whatta whirlwind

Thursday thru Saturday was a complete whirlwind. It was almost like when you are in Disney World or some place like that, where you feel like you must do EVERYTHING and have only a very short amount of time to do it in. I know that I've figured out a lot of things navigation-wise since I arrived 6 weeks ago, but I still don't consider myself 100% confident in making my way around NYC. I mean, this place is full of surprises, always boasting some new sight I hadn't seen before, which makes it hard to feel like you KNOW a place. She is always showing me something new, kinda overwhelming, but in the most exhilarating way.

Sorry, I digress. My point is to tell you about the insanity of being a tour guide in a city you are still getting to know. As I mentioned, I had visitors this weekend: Mr. Nathan Miller and Mr. Justin Croft. Both descending on the Big Apple with little time and a lot on their to-do list. Thursday contained Union Square, Restorante Il Cantinori (so delicious!), Greenwich Village, Chelsea Pier, and the Statue Liberty. Not bad for one evening if you ask me! Too-bad for Justin I still had to work on Friday so he was alone, but still alive when I got-off, so it couldn't have gone that badly.

Friday evening we caught The Dark Knight and both agreed with the critics: it's INCREDIBLE. That movie is truly the best movie I've seen in a LONG time. I recommend it to anyone. Even if you aren't the biggest superhero movie-watcher, doesn't matter. Nothing short of brilliant.

After the movie we headed down to Times Square, because if you haven't seen Times Square at night, you haven't seen it at all. It's just totally different to see it in all of its majestic ad illuminated glory. I can't imagine a more iconic place in NYC. For dessert we grabbed some PinkBerry as we waited for Nathan's bus to arrive. And finally, my dear Nathan was here! How I love my twin brother!

By now it was late, but we had to map out our Saturday, because there is no way you can be a tourist in this city without a plan. There are just too many options so I don't advise ever coming here if you don't know what you want to see. I made it very clear to the boys that we HAD to make a plan if we were going to make the most of their 48 hours, no lollygagging! Not while they were here, no sirree! Here's another plug: http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork (the ONLY way to travel in NYC unless you want to waste money on cabs)!

Saturday's Itinerary: Central Park, China Town, Little Italy, Brooklyn, Coney Island, Washington Square Park, Chelsea Pier/Statue of Liberty, Times Square

We departed from Union Square and hit Central Park. Nathan was super excited mostly because apparently a lot of Cloverfield was filmed there. We walked around a little, gave Nathan a chance to take some pictures underneath a bridge while reenacting an expression of terror, he looked exactly like the kids from the movie. He's gonna be famous. China Town and Little Italy are next door neighbors, not next door to Central Park though. Took us a little while to get over to that side of town, but it's always worth the ride when you are going to two new countries!

Walked through China Town, ran in to Zaran Fabrics, Real Housewives anyone? We stopped in Little Italy for some "authentic" Italian cuisine, which I thought was very good, but we definitely had to wait a very long time for it. We were all pretty famished at this point so not being fed immediately was slightly hard to endure, hence this expression of starvation/anger from Nathan:

We were refueled after leaving Giovanna's, noticed we weren't too far from Coney Island so took the train even farther away. Now Coney was crazy. People EVERYWHERE, beach covered by bare skin and umbrellas... The fact that it is the hometown of hot dogs made it all better though, for the boys anyway. Despite that we had eaten a mere hour before, they hit up Nathan's Famous Hot Dog stand and ordered two dogs each. If you didn't know, Nathan's Famous Hot Dog stand on Coney is the home of the equally famous hot dog eating contest on ESPN annually.

And I am not joking about this, y'all. Now the boys were really full (I think...) so we walked the beach briefly and hopped back on the train to Manhattan. The train was excellent for seeing Brooklyn, which killed two birds with one stone. Once back in Manhattan, we took a short break, and then hit Washington Square Park, where they filmed a lot of I Am Legend, so again, Nathan was very excited. Despite that we were starting to get achey feet, we walked down to Chelsea Pier and the boys got a view of Lady Liberty. It was at this time that we agreed it was time to eat again and hit up Tortilla Flats, my suggestion of course! Unfortunately we ended up waiting about an hour, but the food was so worth it. Never disappoints. And then for the Grande Finale: TIMES SQUARE for Nathan! It really never gets old, well I guess it would if you don't like bright lights and can't stand crowds... However, even for someone who might not have been very impressed with Times Square, that person couldn't possibly deny the splendor of the upcoming event. As we are walking back to Union Square, I randomly pick a street, and turns out we are the back side/exit of one of the Broadway theaters. A hoard of people, mostly girls, are giggling with cameras ready, I knew something was going down. Justin's opinion was "they are waiting to get into the show," I knew there was no way a show was starting at the present hour, someone was coming OUT of the theater, and it was someone good. Moments later, the back door swings open, several huge bouncer-esque men come out, followed by none other than Mario Lopez! That's right, my first celebrity sighting! Now I know he's no A-lister, but that doesn't mean he's not way famous. A successful day? I think so!

