..:: I'M BACK ::..

Well… I return to this blog in embarrassment for lack of dedication. Trust me I didn’t want to go into blog coma. In my last few New York weeks I was busy – I was out doing even more exploring and that was pushing this bad boy to the back burner. And then of course once I got back to KW it didn’t slow down. So now that capstone/grad is over, I can return to this blog. The sad part is I have to rely on my photos for the finer details – this was the reason I wanted to keep a blog in the first place!!!! So that I could remember every little detail that happened! But alas!

So where did I leave off?? St.Patricks Day!! I of course took this opportunity to look like a total tourist and I bought an “I ‘shamrock’ New York” t-shirt to wear to work. I, being the only college student, was razzed about wanting to party (and for wearing the shirt) LOL oh well. Since mike was still in town we had planned to go to the top of the rock, which I had been waiting to do with someone else. Mike brought his friend from the course he was taking. So the three of us had some NY pizza then headed to Rockefeller centre. It was a pretty cool building and one of the first really beautiful nights so we lingered at the top taking in the night air. The empire state building was lit up green that night (they match the lights to different occasions – it was red/white/blue for most of the Olympics).

After we were done at the top, it was only around nine so we decided to hit up some Irish pubs in and around Times Square. I had printed off a map – of course – and we made it out to four? five? pubs within a couple of blocks. It was a really cool experience considering I wasn’t going to pubs alone and I had people to party with lol. Two other things – apparently it’s the firefighters night off or something because they were in every single bar we went to in full uniform and in one of the pubs there was an Andy Bernard look alike. And I’m not talking just the sweater vest. This guy was the real deal – I wanted to get a picture so bad but I was literally right in front of him and if I had taken out my camera it would have ended up with a full-blown stage five clinger lol. Not only did he have the sweater vest in the bar but also it was paired with a pink shirt and he LOOKED like Andy Bernard and acted like him. Ohh man. (sidenote Andy Bernard is from the office look him up lol)
mike and his friend wanted to make sure they made the last subway back down to the financial district so it must have been around 12 when we wrapped up our evening and parted ways. Not a bad st. Patrick’s Day at all.

So here’s where it gets a little fuzzy… I’m pretty sure it was around this time that it was getting seriously nice out so one night after work I wanted to wander around like I did in my first couple of weeks – really make sure I saw everything. That Friday I went back into the village to get lost in the streets. Karl suggested I eat at da silvanos – apparently it’s the Ivy of NY. (aka where all the stars and paparazzi are). I of course didn’t see anyone famous when I was there but the food was delicious!!! I had spinach ricotta ravioli in a butter sauce… yummmm – oh actually I did see someone famous – I just only realized it this week though. Coming out of the restaurant as I was finishing up ( I ate on the patio) was one of the lead actors in the good wife! Not super famous but a little bit more legit than my first sighting.

I continued wandering around SOHO, found the People's Revolution building and then on my way back home I walked back past da silvanos and literally bumped into one of the chef's from that iron chef show - he was the big one with red hair. So minor celeb sighting number three.

Here's a picture from the Top of The Rock :)



This is a video of the elevator in Top of the Rock - on the way back down!

..:: un mechant mardi à New York ::..

SO last Tuesday was an incredibly exciting day for me for many reasons: a) my first visitor! Mike, who graduated from my program last year, was here taking a course for his job and knew I was here so he had suggested we meet up after our work days. b) my first NHL game! I don't know why I hadn't thought of doing this myself - so I jumped on the opportunity when Mike suggested it! c) my first NHL game at Madison Square Gardens! Apparently it's the most famous area in the world... so they claim lol d) THE MONTREAL CANADIENS WERE PLAYING THE RANGERS - I don't even need to explain this one except to say I'm disappointed I didn't have my habs jersey with me! Mike and I met up and ate at a pub called Stout and then headed over to MSG. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!! I felt a little bad for Mike because of how excited I was LOL - I had a sign and everything! (Carla took a picture before I left the office I'll have to grab it from her...) There were some hilarious Habs fans right in front of us too with shirts and masks - I was actually surprised how many habs fans there were at the stadium too. But it was great because to top it all off - THE HABS WON THE GAME! 3-1!!

Here are some pictures from the game :)

Face lift!!!

So I was reading my blog taking a trip down memory lane... I realized that it is so hard to read! As much as I loved that last background and thought it was perfectly matched to the title of the blog, I decided to go with comfort over aesthetics - hopefully this makes it easier for everyone to read!!!

..:: second last sunday ::..

Feeling refreshed from the night in, I thought I was ready to take on Sunday - again not ready to let mother nature ruin another day for me here since I have so few left! But as soon as I stepped out of my apartment, I knew my third umbrella was not going to last, although at least today I wore my jacket with a hood - definitely way too warm of a coat for the weather but again the hood made up for it.

