An Autumn Love Letter to New York

Walking up Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village to meet Donna.

Here she is. We met when Donna became Lifstyle Director
at Good Housekeeping and I reported to her as a writer. She is a
magazine/publishing maven--
grew up in California, drove East with her love [now her husband], attended Brown.
Her career has spanned Women's Wear Daily,
Self, InStyle, The Wall Street Journal, more. She is kickass. Then she got her master’s in narrative medicine from Columbia University! 

Donna chose this great restaurant, Kubeh, and you read your future in the Turkish coffee grounds.

Well, I wanted to write last night but the evening turned ugly when Punch stalked off after soccer practice at the park, not wanting to go to Tuesday evening Open Tumbling [gymnastics]. I almost dialed 911 or phoned in an amber alert. I was worried; it was 6:15 and dark. Turns out she walked all the way home from Anderson Park, about 20 minutes. But I didn't know that, and I stopped in the poke noodle shop, peeked in the toy store, looked in Dunkin' Donuts and stopped in Kings supermarket. Once home, she walked down the block to her friend's. Good thing she left her blue jacket on her bed first, so I could detect that she had been home.

She knows how wrong this is. Dan and I talked to Punch sternly and seriously about it, and took away all access to our phones and laptops until Sunday. It was either that or lose play date today and/or Boogie Bash at school Friday evening.

Have to hop on my bike soon and pedal to a dr. appt. in Montclair, then get down to brass tacks and work on my deadlines.

But I have to blog about yesterday! A list:

• Energy and sun. It felt so good to be in the city. The zest, independence, purpose. The beautiful weather. Fall. The style sightings. A young woman in sheer black stockings and pretty boots. A man in a bespoke suit. People smiling, just because.
• Donna! Great to see my friend/editor again; it's been a couple years. We reminisced about good times and our colleagues and talked about the changing magazine business. Shrinking. We chatted about writing, about hunting down story sources--we covered common ground. Now, on top of writing and editing for creme de le creme publications, Donna edits theintima.org. I guess you can tell I admire her.
• The lunch. Oh, New York City is a food lover's playground, for sure. Kubeh had the most delectable soft, fresh, puffy pita bread.....and fabulous lamb balls with mint in savory broth....I didn't know when I ordered the tiny cup of dark Turkish coffee that it would come with a green card that says Your Future in a Cup of Coffee. It instructs you to sip, swirl, wait, flip the cup and look for images in the grounds. Our charming Albanian waiter, Zog [sp?], said his Mom is an ace at this. But all Donna and I could see in my grounds was, eventually, a monkey, which signifies curiosity.
• The best of everything. Including natural essential oils at a little treasure-trove shop Donna showed me [she uses the orange blossom water, so I bought a bottle to spray on my face]; a pink snowball* at Empire Cake, across from the Google offices; H&H Bagels, famous for being the finest [I brought 3 home for the family].

I have to pack up this laptop and go! Happy Wednesday to us all.

*My grandma Alice bought me a twin pack of pink Hostess Sno Ball cupcakes in Dumont once. It was a big treat. So when I saw Empire Cake's take on these, I allowed my inner child to get one. It was truly delicious.