New Year's Eve is my birthday, which is really a lot of pressure on one holiday, but yesterday was quite fun and eventful.
GLS gave me a bow (with arrows) and carrying case, which made me feel every inch Amazon Cyn. I'm quite jazzed about the whole thing.
We had breakfast at Katz's Deli (scrambled eggs and a turkey ham-and-swiss on whole wheat), followed by a quick trip to Target where I picked up a cloth purse and socks.
Then we checked into the Stephen F. Austin, which is one of the grand downtown historic hotels, recently restored. The hotel itself was gorgeous, quite well done right down to the Art Deco elevator hardware. It was our first time staying there, so we were hopeful.
The service was spotty at best, though. (Staff confusion over whether the bar was open or closed--it was open, but only the bartender was scheduled. We were advised to try room service, which took an hour to deliver after four phone calls--one because the kitchen didn't have a copy of the room service menu, one because the person answering the phone didn't understand that Sauvignon Blanc was a kind of wine, not a winery, another because she wasn't sure how much to charge for my snack, and a final one because it was taking an hour instead of the promised 35 minutes. Plus, we had no hot water this morning).
However, we still had a good time together. Our room overlooked Congress Avenue, so we were able to watch all of the First Night Parade from there. We'd actually been chosen as one of 2006 households to receive bread, and we would've marched in conjunctin with that program if we hadn't already had the competing reservations.
Dinner at the hotel was excellent--a five course prix fixe menu. I skipped a couple of courses, but enjoyed the rest, especially the shrimp bisque. Despite battling cedar allergies, GLS looked quite handsome in his suit, and I wore a black velvet long sleeve top with a white satin skirt covered in black lace.
