Some others who get it

I don't think New York City is like other cities. It does not have character like LA or New Orleans. It is all characters. In fact it is everything. It can destroy man, but if his eyes are open it cannot bore him.
New York City is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it -- Once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.
-John Steinbeck

The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.
-John Updike

found at A to B

At the company summer soiree Tuesday

Not a shabby view.

A splendid weekend

It was an absolutely perfect weekend. I had minimal obligations which was exactly what I wanted. I did almost everything I wanted to do, and nothing I didn't really feel like doing.

Friday night Emilee and I both worked until 10pm. That probably doesn't sound like an ideal Friday night, however, it was perfect. We both had the kind of work to get done that is easier when you don't need to answer phones, or quickly switch to another task because someone's asked for something. It was nice to have the office to ourselves, and be able to just chat while we talked, verses IMing each other. Not to mention, a $30 dinner allowance and cab ride home isn't too shabby. Plus, I'm always super tired on Fridays and I had no plans, so it's not like I was giving up too much.

Saturday all I really wanted to do was sleep in. And then I woke up at 8:30am. Not exactly what a single person without obligations considers sleeping in. Luckily I fell back asleep until about 10:30am, which was perfect, because I didn't want to waste too much of the day. I got ready and went back into work and was able to finish everything I needed to do in two hours so not bad at all. I then hopped in a cab and headed to SoHo for some shopping. I had some giftcards from my birthday (and Christmas!) and some coupons that were going to expire so I treated myself to a little belated birthday shopping. I found too many cute things. Oops. I rushed back uptown to change, and then head back downtown for dinner.

I probably shouldn't put this on my blog because I'm sure it will freak out my parents, and it's the sort of thing that rarely happens but when it does it gets everyone who doesn't live here all up in a tizzy, but, oh well. Now that I walk to work and have become an UWS snob I hardly take the subway anymore. I was actually excited to take it, and chose to take the local, because I had a little extra time and wanted to read my book. We were at 18th Street, one stop away, when suddenly everyone started getting off the train. Of course I was in my bubble like everyone usually is on the subway, music in ears and book to my face, but I did notice everyone getting off the train. On the weekends this usually means one thing; there's a service change and everyone's getting off the subway because it's going to pass their stop. I took my earbuds out to hear what the change was, and then realized everyone was sort of panicked and I hear some people right outside the train yelling, "POLICE! POLICE!" I stepped out to see a crowd gathering at the subway car right in front of mine. I then heard some people saying there were some people fighting. I stood there for a minute trying to see what was happening, and then I saw the guys punching each other. It was basically the sort of thing you'd see in high school and everyone would get excited about. I don't know if it's just that I'm becoming older, or haven't seen a fight in a while, or because I live in New York, but I was pretty unnerved. I started thinking about what I would do if someone pulled out a knife or a gun. (Which must mean I wasn't that scared because in actual emergencies I have a really hard time thinking clearly.) It seemed like only a couple minutes before things broke up and I just got back on the subway. It was at that point that everyone started acting like regular New Yorkers, wondering aloud when the doors would close and when we'd be back on our way. I was just about to leave and walk the rest of the way, when the doors closed and we took off for 14th Street. I'm really glad no one was seriously hurt, and I'm really glad I wasn't standing twenty feet south when the train picked me up at 66th Street, otherwise I would have been on that car. I also kept thinking how glad I was I'm not dating Curtis anymore, because he is absolutely the guy that would run to the guys and try to break them up. It's a noble effort, but I'm not trying to see my boyfriend get shanked.

I finally met up with my friends at Shanghai Market for some delish Vietnamese food. For real, I would go back in a second. (And I had turkesh for lunch today. Who am I?) The service was awesome. Our first appetizer was on our table within four minutes of ordering. Seriously. Some of my friends have been there a lot and they said the food starts coming within five minutes of ordering without fail.

We were there to celebrate the awesome news that Maria got into BYU Law school. I can't talk much about it because it will make me cry. Maria was one of my first true friends I made in the city and has been through a lot with me. Okay, that's all I can write for now because I'm getting sad. I'm sure there will be a mushy post later.

After dinner some of us went to Stand, home of the toasted marshmellow shake. I had that shake once. It's weird, it's like you're drinking a toasted marshmellow. This time I opted for the chocolate peanut butter and didn't regret it for a second.

Sunday I headed to church and then met Mikey Perkey for an amazing brunch, pictured below. Mike was in town for work and it was so great to see him. We ate at Sarabeth's and I really can't believe it was only my second time because it is so good. I got the lemon ricotta pancakes and they were to. die. for.

