If I Can Make It Here...
Wow! So I'm sitting in the JFK airport right now... yeah, hello New York! It has been a fan-freakin-tastic (my new favorite word) weekend.
Left Wednesday night on a Red Eye out of San Jose... me and 5 of my favorite girlies... on our second annual Girls Rule, Boys Drool trip. Last year it was Vegas - we pretended we were a bachelorette party. This year, we went to New York city... the pretend occasion? Well, we had some trouble picking something that was both exciting and believable... we tried "Emily is moving to Florence to become a furniture designer"... but then everyone we met was like "aww... aren't you sad? Aren't you going to miss her?... so that was sort of a downer... Then we said "Brie just got her PhD!"... but we couldn't decide on a field of study that was both exciting and not too intimidating to the guys that we were trying to convince to buy us drinks.... We finally settled on "Yay! None of us is getting married!" It's the truth, it's easy to remember, and in our opinion it IS a reason to celebrate. (Of course, 5 minutes in Central park watching all the families play catch and whatnot and we were more like "!!Why aren't any of us getting married??!!") :( *sigh*
Anyway, our plane landed Thursday morning at 6 am and we got to the hotel around 7... quick costume change in the hotel lobby bathroom and it was off to Cafe Lalo for a DELISIOUS breakfast - mmmm Belgian waffles... hey, I was on vacation!!! After breakfast we played in Central park for a bit and then went shopping on 5th Avenue. (Granted it was mostly window shopping, but still) Around 3pm we gave into exhaustion and went back to the hotel for a nap. Ahhh sweet sleep! Then we woke up, showered, dressed, and were off for our first taste of New York City nightlife. We started out at the Maritime Hotel - and by started out, I mean we wondered around aimlessly for like an hour trying to find/ decide on a cool bar. Once we got to the Maritime Hotel (and figured out where to sit - trust me, it was a challenge), we had the YUMMIEST cosmos (they'd better be for $12 a piece!) and some of the BEST girlie bonding I have ever experienced. :) It was so nice. I can honestly say that I will treasure that memory forever. Afterwards, we met my best friend, Kim (who lives in Manhattan), at Tortilla Flats in the meat-packing district for dinner. Our "reservation" was for 9:15... I don't think we sat down until 10:30... but the guy at the door brought us as many free shots of tequila as we could handle, so it certainly wasn't the end of the world. :) Dinner was good but, being from California, I think we should have known better than to order Mexican Food on the East Coast - it didn't even begin to compare to the stuff we have here. Oh well - at least the margaritas were good... but $33 for a pitcher!!!! (And it was a small pitcher!!! - Crazy.) After dinner we went to a few bars... I remember very little... I was still exhausted and the tequila had gone straight to my head... but I'm told I had a good time... and apparently I almost cried when I said goodbye to Kim - she was going out of town for the weekend for work. Figures! The one time I come to New York, she has to go away :( But we said goodnight, took the subway home, and I passed out in all my clothes. SOOOOOOOOO unlike me - I didn't even wash my face! YUCK!
Anyway, Friday we woke up, got dressed, and met up with Anna (who lives in D.C. and took the train up to NYC - so cool!) We had breakfast at a resturant whose menu was TWENTY-EIGHT pages long!!!!!! (I took FOREVER to decide on what to eat - big surprise) Then we went to TKTS in times square and got half price tickets to see Chicago!!!!! (YES, I SAW CHICAGO ON BROADWAY!!!!!) By the way, Times Square was EXACTLY how I pictured it! Kinda like San Francisco and Vegas mixed together... and on Steroids. After we got tickets, we went and saw Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Church, and then we went to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). I gotta tell ya, modern art... IT'S NOT ART!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHGRHGHGHHHHRHHRHRHGHGHGHGH. I'm sure I was totally obnoxious to the other museumgoers, but I couldn't help but say, "Ummm, hello, NOT ART!" at almost every piece we saw. I was so not a fan! They *did* have a few Monets and Van Goghs there... so that sorta made up for it... but still - painting a canvas all blue and calling it art just is *not* right!!! After the museum we went to dinner (Yay! Cheap noodle place - mmmmm) and then we went and saw our Broadway show. I think it's safe to say that we had "jazz hands" for a solid hour after the performance. (We're so lame) Then, we went out in Greenwich Village... again we got off to a rocky start -
Alina: Hey this place looks, cool... and look at all the cute boys.
Sophie: Wow, there are a LOT of boys in there.
