Juliana Says...

My weekend started Thursday after work – my girlfriend Amada & I used some Bliss spa gift certificates that I got for Christmas to treat ourselves to a 75-minute massage at Bliss Soho… I've got to say, it’s pretty damn sweet in there -- they had to boot us out of the place! We have no shame & tried every little thing in the place – from their amazing shower/saunas, to everything single lotion & rub they had to offer. After working up an appetite beautifying, we went for a bite at this little restaurant called Bar Marche for a bottle of wine & some grub – very cute place.

Friday all I had scheduled was to get my hair done – between the massive amts of gray in my hair & the droopy length, there was simply nothing cute about it. Three hours & -- no exaggeration–- over $250 later (is it just me, or is that really freaking insane??! Hair care is some crazy expensive sh*t nowadays! Hell, if I had known, I would’ve studied that instead of law!) I finally got out of there looking like a new person. My brother Ignacio met me at the hair salon (almost didn’t recognize me, he said... *smile*) & we walked down from Chelsea to Soho, stopping to do some shopping & lunch along the way. Iggy bought two pairs of Levis skinny jeans (biatch can fit into them, but I’m not bitter!) & I got some cute speckled gold flats at Urban Outfitters that I’m considering returning because a) they weren’t on sale; & b) I’m not sure they're really worth the $48 I paid considering they do this weird thing with one of the straps…so jury’s still out on them (I know $48 isn’t a big deal at all for shoes, but I never pay full-price for anything – I’m kind of freaky that way.) After having some rice pudding at that place with the different flavor puddings (still doesn’t beat my mom’s, but have to admit the cherry mascarpone was very good) we headed back uptown to see the apartment my bro is house-sitting for. His friend is a fashion designer & has a very cute place with so much potential on the UWS in one of those fancy old buildings. Problem is, the guy collects massive amounts of stuff (everything from feathers to Corningware) – really random stuff that he’s supposedly going to sell on eBay but hasn’t, so the place just has this kind of weird, awkward & to be honest, kind of creepy feel to it. Actually, now thinking about it, it’s very Silence of The Lambs… I've got to talk to my brother about moving. Anyway, after leaving him in his new temporary abode, I met up with my man for drinks in my ‘hood.

Next day, we hung out in my apartment all day being lazy & then met up with his friends, Alan (a NYT journalist) & his wife, Denise (who works at a high-powered hedge fund, she’s got some stories!). They live in my area & had us over for drinks with some of their friends. We then all headed over to Riverside Café for some surly service & so-so wine. But it was a perfect night to be out. Afterwards, we walked over to this super-cute cheapie BYOB restaurant that turns out to be right around the corner from my place (I’m not going to name it because – no joke – it’s the size of a walk-in closet & I want to be able to get a table there in the future!) Everything’s organic & they cook everything fresh right in front of you in this tiny kitchen. It’s really good & really well-priced.

Sunday my man had a job in the a.m. & I puttered around my apartment doing all the stuff that I had been putting off doing – namely organizing & spring-cleaning my apartment. We met up later that night with two other couples, my girlfriend Amada & her man, Angel and Alan & Denise – to go see COMPANY on Broadway. It’s a Sondheim musical… I’m not really into musicals but hey, it’s Broadway & it’s free thanks to my girlfriend Theresa who generously and frequently supplies me with tickets, so what can I say? The men in the group were terrified that it would turn out to be another Coram Boy production. While only two of them were actually exposed to Coram, they managed to scare the bejesus out of the third so that by intermission we were all running for a drink. Honestly, you do need a drink for it. Don’t get me wrong, the singing is fantastic if you like that kind of music & they got pretty creative with the actors - - each one played a different musical instrument on stage, so instead of an orchestra it was them providing the music (who knew you could find Equity actors that could sing & dance AND play the French horn, violin or trumpet at the same time – I was impressed!) but overall, not my cup of tea. Despite what the men said, I preferred Coram Boy to it any day. Went to dinner afterwards at one of those little faux-French-bistro-type places & then my man’s home in Queens.

Finally, yesterday after leaving Queens I was completely absorbed in my book (Lucky by Alice Sebold, about her rape as a teen in college) & didn’t realize the local turned express & ended up on 125th. Well, since I was there I, of course, had to stop at Marshall’s. It’s my fav store & any excuse is a good excuse to check out what they’ve got. Usually it has this amazing shoe dept (I think it actually has a sign that says that “Amazing Shoe Department") – however, this time the shoe dept looked like it had been ransacked by some big-footed women because the 9 ½ & 10 areas were almost completely empty. Weird. Still managed to find two cute sundresses for $20 each that I couldn’t live without though. Finally got back to my place, picked up the rest of my laundry & finished organizing (more or less) my place… problem with my place is that basically I've got too much sh*t – too many good deals I guess. If I was ever granted three wishes, one would include a massive walk-in closet… Anywhoo, the rest of the evening consisted of watching Law&Order marathon & some of the Miss Universe pageant (gotta find out who ended up winning – I can't believe Miss Mexico was booted – you could hear the audience was NOT happy considering it was being held in Mexico City… and since when does Dave Navarro qualify as a Miss Universe judge??)