Sunday's Itinerary: Harlem/Rucker Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange

Sunday offered a little less time for us so we had to go to Harlem first. Rucker Park, located in Harlem, is the supposed home of street basketball, Nathan so graciously informed me. According to the web, lots of basketball greats played there back in the day and still come randomly, which gave us hope that we would see someone ridiculous ballin', but unfortunately when we reached the court all we found was a bunch of girls. Oh well, that didn't subtract from the excitement of being extremely, shall we say, aware of our "cracker"-ness. I decided it would be wiser to capture our visit to Harlem while we were still underground, before the sun could reflect off our skin, i.e., the picture:

Harlem was quickly followed by Ground Zero, Wall Street, and the Bull! I wanted to see the Bull Statue so badly. It was too bad that hundreds of other people wanted to see it too so I didn't get the best pic, but I still got to mark it off my list of things so see.

Then time to eat! Now, the boys had been nagging me all weekend to pick fast food (those 2 are so cheap!), I wouldn't give in. Aside: I made a resolve when I arrived here that I would not eat anywhere that is a chain/a place that I can eat back in Texas. Those two cheapies went to Burger King while I grabbed some delicious food from a toss bar next door and they joined me there. Then the day was wrapped up with a trip into the Virgin MegaStore and then it was time to say goodbye.

The whole weekend was jam-packed and I'm still exhausted a day later. Not to mention the minor cold symptons now pulsing through my head.

But it doesn't matter one bit because Lindsey and Candace will be here THURSDAY!!!!!!! Oh, the madness to come and I can't wait for it :)

YAY for Visitors!

I am so very excited to say that I have lots of frienzies passing through in the next 2 weeks!

Arriving this weekend is Nathan and Justin and the following weekend Lindsey and Candace will be gracing me with their presence. Although they will all have to endure dorm life for a weekend I think they are just as eager to be here in NYC as I am to see some Texans! Yay Yay Yay!

SATC Sunday

Beginning at 10:30 am a very enthused group of girls began the unofficial Sex and the City
Tour! No tour buses or tour guides for us, no way. Just a handful of SATC lovers who so graciously shared their research with a bunch of "dreamers." We hit a total of 12 locations: St. Mark's Comics, Ristorante Il Cantinori, Starbucks Coffee, The New York Public Libary, Bryant Park (fashion road-kill!), the HBO store, Christie's, Manolo Blahnik, Tortilla Flats, Magnolia Bakery, Carrie's Apartment (I'm missing one...)!

The tour included a good mix of spots from the TV series and the movie including Ristorante Il Cantinori where in season 4 Carrie gets stood up at her birthday party. Turns out, it's right in our neighborhood! I might have to make a reservation at some point...

We had a very festive lunch at Tortilla Flats where Carrie, Aiden, Miranda, and Steve dined.

The music was loud and the food was cheap. My kind of Mexican food.

Apparently lots of celebs like it too...
Blake Lively and Penn Badgely were just there (fyi for any GG fans!).

Of course we couldn't go on a SATC tour without hitting Manolo Blahnik. You would have never even known you walked by it if you weren't looking for it. Seriously, this was the only indication of the legendary shop. Gotta love Manolo. They had the pair of silver heels that Carrie had stolen off her feet on display.

We were also indulged in some ridiculously tasty cupcakes from the world famous Magnolia Bakery. Of course, Carrie and Miranda had a cupcake or two in SATC, but Magnolia is famous for their sweet treats without the help of HBO.




<-- Undeniably delicious! Vanilla cake with chocolate icing, the best!

After our cupcake, we had the chance to very discreetly take a peek at Carrie's residence in SATC. Now, we were in the West Village, which Carrie's character couldn't actually afford, so in the show they always said her apartment was in the Upper East Side, when in reality her apartment is located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of Manhattan. As you can see, there was a chain and oh-so-kind sign at the bottom of the steps prohibiting loitering, and we weren't technically allowed to take pictures, but I managed to snap one without getting yelled at by the police that patrol the street (crazy, right?!). So there they, THE steps of Ms. Carrie Bradshaw! It really is a beautiful brown-stone. Not that I could imagine ever being able to afford living anywhere near that street, but it was fun to pass by and "discreetly" stare :)

Just Cruisin Down the Hudson

Last night was UOD's "Dinner Cruise." Now I know everyone likes to give us a hard time because we are in University of Dreams, not the most legitimate sounding name, I am aware of that. However, this summer has been pretty stinkin amazing (I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left!) and UOD has hooked us up with lots of sweet deals and planned lots of things I have thoroughly enjoyed, including the Dinner Cruise!


The entire Friday was beautiful weather-wise, which furnished a spectacular sunset for us as we set sail. We were still docked at this point so the scenery wasn't the best (Chelsea Pier to the right and New Jersey across the water), but the point was to capture how gorgeous the sky looked.

The view from our dinner table inside was equally spectacular. As we dined we had sparkling views of Manhattan, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and I actually saw some stars! I just barely could make out the Big Dipper with all the lights from the city, but just barely being able to see it put a smile on my face.

We tried to get some pictures with the skyline in the background but unfortunately my camera didn't want to cooperate much. Oh well, still goods pics of me and Ash!

