Last weekend I flew to New York, and have a frikken blast. I originally wanted to head to New York after taxes were done because I knew that I was going to owe some and wanted to make sure that I was all in the clear. But right around the same time I got a full time position, and what that meant is that the freedom of working anywhere went out the window. So the thought of seeing Jeg kind of went on the back-burner until I was able to accumulate some vacation days. Then I found out that he was actually going to be coming back to town in a couple months, which made me super stoked to hang out with my best friend again. But, he is only going to be here for a monthish and then move to London for school, rad for him (and plane tickets just went up a notch, but now I have a place to stay in London). So now I really had to see him, but my vacation days weren't going to kick in until the first on this month...
Now fast forward to Mother's day weekend where I meet one of the raddest people ever, Elize. She is super friends with the people that I hang out with, and flew over from New York to check out jobs as well as to see them. I met her on Cinco de Mayo and well apart from the time where I had to go to work on Friday we were pretty much inseparable throughout the weekend. For you kids who enjoy movies, the best way to describe the weekend would have to be Before Sunrise, only we exchanged information. We keep in contact and talk about seeing each other, and after a short talk with my manager I find out that I could schedule some non-paid time off; frikken awesome. I call up Jeg, let him know to try to free up the weekend, because this kid is heading into his turf.
Fast forward to Father's day weekend (I really don't know how it turned out that way, but it just did). I scheduled to take Friday (which is always a half day for me) and Monday off; this way I could leave the office on Thursday to arrive in New York at 7am Friday morning, and leave New York Monday at 5pm to get to San Diego at 10:30pm in the evening. Side note, I have heard about people that hate taking red eye flights, but after this trip I kind of dig them a lot.
The flight there was pretty awesome as I was able to get either exit row or extended leg room for no extra charge; needless to say sleep was in full effect while I was in the air. I landed a bit early, but Elize arrived at the exact same time that I walked outside. By the way, the last time I was in New York I had no idea that it got this frikken humid... while it isn't as bad as Florida, GAH sweat a plethora. We drove to her parent’s house, I took a nap, and then we were off to Coney Island with her cousin Sarah and Aunt Alice to meet up with some people. In good ol' California our theme parks are massive and out roller coasters are huge, but I have to admit that the Cyclone was probably one of the scariest rides that I have been on. It isn't because it is faster than anything else, or has insano-drops like the others; it is because on every turn it feels like you are going to tip over and every drop feels like you are going to get de-railed.
After that we went exploring the rest of the place and attacking all of the fun rides.
--The swings--
--Do a barrel roll--
-Get Levi drunk-
-Watch him shoot people on a drunken rampage-
After that we finished off all of the "High Trill Rides" and left to get some Nathans and then attack the bumper cars. All in all a good day with quite a bit of fun was had by all. We took the train into the city and checked in just in time to see the golden hour
Called up Jeg and we met up for some food and some drinks, unfortunately I was knackered out to the maximum and was only able to stay out for one drink. But we had the rest of the weekend, so I wasn't worried one bit; I was stoked to see him on the first day of my arrival.
Saturday started off with a quick trip to SoHo so that I could get in some shopping at Uniqlo (which by the way I wish that they did online sales, would make it soooo much easier to get quality basics), and then we were off to Elize's friend's flat. After a few minutes we found ourselves in the middle of a super cute photo shoot with his daughter Breeze.
-First time that I have seen an at home studio done well, and kind of changed my mind about using a flash [also, same camera!]-
-Recent love of crazy blocking-
-Honor made her presence known-
After the fun afternoon, went back to the hotel for a short nap before a real night of drinking with Jeg and Elize's friends at Max Fish (which have the best bathrooms ever).
Sunday morning we walked around the street fair, started making plans for my last evening in towne, and went to Shake Shack to test if they are indeed better than In-n-out...
They weren't.
First on the list was to head to Jeg's place in Brooklyn and see where he lives and do our gift exchange, and I was able to score the Jil Sanders Pumas that you saw a couple posts ago, and this amazing Givenchy wind breaker
After that we went to the BAM to see Ayrton Senna's biography and some free Brooklyn Brewery beer. If you haven't seen it, do; it is an amazing film. Actually there is a "director's cut" out there where they go farther into the commentaries that are there throughout the film. After a few brews we took a nice stroll back to Jeg's place and then made our way to alphabet city for a rooftop party at Chris's place.
Craziest bit about the party was that I saw people that I haven't seen in YEARS, from way back when I was hanging out with Jeg at UCI.
After that we all made our way to Elize's friend's house for a relaxing evening in Brooklyn Heights to meet her new boyfriend, Logan. After a few hours of great conversation and a good growler my belly we left her place and started to make our way back to the city.
Monday morning was spent making our way back to Elize's place to drop off the luggage and get a real New York Bagel with capers, salmon, the whole shebang; just like the rest of the weekend it was everything I was looking for and more.
And actually the only downside to the whole weekend was the flight back where I had a 2 hour delay and wasn't able to get back home until 1am; I had work at 7:30am that same day...
I really want to head back soon, but the next weekend trip that I take will either be to someplace that I haven't been to before, or to San Fran.
-'till next time
