I have no clue why it took us a solid three years to get to know each other. Luckily Arianne and I finally became friends (much thanks to Carine for bringing us together in Banff). So when she had a week off from work and decided to come visit me in New York, I was absolutely elated. Arianne had been to New York earlier in the year and had already crossed the NYC tourist items off of her bucket list, which meant that we got to spend five days pretending to live like the locals (I still don't quite consider myself a local... give me a few more months and I'll get there).
Day One:
I had class into the evening and arrived home to find Arianne hanging out at my apartment. The reunion was joyous. We ventured outside of the Upper West Side to find delicious pasta and happened upon a couple of memorable cab drivers. The first told us a story about the people in Bangladesh getting gastric ulcers from eating fish and bone marrow. Our cab driver on the way home from dinner pulled up blasting music. When he turned it down after we got in, we told him that we were up to party and to keep the music blasting. That was perhaps the most exciting cab I have yet to ride in. He dropped us off on the corner, I paid, and then he said, "This is your favorite song!" and turned up the music. It did just happen to be Arianne's favorite song. How he knew that, I will never know. I told him I had already paid and he said "I will take you around the block free of charge to your favorite song!" and so we sped around the block at a million miles an hour blasting and dancing in a random cab to one of Arianne's favorite songs. As we left, we asked his name. "You can call me Mr. T."
Day Two:
Decided to start off our day with a little MMMBop (thanks, Hanson), toast and honey, and back porch bird watching. In trying to decide what to do that night, we happened upon a band we had never heard of, Jack & Jack. After watching about 200 of their Vines and listening to their music, we determined that this concert would satisfy our need to dance. We headed to Union Square to buy tickets for later that night. A line of 16-year-old girls was forming outside waiting for the afternoon meet and greet. That line alone should have keyed us in to what we would be experiencing in about 9 hours.
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| Arianne snuck up on me with her film camera. The sound of the shutter made me jump a thousand feet. |
With a few more hours before seeing Seth Meyers, we decided to browse a couple of 5th Ave stores, which ended up turning into a very successful shopping trip. I am still obsessed with the boots I bought and Arianne's new denim jacket and tunic dress. The theme of our shopping excursion, which in turn became the theme of our trip: New York new me. Also turns out I really like 70s-era clothes. Cool.
After realizing how little time we had to get to Rockefeller Center in time, we literally sprinted from Anthropologie to the subway stop to 30 Rock. Made it in the nick of time. Were given front row seats at the filming of Late Night. Chatted it up with the opening comedian, Ryan Reiss. Got his email to get on his guest list for one of his shows. Arianne made a cameo appearance with Seth Meyers literally right in front of her as he filmed some sort of advertisement. We have yet to find the ad with Arianne classily doing the "rock on" sign in the background. Seth was hilarious. I love these studio filmings, they are great.
Ran from the NBC Studios back to the subway back to Union Square for Jack and Jack. Oh my goodness I have never been to a show with a worse audience. But apparently this is the norm now for all the high school kids. They didn't watch the show right in front of them. They watched it through their phones as they filmed Instagram and Snapchat stories. And apparently Jack and Jack are the 16-year-old heart throbs and I am positive there were less than 10 boys in the entire audience. Aka the squeals were deafening. BUT all of that being said....we didn't regret going. We still danced a bit and enjoyed ourselves. Plus the people watching was extremely captivating and very interesting. I still don't think I have fully comprehended it all. Post-concert we headed to Big Daddy's for shakes because when am I not craving a shake?
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EXCUSE ME CHILDREN, PUT YOUR PHONES AWAY.
(I know it's ironic because in order to take this picture, I had to have my phone out...I, however, pulled it out specifically
for this one photo and put it away for the rest of the show. So, it's different, right?) |
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| Big Daddy's. Film photo. |
Day Three:
Classy day on the town. We chose classiness because we thought that was appropriate for our bridal gown fitting. Yes, bridal gown fitting. No, neither Arianne nor I are engaged. But Leanne Marshall sells absolutely beautiful dresses and when appointments to try them on are free, why not?? They were amazing. So flowy and basically moved in slow motion. All of them are made upon order by Leanne herself, some of which are even hand-painted, which is incredible.
