stuyvesant town

The mouse has now figured out how to get on top of our desks, and has chewed through a bag of Cheeto's and a box of Teddy Graham's. We have almost 10 traps set out with peanut butter and Cheeto's on them.. and he is still alive and running the show. Risky little fellow, not scared of us anymore and makes appearances quite often. Keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. What else... I'm sick of getting dripped on while walking down the street, and I feel like this happens way too often (multiple times a day). Also, I've realized that I say "I'm sorry" way too often than needed. Today I got my third, "for what?" Kathryn and I went running by the Hudson after work yesterday, it was hot but not too bad because we were mostly in the shade. On our way home we have to run through Stuyvesant Town-which is an interesting and odd little community full of people that eat and sleep all things Stuyvesant. They were having a big party and there were TONS of families and kids and food. They also had a band-but it was like creepy music that you would never want to sit and listen to, soooo that was weird. I have the day off tomorrow (yay!) so think Isabel and I are going to lay out and get some sun for the weekend. Matt's flight is supposed to get here around 12:15, so I will be waiting at home for him to arrive! I absolutely cannot wait to show him all the places I've been going and things I've been doing!

cecilia

Last night me, Kathryn, Eleanor, and Isabel headed to Whiskeytown-which is an actual place, not just a state of mind. They played super great music and we danced until the sun came up. Today we all went down to get some sun on the patio in the back of our dorm. It's called the Garden and it has tons of room to lay out, tables, and a huge brand new grill. We are planning to go spend an evening cooking out down there... the only problem is that none of us know how to work a grill-so that should be interesting. Tonight we are headed to the Frying Pan, which is a historic lightship that spend 3 years at the bottom of Chesapeake Bay before being salvaged and brought to Chelsea Piers to become the ultimate dive bar. Missing my dad today and sad I can't see him on Father's Day. I'm so thankful for everything he does for me and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful dad. Love you dad!

Tasty additions to life in NYC:

Serendipity: we went there after work one day to try and beat the crowd. We were pretty successful and had to wait only 30 minutes. Kathryn got frozen hot chocolate and I got the "can't say no" sundae. I would say that is the happiest my taste buds have ever been.

applause for being rich

I am getting so lazy with my posts, but it has been a wild week!
My wonderful dad came to visit on Monday, it was so good to spend the day with him and he treated me and Kathryn to a wonderful dinner at Frankie and Johnnie's Steakhouse.
The entire office went out for Ada's 21st birthday on Wednesday. We went for Mexican and ended up staying most of the night there-it was a BLAST.
Thursday we went to dinner with some friends that were in town from Knoxville, Mindy & Stacey. We took them to Chocolate by the Bald Man-which has become our favorite place to eat.
Friday we got up at 3:00 a.m. to go to the Miley Cyrus concert in Central Park, it was amazing. We were like 15 feet from the stage and I got really good pictures. Also, Bret Michaels was there and they performed together, which was cool. I sort of think he's... ya know.. but then I think he's awesome because he won the Celebrity Apprentice which is my fav show ever.

rock top what?

I realize that this is slightly turning into a blog about food, BUT I am in New York City and there are so many wonderful places to eat! Here's the latest:

Chocolate By the Bald Man: Suggested to us by a random man who heard us talking about Crumbs. We decided to stop by on our way home from work on Thursday to grab something sweet for later on. We walked in expecting it to be a bakery or a candy store, and were surprised to find it is an actual restaurant. Since the only thing waiting at home was laundry, we decided to get a table and share a dessert. We got a dessert pizza with chocolate, marshmallows, and peanut butter, and it was just as good as it sounds. All of the food looked and smelled wonderful, so we plan to go back there for a meal sometime.

Papaya Dog: These are everywhere, and we finally went there on Friday night for some dirty late night food. They have hamburgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, french fries, etc. It's so cheap, and so good!

La Palapa: We stumbled upon this place in the East Village. It's an open-air Mexican restaurant with really wonderful quesadillas.

On Friday, Kathryn and I headed to Hoboken, NJ to visit Carlo's Bake Shop (from the show Cake Boss on TLC). It only took about 20 minutes to get there and it was definitely a nice change of scenery for the day. Unfortunately, we had to stand in line for over an hour just to get into the place, but it was well worth it. They had a pretty good system going and our numbers got called really quickly once we were inside. Almost too quickly. I'm not good at making decisions, especially at a place like this! I ended up getting two little pastries and a miniature chocolate cake, which was completely melted by the time we got home. Eleanor helped me eat it out of the bottom of the box with a spoon. Sadly, we didn't get to see Buddy on our trip to his bakery, but we did see "Little Frankie" who is Buddy's cousin and appears on the show quite a bit.

