Having a ‘milestone’ birthday was not what had been preoccupying my mind.  It was deciding how to celebrate that nagged at me.    For at least one year I had been listening to people ask,

It’s one thing to embrace an idea and it is another to commit to an event. There are schedules, spouses, children, preferences, group dynamics, and budgets to consider.   In my mind, nobody but the celebrant is ever truly responsible for organizing her party and as enthusiastic as people were to get on board with anything I could have wanted:  Camping Extravaganza, Beach Retreat, Coastal Getaway, European Sojourn, Asian Adventure, Epic Picnic, Dive Bar Disco you name it –  I do not have the mental nor emotional bandwidth to execute an important plan like that the way I formulate it in my head.  So no, I would not be planning one of these great festivities in September, though maybe, at another time, I will.

Instead, all I wanted to do was to sit in my pajamas, cut paper, and talk on the phone with a gal pal.

I texted some friends and sent out a Paperless Post.  A slumber party was in order.  I booked a hotel room for the hubby in a few weeks.  Of course he didn’t mind.  Would he really want to sit through an evening of chattering girls and squealing?  No boys allowed!

I cut a lot of paper.

I began crafting decorations.

I placed a custom order with Rose Paper Scissors Piñatas

Two weeks later I purchased a boat load of nostalgic sweets from The Candy Store in Russian Hill.  I then filled a drugstore cart with junk food and even more candy downtown.

Truth be told, crafting the decorations took so much longer and required more energy than I expected so I decided to forgo cooking in favor of a 7 o’clock dinner order from Yemeni’s Middle Eastern Restaurant and a 10 o’clock double large pie snack from Escape from New York Pizza.  Amidst the steady flow of candy, eight bottles of bubbly, and vodka infused hibiscus punch, the Mariposa chocolate cake at midnight rounded out things nicely.

At 8:45am on the dot, Robin Duryea arrived for our 9 o’clock private roof deck yoga class.  ooOOOooommmmmm…  The sky was so beautiful and the class so relaxing, we all forgot we were in the city and not in an open field.  Even the birds were heard chirping on this amazing morning.

Saha Restaurant, widely known in the city for their popular Arabic Fusion dinners, served us up a crazy tasty brunch, available on weekends.  We were HUNGRY.  It was important for me to share what I love with the people I love.  Health and happiness – it’s the name of the game!

In between bites of breakfast, we decided to make a trip to BarneysNY for some product replenishing.  We were way glam in our yoga clothes, while some were slightly hung over and dehydrated, but that didn’t stop us.  BarneysNY Beauty was so thoughtful for providing my friends with little gift bags of skin care products to play with at the sleep over, so the party continued at the beauty department naturally.

Nap time for me.  After parting ways, I slept like a rock star that afternoon from 4pm til slightly before 9pm, and STILL went to bed through the night and was up for yoga at 9am the following morning with Robin at the gym!  It was a great weekend, and it’s still going …