Lucia: Sweet! Let's go.
Me: Wait a minute... there are NO girls in there.
Brie: Even Better!
Me: Wait, seriously, there are NOOOO girls in there.
Anna: Hmmm there seems to be a lot fetish stores on this street...
Emily: Uhh, guys, I'm pretty sure this is a gay bar.
Lovely. On the upside, at least we weren't mistaken for cross-dressers... as we walked down the street, one guy looked us over and said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice: "hmmm, real girls..." (ummm, ok) We ended up at some bar called White Horse, where they'd never heard of a micro-brew, and apparently just slapped there own name on Red Hook beer. The nerve! After that we went to Employees Only - a super posh bar where we decided that we didn't fit in and promptly left 5 minutes after being seated. (A little embarrassing, yes, but we'll never see those people again, so who cares what they think!) Then we went to a place called Cowgirl - GREAT margaritas!!! (Again, stupid expensive, but soooo tasty!) And then we were off to another bar where two boys named Jason bought us all beers. Nice. Around 3 or so we went home and crashed. (p.s. yes, we slept 7 girls in one hotel room - 3 beds, 1 bathroom – what can we say, we’re babes on a budget.)
Let’s see, so Saturday we got up, walked through Central Park, saw the family-fest (made me want to get married and have like 10 kids right then and there) and then went to the Met – soooo much fantastic art!!! REAL ART, not that crappy modern… crap! Afterwards we went home, put on fancy dresses and went out to a fabulous steak dinner. Fabulous except that some stupid lady in the bathroom was like, “You girls look nice, are you going to Prom?” PROM!! REALLY??!! Do I really look 18, lady!!!!!!! Grr. But everything was made up for on the walk out of the restaurant… It was one of the greatest moments of my life… Picture it… we’re in a steak house, so the guy to girl ratio is HEAVILY in our favor… we get up to leave and mind you we’re sitting in the back of the restaurant… there are 7 of us, dressed to the nines, and we start walking out of the restaurant single file… literally, I swear on everything, the whole restaurant goes silent… you hear forks hit the plate, everyone’s jaw drops, and they STARE at us as though we are a group of swimsuit models having just come off a photo shoot. It was like a movie!!!! I have never felt so beautiful in my whole life!!!!! Their heads followed us blatantly as we passed… they all looked as though they had never seen a woman in their entire lives… We all turned bright red… it was so funny… and so fantastic!!!!! We were literally high for like an hour afterwards! Hello EGO boost! :) After that we went to the Four Seasons for cocktails – Hello $19 Martinis and NO cute boys! (Darn it! We should have stayed at the steak house!) After the Four Seasons, we go home, quick costume change, and then we’re off again. First to the Pink Elephant – IT WAS ALLLLLLLLL girls and super crowed!!! AND I bought a beer for $8!!!!! Unacceptable. On the upside, they had a live saxophonist playing along with the house-type music, which was like the coolest thing ever… Most of my girls ended up going home at like 2:30, but Sophie and I stayed out dancing till 4am at the Marque. (Another bar/club) Significantly better ratio, and a lot less crowed - It was SOOOO much fun! I wish they had clubs like that in SF! By 4 am, my feet couldn’t take it anymore… went home… in bed by 5am… 8:30 am Sunday morning… RISE AND SHINE!!! (Ugh) We got dressed, packed, checked out, and then went to see ground zero. Totally and completely overwhelming. I won’t even attempt to do it justice in this blog. Afterwards, we walked around the financial district a bit more, saw the stock exchange, and then took the shuttle ride from HELL to the airport. Well, looking back it was actually sort of fun… but while it was happening I was CERTAIN I was going to die. Lanes were COMPLETELY optional, as were red lights. We drove on the sidewalk, we drove over center divides, we drove on the shoulder of the freeway. We !!!!Reversed!!!! off a freeway on-ramp, flipped a U-turn and drove the wrong way on a one way street, and actually drove perpendicular to oncoming traffic on the FREEWAY!!!!! We almost hit like 900 cars and almost died like 50 times. We were screaming the entire time. It was totally like a rollercoaster ride!!!! And worth EVERY penny of the cab fare – he got us to the airport JUST in time. :)
So anyway, that brings us to the beginning of this blog... whew... what a ride. I totally thought New York would be overwhelming and that I would be like "How does ANYONE live here"... But it wasn't... and I can totally picture myself living there... Maybe I'll start with San Francisco though... you know, baby steps... we don't need to "start spreadin' the news" just yet. :)