Next I did what I've been wanting to do for weeks. I took a blanket and my book and parked it in the park. It was glorious. It's easy to get distracted because there's a bazillion people in the park, especially on a lovely Sunday, but I made a small dent in my book. I'm about half way done with The Help now. I seriously love it.

And yes, it is kind of ridiculous to post a photo of yourself but.....I'm sitting here writing about myself so I suppose a photo isn't too different?

After about three hours in the park I headed home and sat down to watch Bull Durham. A couple weeks ago a friend stayed with me and sent me the dvd as a thank you gift. We'd gone to two baseball games that weekend, and discussed baseball all weekend long, including this movie, which I mentioned I'd never seen. I attempted to watch it four times last week, but could never stay awake. (Not because of the quality of movie, but because I just have such a hard time staying awake in any movie.) I figured if I started at 8pm I'd stay awake. It got a little iffy but I held out. It was an entertaining movie, but I had mixed feelings. I loved Kevin Costner's character, Crash Davis, and now understand why my 11th grade history teacher (who was also the baseball coach) gave his son the middle name Crash. I had a hard time getting past my annoyance for Susan Sarandon's character, however. It was too unrealistic for me to believe that some woman who's a big baseball fan can give a pitcher better tips to help his game than his manager or someone on the payroll could. But, that's just the anti chick-flick part of me.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie. I love pretty much any sports movie, especially when it's a true story. I requested some good baseball movies on facebook and got the following responses:

Major League
Fever Pitch
For the Love of the Game
Field of Dreams
A League of Their Own
Sandlot
Rookie of the Year
Sugar
The Natural
The Pride of the Yankees
'61
Angels in the Outfield
Eight Men Out

I think next up will be For the Love of the Game, The Natural, The Pride of the Yankees, and Eight Men Out. I haven't seen any of these except The Natural, but I only saw that once, and it was about 10 years ago. (Wow, was I really in the dorms in college ten years ago?) I sort of would like to read the book The Natural first though. Hm...I have too many "to read" books on my list for how slowly I finish books. I guess I should read Torre's The Yankee Years first, since I stole it from my dad a few months ago...

Does anyone else not know how to end a post sometimes?

Help

I have no idea why blogger is publishing my posts with such massive spaces in between paragraphs, it's driving me nuts. I only put a single space in between each paragraph in the last post and it looks like there are two spaces. Then I went back and edited the post so there were no spaces, yet, once I published, it still looked like that. It's really annoying me. Does anyone know why?
Also (apparently this is my open forum to ask for help) lately I cannot for the life of me comment on anyones blog who has their comment settings set to make me choose a profile before I comment. Does anyone know why???
HELP!

Hudson River

I decided to mix i t up on Monday and go running along the West Side Highway trail instead of the Reservoir. I can't remember the last time I went running on a straight path, versus a loop. It was weird not being able to just look how much further I had to go, and at some point just deciding to stop and turn around. Not sure I like that.

I did enjoy the change in scenery, and you can't beat the view of the sun setting.

Last night Em and I rode our bikes down to the Shake Shack for a birthday get together. It was so nice to be on my bike for the first time this year. I thought it was the perfect way to enjoy the longest day of the year.

Finally

I was able to see a Yankees vs Sox game with my two favorite Sox fans on Wednesday. I still haven't made it to Fenway but will one of these days. It was a brutal series, and you can probably tell the humidity was brutal as well.

On tap for the weekend

Tonight and tomorrow. We are hurting after the second straight sweep from the Sox. Sheesh. Thank goodness it's only June. Come on Yanks.

Surprise!

It all started a few weeks ago when Emilee told me she and Courtnie wanted to take me to dinner after my birthday since she and I would both be out of town on the 4th. The last month or so has been really really busy for me. It's all been fun busy, but busy. We decided on the 7th, I put it on my calendar, and didn't think anything of it.

We didn't ever really discuss where we'd go, time, or anything, but since they're two of my closest friends I figured it wouldn't be an issue. We all get off work about the same time and I knew we'd figure it out. I hadn't seen Courtnie in a couple weeks and needed a proper catch up, and we'd all had eventful weekends so I was mostly just looking forward to being able to chat and get caught up on each others' lives.

Yesterday morning I was walking to work thinking, "Where do I want to eat tonight??" I seriously could not think of anything. Nothing jumped out at me. All day it wasn't really discussed, but I knew Courtnie was really busy at work, and Em sits 10 feet away from me and we IM all day so at some point I asked Em if we were still going to dinner. She said yes, and had decided on Lombardi's and Rice to Riches. I was so thrilled because it sounded so perfect! Pizza is my favorite food, I've never been to Lombardi's and had recently mentioned to Em I wanted to go, and we all know my love for R2R. (If you don't believe me, just ask Aimee or Emilee, or the good people at R2R.) More than anything, it made me happy that my friend would know what would be perfect for my birthday (hence, yesterday's post.)

