I'm the same age as Carrie on SATC Season 1

After a year of ups and downs, I made it

Aug 25, 2025

Tomorrow I turn 32. Today, I’m sipping coffee from my favorite mug, in my favorite linen pajamas and writing to you. Last year, my birthday was on a Monday and I remember thinking that felt appropriate. 31 wasn’t an age I had thought too much about, it would be a way to ease into my highly anticipated thirties. It felt like the right one to fall on Monday, a chill start to a new era.

Reader, it was anything but chill. The past year has been one of most difficult I’ve ever experienced and also one of the most important. Some months felt endless (time crawls when you’re crying every day) and some flew by. I know I’m not alone in that, it’s been a doozy for so many. I made some big decisions, ended a seven year relationship, got a cat, started living alone for the first time, and kept putting one foot in front of the other even when it was really, really hard.

Last year during my birthday, I was very uncertain. I tried to enjoy my celebrations, but I was plagued by questions and starting to imagine an alternate version of my life where I lived alone with had a cat and was free from a cycle of wondering if something was going to happen when it really was not. The other side of that uncertainty is better than I could have imagined (all the people who gave me the annoying advice that time helps with everything were correct). I have so much to celebrate and be grateful for and really great people to celebrate with. I’m having a staycation this week and it’s been so special so far. I have a good feeling about 32, after all, it’s the age Carrie Bradshaw was on season one of Sex and the City. Hopefully, it’s fabulous!

More birthday reflections here from 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, and 25. I’ll be back Thursday and am so glad you’re here!

Something to cook:

If you don’t have anything in the house for lunch, you can always bring sourdough and half an avocado to the office and make really delicious avocado toast. I also brought some lime and we had salt, pepper, and hot sauce in the cabinet.

I impulse bought tomatoes on my walk home and made a lovely caprese with chickpeas—a riff on the cannelini caprese from Caroline Chambers cookbook, which is one of my most used. I brought this to the office the next day with some zucchini added in for extra greens. I sauteéd the zucchini with some za’atar, which worked well with the other flavors.

Jared made me cacio e pepe, which was quite the treat for a Monday. We’re officially taking a family trip to Italy next year (my first time) and I’m so excited to try this dish in its birthplace. Alongside the pasta, we had an arugula salad with cucumbers and a shallot sherry vinaigrette.

This turned out so good and I cannot wait to eat the same thing in Rome!

Something to order:

My family went to a Liberty Game (the best vibes, hands down) and I’m always pretty impressed by the food at Barclay’s. I had mushroom tacos from Nene’s and there was also a Jamaican patty stand. After the game, we walked across the street to Carvel for a sweet treat. The line suggests this is a post game hot spot. Also here’s a Carvel fun fact for you that I learned from A Thing or Two: they use the same cake pan for the Fudgy the Whale and the Santa cakes, just flipped upside down. Innovation!

We had an Isetta team happy hour at The Commodore, which was lovely. We sipped piña coladas and tackled a pile of nachos and a fries, with Fly by Jing’s chili crisp ketchup (client). It already sold out but hoping they make more.

This ketchup is tangy and a little spicy, so good!

Afterwards, I headed to Fort Greene for dinner with Devinne at Colonia Verde. It was pouring rain so we walked right in and sat at the bar. We split mushroom arepas, a little gem salad, and the pao de quijo. It was so great to see her!

Jared and I saw & Juliet (such a fun show) and got a post show nitecap at Dutch Fred’s, which makes a very good spicy mezcal cucumber cocktail and fries. They’re thin and crispy, the best kind of fry.

Tilden and I had an ice cream date with her dog Kiri at Brown Buttery Creamery. I love their pistachio flavor but you really can’t go wrong.

Saturday was a pizza night, so I ordered from Ace’s, which does Detroit style pizza. I always freeze my leftover pizza, it is perfect in a pinch when you are hungry.

I rounded out the weekend with a birthday dinner with my parents at Winona’s. I was heavily influenced to go after seeing Shelby post their summer corn and tomato pasta and I was not disappointed. The menu changes seasonally (but the yams and grilled bread are always on the menu, get them) and the space is beautiful. Isa joined the Koffler crew and it was a good time. We have three Virgos in the family so this will not be the last family bday celebration.