(to read chapter one click here)

(**** a quick note before the story, is anyone having a hard time reading my posts and are my images distorted on your screen? If so can you let me know, thanks)

Magdalena was quiet on the ride into Manhattan, barely listening while her mother and grandmother’s talked non- stop about the black tie party her father was throwing to celebrate the  multi- million dollar sale of one of his real estate projects in NJ.  If one knew Magdalena’s father they would realize he would never host a black tie affair in New York and that this was her mother and grandmothers’ doing.  They  just want to buy gowns, celebrate and honor Magdalena’s dad for the evening.  Which in the end would make her father very happy, however when he received the bill he might need to buy another building to pay for it all.

Eddie their driver, dropped the ladies off in front of Bergdorf Goodman where they would have lunch in the highly fashionable restaurant designed by Kelly Wearstler. It was a feast for the eyes, the ladies who lunch crowd were quite the attraction almost as entertaining as the marvelous designs Kelly has perfected over the years.  For lunch they started off with BG Deviled Eggs that for some odd reason Magdalena has been craving ever since she was a young girl, often begging her mom to take her in so she could eat these and then after they would head downstairs for some Juicy Couture and finish the day at   Dyllan’s Candy Bar owned by Dyllan Lauren daughter of Ralph.  Those were many years ago, Magdalena no longer wore Juicy Couture clothes but she never made a trip into the city without stopping at Dyllan’s Candy Bar.  After the eggs were served and all the popovers with strawberry butter were devoured they finished up with Asian Crab Cake Salads in a yuzu dressing and a composed steak salad with roast apples, parsnips with an aged sherry vinaigrette.  They were all starving, especially Magdalena after a morning of Doubles Tennis she barely had time to finish her iced coffee and grab a piece of fruit on the way out the door. Her mother noticed that her tennis skirt was hanging on her and worried that her daughter wasn’t taking care of herself.  Magdalena’s mother had been sick many years ago and her greatest fear was her children’s health.  Her daughter assured her it was just the warm summer months, travel and a bit of stress plus lots of tennis that were behind her weight loss and that she felt fine.   Magdalena and her mother only drank ice coffee in the morning along with some yogurt or oatmeal, they swore by it for getting them ready for a killer workout and busy day.  Her mother couldn’t start her day without her coffee and one hour of drenched in sweat exercise.  Although Magdalena also loved fitness  she much preferred that of competitive sports such as tennis and her horse shows.

During lunch Her mother and grandmothers’  kept asking her why she was so tired and why she seemed so distracted during lunch.  She assured them it was just a bit of jet lag  from flying  in the previous day from Spain.  Her mother was a bit suspicious of this since Magdalena never gets jet lagged when she flies back home from Europe.  Luckily for Magdalena her mother spotted the incredible designer Miles Redd whom her mom was obsessed with,  and went over to get his autograph. This made Magdalena want to crawl under the table from embarrassment.  This always surprised her because her mom never showed the least bit of interest in any celebrities and thought most of them were crazy, but when it came to artists, writers and the best of the best designers Magdalena’s mother got positively giddy and star struck.  Even at the private school her brothers attended her mom would be unfazed by anyone famous.  There was only one time she tried  to get a picture of a very famous singer/actress that had a daughter who attended the school.  The only reason she even bothered to do this was so she could give the picture to Magdalena’s  Great Grandmother.  Margaret  loved this singer and would have just beamed with joy taking  the picture over to her Senior Citizen’s group in the small town that she lived in Upstate New York.  Magdalena could just see her waving it around the local coffee shop  showing off in front of all the other 90 year olds as if she were a personal friend of this 40 something Diva.  Lets just say this singer had a major comeback in 2009 after her stint in re-hab and divorce from her bad boy husband.  Unfortunately Magdalena’s mother never did get that picture as miss fabulous with THE voice asked her to please not take her photo.    Her mom obliged the diva as to not have her sons removed from the school in an altercation.   Her mom always felt the husband with the bad boy reputation was the nicer of the two.  He was always polite, said hello, and smiled on the days when he passed by their car where he could hear  Madonna playing on a daily basis from her moms Mercedes.

