From my written diary in 1968 :

"February 29--for my 8th birthday Bernie and Alex threw me a party at our new apartment--about a dozen people--the night before we celebrated at the Blue Ribbon and had dinner at Sun Luck--the day after Durinka, Bernie, Alex, Ronnie, Gino and I ended the celebrating with brunch at the Scandia smorgasbord ."

The year before--March, 1967--I had joined Weight Watchers and by September, having lost 75 pounds at that time, I went to work for them lecturing 6-7 classes a week plus working various waiter jobs like lunch at Miller's in Wall Street and Dan Dowd's on 47th --a lot would happen after that from Bernie and I becoming partners in December--he, Alex and I renting a 2 bedroom apartment at 301 East 22nd street--Bernie getting the Weight Watchers Memphis franchise in June, 1969 and my joining him in Memphis on October 12 that year and then, before I knew it, I was 9 years old!! And now I am 19--where did the decade go? LOL

For my 19th birthday I will, for several reasons, be going on a different track to celebrate my birthday by not giving a party. Thanks to Corine, Charlotte and Charlie I will be going to the opening night at the Broward Performing Arts Center on February 29 of "Billy Elliot" which I am eagerly looking forward to seeing. In the afternoon I plan to have lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory, which will include a piece of their Godiva Chocolate cheesecake.

On February 18 we will be driving up to the 'new' Plaza Theatre in Manalapan to attend a Master Class on musical comedy theatre given by THE Donna McKechnie and in the evening seeing her one woman show "Musical Comedy Life". As far as I am concerned I am spending an evening with Cassie from "A Chorus Line" and if I don't get too tongue tied--yes me!!!!--hopefully I can get a picture with her!!

In between the class and show we will go for a bite to eat at the Old Key Lime Restaurant which claims to be the oldest restaurant in Florida and is on the water--I haven't been there is a couple of years and it was good back then.

Before and after that Saturday I plan to treat myself to restaurants that I have enjoyed previously or those I have always wanted to try such as: Morton's Steakhouse, Eastend Brasserie at the Atlantic Spa on the beach, Seasons 52, Eduardo De San Angel, Cafe Vico, Marriott Harbor Beach, China Grill at the Hilton on the beach, Steak954 just to name a few. Some things never change and one is that my Leap Year birthday will revolve around food--at least 19 restaurants! So far I have been to:

MORTON'S SEA LEVEL CAFE VICO GAMAROFF'S

QUARTERDECK PORTIA'S SEASONS 52

After The Cheesecake Factory and the Key Lime House only 10 more to go!

******************************************************************