On top of the world

I had my first one-night stand on Saturday, and it was fantastic!

Before you jump to conclusions - my one-night stand was with my fiance, Brent. Sheesh!

I got the idea from the fantastic book "Forget About It" by Caprice Crane, which I totally recommend to anyone looking for a good book to read.

For our one-night stands, both Brent and I take turns coming up with a fun activity to do together every other Saturday. The caveat is that it has to be something we've never done before, and may never do again, hence the one-night stand.

It sounds harder than it is, but it probably will almost always will be a restaurant we've never eaten at before along with an activity we've never done.

So since I came up with our first activity yesterday, Brent will need to come up with his idea in two weeks. That means we'll get to do some sort of New York-y thing twice a month, which is probably all we'll be able to afford anyway!

For my turn, I poured over some of the "stuff to do in New York" books I've gotten as gifts to find a good romantic restaurant because I was in the mood for romance!

Right when I saw the restaurant called Chez Josephine , I knew I hit money. My middle name is Jo because I was named after an uncle who died before I was born. But since that's a guy's name, Brent usually calls me Josephine as one of his pet names. Since he hates surprises, I gave him the hint that we were going to "my place" for dinner followed by something spectacular!

And since we were going somewhere romantic, it gave me an excuse to dress up!

For some reason, I had the urge to wear my red pumps - red equals romance, after all, and paired that up with skinny jeans, a red fitted shirt, and a black stretchy belt cinched around my midsection.

I also had the urge to do something different with my hair, so I channeled the '80s and crimped the top half. Honestly, I have no idea whether I looked stylish or just plain silly, but I felt pretty fashionable!

Many blocks later - with many Band-aids wrapped around my toes and adhered to my heels - we got to the restaurant and sat down right away at an intimate table with candles. Brent had the salmon - of course - with veggies, and I tried some delicious angel hair pasta with squash and tomatoes.

After my feet had some time to rest, and after Brent made me ruin the surprise by telling him where we were headed, we walked another few blocks to the tallest building in New York City - The Empire State Building at Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It was the world's tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931 until the World Trade Center's North Tower was built in 1972. It then became New York City's tallest building once again after the World Trade Center towers were destroyed in 2001.

It took FOREVER to get to the top because we had to weave through line after line in room after room and down hallway after hallway, but finally we rode two elevators to the 86th floor observation deck.

Because we went at night, the view was SPECTACULAR. It was a clear night, so we could see for 20 miles in every direction. The city stretched out before us in three directions and we could see the Hudson River and New Jersey in the other. Though it was freezing, it was also romantic.

Then we capped off the evening with a subway ride home because there was no way I was walking yet another step in those great-looking, yet ridiculously painful shoes. It hurts when you're trying to be beautiful!