New York, New York – March 2010

6 days in the city that never sleeps with my two besties… a wonderful week exploring and reminding myself that I can’t ever live there again!!

1.word to the wise: never fly airtran. Short, easy flights took hours; the seats were small; there was never enough on board storage so mine was checked even though I didn’t want it to be; flights were delayed for ages. The journey was not “part of the fun” as they say.

2. on the way to the airport I told Christiana my goal for the trip: I plan on having a relaxing vacation. I plan on not getting stressed about things like directions, travel, organizing people, etc. This was all part of a master plan to come home happy and healthy without shingles (unlike my last group trip to nyc) – well within 15 minutes of making that statement I nearly missed my plane and CC had to be rebooked on a later one – separating us for the rest of our travel day. So much for a stress free day!!

3. Almost spring in NYC is amazing. On Tuesday afternoon I met up with Lisa in Washington Square Park and sat in the sun for hours. We people watched, listened to street performers and talked. There was hardly a free square of grass to sit on!

4. you know you have a good friend when you can meet up with them and it is like you never left. Enter Jordan Hall. It has been years since I have seen him, but as soon as I saw him walking towards the bistro where we were meeting for diner I raced towards him to give him a huge bear hug and then we all continued on like we had just seen each other yesterday. He is doing amazingly well for himself, producing for CollegeHumor.com, getting engaged, living in a great little place in Brooklyn, still as smart and charming as ever.

5. I love getting to show people new things. With as many times as Nikki and CC had been to NY – they had never been to the South Side Seaport where the view of the Brooklyn Bridge is out of this world. When you get to the pier, you can’t see the bridge at all – it is hidden behind a building. I kept telling Nikki to put down her phone, to stop texting, she was really going to want to have her head up when we rounded the corner. I love coming around the building and seeing the bridge, the water, the skyline. It is like you turned the page in a book. Nikki said she was glad she didn’t have her phone up. I knew I was right!

6. Walking through the seaport we met Major Nelson Dodge III. Yes, that is his real name. He showed us his driver’s license and credit cards. He is a promo guy and an actor (of course). He convinced Nikki and I to purchase a salon day for ridiculously cheap – I think we mostly did it because of his name!

7. Ben Elledge texts us: working a promo for jetblue. Come to 49th and 6th with a postcard of salt lake or west palm beach. Win Big! We hop in the subway and get over to the Rockefeller center area; there is a large line forming with Ben at the front. We say a quick hi and he tells up to get in like with our pieces of paper. Once we get back up to the front of the line we turn in our handmade ‘postcards’: “salt lake city – more than just more-mans.” We each receive and envelope that gives us a round trip ticket to anywhere that JetBlue flys!!! Holy Vacation Batman! By the time we had won, the line was wrapped around the block, I don’t think they all got envelopes. Sorry guys! We then went to plan where we should go with our free tickets: some place warm and expensive that we would never go to with our own money. We should go during the Januarys when everything seems too hard to bear!

8. FELA!!! A spectacle of a musical! It was a party as soon as you walk in the doors of the theater: music, dancing ushers, and bright sets. This was a one-man show with amazing singing and dancing behind it. Fela followed the life of a Nigerian man who was the MC of the Shrine concert hall – the story was a little tough to follow – but the dancing more than made up for it.

9. Spa Day at Gios. Nikki and I went to our salon appointment Thursday morning – totally nervous. We had no idea what to expect. Luckily, it was a great time – Nikki had a pushy Latina and I had a friendly valley girl and our hair turned out wonderful!

10. Indoor Bocce Ball. Lisa turned 30 while I was in town, so I went to hang out with her friends at Floyds – a place near her house. Floyds had an indoor bocce court which we spent the majority of the night playing! Apparently I am amazing at bocce… watch out!