Post-gown fitting included browsing through the Oliver Gustav studio (Us: "What's inside?" Doorman: "It's like Disneyland. You find out as you go."), chatting with the funny sarcastic hotel concierge, eating at a delicious Chinese diner in Chinatown (that may or may not have gotten me sick...still unsure about that one), walking through Little Italy, happening upon the Canal Street Market which was amazing and a lot larger than the little store front let on, and heading back to Anthropologie to purchase our on-hold clothes. The rest of the night consisted of cozying up in my apartment and watching Seinfeld until we were hungry again, when we headed up to Tom's Restaurant to round out the Seinfeld evening.
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| Did you notice that I match the semi-truck next to me...? |
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| I call this "Courtney pretends that she knows how to use chopsticks, but right before this picture she dropped a dumpling." |
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| Name the band featured in this random Chinatown mural. (Film photo) |
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| Shoes shoes shoes. |
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| Film photo. |
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| I call this photo "Seinfeld Dream Adventure feat. Bacon" (film photo) |
Day Four:
Columbia Invasion. Columbia campus is beautiful, but I can never capture the beauty on my phone. Arianne, however, is a very talented photographer (which you can tell by looking at all these photos because they are all hers or taken on one of her cameras) and I wrote on our list of To-Do's, "Have Arianne take picture of Low Library and Butler," which she did and they are all I could have ever imagined and more.
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| Inside Butler library. |
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| The photo I have been dreaming to have for so long. (Film photo) |
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| Just a classic Courtney face that I thought you would all appreciate. |
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| Right after we got shushed. Oops. |
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| Butler Library. Film photo. |
We had no plans for the rest of the day and decided to split a burrito and stroll through Central Park. We strolled for hours. IT WAS PERFECT. Everyone had kept telling me how beautiful Central Park was with the changing leaves and I guess I just didn't get around to going over there to check it out. But goodness, look for yourself, it was amazing. About four hours later, it started getting dark and we finally decided it was about time we left the park and head to check the next item off our list:
walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to get Grimaldi's Pizza. We were freezing, but the bridge was beautiful and the pizza was delicious, so it was all worth it. Arianne was disappointed because the Russians were no longer running Grimaldi's. I told her I would go back again in the future and check for the Russians.
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| Arianne perfectly captured my favorite Central Park view. Absolutely beautiful film photo. |
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| Making leaf angels. |
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| (Film photo) |
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| This was a super adorable couple taking photos together and enjoying a beautiful Saturday stroll. |
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| We sat and listened to this man for a very long time. He was wonderful and very talented. How I love the park musicians. |
Remember how I said we got on Ryan Reiss's guest list? This was that night. He was performing at a little comedy club on the Upper West Side with about five other comedians. They were all great. I really need to take advantage of all these comedians performing around the city because they are hilarious. Even though we don't actually know Ryan, we both felt very cool getting in for free just by saying, "Hi. Yes, we are here to see Ryan. We are on his guest list." I guess the term "free" is relative though, because once we got all situated we found out there was a drink minimum. Whelp, another virgin mojito, please. We ended the night with bacon and mashed potatoes at Tom's Restaurant. That diner has quickly become a favorite. As we exited the subway stop on our way back home, Arianne commented on the sprinkling rain, "Oh man, it's really coming down!" and ran for protection under the scaffolding. Oh Arianne, and you say you were raised in Washington.
Day Five:
Ah Sunday. The dreaded day of departure.
Sunday we explored the Natural History Museum (specifically the displays as seen on Night at the Museum...). I hadn't been before, which is quite silly considering how close it is to my apartment, so I'm very glad we went and got to explore a bit. Right across the street on Columbus is my favorite little Sunday Flee Market with so many antiques such as pictures, stamps, drawings, and random knick-knacks that I knew Arianne would love. This was a must. Sadly our time came to a close and it was time for us to head to church and therefore for Arianne to leave....
What a perfect weekend. Thank you, Arianne, for helping me feel the vibrance of this amazing city (is vibrance a word..?). After this weekend together, New York has truly started feeling like a place I can call home and little did I know that you would be able to do that for me. I should have assume though...after all, you do have a gift -- a gift of seeing the beauty in all things and helping those around you recognize that as well. MUCH LOVE, DEAREST.