Friday night, we got all dressed up and headed to Stanton Social with all of our roommates. The deal with this place is everything is really small, and you are supposed to order two or three things per person. Everyone orders one thing, they bring all of them, everyone shares, and then you order more. It's a neat idea--- if you're rich. We all got one thing (about $13-$16 a plate), and they looked at us like we were crazy and knew we weren't locals. After dinner, we walked around the East Village trying to decide where we should venture to for the rest of the night. There are six girls total, and I am heading up the back. All of the sudden, I look up and I see this giant, drugged out of his mind, homeless man walking straight towards me. Once again, the indecisiveness kicks in and I'm thinking, should I go left, should I go right, is he going left, is he going right.... andddd he proceeds to run directly into me, causing me to fall to the ground and my platform shoes to go flying. Then he yells and curses at me. Assuming I would look up to my friends in horror of what they had seen, I realize that they are still walking and have no idea what has just occurred. I was a little shocked, and then it was funny, and now it's REALLY funny. My mom didn't think it was funny.

Me, Kathryn, Isabel, and Alex spent today at Sidebar watching the World Cup. Kathryn requested for the DJ to play, yes, ROCKY TOP. He didn't understand what she was saying, so she had to actually type it into the computer for him. He played it, and we sang it, and everyone looked at him-and us-like we were crazy. He turned it off after about 30 seconds and prayed that he wouldn't lose his job.

bucket list

Yesterday was a good day. A long day, but a good one. Diana arrived back from market and it was also Alyssa's first day as an intern with Kathryn and I. After 16 hours of work at the studio, we finally finished our task of calling all of Diana's clients to inform them of the location of her new showroom. I was totally bummed when the final number came to 394... and even thought about calling some places again "on accident" just so it could be a grand total of 400 phone calls. Kathryn and I have found our perfect lunch spot, a little restaurant called Benvenuto. They have excellent food, the nicest little seating area right on Broadway, and it's the perfect distance to get a little exercise and fresh air in the middle of the work day. Also, they serve breakfast all day, who couldn't love a place like that?

Yesterday after work, we headed to dinner with Diana at a restaurant in her neighborhood. We sat outside and had the most amazing dinner while gazing upon the most incredible view of the city. One thing that I couldn't stop noticing was how calm it was. All the perks of the city without the crowds, traffic, and noise. It's hard to explain, but it's just this homey feeling of being able to hear yourself think again. After dinner, we went up on the roof of her building that overlooks the entire city across the water. We had such good conversation overlooking such a beautiful view, it was a really good ending to our first evening spent together. I'm starting to really love the girls I am here with, and that's a really great feeling.

Today was a lot of the same, more phone calls. Kathryn and I made a list of things we want to do while we are here, including going to see Miley Cyrus on Good Morning America, eat a coney at Coney Island, and visit the Cake Boss Bakery. There are about 50 more, but you will have to stay posted for those. We decided to go out and get ice cream tonight except we couldn't find the ice cream place, so we wandered into this huge pastry shop full of delectable desserts. Kathryn got a piece of cake and I got a chocolate pastry. We rushed home to eat dinner so that we could dig in to our sweet cravings, only to find them to be old, stale, and in Kathryn's words "tastes like I licked the bottom of the cooler that these have been sitting in for two weeks." We were pretty bummed, but luckily had M&M's and popcorn handy. If you know me, you know I love this combination.
Me: "Kathryn, do you ever put M&M's and popcorn in your mouth at the same time?"
Kathryn: "Like, every bite."
It's official. I have a new addition to my best friend list.

a girl's best friend(s)

There is a mouse in our house, well actually it has been living in Eleanor's room. Eleanor has been out of town for the weekend, and put some mouse traps in her room. Last night I was walking past her door and heard a squeaking sound that I assumed to be a dying mouse. Right as I walked in to tell Kathryn I heard the mouse die, she started stuttering and screaming for me to get on my bed. Now these beds are the awkwardly "not high enough for a ladder but not low enough to easily climb into" height. So I attempt to jump up on the bed, but skinned my knee on the wall on the way up. The mouse has arrived into our room, and Kathryn saw it. We spent about 30 minutes maneuvering around the room on top of furniture and beating on the walls and closets to try to scare the mouse, hoping he would peace out. We haven't seen him but we think he may be traveling from room to room through the radiator. I forgot how bad a skinned knee hurts.

