balanced. You need to provide incentive to have people travel to your home to get creamed.

During game setup and the reading of regulations and special rules, I hope to serve Manchego cheese with country pate, turkey balls (I don’t plan to make these), Serrano ham Caprese salad, and roasted mushrooms on goat cheese. This will all be served with red wines. Can you tell I love cheese?

Once the games begin we’ll get really comfortable and switch to Cheetos and beer. Cranium, taboo, celebrity bowl. That should be a full night.

In preparation I’ll have a full day tomorrow and won’t be able to use any time tonight to prep, since tonight is pretty booked up too. For starters there is the shopping. I’m going to require three different stores to get the fixings: wine shop, cheese shop, grocery store. If I can make it to Garden of Eden I can get the cheese and other food all at once. I think I’ll be spending my morning in the Heights.

At home, on top of actually cleaning up and being presentable I am going to put some effort into lighting. I always like playing with lighting using lamps, candles and water, sometimes mirrors. I’ll see what tricks I can pull. Of course there’s fragrance. The place should smell like home, not like a place some city broad goes to sleep occasionally between work and play. It smells like roses and lotion, which is great since I love those scents, but I realize not everyone likes that and that it tends to recall to mind grandma’s tea room with gums on the end table. But I have no idea where to go with fragrances. Maybe something citrusy. Oatmeal cookies? No, then I may as well cook them.

Ooh, as much work as this is going to be it’s going to be fun. I should’ve been a socialite. Or not.