I heart NY

Well...I've been working on a post-NY post for about 40 minutes now and just lost all of it. I think I'm going to scream. Bear with me while I try to reconstruct my lost masterpiece.

Basically, New York rocked my world. Carrie and I left at the ungodly hour of 6 am and touched down at Laguardia around 7:15, but not before the pilot did a little loop-de-loop around Manhattan. Due to the sunny and clear morning, the city has never looked so brilliant to me before. All of the buildings were perfect and shiny and I squeezed the miniature-looking Statue of Liberty between my fingers. Hehe. Anyhow, we went straight to Shadi's apartment in Brooklyn to freshen up even though she was gone at work. After using the shower, napping in her bed, and eating all of her food, Carrie and I headed out for our adventure in the city. It began by us getting lost in the metro system (x 3) but *somehow* ending up in the Chrysler Building. That day, we were the unabashed tourists stopping to take pictures of tall buildings, saying "excuse me" and "thank you," and unfolding our over-sized map at every subway junction. Oh well. We had a great time together and we visited Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and the New York Public Library, got ice cream with sprinkles, and saw the Naked Cowboy. That night, we met up with the Shadster, went out in Brooklyn with a few of her friends, and called it an early night.

The next day, Shadi guided us around the city and we got to visit SoHo, Chinatown, and Little Italy (read: more shopping and eating). We headed back to Brooklyn and cooked up a delicious dinner of eggplant parmesan and salad from fresh produce purchased from the corner market hours before. Aaah, I love New York. Saturday night was a doozy as we bar hopped along 8th Ave. I remember that we ate a lot of french fries and played some wicked air guitar to "Sweet Child O' Mine" in a pub called Kevin St. James'. *Note: Shadi did not partake in the air guitar playing and was actually mature and composed in public, unlike Carrie and myself*. The crazy night culminated in a bar called Scruffy Duffy (Carrie laughed about that for days) where Shadi chatted with an admirer all night long, Carrie earned a free drink from the Michigan-born-and-raised bartender for being from the mitten state, and drunk "Danny from Connecticut" purchased me a thong with the bar's logo on it so that I'd "always remember him". Hmmm...I've never had a stranger buy me racy underwear before but hey, it's free and makes for a funny story. Here are a few pics of us that night:





Let me just say that I'm certainly not used to New York's 4 am closing time and staying out until 5:30 two nights in a row definitely punished me last week. Oh well, it was so much fun. The next day, after sleeping well into the afternoon, we met up with Carrie's friend Lisa and walked about Greenwich Village and West Village. I love those little bohemian villages with their cute (but overpriced!) paper stores and cafes. *sigh* Here's a pic of us on NYU's campus...if you can call it that:



That night, we ate dinner at the most famous pizzeria in New York called Grimaldi's, situated right underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The line was out the door and around the corner of the tiny restaurant, and I can see why - fresh slices of mozzarella, whole black olives, and fresh leaves of basil were among the toppings. When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore I guess:



After dinner, we headed out in Greenwich with Carrie's friend Lisa and cousin Drew:



Boy, this is getting lengthy. Okay, the next day we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan which was awesome. The view was spectacular and the weather was perfect. See for yourself:







We spent the rest of the day simply soaking up the city, finishing up some last minute faux bag bartering in Chinatown for Carrie, and meeting up with Adina for dinner at a sensual yet quaint Spanish restaurant in East Village called La Palapa. That girl is a true New Yorker, let me tell you! Here we are at dinner...que buena!



We headed back to Brooklyn for an early night since teaching and 7am flights loomed upon us for the next day. We chatted, watched TV, gave each other shoulder rubs, and enjoyed each others' company. That last night, we all tried to cram into Shadi's bed and even though Carrie's nose was crammed against the wall and I didn't have any blanket, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I loved my trip to NY and love my friends. I'm so happy to have made such wonderful friends in college and I know Shadi and Carrie will be in my life forever...yes, forEVER, ladies...you ain't gettin' out now! Hehe :) I have a few more pics and I'll probably try to post them later once my computer is all set up. But for now, be satisfied with this last one - no Sonya-n'-Carrie trip would be complete without an obnoxious close up of ourselves. This one was taken on our flight back to A-squared at 7 am...we're awfully bright-eyed and bushy tailed for such an early morning and believe me, the business executives on that flight probably felt the same way. We chatted and giggled the whole way home.



Three cheers for New York City: the Big Apple, the City That Never Sleeps, and new home to my hottie Shadi. May my visits there never be few and far between :)

xoxox