One month down

I can't believe it, but I've been here a month. I almost don't like to say it, since I have some internal, or maybe some perceived external, expectation that I should have everything perfectly arranged by now. That I shouldn't have IKEA things still half-built, and work coming in but somewhat piecemeal, and the occasional weekend evening looming with no plans. But then I remember that it is only a month, and there's a lot to arrange in a new place (especially New York) and I'm doing my best each day to make progress. I have to remember to be kind and patient with myself. Sometimes I give myself little pep talks. I look at my situation as a friend would and tell myself that it's okay, and it takes time, and I'm doing a great job, so chin up! I know I'm my biggest ally here, and I'll reach my goals a lot quicker if I'm focused and not freaking out.

I'm in a time of firsts, and in a city that provides its newcomers with many firsts. Last night I encountered my first $19 cocktail. I had gone to see Stephanie Klein read at Borders - she's the New Yorker-turned-Austinite blogger whose second book, Moose, I reviewed for the Statesman recently. The reading was great and after Jean Scheidnes texted me (she's the former Statesman fashion reporter) - was I there and should she come up? Apparently Stephanie had texted her. So I told her to come on up and she arrived lickety-split in a cab. When we greeted Stephanie, she invited us to the bar at the Mandarin Oriental, next door, where her friends were all meeting after for drinks. I wanted to meet Stephanie's girlfriends from her first book - Alexandra, Dulce, Smelly (needless to say, not their real names), but instead we ended up finding her fat camp friends, most of whom weren't fat. They were a pretty fun bunch, though I would have liked to have met the other girls, and then Stephanie's husband and his friends came over and we talked to them, too. It was fun, and I enjoyed my $19 cocktail. It was either that or a $9 beer, and who wants to pay $9 for a beer you could get anywhere? It may have been my first $19 cocktail, but I know it won't be my last.

Tonight had dinner with Julianne, who is family (my brother's wife's sister) and also a friend. She took me to Lupa, which is downtown, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure if it's the East Village or the West Village or NoHo - it's in that general area. It was a trattoria, as many delicious mid-priced New York restaurants seem to be. Perhaps here simple Italian food is the comfort food the way simple Tex-Mex is in Austin. We had antipasti - endive salad, prosciutto, asparagus - and then I had gnocchi with fennel and sausage. The gnocchi was fluffy and pillowy, the way I've read about gnocchi being but have never experienced (it's always been dense in the past). And in a good Italian restaurant, you can never go wrong with anything containing sausage. Yum.