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In 1604 for Twenty-Four: Saturday Night at the Ritz-Carlton Residences’ Newest Tower

Saturdays go something like this: clean house, killer work out class, home to recover and hop in the pool with the dogs if weather permits, after which I usually walk around the exterior of my house and make note of what needs to be done. If I don’t get someone out to clean my windows the  mud wasps will have eminent domain. I have a dead juniper next to my front door. The yard man needs to pay more attention to the Japanese garden, which looks more like Hiroshima, the summer color is going going gone and it’s time to shell out money for think fall color. The pecans are raining on my sidewalk faster than I can sweep them, yielding enormous squirrel scat, and there’s a duck pooping in the pool, on my deck. So much for a swim. No wonder that by four pm, I’m hitting the bottle and re-thinking my love affair with home ownership.

So when the Ritz-Carlton Dallas asked if we’d like to try on living in one of their newest homes — to be unveiled tomorrow — I said not just yes but HELL YES and told the squirrels to stuff themselves.

2:00 p.m We pack our bags for a night of elegance, dinner at Fearings,  and (yard maintenance be damned, or at least postponed), a Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas spa: I slip into a cocktail dress and fold up work-out clothes, tee shirts, bathing suit (which I ended up leaving on my dresser) and make-up. Also throw in an elegant black velour lounging outfit with tags still hanging — never worn since I never “lounge” in my own home.

3:58 p.m. Arrive at the 23-story Tower Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, pulling the car into the port-cohere at our new address: 2555 North Pearl Street. We are greeted by none other than Ritz-Carlton General Manager Roberto van Geenen; Joseph Pitchford, Senior Vice President, development, Crescent Real Estate Equities L.L.C.; and Barbara Capasso, Residences Manager, with champagne. The Robert A.M. Stern regency-style building exterior is similar — identical, actually — to it’s twin tower and the hotel, the pale brick and cast stone. Most definitely a New York City elegance. The interior lobby is dramatic with white onyx floors bordered by rich chocolate brown and, a concierge counter bearing the most beautiful russet-colored stone slab I have seen to date: rich maple wood paneling everywhere. Unlike Tower One, this lobby is more of a rectangle, with a warm residence sitting room, a library, Chinese-red dining/board room,  private exercise room with a cushioned floor, individual lock and key wine-storage units for each homeowner, and gateway to a gorgeous, 80 foot long pool and spa flanked by Jerusalem Palms. There is an exterior fireplace and the entire deck, chairs, chaise lounges, pillows are new, spotless, squirrel and duck-free.

There is a fireplace in the lobby as well, and it is lit, warm and welcoming on what will soon be an historically rainy day in North Texas.

And so begins one of my most amazing 24 hours ever…