The first bad decision of the day was deciding to wear my new shoes even after they gave me bleeding blisters on Friday night. I covered my heels with bandages and was determined that I would get through the day with them on. They are leather, so they will stretch, but the problem is that they HAVEN'T YET. I need someone with giant feet to wear them for a few miles then give them back. I did decide to put my sandals in my purse just in case, which is a good thing since I made it less than a block and had to change. Me, Kathryn, and Alex ventured to Dylan's Candy Bar, which was three stories of high calorie glory. Ice cream, fudge, all the candy you could ever imagine, a huge chocolate fountain, floors made of candy, it was pretty much heaven on earth. After we left Dylan's, we window-shopped our way to Tiffany's where we found a nice man who put us on a private elevator to the floor of engagement rings. I snapped a picture of the largest one I could find and sent it to Matt, he really loves those subtle hints.

twinkies

We got off of work early yesterday so it was really nice to just come home and relax. There are so many things to look at, so many places to shop, so many places to eat... that it's really easy to wear yourself out. I honestly have had to make a conscious effort to take time out in the day to rest. I did force myself to go down to the gym and get in a workout, which really helped get rid of some of the soreness I have had in my legs the past few days. After my workout, I came back and turned on a movie and waited on Kathryn to come home. She showed up with the most wonderful surprise-a huge cupcake from Crumbs. Now THAT'S a good roommate. Last night we went out with Alex, the only problem is that we don't really know where to go. We went to three or four different places and finally ended up at the Blind Pig, where we were lucky to find a table outside.

Today we slept until 1:00. We got up and headed to 5th Avenue to do a little (more) shopping. We got C & K letters from Anthropologie to put in our room, and I also got some really cute stationary. While walking into Free People, what I assumed to be a mannequin was actually a real man. He said "how's it goin'" and I jumped ten feet off the ground and screamed. It was really embarrassing, but funny. Kathryn and I apparently have the same taste in-pretty much everything. Since we have been here we have gotten matching bracelets, skirts, sunglasses, and rings. We wear them at the same time.

rats galore

Today was our first day of work at Diana Warner Studio! We made necklaces for the Hennessy girls to wear at a promotional event that they are having. Apparently, I suck at making jewelry-so the next 6 weeks is going to be fantastic. Okay, I'm exaggerating.. but I definitely need practice. The necklaces were big chunky silver chains that had blue lights strung through them, they are perfect for the event. After work, Kathryn and I braved the SUBWAY for the first time! We headed to Times Square and had dinner at an Italian place called Tony's, where everything is family style portioned. We split a chicken dish that was stuffed with cheese, spinach, and tiny pieces of tomatoes. Shocked? Me too, but I'm branching out these days. On the way home we saw 3 rats in the Subway and 1 on the street, HUGE rats, nothing like the cute rats from Ratatouille.

river run

I've been wanting to go to a store in the Manhattan Mall, so I got up today, grabbed a Starbucks, and decided to do that. It was about 3 miles total, but it seemed further because It was really hot, and really humid. After the mall, I headed to 5th avenue and went to a few more stores before heading home and going for a run. I found an AWESOME running path right by the water only like 10 minutes from my dorm. It was an overcast day, and the picture I posted doesn't do this place justice. The view is amazing, and the path is so wonderfully flat that it feels like you can just run forever. When I got home all of my roommates were gone, but I was really exhausted so it was nice to take a shower and just lay down on my bed for a little while in the quiet. Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep so I just kept feeling lonely. I made myself get up and get dressed and I decided to walk back to 5th Avenue to go to Anthropologie and Free People (it's okay to be jealous). The trip turned out to be quite eventful. On the way there, I saw a bum fight in Union Square. One bum didn't want the other bum touching his gathering of items, and so he punched him and the guy fell on the ground. Next, it started POURING rain out of no where. It was kind of amazing to see so many people on the streets and watch them all scatter. Luckily, I had my boots on so I just kept on trekking in the rain. My umbrella turned inside out because of the wind and I think that people inside the stores were probably laughing at me-oh well. I controlled myself at Free People, but I bought a really cute romper at Zara, it's a really pretty floral print and it will look great with a big chunky belt. For dinner, me, Alex, & Alex went to get pizza at a place near our dorm. We then headed to get frozen yogurt at 16 Handles, which turned out to be a lot like Menchies. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other, and comparing the North with the South. They say that I have a strong Southern accent, especially when I say "i" words such as "like," and they think it's hilarious when I say "yall." Sometimes, I can't tell if they are laughing at what I am saying, or the way I am saying it-it's probably a combination of both. We headed back to the dorm around 10, just in time for The Hills and The City. It was definitely a good girls night, I feel like I'm a freshman in college again.