I didn't really have a plan for the day when I left the house so I just decided to wander uptown. I walked up to Anthropologie on 50-something and decided that might be where I spend my money to get a beauty grad dress... we'll see ;) After teasing myself with beautiful dresses and summery outfits, I decided I would catch a matinee. Waiting in the TKTS line I got caught in the most ridiculous and spur of the moment down pour - totally unacceptable. It didn't really matter what I saw and at the last minute I decided on Memphis. IT WAS AMAZING - it was like a combination of Dreamgirls and Hairspray - I loved it!! And finally the stars aligned and I got a seat beside a cutie and not a weirdo LOL He was naturally totally oblivious to the fact that I was doing my best to look poised and attractive LOL

When the show got out I expected it to be dark out and that I would just walk home - but HELLO TIME CHANGE it was just as light out when I left as it was when I went in!! So obviously I couldn't just go home! So I decided to treat myself to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (I wanted to slip into another show...but thought that was a little raging LOL) It was naturally a delicious dinner of a burger and onion rings :) After that I just went home and sadly finished my Office marathon and can now say I am caught up to the current episodes (naturally I've moved on to SATC <3)

Here are some pictures I snapped in the HRC for my uncle who loves the Beatles.

..:: umbrella=0 mother nature=3 ::..

SO when they were calling for a stormy weekend I couldn't have imagined how stormy it would actually turn out to be!! When I woke up Saturday morning and it was raining I refused to let the weather hold me back! If I could venture out in a snow storm then why should a little rain stop me? Boy was I wrong!! It was insanity!!! Not only was it pouring rain without any signs of slowing but the WIND was crazyyy!!!! The subways were flooded, trains couldn't run into New Jersey and people were being killed by falling trees - like I said INSANITY! What I had planned was just to walk up 5th Ave. just to window shop...well duh that was a bad idea... by the time I got to the subway to go to my final destination I had dropped some SERIOUS money - basically blew my budget right out of the water...damn. Can't take money to the grave though right?!?! LOL

So after my unacceptable shopping spree and the loss of my first umbrella I made it up to Harlem to go to the Museum of the City of New York to see the Charles Addams art exhibit featuring his original Addams Family comics from the New Yorker. While the trek to get there was miserable, I'm glad I went - I really liked the Addams Family show on YTV so I appreciated learning about it's origins. On the way back to the subway was when I lost my second umbrella but kept it and struggled to keep dry with it's three broken prongs.

At my Tiffany's & Co. stop I decided to put my necklace in to get cleaned so on my way back home I had to go back and pick it up at 5. On my way back to Tiffany's I saw a girl get hit by a taxi - which is actually as scary as it sounds. I'm still a little rattled by the girl getting killed in the subway so hearing this crash didn't help. It happened pretty much in the heart of the hurricane and she was flustered and had her hood down so she could only see in front of her. So when she looked up and saw the walk sign she just went for it but I saw the cab running the red through the intersection. It happened so fast and I for sure thought one of them would see the other so I couldn't even shout out - to I looked away at the last possible second and heard the hit right beside me. It sounded like she got crushed the way her body slammed into the cab (which was a Ford Escape model). She was probably in a lot of shock because I heard her talking and peaked under my umbrella to see her still standing, rubbing her knee and I could see the side mirror on the cab folded in. I didn't linger too long because I didn't know what to do - and was moderately traumatized! So that experience only added to the day... it was also shortly after that I had to give up on my failing umbrella and take on the hurricane head on. So needless to say when I arrived back at Tiffany's I was in ROUGH shape LOL. I was in such a miserable mood I sprung for a cab home and once I got home refused to go out again even though it was only 5:30 lol. I took the BEST hot shower and just lazed around the rest of the night. I was only after the shower the excitement of all my new things finally settled in - OH and the guilt of spending so much money :S! LOL

Here is a picture I snapped on Monday on my way to work representing the umbrella carnage that was the aftermath of the hurricane... this was nothing compared to the streets littered with broken umbrellas and trash cans full of them...

..:: thank you for the music ::..

"Mamma Mia here I go again..." I decided on this dreary New York night that I would go and see the most exciting show on Broadway - and boy is it ever! I had so much fun! Ever since seeing the movie version I've been obsessed (I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write this) and knew when I was here I had to see it live. I walked to the TKTS line after work in the rain which was pretty miserable and my pants were soaked - but my spirits were lifted when the tickets were only $48 instead of the $70 or 80 I thought they would be. I grabbed some dinner at Sbarro which was delicious wandered around to kill time. My seats were actually really good up in the mezzanine just off center. I wanted to sing along through the whole play... but could tell my neighbours wouldn't have appreciated it. The play obviously isn't exactly the same as the movie but I would say they did a pretty good job adapting it. Finally at the end of the play the cast comes out and gets everyone dancing and clapping to some classic ABBA - it was so much fun.

