This past weekend was my first real visit to NYC, more specifically Manhattan. It was electrifying.
I felt like I was living in a movie. Drinking coffee 24/7, riding the subway like I'm legit, haling cabbies (well, I didn't, but my friends did), being a part of the hustle and bustle of millions of people like it's my J-O-B.
Ah, the Land of Opportunity.
I really mean this. Let me tell you why.
First, we...by "we" I mean me and my insanely awesome housemates, Amy and Janell, booked a room via Air B&B. Laura, the girl who rented her room to us, was really nice and accommodating. She rents out her room to people whenever she's going to be out of town. She has a French roommate, Eunice, who was there, in his own room, during our stay. For $120 a night in Manhattan, you won't catch me complaining. He was super nice and also accommodating; we were pretty lucky.
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| The Girls...Dinner, NYC style |
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| A bit intimidating, don't ya think? |
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| Lourdes and Rocco. My niece, Darby, looks like Lourdes. Beautiful. |
Yeah, she pushes buttons. She's probably pushed every button in the world, at one point or another. I'm not saying anything about her character or person....and then again, maybe I am. The point is, we were one person away from a HUGE celebrity! My adrenaline can't help but pulse through my veins. (Confession: I cried at my first and only Backstreet Boys concert...not a sob, but tears...of joy.)
I am not an avid celebrity follower. I do like to scan the magazines in the checkout line at the grocery store. I never buy them. I do, however, comb through them with Janell brings a new one home, or when I am at the hair store...aka, beauty salon...(who calls it a "hair store"?)...I don't wear weaves.
ANYWAYS....
I didn't get many pictures for a few reasons.
1. I get really distracted with all of the life that's happening around me. I just don't think about snapping a picture.
2. I didn't want to look like a tourist. Especially an obnoxious one that stops in the middle of all the sidewalk traffic to snap a pic of the silly, boring pizza shop that she just had a delicious slice of pizza at. That wasn't me. I am not sure that it's ever even happened; I'm just speculating.
Here's the run down of our time spent in Gotham City.
Friday...
-Took the BoltBus from Philly to NYC...for $11. You couldn't pay me to drive into that city.
-Settled in our teeny apt...beautiful fire escape included....found out that Laura is on the verge of being a celebrity....waited for Amy's bus to arrive.
-After Amy arrived, we walked a couple blocks to this place...
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| The Crooked Tree Creperie, East Village |
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| Savory Crepes for Dinner |
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| Sweet Crepes for Dessert |
I had a Zucchini, Onion, Mozzarella and Pesto Crepe. So yummy, btw. Amy had something with mushrooms (yuck), and Janell had something with spinach and goat cheese.
For dessert we opted for a crepe filled with chocolate, walnuts, and whipped cream (on the side). Not very original, but when I suggested bacon as one of the ingredients, my idea was quickly nixed.
We may or may not have had a carafe of red wine sangria with our meal. If we had, I would probably suggest it to any future Crooked Tree visitors. I would also probably warn you of Louis, our waiter. I've heard he likes to keep the free drinks flowing, until you can no longer stomach it. But that's just hearsay, I wouldn't know. :)
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| Janell, on someone's bike. |
The nastiest day of the year. If you watch Glee, you will know what I mean, when I say I felt like I had received a slushie facial...all day long.
It was supposed to snow, and it looked like it was from our second story window. Knowing that this was our only day for our "shop til you drop" experience, we put on our waterproof big-girl panties, and braved the cold outdoors.
Haha. Ha. Ha. HA!
With only two umbrellas, one of which we borrowed from celebrity nanny, the three of us walked outside and were immediately breathless from the cold air and the lack of snow, but instead slush. Nasty, wet slush. We walked about one or two blocks and finally called a cab to take us to the beloved shops that we longed to grace with our presence.
Top Shop, H&M, Forever 21, Madewell, Urban Outfitters, Dean and Deluca's, and a couple other stores that I hadn't heard of.
Nothing too upscale. What's the point in shopping if you can't even pretend to afford it?! Why even put it on your Christmas list if you know Santa's just going to laugh and throw your list away?!
After that, we shopped until we dropped...Pretty literally. We were beat! I did score an awesome Madewell top. And it was on sale. Amy and Janell got some pretty cool things too, but by the time we entered the last store, we were numb from the cold and from all of the shopping. We couldn't even enjoy the visually overwhelming bliss of Urban Outfitters. Numb, I say.
Plus, we had to make a break for the apt., cause it was still raining and we needed to get a cab. Btw, the only cab that stopped for us, after ten minutes of standing in the cold, wet weather, turned us down. Can that really happen? Cabbie: "Where you goin?" Janell: "6th and 1st" Cabbie: shakes his head and drives off. Janell: "WTF?"
So we walk. Janell wore suede boots and they were soaked. We got to the apt and changed and headed back out to catch the subway to make it on time to a Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb concert. If you don't know them, Derek Webb was the lead singer for Caedmon's Call, Sandra wrote a lot of their music (but wasn't in the band). Derek and Sandra are married. And perfect.
Also, if you go to their websites, you can download a lot of their music for free. All it costs is your email address. Pretty great.
It was an excellent concert. They are two incredible people. We talked to Sandra afterwards, and she's so normal and easy to talk to.
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| At the concert |
Got up to make it to Kate's Paperie. Super fun. Super cute. I did not buy an $8 greeting card. But I looked and touched. It was satisfying enough.
Ran back to the apt., grabbed our bags, rode the subway to our final destination...lunch at Chipotle and BoltBus getaway.
We were back in Philly in no time.
Already planning our next jaunt to the City of Skyscrapers for the holidays!
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| Rockefeller, here we come! |
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the rave
And, no, Janell didn't drink any sangria before mounting that bicycle. And, no, I didn't cry at the concert...like Raven at the BSB concert!! :)
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