Saturday, September 26, 2009

Well...

I just saw Fame and I was a little disappointed. I LOVE dance movies, tv shows, whatever but this really didn't live up to my high hopes. It seemed like there were just little bits and pieces of dance numbers and the only one that was really awesome was the movie ending. I think they were trying to cram too much stuff into the movie and so you ended up only skimming the surface of the characters and their talent. Oh well.

The more interesting part of the movie was the audience. If I had seen Fame back home in Arkansas I would have been surrounded by lots of teenage girls but since I saw it in my Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan I was surrounded by a theater full of gay men (I'm assuming the gay part based on their general sense of style and the fact that my husband had to be drug kicking and screaming to see this movie).

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Best Weekend Ever! (part 2)

Sunday
John and I have leisurely been looking at apartments since our lease is up in November and we've decided not to stay in the apartment we're in. Its not that we don't love our apartment, its that we hate the stairs that we have to climb to get to our apartment.

We've been looking at lots of different neighborhoods and don't really care as long as we can find all the things we want in an apartment. Sunday morning we went to check out an apartment in Willimsburg in Brooklyn. I don't know how much I love Williamsburg, but I definitely love the apartments there. The one we went to look at was brand new and beautiful. It had a great kitchen with stainless steel appliances and really modern cabinets. We looked at a two bedroom apartment which was awesome in terms of space. It even had a washer and dryer in the apartment which is pretty much unheard of in Manhattan.

Realistically we shouldn't be looking at apartments yet because all the ones we've seen have move in dates either in September or the first part of October; our lease isn't up until the first part of November, but its just so fun to look we haven't been able to help ourselves.

After grabbing lunch and walking around Williamsburg for what seemed like forever we went back to Manhattan and saw the movie 9. It was a little dark for a children's movie, but it was ok. I think John enjoyed it more, I thought it was kinda weird.

Since we were around Union Square we decided to try this dumpling place that we had heard people talking about. Apparently they have some crazy recession special and an order of dumplings is like $2! I love dumplings and was really excited. We ordered three different kinds of dumplings some fried and some boiled. The fried ones were definitely the best. We tried a couple of other things on their menu and our dinner came out to $13, by far the cheapest dinner we've had in a long time. I would go back to Vanessa's Dumplings anytime!

Sunday couldn't really compare to Saturday in terms of excitement, but this was the best weekend ever because John and I got to spend sooo much time together. Most weekends John has to do some work and we never have this much going on. I had so much fun hanging out with my husband and enjoying all that NY has to offer!

Best Weekend Ever! (part 1)

This weekend was packed full of fun, so much fun I'm breaking it up into two parts, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday
John and I went to a damage sale that his company was hosting Saturday morning. It was at their warehouse where they had all of their "damaged" products and they allowed employees and a guest come and purchase stuff for really cheap. I put damaged in quotation marks because out of the things I purchased the only thing I noticed that was damaged were the tags. Some of the things I tried on were missing buttons but for the most part the merchandise didn't look damaged.
(Sweater I'm super excited about; purchased for $25, original price $436)

The sale was crazy, like the stuff you see in movies where people are running and pushing and hoarding things. I think everyone in there broke into a sweat. John and I split up and grabbed as much as we could and then went to a corner to sort through things. There were no dressing rooms, but I wore a dress so that I could slip pants on under my dress to try on. There were lots of other girls who wore leggings and tank tops so they could try on everything. It was definitely a learning experience, next time John and I will know what to expect.
(Cashmere dress that I think is ADORABLE but have no idea what to wear with; paid $25, originally $328)

John ended up only getting a pair of shoes and a shirt, but I found lots of things of course. The best part was that nothing was more than $25! Since I'm pretty much fashion illiterate, I'm not familiar with the brands and I really don't know how I'm going to wear some of the things I bought because they are pretty trendy. I'm trying to spread my fashion wings and attempt to dress more like I live in New York instead of Arkansas.

Immediately after the damage sale John and I grabbed lunch and headed to Times Square to see A Steady Rain. We were both really excited about this play because it's brand new and has Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The play was awesome! We splurged and paid for orchestra seats on the floor instead of in the balcony so we were like 30 feet away from Hugh and Daniel. The play was pretty intense and was most impressive because it was just the two of them sitting on the stage telling a story. There were no other actors, no props besides their two chairs, and most of the time it was just a plain black background. 90 minutes of dialogue between Hugh and Daniel, very impressive.

The rest of the day was not as exciting. We went home, I napped, and then we fixed dinner; excellent day overall :)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Labor Day

Yesterday I went to Norwalk, Connecticut to meet a couple of my old friends from college and hang out at the beach. This was my first time taking the actual train and leaving the NY area. I forget how close a lot of things are and how easy they are to reach with public transportation.

It only took about an hour from Grand Central and since my friends drove from their home in Connecticut, they picked me up at the train station. The beach was only 10 minutes from there and it was just what I had imagined a New England beach to look like.


There were sailboats everywhere and a couple of islands and even a light house off in the distance. It was even a little chilly which fit right in with my notion of New England. I guess up here the fall really sets in quickly because one day it was warm and then all of a sudden its not warm anymore. It was way too cold for me to go swimming, but there were definitely the brave few who did. Mostly we just munched on snacks and caught up all day.

It was a really great day and it was so fun to see my friends who I hadn't seen in several years. The only down side was that since it was chilly and breezy I didn't really think to put on sunscreen until I had already gotten a bit too much sun. Unfortunately I will be paying for that little mistake for awhile.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Go Jets!

I've never been a big NFL fan, really unless its an SEC team I'm not interested, but John and I went to a Jets game last night. John is working on an app for the Iphone and so this outing was supposedly for research purposes; I was just excited to be enjoying all that NY has to offer.

The weather was awesome, the seats weren't bad, Jeremy Piven was there, and people booed Michael Vick every time he stepped on the field. I thought it was great!

The game was the last preseason game for the Jets and I'm assuming because it was still preseason that's why there was no half time show. Instead they had 8 and 9 year old football teams come out and run some plays on the field. It was adorable and the 8 year olds looked so tiny on such a big field. If I didn't know they were 8 I would have guessed more like 5, so cute!