February Trip to NY: Part 2

The the second leg of my New York trip was meeting up with my friends May and Josephine at areally awesome Japanese restaurant called Inayaka http://www.inakayany.com/ .  I posted a photo of my desert here because even though May and Josephine are both beautiful, I unfortunately look horrible in all of the pictures we took.

It happened to be restaurant week during my visit and we were able to get quite a good three course meal at a very reasonable price. I loved how the waiter would call out our orders in Japanese to the chefs and the chefs would shout back to the waiter. I had no idea what they saying but it was very cool because it was in Japanese. Craig later made fun of me (in a lovingly joking sort of way of course) saying that it was akin to ordering at a Waffle House or something that the waiter would shout out,  "2 egg special! Side of hash browns!" and the short order cook would repeat it back.  This was A LOT better than the Waffle House though!

Another thing I thought was super neat was that since we were eating at the sushi bar our drinks and food were served to us on a paddle that the chef used to reach across from the kitchen to where we were sitting. Then, toward the middle of our meal there was a slight commotion in the dining room when two chefs were taking turns pounding sticky rice with large mallets into sheets of mochi.

One thing that really stands out to me about the friends I have made in NY is that even though nearly two years had gone by with very little action in the keeping in touch process, I feel like the three of us got together as if no time had really passed at all. Everything fell into place as if it was just one of our many get togethers when I was still living in NYC.  I wish the three of us had more time to spend together during my visit but I am really glad that we were able to get together even for a short time.

February Trip to NY: Part 1

This past February I took a trip up to NY for a week to work and to visit with friends.  It was probably one of the coldest times of the year. The week started out with a very cold rain and later developed into one of the largest snowfalls NYC had ever had. People asked me if I missed NY, and I did, but the weather made it a little easier to say no I didn't really miss it that much.

What I do miss are the friends I have in NY. When I first arrived I stayed for two days with my friend Samantha. Samantha and I know each other because we were cubicle-mates at a magazine publishing company in lower Manhattan. (more about that later though).

During my first night we relaxed at her apartment, ordered Thai food and just caught up with each other. After work on the second night we met up at the Gramercy Park Hotel for a drink and a snack with our friend Sue. From there we walked around the park and went to an art show at the National Arts Club because two of Sam and Sue's friends were showing pieces.

It is kind of funny how when you live some place, sometimes you don't really take advantage of the things around you since you are busy living your life from day to day. I literally lived around the corner from the National Arts Club, on 23rd street, and have walked passed it countless times without ever giving it a side glance except to maybe admire the architecture. Oh well, ces't la vie!

Aside from the actual art show, which was very cool, there was a side hallway that I really enjoyed walking down. This hallway was lined with large photographs all depicting love--probably due to it being February and Valentines day.  Most, if not all of the photographs were black and white shots of couples embracing and such. One of my favorites was of a couple, mostly nude standing face to face to kiss, but there was a lampshade over their heads. Not sure why, but the photo sort of stuck me. Another photo that struck me was one of a love note that had been left on a dresser. The memory of this photo is a bit hazier though.

The photo above was taken at the National Arts Club by one of Sam and Sue's artist friends. It is of Sue, me, Sam and their other artist friend.

Things Come Together

I am planning a trip to New York at the end of February. What started out as a trip to visit a friend for the weekend has blossomed into a week-long trip during which I can work in the New York office during the day and visit with friends during the evening.

At first I thought a week would be long enough, but soon I began to realize that there are actually a lot more people that I want to visit than I originally thought. Luckily I have a wedding to go to at the end of May so I hope to see a few more people when I travel up for that. Then there are two weddings during the same weekend in August--though I doubt there will be time for any extracurricular visiting then.

In my frenzy to see as many people as I can during this trip I have made plans to stay with a different person each night of the visit from Monday-Thursday. I will go from Jackson Heights to Astoria to the Bronx then back to Astoria then out to Long Island. Each time I will be working in Manhattan between each visit. The problem is I really don't want to be lugging my luggage (no pun intended) from Jackson Heights to Manhattan to Astoria to Manhattan to the Bronx to Manhattan and back to Astoria then out to Long Island. I woke up several times last night thinking about how to get my clothes from place to place without bringing my large suitcase with me all over the place.

A possible solution presented itself this morning which made me very excited. It turns out that my colleague, Bob, might be traveling to the NY office that same week! The best part is that he gets to use the company apartment which is just blocks away from the office! He and I were talking about it this morning and agreed that I could leave my larger suitcase at the company apartment and then just carry my essentials in a smaller overnight bag each night. How awesome is that? I really hope he is traveling to the NY office the same week I am! If not, I suppose I can do the same sort of thing and leave my larger suitcase at the office under the desk or something.