Alyssa

I wake up and stare at my alarm clock - 7am. I am exhausted and I have 30 minutes until my phone alarm goes off but I know I should get up now and try to finish cleaning before my friend arrives from New York. 

I haphazardly get ready and quickly clean my bathroom and kitchen before driving to pick him up from the Amtrak station. I had hoped to vacuum too but decided that it is too much and I am already running late. On the short drive over, I listen to Goldfinch. I own a copy of the book, but after several days of lugging the heavy 700 page hardcover during my work commute I decided I was better off with the audio book and the physical copy could stay on my bedside table.

After I pick up my friend, we drop his stuff off at my apartment, and I ask what he wants to do before his birthday brunch. He suggests grabbing a coffee so we walk to the Daily at the Divine Lorraine. It’s much busier than I expected for 9am on a Sunday and they’re out of chai so I end up with a matcha and a seat inside to waste some time. Eventually we decide we need to head back to grab wine before the reservation arguing where we could possibly buy it at this hour. Waiting in line at Giant with our wine bottles in tow I spot radioactive looking “cocktails” in round containers and decide we MUST have them for a midnight drink to celebrate his birthday. 

We head to Mabu on Pine for his birthday brunch. Last year I convinced everyone to dress up as him for his yearly birthday meal there, but this year I have not made any elaborate plans. I’m excited because one of my best friends is coming to this brunch and I wanted to catch up with her about her Thanksgiving. We break open the first bottle of wine while we wait for everyone else to trickle in. We all laugh (making silly jokes about the menu item called the ‘Dutch Baby’) and catch up - I haven’t seen most of his friends since he moved to New York in May. Only four of us are drinking so by the end of the meal, I am tipsy and silly. Another one of his friends and I, launch into the happy birthday song when banana pudding comes out for dessert. 

As friends start to slowly leave, he decides he has to go take a picture in front of the door to his old apartment so we begin the very short trek over. On the way, we pass my favorite vintage store on Pine so I derail us by dragging everyone inside with me in search of a specific gift for my friend. Unfortunately, while Moonrose Vintage is amazing and usually delivers something amazing from the vintage Gods, today I was out of luck. He snaps some fun pictures of their decorations before continuing on our way to his old apartment where we set up a phone across the small street to capture some group shots. 

They head to Dirty Frank’s to get a drink and I decide to make a detour to Wholefoods to pick up a cake. I’m hoping to get a cute little 4 inch cake so that I can carry it on my walk to the bar. Looking through the case I’m devastated to see that the only small cakes they have use buttercream frosting which he finds an affront to his delicate sensibilities so I decide to get the (much larger) berry chantilly cake which I’m pretty sure he’ll like better. Instead of trying to balance the cake over the (admittedly) very short walk, I instead call an uber to drop the cake off at home. By the time I get home with the cake, I decide to just lay on the couch in a fugue state on TikTok while they finish their drink. 

He gets back to my apartment silly and drunk and I try to sober him up with bread and water before he heads to meet his friend (and previous colleague) for a celebratory happy hour drink. We’ve been doing the Bonne Maman jam advent calendar, so I break out today’s jam (lemon and elderberry) and ply him with bread and jam. He tries to convince me to come to Osteria to join them but I wave him off and resume my mindless scrolling on my couch as soon as he leaves. After my break on my couch, I start to get ready for dinner and head to a new restaurant in my neighborhood that serves fancy pizza. We order a starter of various cheeses and are just served mozzarella cheese three different ways. We laugh at the ridiculousness of it all but also devour our delicious mozzarella and focaccia while we wait for our pizza. The pizza–pistachio pesto with mushrooms–didn’t disappoint as well but as it was served with even more mozzarella we broke out into even more laughter. 

Back home, we put on The Devil Wear Prada (that he watches every year for his birthday) while we try to stay awake so that we can celebrate his birthday as soon as the clock strikes midnight. Once the movie finishes, I put on the Taylor Swift Era tour live stream convinced from social media that we’re getting an announcement tonight on her last show of the Eras tour. With Ready for It playing in the background, he blows out his candles. Balancing the cake on the armrest of my couch we each take a fork and dig in while Taylor Swift plays in the background. 

Alyssa is freaked out about writing bios. Currently also freaking out about finishing all her reading challenges for the year, rediscovering Minecraft as an adult, watching twenty-five days of Christmas movies, and eating twenty-five days of mini jams. Friend her on Storygraph @ampiv