Left Wednesday night on a Red Eye out of San Jose... me and 5 of my favorite girlies... on our second annual Girls Rule, Boys Drool trip. Last year it was Vegas - we pretended we were a bachelorette party. This year, we went to New York city... the pretend occasion? Well, we had some trouble picking something that was both exciting and believable... we tried "Emily is moving to Florence to become a furniture designer"... but then everyone we met was like "aww... aren't you sad? Aren't you going to miss her?... so that was sort of a downer... Then we said "Brie just got her PhD!"... but we couldn't decide on a field of study that was both exciting and not too intimidating to the guys that we were trying to convince to buy us drinks.... We finally settled on "Yay! None of us is getting married!" It's the truth, it's easy to remember, and in our opinion it IS a reason to celebrate. (Of course, 5 minutes in Central park watching all the families play catch and whatnot and we were more like "!!Why aren't any of us getting married??!!") :( *sigh*
Anyway, our plane landed Thursday morning at 6 am and we got to the hotel around 7... quick costume change in the hotel lobby bathroom and it was off to Cafe Lalo for a DELISIOUS breakfast - mmmm Belgian waffles... hey, I was on vacation!!! After breakfast we played in Central park for a bit and then went shopping on 5th Avenue. (Granted it was mostly window shopping, but still) Around 3pm we gave into exhaustion and went back to the hotel for a nap. Ahhh sweet sleep! Then we woke up, showered, dressed, and were off for our first taste of New York City nightlife. We started out at the Maritime Hotel - and by started out, I mean we wondered around aimlessly for like an hour trying to find/ decide on a cool bar. Once we got to the Maritime Hotel (and figured out where to sit - trust me, it was a challenge), we had the YUMMIEST cosmos (they'd better be for $12 a piece!) and some of the BEST girlie bonding I have ever experienced. :) It was so nice. I can honestly say that I will treasure that memory forever. Afterwards, we met my best friend, Kim (who lives in Manhattan), at Tortilla Flats in the meat-packing district for dinner. Our "reservation" was for 9:15... I don't think we sat down until 10:30... but the guy at the door brought us as many free shots of tequila as we could handle, so it certainly wasn't the end of the world. :) Dinner was good but, being from California, I think we should have known better than to order Mexican Food on the East Coast - it didn't even begin to compare to the stuff we have here. Oh well - at least the margaritas were good... but $33 for a pitcher!!!! (And it was a small pitcher!!! - Crazy.) After dinner we went to a few bars... I remember very little... I was still exhausted and the tequila had gone straight to my head... but I'm told I had a good time... and apparently I almost cried when I said goodbye to Kim - she was going out of town for the weekend for work. Figures! The one time I come to New York, she has to go away :( But we said goodnight, took the subway home, and I passed out in all my clothes. SOOOOOOOOO unlike me - I didn't even wash my face! YUCK!
Anyway, Friday we woke up, got dressed, and met up with Anna (who lives in D.C. and took the train up to NYC - so cool!) We had breakfast at a resturant whose menu was TWENTY-EIGHT pages long!!!!!! (I took FOREVER to decide on what to eat - big surprise) Then we went to TKTS in times square and got half price tickets to see Chicago!!!!! (YES, I SAW CHICAGO ON BROADWAY!!!!!) By the way, Times Square was EXACTLY how I pictured it! Kinda like San Francisco and Vegas mixed together... and on Steroids. After we got tickets, we went and saw Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Church, and then we went to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). I gotta tell ya, modern art... IT'S NOT ART!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHGRHGHGHHHHRHHRHRHGHGHGHGH. I'm sure I was totally obnoxious to the other museumgoers, but I couldn't help but say, "Ummm, hello, NOT ART!" at almost every piece we saw. I was so not a fan! They *did* have a few Monets and Van Goghs there... so that sorta made up for it... but still - painting a canvas all blue and calling it art just is *not* right!!! After the museum we went to dinner (Yay! Cheap noodle place - mmmmm) and then we went and saw our Broadway show. I think it's safe to say that we had "jazz hands" for a solid hour after the performance. (We're so lame) Then, we went out in Greenwich Village... again we got off to a rocky start -
Alina: Hey this place looks, cool... and look at all the cute boys.
Sophie: Wow, there are a LOT of boys in there.
Lucia: Sweet! Let's go.
Me: Wait a minute... there are NO girls in there.
Brie: Even Better!
