thanks for the trip, Stonehill =)

Reservations for restaurant week are just piling up, making space in my calendar impossible to find for the month of July. But I thrive on being over-booked, so I say bring it on! So far, I’m up to three nights of three-course dining! While I’ve already been to SushiSamba and Butter before, they were both too good to visit just once. SushiSamba is drenched in colorful mosaic wall prints and draping; its basement bathroom is like a jungle safari. Butter mysterious and dark, with a cave-like atmosphere that takes you out of the city and into a futuristic world of beautiful people and prettier pastas. They're polar opposites in terms of ambiance, but equally fabulous. (Thankfully, the ‘rents will be picking up the tab at Butter. Phew.) Finally, a 14-person reservation at 5 Ninth will close out my dining experiences. 5 Ninth, the meatpacking district brownstone townhouse turned trendy eatery, was once the home of tranny hookers and heroin addicts. Our loud and fabulous group just might outshine the stories that lie within the bricks. I like to think that’s a good thing, though! =)

Back-to-back four day weeks are the best. After a weekend of funning and sunning on various parts of geographical Long Island for the 4th (side bar: when I move to Brooklyn, I can still call myself an Island girl!), I am now headed to Cape Cod for a Stonehill-packed weekend of kayaking and beyond. I’ll pretend to be outdoorsy, and then be the first to shower after getting all icky in the bay. Beach-side sessions are planed, too, of course, with the fun times mixed in with the official reason for the trip: as Stonehill’s Exec. Sec., as I like to say, I get treated to a weekend-long “retreat” on the Cape, in which the waterfront hotel stay and lobster dinners are both paid for, assuming the seven of us E-Board-ers do our professional duties. I packed pens. I’m all set.

Don’t you just love where your $42,000 a year are going? =)