jam packed fabulous weekend of fun in the nyc

Starting with Thursday…
Things have been in complete overdrive…too much to do, not enough time. I realized that when the first opportunity for me to actually get up to go to the restroom was at 4:30. Laura grabbed the keys before I did and I yelled at her, asking her what she was doing because there was no time for breaks. I was kidding of course. I think a conversation with both Chris and Jim that should have been 5 minutes lasted about 20 because I had to keep putting them both on hold and calling back. After work I met up with Maryellen and Gleeman at Tonic near Times Square. Honest to goodness every day after this work week I had to have something mindnumbing in my hand. I expected Chris and Amy to get to Hoboken near 11 pm, so we stayed till about 9:15 thinking we were ok. Watching guys in suits bob to music reminiscent of high school dances is very entertaining. We called it a night and trekked to Port Authority...through Times Square. I had a mini freak out on the sidewalk because of the masses of idiotic people with their maps and fanny packs standing in the middle of the sidewalks and intersections. Maybe another chapter in my book will be, “how to not piss people off when you’re a tourist”. We get on the bus and I get the call that Chris and Amy are in town and I am so not even close to Hoboken and we still had to get their parking pass. They were lucky enough to find parking a block away (has that happened, ever?!) so we unloaded their bags, hit up the grocery store, and grabbed some wine at the bodega. I was supposed to have off on Friday but decided to go in because there were many things to do before the weekend that had to get done. I was still in the mindset that I didn’t have work the next day because we took a blanket and some wine on the roof and hung out there sharing good conversation well into the night. After finishing off the bottle, we went back downstairs and crawled into bed. Chris and I stayed up even more talking and I think the last time I saw on my alarm clock was 3:30 AM. Ugh.

Friday morning was so gross – thick and rainy. I got to work a bit early and started my day with a half pot of coffee. I was racing the clock because I wanted to leave when Rich and Randy left, but that didn’t happen. Chris and Amy came up a little after 1 and met my coworkers and saw my office while I thought I was wrapping things up. I spent way too long trying to put together an itinerary because times kept changing. I felt awful, but at least we had magazines and they definitely occupied themselves with an umbrella. Our AIM was down, so Danielle and I passed notes…she’s too funny. I think Laura is permanently scarred after she walked out of her office as Chris squealed when an umbrella was pointed in the direction of his ass. It honestly was priceless and I saw it all happen in slow motion. Soon after we escaped and I can only wonder what will be said Monday morning in the office…

It was still gross out, but we headed down to the Lower East and SoHo to go shopping and eat anyway. I gave them a mini walking tour of the LES and my local hot spots. We were all starved so we figured we would wander till we found something. I don’t have many nyc food suggestions since the stuff I know is foreign take out, vegetarian/vegan, or super expensive and nice (work outings). We opted for Mexican and probably went to the worst Mexican place in NYC. It was…interesting. They gave us free flan. I never had flan before, nor will I ever have it again.

Afterwards we hit up the guitar shop on Ludlow and American Apparel before heading to Broadway. We were on the search for red Sauconies and rockstar clothing while dodging the raindrops. We were unsuccessful in finding the shoes, but successful in popping in random stores and finding crazy t-shirts and what we wouldn’t wear ever. Fun times. We were completely wet and gross so we headed to the PATH via Washington Park. Met up with Judy and headed to Hoboken to dry off and plan out the evening. Amy didn’t want to touch the subway pole, but she soon got over that well into Saturday.

We burnt CDs and checked out naked people on craigslist. Maryellen came over and we decided to order in Benny’s and grab a few more bottles of wine from the Bodega. We ate picnic style in my room and shared random stories of certain rock sparkles we know and September 11th. It was still so gross out and there wasn’t much going on in the ‘Boken aside from random bars and jukeboxes, we decided to stay in and play drinking games with wine. We played Asshole as the worst music videos ever played in the background on MTV hits. Ok, I am the worst when it comes to drinking games. I blame it on the lack of me playing them in college. Maryellen made a rule where we couldn’t say anyone’s name…I think we were all done for during that rule - we had Big Red/mansocks, Hoodie 1, Hoodie 2/Delaware, black shirt girl, and Boy. Around midnight we ended the game and said goodnight. I can’t remember where Chris disappeared to, but while he was gone, Amy and I skidded and slid on my hardwood floor hallway…knocking into walls and making many bruises. We then heard a loud bang from my room and Chris had totally knocked his head under one of my shelves, toppling everything to the ground. No worries…nothing broken and nothing bruised. I would have had to take that shelf down soon anyways, his noggin just did it for me. We went to bed around 1 saying how early it was and no sooner did I say how not tired I was I was completely knocked out.

Saturday
I woke up early and headed into the kitchen to knock out some work and start my morning off with some Bright Eyes while cleaning. Amy and I watched some of Live 8 (unadulterated) while Chris slept in. Around 12:30 we left for the city with a stop at Mola Coffee en route. We PATHed it to Herald Square and shopped until meeting up with Judy…still no luck on the shoes, Amy and I stalked a guy in H&M till we realized he was hot accept for his face, and now I am on the lookout for a hot jacket for Chris. We met up with Judy and hopped on the 5 which should have been the A or the C to Columbia. We walked the campus and stopped in the bookstore. I found some more books that I want, so if you want to buy me a gift, you can give me: “Killing Yourself to Live”, “How Soon is Never”,
Amy found the book on the mole people in nyc and we decided that we are going to find them.