Magdalena enjoyed looking around the glamorous and fabulously decorated restaurant that only Kelly could pull off.  The fabrics were of the most sumptuous blue silks, the mix of priceless antiques with ultra modern and graphic prints was mesmerizing. And in her opinion the only way to decorate.   The only thing more mesmerizing was guessing which of the ladies eating lunch in the restaurant had had a face lift , she noticed the famed NY plastic surgeous Dr A and Dr. M seated with a couple of older socialites in a table off in the corner.  Typically the ladies who lunch crowd at BG were pulled back tighter than most people’s spending habits were a decade ago in the recession when President Obama took office.  Magdalena’s family consisted of a mix of Democrats and Republicans and they all got along and as children were taught to support who you like but to respect and have positive words for who was in office. Well if at all possible.  Her mother was really into Karma.  Luckily things in 2021 were much much better and by the looks of the $20,000 face lifts, breast jobs, Louboutins, Chanel, and shopping bags the bad times of that era were a thing of the past.  It was funny, as much as all four of them enjoyed coming here for lunch and a special girls day out, they never did really fit in, they were too happy to get caught up in all the superficiality of it all.  Her mom never forgot her roots and much preferred hanging out with a very different crowd.  Her mother loved to have fun, loathed rudeness and despised mean spirited gossip and she raised four children with the same values.  Even her oldest brother was away healing the world with his amazing surgical skills, money wasn’t what motivated him.  It was his medicine and his art. Her parents were sad that he would be unable to get back from Africa to attend his Father’s party.  He promised to be home for Christmas.

When Magdalena’s mother finally returned to the table they got their check and headed to the couture department to pick out some gowns and cocktail dresses for the party.  The entire ride into NY, Madgalena’s mother said she was going to wear something by Jean Paul Gaultier which surprised her, but perhaps her mother wanted a very sexy edgy look.  If so  Magdalena thought  she should consider  Versace.  They started with her Grandmother’s first.  Her paternal Grandmother is a striking brunette, who even in her early 80’s is still in good shape and has great fashion sense.  She wanted something black, somewhat reminiscent of the gown she wore to Magdalena’s parents wedding 26 years ago.  She said if she didn’t find something she loved then she  planned to wear that gown again to her son’s party.  Madgalena’s maternal grandmother has green eyes very fair skin and is a natural redhead so it was a choice between a lovely aubergine or an emerald green gown.  Her mother just wanted something  to look hot for her father, she cared so much about looking good for him.  Her dad seemed to prefer her mom in fitted jeans, very  high heels and t-shirts and no makeup over anything fancy.  He did love it when she wore anything by the amazing Narcisso Rodriquez, he felt no one designed clothes that fit his wife better than this man.

They tried on many many gowns and cocktail dresses and much to her grandmothers’ disapproval she passed on the lovely Chanel gown and chose a very short, very sexy mini dress.  Her mother basically said the same thing that was said to her when she was young, to wear it now while you are young and fabulous and can pull it off, so she bought it. Her mother liked her style and encouraged her to wear what she liked with the exception of fur.  Magdalena loved fur, and would wear all of her great grandmothers jackets and coats that were passed down to her mother.  Her mom kept them all because they were family gifts but she stored them with all the ones her dad bought her and wore faux fur.  She wasn’t bothered if others wore them.  The only time she saw her mom get a little upset was on a family trip to Napa many years ago.  They had passed by a fur shop on their way to Bouchon when they overheard two woman complaining on and on about their dislike for fur, only to show up at Bouchon and order the steak frites entree.  I guess my mom feels if you don’t need to wear animals you don’t need to eat them either.   They paid for their purchases and had them sent to NJ. ,then had Eddie drop them off at Dyllan’s Candy Bar before heading back to their home in New Jersey.  On the ride home Madgalena watched out the window as Manhattan faded in the background along with all the lights and noise ,soon they would be home.  She also watched how  NJ changed from the industrial mess that provided material that many late night comedians used to get laughs, into the beautiful place she grew up in, where Kings of Jordan, famous titans of industry, The author of The Nancy Drew books, Malcom Forbes and so many other famous people live or had once lived.  The Butterflies were starting to build in Magdalena’s stomach, she needed to tell her mother something, she promised her father she would do it today over lunch.  The party was this weekend and she needed to do this before.  Why was she so afraid, it wasn’t like she was pregnant or had a drug habit.  This was a good thing, something that she could do with her father that would make her very very successful.  Something that would change her life.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 7:45 am and is filed under Family Fun, Featured Magdalena, Featured Magdalena's Adventures, Living, Magdalena's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.