11. Lost in the BK! I am not one to be lost. Anyone who knows me knows that I am great with directions and knowing where I am and where I should be. For the LIFE OF ME I couldn’t figure out Lisa’s neighborhood. After bocce ball, I decided to head back into Manhattan to meet up with Nikki; Lisa gives me pretty clear directions to the subway and I start on my way. After a while, I have seen no subway, but I start seeing signs for the Brooklyn Bridge. I have never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and I don’t have to be anywhere right away… let’s take a walk I think.

12. The Brooklyn Bridge: photo opportunities galore! 1.2 miles of photo ops to be precise. From skylines, to piers, to people… amazing pics. Great way to get in some cardio and clear your head too!

13. Lost in BK part 2. This time Lisa’s roommate gave me directions to the subway. They sounded perfectly reasonable and easy. They even corresponded to my map! But somehow I ended up walking to a subway station that is about 2 stops past the one her roommate told me about. At least I eventually found it!

14. Lunch with old UMDers. Angie and Karl – at the Scandinavian house. There was a tree growing in the middle of the room. The bathrooms were 2 stories down. Weird huh?

15. Playing dress up with the Puppy! Austin, one of Nikki’s Eco-Kidz, let us play dress up with him. He came shopping with us at Filenes’s Basement and we dressed him like a proper man! It was great fun.

16. Billy Elliot: Dance Billy, Dance! Cried my eyes out. So good, don’t know why I haven’t see this or the movie before now. Go see it now. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

17. Lost in BK part 3. This time it was raining. Hard. I got off the subway and asked someone which was my street. They sounded very confident in their answer, so I believed them, right. WRONG!!! I start walking and walking and walking… but Henry St never shows up. It is still raining. I am soaked. I am carrying my bag of new clothes that I bought at Filenes’s. I am crying (just a little). I ask someone else where Henry St is. He says, “oh I think it is way back there” (points behind me). I start to cry a lot. I have now been wandering the streets for a half hour in the rain. I finally find a cab and get in. I tell the cab driver: “I know my house is near here, I just can’t find it. I need to find Henry and Warren.” The cab driver looks at me pathetically and says “its ok miss. I find your house.” My cab ride cost $4. That is how close I was – yet so far away.

18. Lost in BK part 4. I am on my way to meet up with Jordan and Nikki for breakfast. I need to take the G train. I find the subway correctly (in one try, I might add) – but there are no signs telling me which was the G runs, so I assume that it only runs one way (the right way hopefully). The G comes quickly upon my arrival. I get on and I look at the map – and I realize I am going the wrong way. Sadface. I get off on the next stop and try to scurry to the other side of the tracks to get the right train (which had just pulled up) – but I didn’t make it in time. 15 minutes go by before another elusive G train comes again.

19. Monsoon. Downpour. Wind. Breaking umbrellas. Where else to go??? The Met. I spend the afternoon walking around all of the amazing art (not before I walk in 15 blocks in the rain – I stupidly get off the train too early and it is too late before I notice it. And do we think a cab could stop?? No!! I saw 4 “off duty cabs” just chillin while I nearly drowned.

20. The MET! One of my all time favorite places. They really pulled out the stops for me this time: 10 van gohs, 30 Monets, 2 rooms full of degas, and a hall of Rodin. I was in heaven!

21. Drowned rat yet again – after the Met I went to Nikki’s hotel to hang out before dinner and dry off a bit. Just walking the 6 blocks to the subway got me drenched. I immediately stripped down to my t-shirt and flopped on the bed; Maggie (Nikki’s roommie) was flopped in the same way – so we dubbed their room the ‘room of no pants.’ Then when getting ready to leave I had to blow dry my clothes – this included shoving the dryer into my socks – which was super silly looking.

22. Another day of terrible travel. Delayed flights and bad weather trapped me in the LaGuardia airport for 5 hours – so I snuggled up to my luggage, tucked under my hoodie and took a nap. By the end of the afternoon – I was soooo ready to be home. I love vacation, but it sure is exhausting!!!