We went through a cathedral on Amsterdam and then to a deli for lunch before heading to Central Park. We walked through Harlem where someone called Judy a bitch because…well, we don’t know why. The four of us walked from the top of Central Park to the bottom of the Park with stops at the castle and fountain along the way. The ominous cloud following us opened up gave the park a nice summer shower with only a few claps of thunder and one lightning sighting. The bathrooms were foul, but thank god for napkins, antibacterial hand wash, and body spray. We took shelter in the castle and saw a secret agent man and a cute gay couple carrying orange flowers. Amy said she felt real delicate trekking across rocks and mud in flops and a skirt. Delicate is a great word to be added to our list of us being angels and precious. We saw a guy sitting on a rock in the middle of the river and people skating to hip hop. Oh how I love Central Park. We ended up on Fifth Ave and only made it a few blocks until we were fed up with the masses and hopped on the F to 14th Street Union Square bound.

Like typical Union square, the artisans and protestors were in full force. We were on the quest for coffee and to exchange Chris’s shirts at American Apparel. Broadway was closed off for a street fair and the many smells and sights were typical NYC and I loved it…so much life and excitement around. Well, I didn’t love when the scary guy looked right at me and said, “I wanna fuck you”. My mouth dropped and I looked behind me to see if he was actually looking at me or taking to someone else and we was standing there turned around looking right at me. Who does that!!?!??! In AA the girls followed Red Sox hat into the dressing room area. Amy had some sort of mark on her ankle and wanted to get it off…we had the various sorts of antibacterial covered, but not anything to wipe it with. I told her I may have a tampon in my bag somewhere and we all nearly hurt ourselves from laughter at the site of that and for grossing Red Sox hat boy out. While cleaning her ankle she missed him walk out, but the guy behind him who walked out was semi hot, but then we figured they may be together.

We went back to the coffee shop, after Chris navigated us the correct way, we went to on Friday for…um…caffeine concoctions. Our order wasn’t hard…we ordered everything from the menu: two vanilla lattes, a chai latte, and a mocha – all iced. First she was out of vanilla so it was going to be a hazelnut latte. We’re watching her make it and we are all quite accustomed to coffee shops and what goes in drink and I don’t think she was making it right… The she tried the chai latte and asked Amy how to make it. Amy then decided after watching the vanilla lattes being made to go with a mocha. Yeah, let’s just say that they were all espresso creations. They did have fun bendy straws though and you can never go wrong with a neon bendy straw.

Afterwards we went to the CGBG’s corner to take pictures of the walk sign. I seriously have been trying to get a picture of that traffic sign since February so now I finally have it. I also got a picture of the club since it may not be there much longer L. We hopped on the 6 and ended up at the WTC site to look around and head to the South Street Seaport and Pier 17 Pavilion to look around. We took pictures of the Brooklyn coast and then tried to find the pedestrian walkway to the Brooklyn Bridge without the help of one police officer. The views from the Brooklyn Bride were awesome and it fel so good to be so out in the open and above it all. Amy streaked across Manhattan since the wind kept blowing her skirt up, so naturally she violated everyone as she walked between the two boroughs.

We made it to Grimaldi’s and didn’t stand outside for too long before going in and ordering a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza. There is a Grimaldi’s in Hoboken as well, but its just not the same as being smooshed against strangers amidst the hustle and bustle. We almost polished off two pies, then headed to the dock to take pictures of Manhattan from the Brooklyn side. Next up, Coney Island via the F train.

We were in an interesting car…complete with a guy who was very animated while using his phone, a family half asleep across from us, a family with boys showing off on the poles, and a guy with cool socks immersed in his head phones. Amy made friends with the little girl sitting next to her, though her mom snatched her away once she felt up Amy. Once the interesting people left we ran from train to train at the stops trying to find more interesting people. We almost saw a fight, but we did end up in the front car and stood right in the front window and watched the train approached Americana at it’s finest – Coney Island.

We walked all around and absorbed everything around us, I absolutely love it there. The Cyclone is the oldest wooden roller coaster in America. The warning signs were so outdated – no beepers or walkmans…that should read no cell phones or ipods. Chris and I love coasters and wanted the front, but after waiting for quite a while, we opted for the last cart. It was great, we whipped around and screamed and got lifted from our seats. Afterwards we trekked it to the beach until we heard the sounds of a…rock concert…? We see lights flash across the buildings and hoof it towards the tunes. We hopped a fence, passed the tour bus, and stood on a railing and held onto the chain link fence to see Def Leopard perform their encore. It was completely crazy, fantastic, and sounded amazing. We met up afterwards with Amy and Judy who were chilling by the bus…passing many older woman with cutoffs and men with mullets – gotta love it.

We caught the train back to Brooklyn then hung out at Judy’s for a bit. Anna and crew picked up cheesecake so we had some of that and watched Napoleon. I don’t think I put so much bad stuff into my body in one day ever. One the train back to Manhattan a really drunk guy left his phone on the train. We tried to get his attention and he acknowledged us then ignored us, so we took pictures on his cell phone. I’ll make sure he gets it this week. On the way from the metro to the PATH, Chris and I talked about what will happen in ten years if our rock star dreams fade away. I’ve had this on my mind since last weekend (see Live 8 blog). There are always options, but its so hard to stray away from what you know if you don’t succeed.

The PATH back to Hoboken was on the drunk train. Amy said she now understands why I don’t feel like I fit in haha. When we emerged back to NJ at 4:30 AM, we saw a hooker – so gross. Chris and Amy decided to drive back to MD since it was early, he’s used to it, and there will be no traffic. We said our goodbyes and they made it home in about 3 hours. And now its Sunday and I am spending it catching up on the news, emails, LDE media stuff, and apartment hunting. I had the greatest weekend since I have been here and it was wonderful. I love hanging out in the city and seeing so much that it has to offer and am so fortunate that I have friends that also enjoy adventures and discovering. And after Rand McNalleying all of our trips, we walked 12 miles yesterday.