DING DONG! You're old.....

Well it's official. I'm 27. I took the day off work and so far, I got a gigantic Hello Kitty birthday card from Kim (plus kitty socks and a cake!), a phone call from my dad at 6am (3am his time, he set an alarm), a phone call from my mom at 8am (5am her time, she sounded groggy), talked to Crystal, got myself a coffee and a poppy seed bagel with scallion cream cheese, have "All Dressed Up In Love" from the Sex and the City movie and "Love Like This" by Natasha Bedingfield on repeat and am blogging on my blog. What more could I ask for??!!!

I think it's pretty cool that I now have three birthday blogs on here. 25 was with Crystal at Firecracker, 26 was an endless parade of silliness with Crystal and Wes, and 27, well, gee whiz, I'm in New York!

It's beautiful, downright gorgeous, picturesque days like this that make it seem crazy that I decided to move back home to SF. But honestly, ever since I made the decision, all I've felt is relief. I feel like I'm enjoying NY more now that I have an end date. Of course, I've enjoyed my time here but I don't think I ever really felt settled in. Which is surprising and disappointing. This time last year, all I could think about was moving to NY and how great it would be. I truly thought that being in NY would make me happy. I loved everything about the city: the sweltering muggy summers, the buildings, the subway, being surrounded by people all the time. I mean I definitely romanticized it all out of proportion (like Woody Allen) and I think that was part of the problem. I don't want to dwell too much on the negative but basically, I've realized that what I want in life isn't here. A year has passed and my priorities have changed and I got NY out of my system. I can confidently say that I've had a great time and I learned a lot about myself (both good and bad). It's time to learn what life is like as a grown up in SF!

I think I really enjoy having deadlines. I function better when I know things need to be finished at a certain time. Healthy, exercising Nina is out the window and good riddance. My only priority is going to as many happy hours as I can and stuffing my face with pizza. Boy, I will really, really, really miss the pizza.

And how could I not miss it when it looks like this?! This is a Sicilian slice at Di Fara in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Drenched in olive oil, it still manages to have a crispy crust. This is seriously the BEST slice of pizza I have ever had. Hands down.

Ah. The Sicilian slice was just an appetizer. I should really be a professional pizza eater. This is the regular Di Fara pie with artichokes and I forget what else. Crazy good.

And how could you not love the pizza when each is made specially by this cute little old man, Domenico or Dom as his friends call him. We waited an hour and half for our pie and it was worth it.

The presentation isn't as nice as Di Fara and Artichoke has already made an appearance on the blog but I don't care. I still love it! They made the NY Times too.

I have to love Artichoke because they use this tomato sauce!!!

Another thing I will miss about NY are my best buddies, Woody Allen and Larry David. Here they are across the street from my building filming a scene for Woody Allen's new movie staring Larry. I can definitely leave NY now that I have seen my heroes.

This was Woody the next day filming a scene for his short film for New York, I Love You. He looked sooooo Woody!

Woody walking off toward 1st Ave for a break.

I will also miss watching LOST at Professor Thom's where fellow LOST geeks line up 2 hours before the finale so they can get a good seat.

Professor Thom's is great because they hand out Jello shots when someone dies. When did I forget how to smile?

Funny that I should move back to the land of In-N-Out after finally starting to enjoy Shake Shack.

And the most recent fun thing: free kayaking on the Hudson.

Tusky is headed back to Michigan but she too has become a fan of the locavore movement and is reading up on Alice Waters.

And of course, lovely crowded Central Park.

But I don't want to jump the gun. I'm still here, I'm twenty-freakin-seven and there's two great months of summer to enjoy!

Addendum:

Birthday dinner was at Lil Frankie's in the East Village, my hood for 2007-2008. Everyone is staring skeptically at Anne. LOL.

The food was excellent as was the Chianti.

Left to Right: Anne, Alison, Kim, ME, Des, Ellen, and Sue Jean.

Mustache man who took the above pic.


Lovely cake Kim baked for me.

Here's to 27!