As the end of the day approached Em and I had discussed maybe running to Bloomingdales, or Barneys, and never really had a concrete plan. Emilee and I have both complained about having to go out on weeknights at times, because we like to leave our evenings open to work out, do things around the apartment, etc. I asked her if she felt like backing out, and gave her a hard time about it (even though she insisted she wouldn't) and when I found out she had a headache I told her I 100% would understand if she wanted to reschedule for another night. I myself considered canceling because my eyes were driving me crazy. (Did I mention the last two and a half months I've been dealing with keratitis? I was miserable yesterday afternoon. We finally figured it out just before I left (a little before Emilee) and then the three of us met up.

We were in midtown until about 7:30 or so and then headed downtown to Lombardi's. When we got off the subway I made a quick call and Emilee took off in a rush. I was confused but didn't think much of it. When Courtnie and I got to the restaurant there were people spilling out of it, waiting to be seated. Great, I thought. It's going to take foreeeeeeveeeeeer to be seated. I decided to use the ladies' room and thought to myself, I really hope Em flirted and used her charm and good looks to get us a table. (Wouldn't be the first time.) When I came out Courtnie was waiting for me and said, "Em got us a table in this random room in the back." I chuckled to myself, knowing of course Em had pulled through.

We walked to the back, through the kitchen, and then up the stairs. I really wasn't thinking anything, and as I turned around suddenly a group yelled, "SURPRISE!" I can't even tell you what I was thinking because I was so surprised. I think I just felt confused, surprised, happy, and disoriented. It took time to sink in, and I actually felt myself becoming a little embarrassed.

I realized all the regulars were there, and suddenly I noticed Aimee! And Jerry! What??? Who planned this and how did they get in touch with Aim? Slowly things started making more sense as I kept asking questions. I felt so flustered. Apparently they'd all been there since 7:15pm and it was now 8pm. Oops. I felt so badly! Em and Court said they'd tried to get me downtown earlier but didn't want to be too obvious. (They did a good job because in hindsight I can see how they tried, and if they would have persisted any more I probably would have gotten annoyed because in my mind, what was the rush??)

It was so great to see everyone, and I honestly felt so overwhelmed with love and appreciation. With all our friends it's always someones birthday, which makes birthdays feel a little less special because it seems like every couple weeks we're going to dinner for someone else's birthday. Last night felt far from routine. I felt really special. I am so thankful for my friends. I feel incredibly blessed. The one regret is not getting any photos. I kept telling myself to take pictures, but I was just too frazzled.

Thank you so much Emilee, Courtnie, Kevin, Tom, Colin, Aimee, Jerry, Dave, Logan, Brittany, Jason, Maria, and Jenn.

Little things I love.

Waking up in the morning to find someone in an earlier time zone texted me in the night.
Getting a card in the mail just because.
The temperature in the early mornings during summer.
Voicemails with loved ones singing "Happy Birthday" (it's always humiliating so I know they really love me.)
Getting a compliment from a stranger; I know it's completely genuine because there's no motive.
Friends who know where I want to go to dinner before I even do.
Finding the perfect gift for someone, but having to wait to give it to them.
Fresh flowers at home (even better if someone else gave them, better yet, sent them to me.)
An east facing window so the sunshine floods in at morning.
A shower at night, followed by fresh towels, and fresh sheets.

This birthday girl is pooped

Rachel Hopebug & Alli Puppy @ Gracie's 6.4.11

After this weekend I officially know what it feels like to have too much fun. Holy smokes, I need a nap. Turning 28 felt great. The weekend consisted of a 43 hour trip to Utah, great food, amazing friends both old and new, little sleep, beautiful weather, long talks, lots of hysterical laughter, and a gorgeous drive through Park City and Heber. Sunday it was so gorgeous out I kept thinking of my dad's coined line, "Today is the kind of day that makes you grateful to be alive." Al and I even spent a night in the Hilton in downtown Salt Lake. Never in my life would I have expected to sleep in a hotel in Utah. I probably know more people there than any other state, however it was a fun, spur of the moment decision Saturday night. I was overwhelmed with the facebook love, phone calls, emails, and texts. I plan to respond to every one but haven't had two seconds of solo down time.

And it's not about to slow down. On tap for the week: belated birthday dinner for Britt tonight, birthday dinner with Court and Em tomorrow night, Yankees/Red Sox game with Dad and Brad Wednesday night (so excited about this), cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping Thursday night, and then an out of town friend comes Thursday night. Friday night and Saturday day are Yankees games again. Three in one week, how happy am I?

Thanks so much to everyone for making this birthday one of the best yet. I've decided birthdays really do get better with age.