New York: Part Three The One With All the Calories

Dear Post Office Lady,

Yes, we understand that with your big wheelie cart of mail, the stairs aren't an option for you as you so terribly politely pointed out, while cramming yourself into the elevator with four large men carrying big moving boxes and a slightly smaller girl with a skim hot chocolate no whip from Starbucks.  However, what may have been an option for you would be taking one of the elevators surrounding the one you decided to snit your way into.  Just a thought!

xoxo
Girl Who You Jabbed In the Stomach With Your Big Wheelie Cart of Mail

Saturday

Saturday was the first day that we had to deal with the dilemma of four girls and one very small bathroom.  When we got home on Friday, we agreed on what seemed to be an agreeable order of bathroom use and I set my alarm for 7:30.  I say with a great deal of pride in our efficient grooming abilities that the four of us were finished dressing and heading out the door at 10:30.  I can see how that sounds like not such a great accomplishment, but considering that it took just my sister and I about that long to get ready the day before, I was pretty proud of us.

Originally, my friend Melissa, on old college sort-of-roommate had planned to join us on Friday night and then most of the day on Saturday, however, Melissa has a very awesome and very important job that makes me very proud and braggy, and a nationwide crisis of the sort that I shall not specify here took place on Thursday, meaning that she was forced to work into the wee hours of the night on Friday, and was only able to drive down for half the day on Saturday.  After an orgy of Dunkin' Donuts deliciousness, we decided to head to Bloomingdale's for a little shoppy action, and planned to meet Melissa there.

Although our exhaustion wasn't nearly as overwhelming as it became the following day, we were all still pretty worn down from our various activities the day before, and after a few minutes of half heartedly wandering the 2nd floor shoe department and placing our eyeballs back in our heads after seeing the prices on some cute little t-shirts, we decided to wait for Melissa in one of our favorite New York haunts.

The Bloomingdale's Ladies Lounge.  You may remember it from our last NYC visit.  Sadly, time had taken it's toll on the lounge--there were fewer fresh flowers, the walls were a little peely, and the stalls a little less pristine--but all in all it still ranks as the top public restroom I've ever been in and the only one that I would voluntarily utilize for a 20 minute nap.

Around 11:30 Melissa showed up, and my quest for shoes could begin in earnest.  I'm not sure why, but for some reason, when I visit New York City my all encompassing goal is to leave with at least double the amount of shoes with which I arrived.  It's not that shoe shopping is a rare occurrence for me, it's just the sheer concentrated amount of shoe purchasing that sets NYC apart.  Anyway, within a one hour block of time, I ended up with the shoes I showed you in this post, and no one else bought a damn thing.  Which was kind of cool with me because they were then nice enough to help me lug my shoe bags around for the rest of the day.

After our shoe store encounteres, there was a brief and obligatory stop in Tiffany's, where my sister and I could have gladly spent the rest of the day.  If anyone is wondering, after much deliberation, I have decided that I will accept the following gifts:

And with our diamond viewing quota filled for the day, we set off for the lush green hills of Central Park.  Let me tell you, it is one of the most bizarre sights to go from concrete, sky scrapers, and angry drivers everywhere you look, to giant trees, horses and carriages, grass, and boulders.  It is such a stark contrast, and it really does feel like entering an oasis in the center of the concrete jungle (or should I say desert... since a jungle kind of IS a GIANT oasis...)

We spent the better part of two hours stealing swings from small children, making ourselves sick on the spinning tire swing, and riding the carousel before we decided that the sugar shock from our morning donuts had worn off, and it was time to inject more fat and cholesterol into our systems.  In other words, lunch time!

And so a wonderful lunch was had by all at the Ballpark Cafe, as recommended by some of the park janitorial staff when we asked for a place with good shakes.  I can't vouch for the shakes, but I can tell you they had one heck of a rootbeer float.  After lunch it was time to walk Melissa back to the subway and bid her a fond adieu as she headed back to work.

There was a brief moment of sadness, and maybe a tear or two, but in our jam packed day we hadn't scheduled much time for grief, so it was back to the apartment to drop off our (my) bags, and then on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Now, I realize that this makes me sound very cultural and intellectual--like I wanted to take in the great work of the masters in between dessert and cocktail stops.  While that may have been partially true, the real draw to the Met was in fact The Murder at the Met Scavenger Hunt.  I've always been a huge sucker for those murder mystery parties and a good old fashioned game of Clue, and the Murder at the Met lived up to my greatest expectations.

