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?