Salad Bar Guy says, “That’s, like, the perfect salad! Yum.” Suddenly, I feel extra-great about the salad I’m building. This is an effing delicious salad I’m about to consume! I’m Nobel laureate of the $5 lunch.

Desmond
Soren
Oona
Melville
Juniper
Esme
Beckett

Me: I want to marry this city.
Bryan: I want to make out with it and tell it I’ll call it later.

Amsterdam goals:

1. Sample unpasteurized cheese at the Wegewijs Cheese Shoppe (Rozengracht 32).
2. Visit the Looier antiques market.
3. See what it’s like to smoke pot legally at The Greenhouse.
4. Try raw herring in season.
5. Choose flowers for the apartment at the floating Bloemenmarkt.
6. Buy some Dutch chocolate at Puccini Bomboni.
7. See van Gogh’s self portrait in real life.
8. Take a boat ride on the canal with the baby.

I first met Alli in seventh grade, which was easily the most cringeworthy year of my life. In college, I happened to answer an ad her housemate placed. We ended up becoming roommates, then best buddies, then workmates. She comes from a family of artists, and is the only lawyer I know who is deeply into decoupage.

You know those people who you can ask anything? Like you say, “I need a twelve single men, an armadillo, and a Danish-modern credenza in this room within the next three hours,” and they can make it happen? Alli’s one of those.