High Society

Sean and I have had our "coming out" party--into society, that is. Or, we can pretend we have. Last week was the dinner cruise party for Sean's boss' birthday. He does it every year with friends and clients to kick off the auction season (I'm pretty sure I've said "kick off the auction season" more than 7 times in the past 2 weeks). So, these people are prominent folks who've done some pretty cool things with themselves like the man i talked to who was the CEO of some big company, the name of which i have forgotten, and who is now the director of something something at Cornell University. Other people are "old money," filthy rich folks who've been so for decades. And then others are rich for other reasons, i don't know what they are. The point is, these people are rich, high society people. I was kissed--and kissed others--in the cheek-to-cheek style, the way that french people do. I think i'll adopt this into my everyday life with whomever i encounter. "Bishop, hello!" (could you imagine?)

The night was breezy and threatened to rain. The boat was late because the water was choppy from the wind which i guess makes it hard to move these boats to the dock. People gathered there at the water's edge and chatted amongst themselves. Sean bustled around, doing random things and getting pre-printed nametags for everyone. I felt cool to be there since i was personally invited by Eli (to Sean) who i finally got to meet. (Eli, not Sean.) Finally the boat arrived and we went all aboard. Inside it was nice, cozy and low-lit with tables around the outskirts and the kitchen in the back. The bar was upstairs, along with finger foods, and room for people to stand with drinks and mix and mingle. Here is a pic of Sean and Karen, who works at Eli's as well.



Here is a picture of me, not quite ready for it.



Here's a picture of the downstairs where everybody ate. It was so dark and i tried to lighten it up but i am photoshop-dumb so here's what you get.




After hanging up everybody's coats and making sure people had their name tags and whatnot, Sean and i made our way up there and got some cranberry juice with limes and ate some snacks. Caterers weaved through the crowd with trays of fancy hors d'oeuvres. After chatting with people we decided to make our way back downstairs. It was pretty crowded up there and we were looking to sit down and rest for a bit. I chose the table closest to the nose of the boat and sat in the chair right by the window. Here is a shot of Sean with a bridge in the distance but you probably can't see it.



The view was amazing. We went around the southern tip of Manhattan so we got beautiful shots of the city skyline, Brooklyn, the bridges down there, and cozied up to the Statue of Liberty. I have never seen her so up close! I tried desperately to get a decent pic but, again, it was dark, and the window was kind of dirty. It was so cool though. i could see details of her face! The boat captain tip-toed as close to her as he could and we hung out there for a half hour or so. Here's the best pic i could get:



While sitting there, enjoying the view, a man joined us at our table and we spent the rest of the evening talking and eating with him. His name was John and he was an art dealer living in Paris. He was born in Manhattan though. Oh, excuse me.. on Madison Avenue, not Manhattan. Apparently there is some class-within-a-class thing going on with Madison Av that i'm not too aware of. He was in town for the upcoming auction at Christie's. He and Sean talked a bit about art but we mostly chit-chatted about random things. He travels a lot and highly recommends that we live abroad now--do it now, don't wait. He also lives within close promixity to 3 of the best patisseries in France, aka the world. I asked him what his favorite pastry was and he said, "Well, do you know what the Mille-Feulle is? I said, "ooh that's my favorite too." He said, "Wait--wait now. There, they have what is called the DEUX Mille-Feulle." "Ooooohhhhh!" I exclaimed, highly impressed. The Mille Feulle is a flakey pastry that means "thousand layer" so to have it be a deux (two) mille feulle, man oh man. He was so quirky though, this John. So New Yorky. He had a pretty good accent going. He was very friendly though and we had a great time.

The food was pretty good, by the way. It was a buffet and while i saved seats, Sean and John got the food. There was roast beef with cranberries, pasta, chicken, salad, etc. Just good food. At the end of the evening, Sean's boss thanked everyone for coming and some guy gave a little "happy birthday, you = great" speech and we all sang happy birthday to him and they brought out a big cake. Aside from that cake, the caterers brought out small 8-inch round dark, flourless chocolate cakes for us to cut into and eat slivers of. OH MY. It was goooood. By this time the boat had returned to the dock and people started getting off with their gift bags. Several of the cakes had been left almost untouched and it was almost as if i'd known this would happen for that morning, before i left, i packed a freezer baggie and put it in my bag, "just in case." For what? I had no idea, but then i knew. So with no shame, Sean and I slid one of the cakes in it and smuggled it off the boat. I'm very glad we did because the cake rocked and probably cost $50 each or something. By the way, Sean did some estimating at work the next day and said the party cost around $40,000. Well, that'll do it.

So we had a great time. There was a moment where we looked at each other and we were like, "what are we doing here? We're never going to do anything like this again." Here is a picture of me and Sean at the end of our evening. If i kiss you at the side of your cheeks the next time i see you, don't be surprised. I'm high society now.