Chapter 49 - It's All Coming Together

When I moved to Dallas it took approximately four months to begin building a base of friends. In New York it is starting to seem like its going to be the same way. This past Friday the Tedster and I spent the evening on the top of my friend's/coworker's apartment in the UES. He just moved to the place last weekend and the view is 'sick'. I do not use that word often but seriously, this guy (JF) and his roommate totally lucked out by getting this place the day it hit the market. It's on the fifth floor of his apartment building but is two stories tall and has a terrace which faces the north side of the city. The breeze hits perfectly since all the buildings surrounding his apartment are the same height. Below are a few pictures of the festivities. I'll get better pictures of the view this weekend when I head back over for the 4th of July celebration he is hosting.

Ice cold Patron. My favorite.

The margarita recipe my coworker found was a total hit in my book. Most of the goods are still left, so guess what I am drinking for the fourth?

Teddy being all cute and focused on food.

Winston the day after. My mom made me feel bad that he never gets to go anywhere. She's right. I groomed Rinny-Tin for an hour and he cuddled last night too!

But honestly I couldn't have asked for a better way to start the weekend. Although I did not wake up until 12:30 in the afternoon the next day. Oops. Probably should have cleaned but didn't. Took Teddy to the dog park as usual. The little bastard ate through his new harness I bought him last week. (Fear not! I fixed it today at work with my hand sewing skills.) What else did I do on Saturday? Ordered take out, shame on me! Slept a lot more, I watched some TV on Hulu. I think that sums up everything. Sunday I headed to the dog park again. Watched an independent film called 1900 (very good by the way). Edited photos that I took on Friday evening. Played around with my camera and fanaticized about new lenses that I can absolutely not afford. Went out late again to the dog park and socialized with the locals who have grown to tolerate me an my puppy. That's about it.

In other things...

I started thinking about wearing sunscreen more often. I am really in sun more often up here or at least getting rays walking around and at the park. It's pretty funny actually, I have more of a farmers tan here than I ever did back in Texas.

Still sticking to yoga but I really need to start eating healthy. It would be so helpful.

Can't decide if men are worth my time at the moment. I'm going on three years of being single. I NEVER thought I would go that long. In all honestly I would love to have someone else in my life but do I really have the time? Of course I dream of true love coming and sweeping me off of my feet one day but maybe its not meant to be right now. I started talking to this one guy and it is ridiculously hard to coordinate meeting up and even talking on the phone for that matter. Eh. Who knows, once again I sure don't.

One month to the Frio! I can't wait to see everyone!

Chapter 48 - Little Update

I've been lacking in the blogging updates. This is mostly due to the fact work has been ridiculously busy and I haven't been taking lunch therefore my prime opportunity to write out my thoughts has disappeared all thanks to corporate America.

Life is pretty damn good up here in the north with the Yankees. I've followed through with going to yoga at least twice a week, met new people and found a new love for my neighborhood.

Honestly, I'm not sure what else to write except that I am a little over a month away from heading to the Frio to be with my family and I am sooooooo excited. :)

Chapter 47 - Friends and Three Day Weekends

As we all know this past weekend we celebrated Memorial Day. Not only was I excited for the three day weekend but three of my friends from Dallas came into the city. I needed the visit way more than I realized.

D was the first to arrive Thursday evening. We decided to head to a couple bars in my neighborhood: Bailey's Pub and the Bullpen, both of which welcome Teddy with open arms. It was my first time to Bailey's and definitely not my last. It seemed like a great place to meet people, especially when you have an automatic conversation starter with your dog. To top it off there is not a kitchen but a huge binder full of to-go menus of places that deliver to the bar free of charge. Talk about amazing. After Bailey's we headed to the Bullpen which I have previously mentioned. We played trivia team "Texas Girls" and came in dead last but had great time eating and people watching.

The boys finally arrive sometime early early Friday morning when we were already passed out.

Friday I had to work so they explored the city. We met up for lunch at a place called Mad For Chicken. Let me tell you, this is the best fried chicken you will ever taste in your life and afterwards the Dallas-ites agreed. Yum!

During the day sometime my coworker sent me a link to an event where they were giving away free tickets to an Off-Broadway performance of the 39 Steps. I reserved the last three and purchased a fourth. It was totally worth it. We all ended up paying around $10 to see the performance since I had to buy the last ticket but the seats were valued at around $150 and the performance was fantastic!

Afterwards we headed to Tagine a Moroccan place my former boss introduced me to and it also helped that I had spent a day with the owners on the belly dancing cruise I went on for Mother's day. I might have mentioned it before. It was ten blocks from the show so it was a perfect setup. We arrived and ordered a hookah with milk (T's recommendation). I have only had it with water but I am now convinced the only way to order it is with milk. We ordered two tagines (Google it) one was a lemon chicken and the other was lamb and two sides of couscous. It was a little pricey but absolutely delicious. The icing on the cake was two free rounds of shots and desert on the house!

Somewhere in there my good friend J arrived, he was in town from Oklahoma for another event.

We headed back to my neighborhood to end the night drinking. Five Aggies together, what else would you expect?

Saturday.... we all slept in and did different things. That evening however was one for the books. We ate dinner at Ottomanelli's (which my dad discovered right by my apartment) and took three bottles of amazing wine with us. Hit the spot and was a great way to begin the evening. We proceeded to head to Lincoln Center to see South Pacific. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and of course I bought the soundtrack. It made me realize how lucky I am to live in this city. I would never have been able to experience that elsewhere. Very much surreal.

By the time we got out it was eleven and drinking time. T's friend recommending Doc Holiday's near Union Square. O-M-G awesome little hick bar. Too bad their AC was broken or we would have stayed longer. J and I even danced to a few songs. Yay! We ended the night at a little place called BUA where we took a few more shots, laughed at some drama happening, and drank great beer. I even ended up meeting a guy there. However, I didn't meet him IN the bar. I met him OUTSIDE the bar so, that makes me feel a little bit better. I have a date in the park with him on Sunday. Uh-oh....

Sunday we ate at Gracie's Diner and the gang went and ventured out on their own. I slept the entire day away. It felt damn good. That evening we went to Bailey's Pub again but had diner this time from a variety of places. I was tired and completely broke by this point so headed home early while the rest of them went and partied.

Monday, we said our goodbyes and they headed to the airport. I took Teddy to the park for a few hours and then watched a season of weeds.

A few things I realized over the weekend:

• Great friends make for great times in the city.
• Knowing the owners of a Moroccan joint is a must.
• Once I start making more money, I am going to more Broadway shows.
• Partying three nights in a row in NYC like your in college again is not only tiring but freaking expensive.
• Although I really miss Mexican food, the utter abundance of other types of food here eases it's absence.
• My studio apartment can sleep a total of five people decently. Two on the futon, two on the bed and one on a twin air matress in the kitchen hallway.
• I love New York.