Home again, home again

Once again I find myself wandering the streets of the city I love so dearly, New York, New York. So wonderful they had to name it twice... apparently anyway. Megan and I decided to visit New York before she moves away to North Carolina and attends some lame school that's far away from me called Duke. I'm not all that pleased that it's so far, but I want what's best for her and that is where she wants to go. So anyway, as a last huzzah kind of thing for the both of us, we decided to come to New York. On our first night here I managed to get us completely lost in the middle of the night, so tired I wasn't paying any attention as to where we were, but I would like to point out that I did get us to Yaffa Cafe, which is by the way, my favorite place to eat in the city. It's a wonderfully crazy little place in the East Village that is open at all hours of everyday and is beautiful in all it's madness. I make sure I go there every time I'm in New York. Which lately, is getting to be quite often, and I'm extremely glad. 

We've gone to many places, walked all over the city, stood in lines and of course shopped. Today we went looking for Buffalo Exchange in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and I must say the clothes there were freaking awesome. It was quite small compared to our usually large Buffalo's in Arizona, but this one had much better choices in clothing, accessories and shoes. My pocketbook came out quite a bit lighter. Also diminishing my wallet is H & M, which is a lovely store that is so cheap I can't help myself :) Jen told us to visit The Strand Bookstore in Union Square which I must have walked by a zillion times but never noticed it. It's a wonderfully huge bookstore full of rare, old, new, crazy, interesting, and popular books. Pretty much anything you're looking for, they have it. I came out with a bit of a collection, including "What white people like", just to have on hand so I can explain things about myself to my non-white, very multicultural friends who enjoy making racial slurs with me. I'm excited to read it. We went to Brooklyn and I showed Megan where I used to live and some of the highlights of living in Brooklyn Heights. We enjoyed some of Brooklyn's finest ice cream and then went and bought a ton of gourmet chocolate from Jacques Torres. And of course, we had to go to Di Fara's Pizzeria! The best pizza you'll ever taste! Oh my god, it was AMAZING. As always, thanks to Domenico DeMarco for making the world's greatest pizza :)

Tomorrow we're going to see the United Nations (I never tire of the place), The MoMA, and I had hoped to see the Guggenheim, but I just looked at their website and they're closed on Thursdays, which is tomorrow. So that pretty much blows. Oh well, we'll find some other exciting thing to see! Anyway, here are some pictures that we've taken, hope you like them!

the big 21

After much waiting, annoyances, and actually wishing I was older, I am finally 21 years old. It started off with Pineapple Express. Herbert and James took me to see a movie while we were waiting for midnight to strike, the night of August the 6th. It was very entertaining but made our necks sore being that we got stuck sitting in the very front row of the theater. But I mean really, who can complain when James Franco and Seth Rogen are huge and hilarious right in front of you. When the clock struck 12:00am, I received numerous text messages from my friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. The boys were so cute, they leaned over during the movie and with huge grins on their faces whispered "Happy Birthday Bambie!!" (which is my stripper name thus appointed to me by Herbie as my official nickname, in case you were wondering). And  I must say, I felt very loved, and that was only the beginning! After the movie we ran (ok just me, i was pretty stoked) to the car and we all piled in and went to Rula Bula where Melia, Eva and Lucas were awaiting our blessed arrival amid the fog cover of misters. After tight hugs and happy birthday wishes I was grinning from ear to ear, excited that I got to spend my birthday with my closest friends. 

Herb, James and I went to get drinks and I was talked into my first drink, an Irish Car Bomb. With some fearful looks at the boys ,we downed our drinks and Herb had to wipe my face off since I was trying not to throw up and had already spilled the awful drink somehow on my nose. That was memorable. *sigh*. Anyway, after that I went back out to the others and told them what I had done and while giggling, Eva and Melia put shame on me for going in there in the first place with the boys and not expecting to get stuck with some awful manly drink. I felt better after I had some water and thus moved on to more exciting and tasty beverages. I'm not exactly sure how many I had, but it was more then the 2 I had promised myself. But not to worry folks, I was a good girl and stopped after the birthday round went off. After some hilarious discussions and calls to a miss Bettina for falling asleep instead of drinking with us, she finally arrived and the party started all over again. With some more drinks and hugs and pictures, Melia and I decided it was time to depart so we could sleep. The boys and I stopped for some 2am mexican food that hit the spot just right, and we all went home to Bettina's. After some goofy chats and sleepy looks, I was tucked in on the couch, kissed on the head and bid goodnight. I passed out in peace and it was lovely :). 

Birthday day.

I have slept in a lot of places, but my favorite, apart from my own bed, is Bettina's house. I love waking up in her house, the sun shining through the windows, my friends all there, and music and NPR quietly playing in the back ground. It's wonderful :) I was awoken very early with a hug and birthday wishes from Bettina as she left for work and then after I passed out again, was quietly awoken to more kisses and hugs and birthday wishes from Melia and the boys. The boys took me home and went off to work, and I went back to bed with my cat. Later, I had school and presented my final film which went over very well thank you! I rode my bike over to 3 Roots and enjoyed my "Jen's special" espresso and Hemingways' "The Garden of Eden" in peaceful relaxation.  Around 6, my sister and I went shopping, where I got a new shirt and found out I was quite sick from the night before. We sat and talked and then we left and I got lost trying to pick up my wacky multicultural buddy in crime, Jen from her friends house in Tempe and Melia from Phoenix. We were supposed to be at Carly's for dinner at 7:30 with my parents but actually arrived closer to 9pm. 

It was very fun but I was sick to my stomach from all the alcohol from the night before and we decided to play in the rain being that mother nature was kicking up one hell of a storm outside. After dinner, we moseyed on over to Bikini Lounge and played pool, sat around and were generally pretty lame. If I wasn't so tired and sick I would have tried harder to not be so lame, but everyone else was thoroughly exhausted too so I didn't feel so bad about it. While leaving we ran into Hillary and had some more hugs, presents and getting soaked in the rain. We took Jen home and then annoyingly were made to stop at Walmart for Melia and Herb's needs. Little did I know, they were really picking up my cake they had ordered for me. 

When we got home James and I crashed in Bettina's bed while she was working on her computer and while chatting with her, Amelia came in holding a big, beautiful cake with big sparkling candles and sang Happy Birthday to me in Spanish. I don't usually like to let on that I'm a gigantic sap when it comes to moments like these, but I was touched. I felt so loved and so special that they would all do that for me. It was the best ending to my birthday. I couldn't have asked for better.It was like time was moving in slow motion, everything was so beautiful and perfect. If it was a scene from a movie, it would have made the movie. It was awesome. And I must point out, while looking around the dimly lit room, lighted only by my sparkling candles on the cake, with my friends all around singing to me in spanish and wishing me happy birthday and hugging me, I have to tell everyone just how much I love my friends and let you all know how awesome they are. Thanks guys for making my 21st the best birthday! I love you guys! :)