Weekends, Lately
THESE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN BANANAS!! Like Curious-George-meets-Gwen-Stefani-meets-Chiquita-girl bananas! I've been feeling overwhelmed with blogging about it all.. so this summary will have to do. This is what I've been doing on my weekends, lately.
There are two types of people in this world: people who like going to Renaissance Faires and people who do not. You can guess which type I am... I eat that stuff up! Though a disappointingly large percentage of my friend group does not appreciate the turkey-leg-eating, costume-wearing, old-English-speaking splendor that is a Renaissance festival, I do, and so do KS and my roommates, LC and JT. We enthusiastically woke up early on a Sunday morning to take a bus to Tuxedo Park, NY for the last weekend of the Faire. It. Was. A. Hoot. We drank beers and watched a jousting finale and mocked people in unauthentic costumes. (Fairy wings? I don't think so..) The whole day was so fun and entertaining and incredibly geeky, but by far the most "Renaissance-y" thing we did was this...
Also, not to brag or anything... but we won third place on a photo contest and a $25 gift certificate to Knightly Endeavors. It's the only thing I have won in a long time. Let me have my moment.
Then, the next weekend I went to D.C. thanks to a generously paid-for bus ticket and birthday party invite. I got to see so many people that knew the college version of me, the version of me who wasn't stressed about work/money all the time and the version of me who could drink the NYC version of me under the table. It was so refreshing to be around people who have known me through several zip codes and have loved me through it all. We drank jungle juice and talked about the past, present, and future without having to explain the context first, and we laughed a lot.
Even in spite of my quickly progressing fall cold, I felt so good inside. On Sunday afternoon after a cheap brunch at a D.C. dive, MM dropped me off at the bus stop, and for the next 4 hours I dozed in and out of consiousness with my head propped up against the bus window watching rain hit the highway and leaves blow in the wind. It was perfect ending to a perfect trip.
Eager to make money in just about any [legal] way possible, I jumped on the chance to dogsit a Golden Retriever named Maggie the following weekend. I met Maggie's parents? JC and his wife TC at the Husker bar where we share a table every Saturday to watch the game. They had tickets to the Ohio game and needed someone to watch their thunder-terrified dog while they were gone. I was psyched to get some K-9 companionship and also some cash since the temp life has been less-than sustainable lately. I went to their UWS apartment on Friday afternoon, and Mags and I had a total girls weekend. We watched Pride and Prejudice and snuggled and drank tea and went for walks down Broadway. Ok, so I'm the only one who drank the tea. On Saturday morning, we walked all along the Hudson river park prowling for dudes, but apparently I found the only senior citizen dog park in the city and thus, my 101 Dalmatians fantasy was amiss. Oh, well. It was still a pretty great gig, and I was sad to say goodbye to my new blond friend on Sunday (though not too sad not to have to scoop up her poop.)
Last weekend, KS and her sister and friend AW, and I took an early morning train out of the city to go apple picking at an apple orchard and then to Oktober Fest in Bear Mountain. We got off the train in the suburb of Livingston where KS's friend LA picked us up in her car, and we drove through quaint little New England towns with big porches and giant trees. I felt like I was Rory Gilmore, and I had the new bangs to match. We got to the apple orchard without anyone getting carsick.
Once we picked up our apple picking sticks and and apple picking bag, we went into the orchard to apple pick. At first, I didn't so much pick the apples as I whacked them with my picking rod and then tried to dodge them as they came tumbling through the branches toward my head. Eventually, I got the hang of it. We took photos and our big bag of apples and piled back into the car to head to Bear Mountain to drink some beer and meet some Germans. We did plenty of both and also danced to an enthusiastic polka band's rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine." After bratwursts and pretzels and fudge and popcorn and... (you get the picture), we rested by the lake, and then pulled ourselves together for the long journey back into the city. A car ride, train ride, and subway ride later, we were back in Brooklyn with bags of apples and bellies full of beer.
Then.. LAST weekend... GG came to visit!! She took a red eye flight from LA Thursday night (I love saying "red eye"-- I think it sounds fancy-- red eye, red eye, red eye..) She got to my apartment early Friday morning, an hour after I was offered and accepted a job at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center!! I don't think I've ever had such an awesome Friday morning in my life. All weekend we pal-ed around, going to the NYPL, Central Park, the Brooklyn Flea, and to parties in Crown Heights and in my kitchen.
It was so good to have someone so close to me actually be so close to me. Even with sore feet and quickly depleting bank accounts, it was one of those weekends that you savor for months or years, until fate lets you have another one. I was sad to say goodbye to GG on Monday morning, but so excited that the next time we'll see each other, I will probably going to visit her in San Francisco! I'll probably take a red eye...