Me: Wait, seriously, there are NOOOO girls in there.
Anna: Hmmm there seems to be a lot fetish stores on this street...
Emily: Uhh, guys, I'm pretty sure this is a gay bar.
Lovely. On the upside, at least we weren't mistaken for cross-dressers... as we walked down the street, one guy looked us over and said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice: "hmmm, real girls..." (ummm, ok) We ended up at some bar called White Horse, where they'd never heard of a micro-brew, and apparently just slapped there own name on Red Hook beer. The nerve! After that we went to Employees Only - a super posh bar where we decided that we didn't fit in and promptly left 5 minutes after being seated. (A little embarrassing, yes, but we'll never see those people again, so who cares what they think!) Then we went to a place called Cowgirl - GREAT margaritas!!! (Again, stupid expensive, but soooo tasty!) And then we were off to another bar where two boys named Jason bought us all beers. Nice. Around 3 or so we went home and crashed. (p.s. yes, we slept 7 girls in one hotel room - 3 beds, 1 bathroom – what can we say, we’re babes on a budget.)
Let’s see, so Saturday we got up, walked through Central Park, saw the family-fest (made me want to get married and have like 10 kids right then and there) and then went to the Met – soooo much fantastic art!!! REAL ART, not that crappy modern… crap! Afterwards we went home, put on fancy dresses and went out to a fabulous steak dinner. Fabulous except that some stupid lady in the bathroom was like, “You girls look nice, are you going to Prom?” PROM!! REALLY??!! Do I really look 18, lady!!!!!!! Grr. But everything was made up for on the walk out of the restaurant… It was one of the greatest moments of my life… Picture it… we’re in a steak house, so the guy to girl ratio is HEAVILY in our favor… we get up to leave and mind you we’re sitting in the back of the restaurant… there are 7 of us, dressed to the nines, and we start walking out of the restaurant single file… literally, I swear on everything, the whole restaurant goes silent… you hear forks hit the plate, everyone’s jaw drops, and they STARE at us as though we are a group of swimsuit models having just come off a photo shoot. It was like a movie!!!! I have never felt so beautiful in my whole life!!!!! Their heads followed us blatantly as we passed… they all looked as though they had never seen a woman in their entire lives… We all turned bright red… it was so funny… and so fantastic!!!!! We were literally high for like an hour afterwards! Hello EGO boost! :) After that we went to the Four Seasons for cocktails – Hello $19 Martinis and NO cute boys! (Darn it! We should have stayed at the steak house!) After the Four Seasons, we go home, quick costume change, and then we’re off again. First to the Pink Elephant – IT WAS ALLLLLLLLL girls and super crowed!!! AND I bought a beer for $8!!!!! Unacceptable. On the upside, they had a live saxophonist playing along with the house-type music, which was like the coolest thing ever… Most of my girls ended up going home at like 2:30, but Sophie and I stayed out dancing till 4am at the Marque. (Another bar/club) Significantly better ratio, and a lot less crowed - It was SOOOO much fun! I wish they had clubs like that in SF! By 4 am, my feet couldn’t take it anymore… went home… in bed by 5am… 8:30 am Sunday morning… RISE AND SHINE!!! (Ugh) We got dressed, packed, checked out, and then went to see ground zero. Totally and completely overwhelming. I won’t even attempt to do it justice in this blog. Afterwards, we walked around the financial district a bit more, saw the stock exchange, and then took the shuttle ride from HELL to the airport. Well, looking back it was actually sort of fun… but while it was happening I was CERTAIN I was going to die. Lanes were COMPLETELY optional, as were red lights. We drove on the sidewalk, we drove over center divides, we drove on the shoulder of the freeway. We !!!!Reversed!!!! off a freeway on-ramp, flipped a U-turn and drove the wrong way on a one way street, and actually drove perpendicular to oncoming traffic on the FREEWAY!!!!! We almost hit like 900 cars and almost died like 50 times. We were screaming the entire time. It was totally like a rollercoaster ride!!!! And worth EVERY penny of the cab fare – he got us to the airport JUST in time. :)
So anyway, that brings us to the beginning of this blog... whew... what a ride. I totally thought New York would be overwhelming and that I would be like "How does ANYONE live here"... But it wasn't... and I can totally picture myself living there... Maybe I'll start with San Francisco though... you know, baby steps... we don't need to "start spreadin' the news" just yet. :)
Labels: friends, I get around
posted by Courtney at 9:07 AM
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