We also had a really fun dance party on the boat. The DJ was good and few things beat dancin it out with the girls! Capturing the silliness is always difficult when it's not candid, but I think this picture does a decent job of conveying our antics, while trying to take a vertical shot on a boat that (as all boats do) would rock back and forth at the most unhelpful moments.

Boat rocking aside, just another night to file away as an excellent evening in NYC!

popUP

one of the clients i get to work on at LIME is hoping to do a pop-up store (http://trendwatching.com/trends/popup_retail.htm) for the holidays and today i had the pleasure of checking out one of the venues with one of my supervisors, Sarah. there will be a few other options for the location, but i got to tag-along to see this one. the target is the 5th ave neighborhood, and i'm pretty sure this was 21st and broadway, which is still in the right area.

not a really big deal, i know, but i can't help but get excited when i am included on these little field trips for work. haha, it's ridiculous how little it takes to make me feel special, like i'm in on some secret...
of course, i can't share any of the details or talk about the client, but i'm tossing in a little picture teaser. just one of the many that were taken today...who knows, if this store happens, i might just have to make a trip back to NYC to see it post-planning and thriving!

in addition to this excursion to see a good ole empty retail space, i got a decent lesson on leasing in this crazy town. prior to today i hadn't really considered the turn-over rate for space (of any kind, apparently). the idea of holding a space for anything more than 6 weeks (and that's pushing it) for a renter is practically unheard-of. you just don't do that. you don't really have that opportunity though either. everything goes so fast here: time, money, and empty space!

My Weekend...not in New York City

I spent a lot of the past weekend outside of Manhattan.

Saturday was a very laid back day that took me to Brooklyn. I visited the Brooklyn Museum of History...and it was...okay. Sorry, Brooklyn.

Sunday had more excitement, however. Rachel and I went to the zoo! We took the subway alllllll the way to the Bronx Zoo. It was by-far the most interesting commute I've made thus far...to say the least. But thankfully I had Rachel there to experience it with, haha.

The zoo was a way good time, felt like a kid again. I always get a good laugh out of public places that have lots of kids around. Merely because I find it entertaining to watch one kid having the time of his/her life, totally into whatever is going on, while another kid is throwing a professional tantrum and making it very clear to everyone within a 5 mile radius that he/she is ready to go home/is hot/fell down/wants more cotton candy/can't see the tigers/etc. Why is this funny to me? you ask. I don't know, but for some reason I find myself smirking on the outside and laughing on the inside.

Aside from the free entertainment, the animals at the zoo were good too. The zoo itself is very pretty, and very enjoyable to just walk around in. Rachel and I first took the "Africa Trail," then hit "The Himalayas" somehow made it to "Tiger Mountain" and everywhere in-between, with the exception of "Mouse House" and the reptiles. We steered clear of those lil guys.

Here are some of my favorites!

This polar bear was a real poser. He kept working the crowd and the camera.

Who doesn't love the giraffe?!

Rachel and I wanted to see the tigers so bad, but we found out that's where the rest of the Bronx was too...

Rachel and I after we explored. We asked our picture-taker to get the building in the background....but as you can see that didn't really work out haha. Oh, well, we had a good day.

Then after the zoo, Angela and I hit L'Express for dinner, which means I found just another eatery that I adore. Too many good places in this city!

Happy Independence Day, Peeps

July 4th, such a great holiday. I went to South Street Seaport yesterday and enjoyed the festivities with thousands of New Yorkers with a shared love of the 4th.

As a group we got a table at Uno, which was so perfect. The food was good and greasy, as all July 4th food should be, and we had a supreme seating arrangement that gave us a view of the fireworks without having to go out in the rain.

The theme of the evening was "Take Your Time." We got our table about 5 pm and the fireworks didn't begin till 9 sooooooo we had to draw dinner out into a 4 hour event. With a group of 12 girls though, it's definitely possible. Luckily with all the shopping and what not around the seaport we could take turns holding down the fort at Uno so no one was forced to actually sit for 4 hours.

Here's the view from our table. That's Brooklyn across the water. The Brooklyn bridge is pretty much right on the other side of the shopping mall. Although you can't see it in my picture, we also had a view of 3 of the New York City "waterfalls" from our table (http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/).

Uno was delicious. I'm kinda surprised that I haven't had any food that I didn't particularly like since I've been in New York. I've heard some stories and what-not, but so far all my food experiences have been excellent! So excellent, that I often eat more than I should. As you can see, Angela and I were full by the end of our dinner (and we shared!).

We tried to show y'all just how full we were in the pic on the left, but clearly Angela is better at expressing herself than I am (hahaha).

And in case you were wondering, yes, Angela is my long lost little sister. We look quite a bit alike...

Speaking of sisters, I think yesterday was the first time I felt a real amount of homesickness. It was super fun to watch the fireworks, which were really beautiful, going off on the pier with my New York friends, but I couldn't help feeling a little sad that I couldn't share the fun with my family as I usually share the 4th of July. So anyway, I'm fine, just missed 'em.

This morning is very gloomy. Extremely overcast and a little drizzly. I think I'm going to the Brooklyn Museum tonight so get excited for more updates!