offbalance | The life of me.

This morning I was walking through the Rockefeller Center Concourse when a woman stopped me and asked where I got my dress. I told her that I'd bought it at the Gap last November. It's made out of this very soft, t-shirt material, cut in a similar fashion as Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress. It also happens to be red, a shade of which

redstapler has dubbed "Sharon Red."

"It's fantasic," the woman said. "The perfect, perfect summer dress!" Before heading off towards Starbucks. Thank you random lady, for making my day!

In other news, I seem to have an abundance of friends whose parents decided to get biz-zay in the early fall. As such, this time of year is thick with parties of the birthday variety (including a big party in honor of our nation's birthdate). I celebrated one of these this past Saturday at Shenanigan's, a bar that

redstapler found nearish to her house. And I must applaud her choice. It was fun, laid-back and containing a full mix of neighborhood types, as well as karaoke and THREE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENT PINTS OF KILLIAN'S IRISH RED.

airspaniel and I celebrated this by drinking many, many pints. She was also my enabler and bought me a tequila shot. (thanks, babe! I owe you one!) Killian's is one of my favorite beers ever, and I drank it a lot in college. It's been really hard to find the last few years, much to my chagrin. But the beers at Shenanigan's were cool and fresh as I remember. :) There are more birthday celebrations coming up, as well as more time to spend at the beach like I did this past weekend.

Yesterday I hung out with

redesigner and some other friends as he and I tried to discuss plans for Vegas. There were fabulous cocktails and yummy fondue, but not much planning. Ah well, it was fun anyway. Then they went off to see Wall-E and I went home. (I am dying to see it, but I promised J I'd see it with him, so.)

Otherwise, things are very good. J is cooking me dinner tonight, which is exciting because I get to see him in a setting that doesn't involve a large gathering or other social obligation. And because he's making me dinner. I'm very excited about that. He seems to have covered all bases - he even got dessert. I'm trying to figure out something else to bring - he doesn't like wine, or else I'd pick up a bottle of that.

In the meantime, I'm going to find something productive to do and hope 5:30 comes swiftly.