I thought I would share a couple other snapshots I took this week as well... Wednesday night after work I went to stalk the Gossip Girl location that was filming around the corner from my house - I saw it... being packed back into the truck :(



Another cool thing that happens when the clouds are low is this eerie effect around the Empire State Building - it looks like this when it's snowy out too (it's just more difficult to pull the camera out in a snowstorm...) It looks like this:



It's a little creepy...

No big plans yet for tomorrow.. it's supposed to be pretty rainy so I'll be looking for indoor activities lol.

..:: week four ::..

So this post pretty much brings you up to present day life with me - week(end) four was the weekend we just finished. Thursday night was happy hour with my co-workers and it was nice to get out and talk to some people who I hadn't in the office. We went to a place called Dusk around the corner from the office. I've decided Happy Hour is the best hour because a) drinks are seriously discounted and b) you're in bed by 10! We've had two since I've been here and it's really the only time I get out and socialize so I've clearly really enjoyed them haha.

Friday night Karl was going to the movies and invited me to go with him since I clearly wasn't busy. We decided to go for drinks and dinner before hand so Carla and David O joined us. We went to the Lower East Side and we ate at a Dominican restaurant - and the food was delicious! I tried tostones which are fried plantains and I'm obsessed - that's the one thing that I'm really enjoying here, trying all different kinds of foods. None of which are really that exciting.. it's mostly been mexican, dominican and cuban - but they've all been really good. After dinner, Carla had another party to go to and David O went home. Karl and I didn't really feel like a movie anymore so Karl suggested we go over to his friend's house and then meet up with his twin brother and some of his friends. So Karl starts telling be a little bit about his friend Vashtie - turns out she's PHARELL'S EX-GF... um ya.. so I was having a serious freakout in my head about what I was about to get myself into. I basically had the worst outfit on EVER - of course it was the day that I decided to wear a dumb outfit, one of those good for work but you should really change if you're going to be meeting someone. It was basically a boring shirt, brown pants and my converse sneakers - like C'MON! ughh so hopefully I didn't look as uncomfortable as I felt. Either way she is obviously so nice and they sat around talking about things that were WAYY cooler than I was haha After hanging out for a bit we meet up with Karl's friends and had some drinks at a bar called Keyhole. We sat and chatted for a bit and soon after parted ways. Karl told me on Monday that they ended up going to another bar and he texted me to come back but he texted my Kitchener phone not my NY phone :( All in all, despite my outfit, I had another super fun night out with my friends from work.

So this past weekend was AMAZZZZZING weather - like seriously amazing so I had made plans to do things outside all weekend. Saturday I woke up nice and early and headed down to catch the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I still ended up waiting about an hour in line for the ferry but it wasn't a big deal since the sun was shining. I didn't get off to walk around the island that the statue is on since apparently you can't walk up the statue and there really isn't anything too exciting to do there. So I got to Ellis Island and walked around the museum which was a lot more eerie than I thought it would be. It's not like it was a torture island or anything but just knowing that so many people had passed through the doors was weird... I tried to look up 'Hamilton' but everyone and their mother who came from Scotland had that last name so I figured I would be there for hours! I got back on the ferry after eating lunch outside at the museum and then on my way back home I wandered into Century 21 - didn't buy anything though... it's to insane in there for me it makes me too crazy to think. Saturday night I went to see "God of Carnage" starring Lucy Liu, Jeff Daniels, Dylan Baker and Janet McTeer. It was hilarious - some jokes weren't as funny because I don't have kids OBVIOUSLY but it was really cool to see Lucy Liu and Jeff Daniels acting live.

Sunday was probably my most favorite day here so far. I had planned to rent a bike and tour around Central Park. What ended up happening was a grand tour of Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge and the whole island of Manhattan. It was the best - I saw three times as much city as I could have just walking. There is a path that winds around the island and I found it on the east side after circling Central Park one and a half times. Once I got insight of the Brooklyn Bridge I decided I might as well take the chance to ride across it. You have to cut back into the city from the bike path to get onto the bridge and on my first try I missed the bike lane and ended up on the actual road part of the bridge - oopsie... that was moderately terrifying but I managed to get back on track. I debated biking around Brooklyn but by that point my butt was really starting to get sore from the bike seat and I didn't feel like getting lost so I'll go back another time. I finished rounding the island and brought the bike back to the store on the west side at around 4:30... I picked up the bike at 10:30. Again, other than the painful bike seat, it was the best day.