While, sure, I love when I have something to celebrate, I love seeing friends and loved ones truly happy.

Last night, Lacey, one of my best friends in NYC, hosted a surprise graduation party for her boyfriend, John. It was really sweet watching her go from super nervous to pleased at executing the surprise to proud as she toasted him.

He was either totally surprised or is the best actor ever.

Potato and egg omelette

She hosted the party at Socarrat, a paella bar in Chelsea. We had a room to ourselves with a long table, and it had a really cozy feeling.

We started with cold tapas and progressed through hot tapas and had paella for dinner.

There were a gazillion plates being passed around the table, and I only got a chance to take pictures of a few. This was the grilled octopus with…some sort of potato thing in the middle. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had octopus before, but I liked the taste. It was certainly kind of chewy, but it sort of tasted like (grilled) calamari.

Y la paella! This was the seafood paella (obviously) with basa fish, shrimp, cuttlefish, mussels, cockles, squid and scallops. And it was delicious. (Although it was really salty.)

Dessert included flan, which is one of my favorite desserts that I don’t have often.

Everything was delicious, but I walked home with an upset stomach from eating so much. It had been a long time since I’d felt so sick from eating too much, and it was a good reminder that moderation is so much better. I’m heading to the Outer Banks on Saturday (sixth year in a row!) and D.C. tomorrow, and I think that, ironically enough, this trip will be a little bit of a detox for me. I’ve been going out a ton lately, and we usually cook in at the beach house, so that will be a nice, needed change. Also, our house this year includes steep discounts at lots of local places, so we have lots of active plans – including biking and playing tennis. (And obviously, I’ll be running.)

Are you doing anything for Memorial Day? Do you typically stay active on vacation? It depends on the trip for me – but after two trips this year where I was much more laissez-faire about what I ate and working out, I think it’s back to moving a bit more and eating a bit less while away.