Birthday month

So, it's my 30th birthday later this month. I need to figure out exactly what I am going to do...

For the last few years, I've had a house (well, technically apartment) party. Those parties always seemed to live up to the expectations of the planning process (how did I comfortably manage 30 or 40 odd people each time, I didn't think I knew that many people?!) and everyone seemed to have a great time. Both parties also had memorable alcohol stories (the Brazilian crazy rum 2 years ago, and the Absolut Mandarin shots last year - strange for someone who doesn' tend to drink hard!). Unfortunately, the parties were a lot of effort (cleaning, catering, cleaning again) and I never managed to chat with everyone I really wanted to.

So this year, the house party is no more.

I am also influenced by the availability of friends... this apart, apart from the usual overseas correspondants, I'll have at least another 3 or 4 close friends either out of town, out of the state or out of the country. Thus, I think I'm leaning towards an entire birthday week of activities and socialising... a selfish but completely enjoyable way to go, and a good way to see friends in a more personable way, and have a proper talk. At the moment, my plan is looking like...

Monday - meditation and preparation
Tuesday - drinks with old work friends
Wednesday - dinner and trivia
Thursday - 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
Friday - secret dinner with J-star
Saturday day - pub lunch with cousins
Saturday night - cocktails
Sunday morning - breakfast and recovery
Sunday night - swanky family dinner

Any thoughts on other great birthday week ideas to fill in the empty time slots? EDIT: No more empty spaces...

New York, New York

As requested by my mum...

Gershwin Hotel

This was our room at the Gershwin...





...and this was the view from around the corner, looking up the street.




Washington Square Hotel

This was our room at Washington Square...



...and this was Washington Square park, next to the hotel.



Hope this helps!