September 22-23
There are two types of people in this world: people who like going to Renaissance Faires and people who do not. You can guess which type I am... I eat that stuff up! Though a disappointingly large percentage of my friend group does not appreciate the turkey-leg-eating, costume-wearing, old-English-speaking splendor that is a Renaissance festival, I do, and so do KS and my roommates, LC and JT. We enthusiastically woke up early on a Sunday morning to take a bus to Tuxedo Park, NY for the last weekend of the Faire. It. Was. A. Hoot. We drank beers and watched a jousting finale and mocked people in unauthentic costumes. (Fairy wings? I don't think so..) The whole day was so fun and entertaining and incredibly geeky, but by far the most "Renaissance-y" thing we did was this...
Also, not to brag or anything... but we won third place on a photo contest and a $25 gift certificate to Knightly Endeavors. It's the only thing I have won in a long time. Let me have my moment.
September 29-30
Then, the next weekend I went to D.C. thanks to a generously paid-for bus ticket and birthday party invite. I got to see so many people that knew the college version of me, the version of me who wasn't stressed about work/money all the time and the version of me who could drink the NYC version of me under the table. It was so refreshing to be around people who have known me through several zip codes and have loved me through it all. We drank jungle juice and talked about the past, present, and future without having to explain the context first, and we laughed a lot.
Even in spite of my quickly progressing fall cold, I felt so good inside. On Sunday afternoon after a cheap brunch at a D.C. dive, MM dropped me off at the bus stop, and for the next 4 hours I dozed in and out of consiousness with my head propped up against the bus window watching rain hit the highway and leaves blow in the wind. It was perfect ending to a perfect trip.
October 6-7
Eager to make money in just about any [legal] way possible, I jumped on the chance to dogsit a Golden Retriever named Maggie the following weekend. I met Maggie's parents? JC and his wife TC at the Husker bar where we share a table every Saturday to watch the game. They had tickets to the Ohio game and needed someone to watch their thunder-terrified dog while they were gone. I was psyched to get some K-9 companionship and also some cash since the temp life has been less-than sustainable lately. I went to their UWS apartment on Friday afternoon, and Mags and I had a total girls weekend. We watched Pride and Prejudice and snuggled and drank tea and went for walks down Broadway. Ok, so I'm the only one who drank the tea. On Saturday morning, we walked all along the Hudson river park prowling for dudes, but apparently I found the only senior citizen dog park in the city and thus, my 101 Dalmatians fantasy was amiss. Oh, well. It was still a pretty great gig, and I was sad to say goodbye to my new blond friend on Sunday (though not too sad not to have to scoop up her poop.)
October 12-13
Last weekend, KS and her sister and friend AW, and I took an early morning train out of the city to go apple picking at an apple orchard and then to Oktober Fest in Bear Mountain. We got off the train in the suburb of Livingston where KS's friend LA picked us up in her car, and we drove through quaint little New England towns with big porches and giant trees. I felt like I was Rory Gilmore, and I had the new bangs to match. We got to the apple orchard without anyone getting carsick.
Once we picked up our apple picking sticks and and apple picking bag, we went into the orchard to apple pick. At first, I didn't so much pick the apples as I whacked them with my picking rod and then tried to dodge them as they came tumbling through the branches toward my head. Eventually, I got the hang of it. We took photos and our big bag of apples and piled back into the car to head to Bear Mountain to drink some beer and meet some Germans. We did plenty of both and also danced to an enthusiastic polka band's rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine." After bratwursts and pretzels and fudge and popcorn and... (you get the picture), we rested by the lake, and then pulled ourselves together for the long journey back into the city. A car ride, train ride, and subway ride later, we were back in Brooklyn with bags of apples and bellies full of beer.
October 20-21
Then.. LAST weekend... GG came to visit!! She took a red eye flight from LA Thursday night (I love saying "red eye"-- I think it sounds fancy-- red eye, red eye, red eye..) She got to my apartment early Friday morning, an hour after I was offered and accepted a job at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center!! I don't think I've ever had such an awesome Friday morning in my life. All weekend we pal-ed around, going to the NYPL, Central Park, the Brooklyn Flea, and to parties in Crown Heights and in my kitchen.
It was so good to have someone so close to me actually be so close to me. Even with sore feet and quickly depleting bank accounts, it was one of those weekends that you savor for months or years, until fate lets you have another one. I was sad to say goodbye to GG on Monday morning, but so excited that the next time we'll see each other, I will probably going to visit her in San Francisco! I'll probably take a red eye...
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