Celebrating wth the Small-Podds
Today is our friend, Chris Podd's 50th birthday. He and his wife, Ann Marie Small, live in New Jersey. She called to say that, more than anything in the world, Chris wanted to have dinner at a fine restaurant with us in Manhattan to celebrate this milestone. I think he must have said this because Mark and I are such a fun couple. That's the only thing I can think of. Ever since the Small-Podds moved to New Jersey, we never see them. They used to be big party buddies when none of us had kids. We spent many a night at Fat Tuesdays enjoying jazz together. Now, we never go to Fat Tuesdays. It's partly because Fat Tuesdays is now a pilate studio. It's also because I don't go out for jazz anymore except in extreme circumstances. I did go to Smoke for Mark's 50th birthday. I'd love to go see jazz more often but Mark never leaves until midnight because that's when the jazz "scene" really gets started. I just can't stay up that late anymore.
Anyway, back to the Small-Podds, I feel this huge pressure to be an entertaining conversationalist tonight. I hope I can rise to the occasion and make witty reparte. We'll be going to Daniel, which is a very hoity toity restaurant in the city. You would only go there for an important birthday or if someone else was paying. You'd also go if you were very rich, but that is not a reason we'd go there (since we're not rich). My friend, Vicki, who is very, very, very rich, goes there all the time. She advised me to order the lobster appetizer, short ribs (which she claims are second to none in the world), and molten chocolate cake. She also advised me to dress up, wear heels and jewelry because Saturday night is dressy at Daniel.
Anyway, back to the Small-Podds, if you read my book, you know there's a character named Saul Small-Podd in it. He was named for the Chris and Ann Marie. My editor told me the name sounded too cartoonish but I told her that the Small-Podds actually existed so she let me leave it in.
We had Schuyler's parent-teacher conference yesterday. Let's just say there is vast room for improvement. Mark told her if she makes straight A's, he'll get her a puppy. He made the deal because he believes she could never do it. I hope she proves him wrong. If she makes anything less than straight B's, she'll no longer be allowed to go out on weekends. That wouldn't be so bad from my point of view. At least I'd know where she was.
Tomorrow, Sam wants me to bleach his dark brown hair white white white. He also wants me to buy him Crest Whitestrips so he can whiten his teeth. I'm thinking he must have a girlfriend or why would he care about his appearance? I don't know how the Whitestrips will work over braces, but I'll get them for him anyway because he never seems to care about his personal hygene and I want to be supportive when he does.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
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posted by Karen Quinn : 5:43 PM
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