Cayman Islands Day Two

Day two got off to another early start with the dive shop picking us up at 845 for two dives. I havent been on a dive since circa 1993 so I was excited to get back into the deep blue.

We headed out on the boat with our dive experts Mo and Britta and our first dive was the best. We checked out a sea wall, headed down about 85 feet and swam through a cavern where we came face to face with a reef shark! It was about 6 feet and hung out for quite some time. Reed had a blast flying like a sting ray across reefs and giving a perfect floating Buddha impersonation which was a riot.

Next up was a quick snorkel and then another shallow dive where we saw a massive lobster and more amazing Parrot fish, my fave. I have to say seeing all of these natural wonders again was truly incredible. To imagine that those reefs, those magically colored fish and those sprawling sea fans which wave in symmetry like a Busby Berkley film were all made not for us, but for those sea creatures to enjoy, live in and love. It's a real wonder.

Have I had too much rum? Hardly. It's just a joy to see those incredible colors in nature and not in a club kids make up schematic.

The rest of the day was spent pool side. We were wrangled into a rum race where we had to push a rum keg from the shallow end of the pool to the bar, have a shot and push it back. We lost but still finished the bottle.

This evening we had dinner at Portofino, which was owned by an Indian family?! Conch fritters with curry and crab samosas. Regardless of the ethnic diversity, it was good food all the same.

Tomorrow- sleeping in!

Cayman Islands Day One

Almost a year after mother won a charity auction for a week in the Cayman's in a two bedroom condo- Here we are!
More Clampets than Carringtons, seven of us piled in here but it seems to be working after 24 hours.

This morning Happy and I went 'swimming with the horses'. Amazing! My horse drove me NUTS but she was fine in the water. Hey, her name was 'Breakdancer'.

Afterwards we took a spin through Georgetown then came back to the hotel? Resort? Time Share? for lunch then a quick snorkel with the Tarpons.

THEN we continued melting into vacation mode with drinks at the swim up bar and then cocktails on Mimi's pier where I really saw how normal people vacation. WOAH. Lots of Teva's.

Finally we had a big ole seafood dinner and at the very late hour of 7:30 I was in bed catching up on reading and TV.
I am loving vacation.
More soon.

The Dollhouse Part 2. Almost there!

Unfortunately I was unable to make it down to Atlanta for this event but mother sent me these images of a soft opening of the doll house at AHHH. I wrote about it in 2008 here:http://catorsparks.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50

The event was on a Wednesday and Mom, Dad, Aunt Cator and Jim headed downtown to Decatur for the event. The house looks amazing and I cant wait for the big opening in the next couple of months when the gardens are blossoming and the interiors are complete.

More soon!

Beatrice's first birthday!

I have to apologize for not blogging more. This whole Facebook thing has taken over! Why blog when I can simply add a picture to Facebook for thousands to see? Alas, I'm back.

Last Saturday I biked down (on Felton my new bike!) to Petite Abeille in Tribeca for Bea's first birthday.
She was looking adorable as always with a perfect spring time bow in her hair.

Alistair was dressed in a super hero cape while getting down on a croissant and his best friend and his little brother Gavin (or Squirmy to his parents) also joined in. Rumor has it Gav and Bea are a couple but Uncle Cator refuses to believe this wee tale. Amy Lau came a bit late but was the life of the party as usual with her Mame red hair and hysterical stories.

We dove into Belgian breakfast delights and I gave Bea her presents which included a hand made wooden top from Designers Within Reach, a book called, Gator and Pete, about a horse and turtle who learn to become friends (I bought that at Manhattan Saddlery). If you want to know more about Gator check him out here: http://www.gatorsgang.com/
Then I gave her main present to Mary, it is a year long family membership to the Natural History Museum that Tali and I bought as a Godparent gift. They were thrilled.

After one too many coffees I had to dash to a SCUBA class at the YMCA so I gave Bea one last big old smackie and put the petal to the metal.

Happy Birthday Bea! Can't wait for your 16th shin dig!

One Wild Night at The Standard

About two months ago I received an email from Andre Balazs’ famously cheeky Standard Hotel.
It was a picture of a naked lady wearing a tool belt and it said, "If You Don’t Mind Our Banging, We Don’t Mind Yours."
It was an offer to friends and family of The Standard to come stay while the newest Standard hotel is still under construction in the Meat Packing District over the Highline.

I have met Andre at many a rowdy party as well as interviewed him for Style.com. His VP of Marketing is one of my new favorite and fabulous friends, Lucy McIntyre.

Price and Salman just happen to be coming to town for a week and she jumped on the idea of renting a suite overlooking the Hudson. We booked the room and she invited a gaggle of friends and the party was on!

We checked in at 4pm on Saturday and set up the bar in time for sunset cocktails. We put on the ipod and Edmond hit play on his Serge Gainsbourg DVD and we got the party started. I enjoy drinking but I think we may have set the record for drinking from 4pm-4am! Funny though when you drink for so long, none of us got obliterated, just 'happy'. About 20 people came in and out all night; we ordered hot wings and took a couple of behind the scenes tours (shhhh!).

Highlights included the amazing sunset, trying out the bathtub and lying on the bed catching up with friends. I felt like Frank Sinatra hosting a swinging 60's shindig!

At 4am when the booze ran out we got into our PJ's and piled into bed!

I suggest everyone try out the hotel before full price nights are here. As you can tell, we had a marvelous party!

My favorite picture of the year!