Elinor Nauen

Becca & I ate at Neptune yesterday morning. I went to black belt class, ate an almond croissant at La Maison du Macaron with Yukie, & assisted the peewees & youth karate classes. I met my friends Lucie & Jason at the Gramercy Park Hotel, which has been fancied up since the last time I was there, when it seemed like a Milwaukee hotel circa 1960, where they served eggs russe in the dining room & the TV was black & white. Lucie & Jason, whose organic egg business is called Locally Laid, were runners-up (out of 15,000 small business entries) to win a Superbowl ad. Part of their prize was a dream trip to New York. They sent me home in the snow (softest of the year) with a bouquet from the big Superbowl party. In the morning they rang the Nasdaq bell to kick off the day's money trading.

Whenever people visit New York, I fall in love with my city all over again. The best moment was looking out their 14th-floor window down onto Gramercy Park, & feeling the connection to the past that is so strong in that part of town.