34th & 6th

This is the scene in front of me: my clothes are laid out out on my suitcase, drying out from being caught in a crazy, electric thunderstorm while wandering down Lexington from Central Park; Victoria Secret pink stripes, Macy's red, Daffy's yellow and Little Brown Bags are littered about, with frothy nothings spilling out; Ellie, the cat, is sprawled at the foot of the bed, having just snuggled us hello.  The last two days have been spent in a way that I can only imagine living in New York would be spent.  I've eaten, shopped and caught some shows... but really it's the stuff in between that makes the trip (so far) so fun.

But first, we had to get here and that in itself was enough of an adventure.  Our flight was at 0630 and so we left at 0500 to get there for sixty minutes before departure (as recommended).  Without getting into all the details, let's just say that the Lady and Fog made it so we didn't arrive in NYC until almost 1400.  After dropping our stuff off at our "hotel" (read as: picked up the key to ExPat's place), we walked up ten blocks to pop into my cousin's restaurant for lunch, before heading down to Macy's for some light perusing.  By the time we actually met up with ExPat, it was time for dinner, and we headed up to the NYC institution, ShakeShack in Madison Square Park.  Some of the most delicious burgers ever were found there.  Bedtime was perfect and I slept for 10 hours, uninterrupted even by a blow-up air mattress pump at 2am.


Friday dawned and we were determined to finish Macy's and Daffy's before getting ready for our night at Birdland Jazz Lounge.  A brunch at my cousin's fueled us for a marathon eight hours of shopping, where the hunt for a dress went unfulfilled, but a new briefcase was had.  We did however, meet our first first shaman, who foretold good luck for me on August 13, and October 21 for Nish. Shower, change and off to Birdland!  Made acquaintances with the Connecticut commuters, got mistaken for a party waiting for Paul Eddington (sp?) and bore witness to a family drama (featuring a lechy dad, a bored son and a confused mom), all while taking in an excellent Brazilian Jazz show.  Stumbled home.  Sleep.

Today, we ate at Grimaldi's, drank at Forty Carrots (Bloomingdales) and made merry on Lexington.  Now?  Typing, in my jammies, waiting to see what Saturday Night in NYC will hold for us.  Not bad for a trip that's cost $300 so far and has had no pre-plans at all.