We were given a list of directions to clues around the museum, and two hours to answer 20 fill in the blank questions, then put our heads together and deduce who out of the list of suspects had murdered the curator and what their motive was.  We all went into the hunt with a laid back attitude, claiming that we were just in it for fun, and we really wanted to enjoy the art.  We then proceeded to get yelled at three or four separate times for 1) running in the museum, 2) getting too close to the paintings, 3) sitting on the floor in the Temple of Dendur, and 4) putting our (my) feet up on the wall, also in the Temple of Dendur.  While we had the clues answered in under an hour, the tough part was putting them together to try to come up with the who and the why.  As we batted around our ideas, I suddenly started spinning an extraordinary tale straight out of an episode of Murder She Wrote.  In an effort to not ruin the game for anyone else who may play in the future, I won't go into details, but what I will say is that we got the motive exactly--we just nailed it on the wrong person.  Oops.  Guess I won't be giving Sherlock Holmes a run for his money any time soon.

After we stopped angrily out of the Met, (I kid, I kid... I'm a good sport!  Okay, well, no I'm not, but I wasn't that mad that we didn't win.  At least not visibly.) it was once again time to eat.  With the promise of delicious and monstrous margaritas and yummy mexican food, we cabbed it up again (seriously, why did we even waste our money on those MetroCards?) and headed to Mustang, where we met up with Brittany's NYC friends again for dinner.  Oh my gracious y'all.  I have never had a more delicious and gigantic margarita than I had that night.  I drank mine.  Then I drank Carolyn's.  And then I drank Katie's.  And then I became the happiest person in the whoooooole world, and just about everything from that point in the evening on I just remember as being hilarious and rose colored.  I really need more Mustang margaritas in my life.  I will never again trash talk tequila.

Once Brittany and I were adequately sloshed, we headed a few blocks down to check out a Real Live New York Apartment (because I'm sorry, I refuse to have my dreams dashed and accept that where we were staying was an adequate representation of New York style).  Brittany's friend brought us back to her apartment, allowed us to drink her water and fall madly and desperately in love with her adorable Yorkie Poo.  I hope she doesn't mind if I put her picture up on the internet.

As God as my witness, I will own one of these dogs.  And he shall be named Oscar.  And so it was decreed.

When it was determined that we could keep our eyes open no longer than it would take us to get back to our crap ass apartment (that at least had a routinely flushed toilet at this point) we hoofed it back to the train and made our way back "home".  The exhaustion, it was immense, and yet we had one more day in that big, beautiful city, and we were going to make the most of it.

Stay tuned for Sunday--there were two solid hours where we sat quietly in a theater, and a two hour marathon of Flip That House, so fear not, the recap will be noticeably shorter!

Comments

[Brittany]

Oh... how I wish to sprint through... er... roam.. the halls of the Met again. I can definitely say that was one of the most fun things I have EVER done... I would do it again in a heartbeat.

And we know we won.

It was definitely our guy.

I want a mustang margarita.

[Caro]

Aww, look at Lucy, she was so cute!

And yes, the Met was amazinggg! It would not have made nearly as fun a story though if we did not get yelled out.

Oh man, I miss you girls!

[Michelle]

that murder mystery sounds like so much fun! i love me some Clue :)

[Fraulein N]

The whole trip sounds like so much fun. I love that you used a restroom to ... y'know, REST.

[Becky]

That dog is so cute! Everyone thinks my silky terrier is a yorkie (or a large one).

I haven't heard of that mystery thing at The Met. I'll definitely have to do it, when I get back over there.

[M]

It's not the real thing, but you sure can't beat the price. :)

http://www.evesaddiction.com/detail_ERZ10016__438__Tiffany_Style_Sterling_Silver_Earrings_with_Bezel_Set_Cubic_Zirconia.html

Cute little yorkie!

[Princess extraoridinaire]

What a blast - it sounds like such a femaile bonding experience and I'm all for shoe shopping...love your other goodies as well...glad you had such fun!

[sophie]

Love the idea of the Mystery at the Met. I could certainly get into that. And I think that in a parallel universe, your guy really did the deed.

[Clink]

That puppy is delicious. I want one.

[Jass]

What a fun trip it looks like it!

Man I want to go to NYC right about now. Mustang Margaritas and all. :-)

[Ashlie]

I just got a free Tiffany's bracelet! Woo-hoo!
You're trip looks like so much fun. Can't say enough good things about NYC!